Ghislaine Maxwell wants immunity or a pardon before congressional deposition

Washington — Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of aiding sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is willing to provide information to a congressional committee next month during a deposition but only if she is granted immunity or is pardoned, according to a letter from her attorney obtained by CBS News.

Last week, the GOP-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, to sit for a deposition as fallout over the Trump administration’s handling of the case continues to intensify. A deposition was scheduled for Aug. 11 at a federal prison in Tallahassee, where Maxwell is serving her sentence. 

However, in a letter Tuesday addressed to House Oversight chairman Rep. James Comer, Maxwell’s attorney David Markus said she is willing to sit before the committee but only after certain legal appeals are finalized or his client is granted clemency or a pardon by President Trump.

“Public reports — including your own statements — indicate that the Committee intends to question Ms. Maxwell in prison and without a grant of immunity. Those are non-starters. Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity,” Markus wrote.

Markus wrote that any questions to Maxwell would have to be given to her in advance to “ensure accuracy and fairness,” and that conducting the deposition in prison would create “security risks and undermines the integrity of the process.”

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein recruit, groom and abuse underage girls. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Epstein died in federal custody in 2019 as he faced sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide. 

Markus wrote that because Maxwell’s ongoing appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction and other legal issues are currently pending, “any testimony she provides now could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool.”

However, Markus wrote, if President Trump were to pardon Maxwell or commute her sentence, “she would be willing—and eager—to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C.”

If those conditions are not agreed to, Markus wrote, Maxwell “will have no choice but to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.”

A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee said in a statement that the committee will respond to Markus’ letter “soon,” but said it “will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.”

In a letter to Maxwell informing her of the subpoena, Comer wrote that the committee is seeking Maxwell’s testimony “to inform the consideration of potential legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.” 

Todd Blanche, the second highest-ranking Justice Department official, met with Maxwell in Tallahassee on July 24 and 25  to discuss Epstein. 

After the questioning had ended, Markus declined to comment “on the substance” of the meeting, but told reporters outside the office that “there were a lot of questions and we went all day.”

Neither President Trump nor Markus have ruled out the possibility of a pardon for Maxwell, but on Monday Mr. Trump said he is “allowed” to pardon Maxwell but that nobody has asked him to issue one, yet. 

Virginia Giuffre’s relatives say Maxwell should “rot in prison”

Several family members of Virginia Giuffre — one of the most prominent people to accuse Epstein and Maxwell of abuse — said in a statement Wednesday that the government should “never consider giving Ghislaine Maxwell any leniency,” calling her a “monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life.”

“Maxwell destroyed many young lives, and she was convicted for only a fraction of the crimes she actually committed. She must remain in prison – anything less would go down in history as being one of the highest travesties of justice,” read the statement, which was penned by two of Giuffre’s siblings and their spouses.

The relatives also criticized the decision to meet with Maxwell.

“If our sister could speak today, she would be most angered by the fact that the government is listening to a known perjurer. A woman who repeatedly lied under oath and will continue to do so as long as it benefits her position,” they wrote.

Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year.

Federal prosecutors charged Maxwell with perjury as part of her 2020 sexual abuse case, accusing her of lying in a deposition for a civil lawsuit. Those charges were separated out of the main case. 

Trump says Epstein “stole” employees from him — possibly including Virginia Giuffre

Separately, Mr. Trump told reporters Tuesday he cut ties with Epstein in the early 2000s because the financier “stole” employees from his business — reiterating his comments from a day earlier.

The president said the workers in question were young women who worked in the spa at Mar-A-Lago. Asked whether Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre was one of the employees, Mr. Trump said, “I think that was one of the people.”

Giuffre has alleged in civil court that she was a 16-year-old employee at Mar-A-Lago when Maxwell first met her and “recruited” her “into Epstein’s sex trafficking activities.” Giuffre was among the most prominent people to accuse Epstein of sexual abuse. Mr. Trump noted Tuesday that Giuffre “had no complaints about us.”

Mr. Trump was friends with Epstein for years before their relationship ended in the 2000s. In the past, the White House has said the president “kicked [Epstein] out of his club for being a creep.” Asked Tuesday about whether Epstein was cut off for being a “creep” or for stealing employees, Mr. Trump said, “maybe they’re the same thing.”

“He took people. And because he took people, I said, ‘Don’t do it anymore, you know, they work for me,'” Mr. Trump said Tuesday, while flying back to the U.S. on Air Force One after a trip to Scotland. “Beyond that, he took some others. And once he did that, that was the end of him.”

Giuffre’s family members called Mr. Trump’s comments “shocking.”

“We would like to clarify that it was convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell who targeted and preyed upon our then 16-year-old sister, Virginia, from Mar-a-Lago, where she was working in 2000, several years before Epstein and President Trump had their falling out,” they wrote.

CBS News has reached out to the White House for comment on the statement from Giuffre’s family.

Scott MacFarlane

contributed to this report.