Report: Ghislaine Maxwell to plead the fifth in Epstein deposition

Ghislaine Maxwell is expected to plead the fifth when she appears before a US Congress board investigating Jeffrey Epstein‘s crimes on Monday.

Maxwell, 64, an accomplice of the late [child predator], will be questioned behind closed doors but is set to invoke her right to not answer questions.

She is currently serving 20 years in prison for trafficking girls to [abuse] offender financier Epstein and will face questions from prison via videolink, in a deposition by the House of Representatives‘ Oversight Committee.

Though no new US prosecutions are expected after the latest release of government files on Epstein, numerous political and business leaders have fallen into scandal or resigned as their ties to the convicted [intercourse] criminal were revealed.

House committee probes Epstein’s powerful connections

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing Epstein’s connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled.

Maxwell is expected to invoke her right to not incriminate herself, guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor. His extensive ties to the world’s rich and powerful, especially after he was released in 2009, have become politically explosive across the globe.

In the UK, Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has been plunged into crisis as former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s close links to the disgraced financier have been revealed. 

Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking children in what was ruled a [self-inflicted death].

Maxwell to invoke Fifth Amendment after immunity denied

Maxwell’s lawyers have pushed for Congress to grant her legal immunity in order to testify in the deposition, but lawmakers refused.

Without that, her legal team said she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

‘Proceeding under these circumstances would serve no other purpose than pure political theater,’ her lawyers said in a letter.

Though the deposition will occur behind closed doors, Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, published a letter of the questions he intended to ask Maxwell even if she refuses to answer.

Some touch on Trump’s ties to Epstein and Maxwell.

Others focus on four ‘co-conspirators’ as well as 25 other men who allegedly ‘[intimately] abused minors at Epstein’s island.’

One of the questions asks: ‘Why do you believe they were not indicted?’

The Trump administration has already come under criticism for its handling of her case.

Last year Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas after meeting twice with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

Trump himself was a longtime Epstein associate, but has not been called to testify by the Oversight Committee, which is led by members of his Republican Party.

Trump has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein’s activities.

Also expected to be deposed by the committee are former president Bill Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, both Democrats.

The Clintons have called for their depositions to be held publicly to prevent Republicans from politicizing their testimony.

Inside Ghislaine Maxwell’s life in prison

Footage has been released in the Epstein files, revealing disgraced madame Ghislaine Maxwell’s life inside her prison cell. 

The socialite, 64, was a close associate of the late Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in 2019. His death was ruled a [self-inflicted murder] but many, including his brother Mark, believe he was murdered – before he could be prosecuted on multiple child [abuse] charges. 

Last Friday, the US Department of Justice released three million documents relating to the convicted [child predator], sending shockwaves across the world. 

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal [intercourse] acts, conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal [intercourse] acts, transporting a minor to participate in illegal [intercourse] acts, [intercourse] trafficking conspiracy, and [intercourse] trafficking of a minor.

She is serving a 20-year jail sentence. And now, newly released footage verified by Channel 4 News shows a snippet of 10 hours of surveillance footage of Maxwell inside her concrete cell in July of 2020. 

At the time, Maxwell had been tracked down by the FBIto her $1 million home in New Hampshire, where she was arrested and brought to the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. 

She was detained on July 2, 2020. The video shows Maxwell sporting an all-orange jumpsuit surrounded by white walls and a weathered grey floor. She grabbed a sip, then tidied up her bed before lying back, yawning, and resting with a book. 

A small crate sat beside her on the floor with some items that appeared to be another pair of clothes. She was awaiting a decision on bail at the time of the video.

On July 14, she pleaded not guilty to all charges and was denied bail. At the time, she was facing up to 35 years in prison. 

Months later, on December 28, a judge turned down a $28.5million bail package because she posed a flight risk. Her package proposed that she return home with armed guards who would prevent her from escaping. 

At the time, her lawyers said guards were conducting invasive searches of her cell every 15 minutes to make sure she was still alive. 

She was found guilty on December 29, 2021 shrinking her world to the 10ft by 8ft cell she shared with three other inmates at Florida’s Tallahassee Federal CorrectionalInstitution. 

In August of 2025, she was moved again to a ‘cushy’ low-security Bryan prison camp100 miles outside Houston, Texas, amid fears she would be killed. 

Read the full story