Ghislaine Maxwell's bombshell televised testimony on Epstein's crimes indefinitely postponed
Maxwell, the longtime friend of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is currently serving a 20-year-sentence for sex trafficking and has been in talks with the Trump administration and Congress about dishing on the disgraced financier and his relationships.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced last week that Maxwell was set to testify before the panel on August 11 at the Tallahassee facility where she is serving her prison sentence.
But now he says that planned sit-down interview is no longer happening.
Comer said in a letter he would agree to delay their meeting so that Maxwell's pending Supreme Court petition regarding her case could move forward unswayed by her testimony to the oversight panel.
'On July 30, the U.S. Supreme Court noticed that your petition for writ of certiorari will be considered at its conference on September 29. In light of this notice, the Committee is willing to delay your deposition until a date following the Court's certiorari determination,' he wrote.
The Supreme Court's new term begins in October.
'Your testimony is vital to the Committee's efforts regarding Mr. Jeffrey Epstein, including the 2007 non-prosecution agreement and the circumstances surrounding Mr. Epstein's death,' the chairman wrote to Maxwell.
Just days before, Comer denied the imprisoned woman's request for immunity should she speak to Congress.
'The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell's attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,' a spokesperson for the panel told the Daily Mail this week.
The letter from Maxwell attorney David Markus to the committee - which was obtained by the Daily Mail - contains a list of conditions for her to testify, including immunity.
'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,' the letter states.
'Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity. Nor is a prison setting conducive to eliciting truthful and complete testimony. The potential for leaks from such a setting creates real security risks and undermines the integrity of the process.'
Markus further requested that the committee provide Maxwell with their questions in advance of their sit-down.
He also asked to push their meeting until after Maxwell's pending case before the Supreme Court in which she's alleging wrongful legal treatment and until after a subsequent secondary challenge so that her testimony does not sway those cases.
Maxwell may want to talk, according to a source who told the Daily Mail last week 'she would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story.'
But there were always going to be strings attached to testimony from such a notorious target.
The rush to hear from Epstein's protege comes as some lawmakers have raised concern about her protection.
'I requested that she be placed immediately into protective custody and monitored - by guards as well as working surveillance equipment - around the clock, so that our justice system does not again fail the survivors of this Epstein nightmare,' Republican Rep. Scott Perry posted on X.
Trump's closest allies and rank-and-file members - including House Oversight Chairman James Comer, Anna Paulina Luna, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene - backed the subpoena for Maxwell.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has met multiple times with Maxwell at the behest of Trump to discuss what she knows about the Epstein files.
Blanche offered Maxwell a limited form of immunity during her two days of questioning over former lover and billionaire pedophile Epstein last week.
She apparently requested what's known as 'proffer immunity' so that anything she revealed couldn't be used against her at a later date.
This form of immunity is specifically provided to people under investigation or facing charges to determine the value of a possible witness. Maxwell has already been tried and convicted.
However, Maxwell's lawyer David Oscar Markus said after her questioning: 'There have been no asks and no promises.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Deputy rescues alligator from backyard pool with bare hands: ‘Florida grown at its finest!'
A sheriff's deputy rescued an alligator from a backyard pool with his bare hands, impressing onlookers who called him, ' Florida grown at its finest!' Just over a week ago, on July 25, Deputy Nathan Richardson from St. Johns County Sheriff's Office kicked out an 'unexpected guest' lounging in the pool of a St. Augustine home. Police body camera video showed Richardson using a pool skimmer to guide the small gator to the edge of the pool before he grabbed it by the neck. The gator thrashed in the water before getting picked up and even managed to escape and tried to make a run for it on the deck before Richardson grabbed it again a few seconds later. 'I gotcha. You're fine,' the deputy reassured the hissing gator. 'I know. You're super mad.' As Richardson picked the gator up, one hand on its neck and the other holding its tail, the group of people at the house can be heard saying, 'You go' and 'Wow.' One of the onlookers joked, 'Obviously, you grew up here.' And it's true. The sheriff's office confirmed to The Independent Richardson is a Florida native. Upon leaving the home, someone can be heard saying, 'Florida grown at its finest!' Richardson is then filmed holding the gator by its tail while opening his patrol car to load it into the back seat. For extra safety, the deputy buckled the gator into its seat. Luckily for the gator, its trespassing adventure did not result in a ride to the station but to a nearby pond. 'The alligator wasn't happy its pool time was over, or about the ride in the patrol car, but it was buckled in and safely relocated to a nearby pond by Deputy Richardson,' the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post. This wasn't Richardson's first encounter with a gator, the sheriff's office told The Independent, although they weren't sure how many he had caught before. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says massive human population growth in the state, paired with a demand for waterfront homes and increasingly popular water-related activities, can cause more frequent human interactions with alligators. The commission advises people to never feed the gators and to keep their distance if they see one. People should also only swim in designated swimming areas during the day and keep their pets on a leash and away from the water.
Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Teacher pleads guilty to years-long sex abuse of 13-year-old schoolgirl
An Ohio teacher has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing one of her former students, beginning when the girl was just 13 years old. Stefanie Erin Kellenberger, 40, admitted guilt on Friday to four counts of third-degree felony sexual battery and 17 counts of third-degree felony unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, the Mansfield News Journal reports. The former Shelby Middle School English teacher now faces up to 15 years imprisonment at her sentencing on October 6 - just one day before her 41st birthday. Prosecutors say she began grooming the victim when she was 13 years old, and the sexual contact started the following year, after the girl turned 14. It then continued 'until the age of consent,' which is 16 in the state, Bryan Dove, assistant prosecutor for Richland County claimed. The crimes all occurred at Kellenberger's home in Shelby from February 2020 through October 2021. 'You had been a teacher. She had been a student,' Richland County Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson told the former sixth-grade teacher. 'But at the time these occurred, you were not her teacher and she was not your student.' In court, Kellenberger's attorney also argued that 'consent was never an issue in this case' and Dove noted that there was 'no use of force' involved. Stefanie Erin Kellenberger, 40, a former English teacher at Shelby Middle School in Ohio, has pleaded guilty to four counts of third-degree felony sexual battery and 17 counts of third-degree felony unlawful sexual conduct with a minor Kellenberger was placed on paid administrative leave from Shelby City Schools in February 2024, after Superintendent Michael Browning said he received a call from the Mansfield Police Department that 'allegations were made' against the teacher. She was then officially indicted on the criminal charges in September 2024, and resigned from Shelby City Schools the following month. As the case against her progressed, the victim in the case recommended Kellenberger spend three years behind bars. But Judge Robinson said he did not support such a short sentence, and prosecutors came up with two different options - either she serve a 12-year flat prison sentence or 15 years with the possibility of judicial release after 10 years. Kellenberger opted for the latter option, and Dove said the victim is now 'relieved to not have to testify. 'That's why we entered into this agreement with the defendant,' he explained. Kellenberger will now be subject to fie years post-release control and must register with the county sheriff as a Tier 3 sex offender every 90 days for the rest of her life. She also agreed to avoid all future contact with her victim and to forever forfeit her teaching license in exchange for the possibility of being released after 10 years of good behavior. In the meantime, Kellenberger is to remain under electronic monitoring until her sentence. She may not have any contact with minors at the time and is to avoid any further criminal conduct.
Reuters
28 minutes ago
- Reuters
Indian equity benchmarks open muted as investors assess Trump's tariff threat
Aug 5 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks opened little changed on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his threat of harsh tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases. The Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab fell 0.01% to 24,720.25 points and the BSE Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab lost 0.09% to 80,946.43 as of 9:15 a.m. IST. Trump on Monday threatened to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases, while New Delhi called his attack "unjustified" and vowed to protect its economic interests, deepening the trade rift between the two countries. Analysts said the ongoing trade rift has hit the market sentiment, and expect the benchmarks to be rangebound until there is clarity over U.S. tariffs. Nine of the 16 major sectors logged gains at the open. The broader smallcaps (.NIFSMCP100), opens new tab and midcaps (.NIFMDCP100), opens new tab were flat.
