Maxwell refuses questions in US Congress and seeks Trump pardon to testify

By Lucy Davalou
Feb 10, 2026

Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell refused to answer questions from US lawmakers on Monday in connection with new Epstein investigations, while her attorney asked US President Trump for clemency.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate and former girlfriend of late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, refused to answer questions from the US House Oversight Committee during a deposition on Monday.

However, Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence at a federal prison camp in Texas for sex trafficking, said that if she were pardoned by US President Donald Trump, she would be willing to testify that neither Trump nor former President Bill Clinton had done anything wrong in their connections with Epstein.

In a video released by the committee, Maxwell can be seen being questioned during a video call, during which she pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering the questions.

Lawmakers are searching for any individuals who could be connected to Epstein and who facilitated the abuse. It is known that in the 1990s and early 2000s both Clinton and Trump, who are mentioned more than 1,000 times in the recently released documents, spent time with Epstein.

Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, told the committee in a statement that “Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”

Markus added that Trump and Clinton “are innocent of any wrongdoing,” but that only “Ms Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.”

‘No clemency’

Meanwhile, both Republicans and Democrats pushed back against Maxwell’s plea to have her prison sentence ended. New Mexico Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury said, “It’s very clear she’s campaigning for clemency.”