Maxwell Pleads the Fifth, Angles for Clemency from Trump

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Ghislaine Maxwell on Monday refused to answer lawmakers’ questions about the crimes she and Jeffrey Epstein committed and who else was involved. According to her lawyer, she would reveal that information if Donald Trump were to let her walk free.

“If this committee and the American public truly want to hear the unfiltered truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path,” said her attorney David Oscar Marcus. “Ms. Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump. Only she can provide the complete account. Some may not like what they hear, but the truth matters.”

Of course, there is very little evidence that Maxwell is interested in the truth; she just wants to get out of the 20-year sentence she was given for her involvement in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

And to make that happen, she appears to be willing to say anything.

For example, last year, after telling Trump’s former lawyer and current Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche what he wanted to hear, she was transferred to a minimum-security prison not usually available to someone who committed her crimes.

That led Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), one of the driving forces behind the congressional action that forced the disclosure of the most recent Epstein files, to wonder out loud on Monday why she didn’t plead the Fifth when she met with Blanche. The answer, of course, is that she was able to get something in return for talking in that case.

Now, she hopes to get an even better deal.

To make a commutation more palatable to the president, who used to be friends with Epstein and has often shown a soft spot for Maxwell, her attorney declared that both Trump and former President Bill Clinton “are innocent of any wrongdoing.”

While that may convince the president to pardon her, neither Democratic nor Republican lawmakers were persuaded.

“I don’t think she should be granted any type of clemency or immunity,” said Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the chairman of the Oversight Committee.

Democrats went further and tried to tie the president — who acts bizarrely whenever the topic of Epstein comes up, calls the entire matter a “hoax,” and seems to have no interest in full disclosure — to the crimes of his old pal… or at least their cover up.

Noting that Maxwell refused to answer questions that might help get to the bottom of who raped and trafficked young girls, the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia (CA), wondered whom Maxwell is protecting.

He added that “we need to know why she’s been given special treatment at a low security prison by the Trump Administration” and vowed to “end this White House cover-up.”

Meanwhile, Khanna said Maxwell’s unwillingness to testify should book her a return trip to her previous prison.

“Here is my conclusion after sitting through Maxwell’s deposition with her refusing to answer a single question about the men who raped underage girls, saying she would only do so for clemency,” Khanna said. “She must immediately be sent back to the maximum-security prison where she belongs.”