As the fallout from the Department of Justice and FBI’s handling of the so-called Epstein Files continues, Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, is back in the spotlight.
Maxwell – who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty by a federal jury in 2021 of trafficking a minor to Epstein for sexual abuse – met with DOJ officials in Tallahassee, Florida, last week, and the former socialite has since been subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee to testify on what she knows about the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019.
But Maxwell is apparently not willing to sit for the deposition without a list of preconditions being met. On Wednesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Walter Kirn, editor of County Highway, to discuss the demands and why Maxwell is not a reliable source.
Maxwell’s Demands
In a July 29 letter from her attorney David Markus to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), Maxwell expressed willingness to sit for a deposition – but not without first securing immunity, among other demands.
“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. “
[W]e would like to find a way to cooperate with Congress if a fair and safe path forward can be established.”
Maxwell was reportedly granted a limited form of immunity from the DOJ prior to her sit-downs with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on July 24 and 25, and Markus asked Comer to not depose her until after the Supreme Court has weighed in on her appeal and a separate court appeal she is planning has been resolved. The chairman had previously scheduled a deposition for August 11 at the federal correctional facility in Tallahassee where she is serving out her sentence.
Additionally, the letter requested the House committee provide its questions in advance, so she can prepare and identify documents that could corroborate her answers. If these conditions are not met, Markus said Maxwell “will have no choice but to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.”
But the letter did offer an alternative solution: A pardon or commutation from President Donald Trump. “If Ms Maxwell were to receive clemency, she would be willing and eager to testify openly and honestly in public before Congress,” Markus wrote.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Oversight Committee said it will “respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.”
Credibility Issues
Megyn called the situation “annoying,” and said Maxwell appears to be drunk on her own power. “This woman is a convicted sex trafficker and sex abuser herself,” she noted. “Yet she is sitting in there like she is some queen bee now.”
Whether she is given questions in advance or not, Megyn does not believe the testimony can be trusted. “She is in prison for 20 years – she is going to say whatever the hell she thinks she needs to to get a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card,” she said. “I think Trump and everyone else should tell this woman to pound sand, to go back into prison and to rot in hell.”
In Kirn’s view, Maxwell has the upper hand due to the interest in the case. “Here’s the problem: We’ve started a mania in this country of wanting to know everything about Epstein. Well, who knows more than she,” he asked. “Even if she lies, it’s a response to this great… appetite that has been stimulated. She is seeing her moment of advantage.”
“The problem is it’s always the guilty who know the most about the crime,” Kirn added. “And pushing her back into… her cell down in Florida instead of giving her a field trip to Washington, or however it was going to be done, does satisfy this desire for justice. But now we’ve got this desire for details, and maybe they are in conflict.”
Where Things Stand
Given that a judge has barred the release of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury testimony the Trump administration asked to be released, Megyn said there is not much in the way of progress on Epstein.
“We are not really pursuing any real avenues right now of disclosure because Ghislaine Maxwell’s testimony, even if they get it, is not trustworthy… at this point in the game and the grand jury has always been a red herring,” she concluded. “So, that’s where we are on Epstein, for better or for worse.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,119 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.