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Washington — , who was convicted of , is willing to provide information to a congressional committee next month during a deposition but only if she is granted immunity or is pardoned, according to a letter from her attorney obtained by TheNews.
Last week, the GOP-led , who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, to sit for a deposition as fallout over the Trump administration's handling of the case continues to intensify. A deposition was scheduled for Aug. 11 at a federal prison in Tallahassee, where Maxwell is serving her sentence.
However, in a letter Tuesday addressed to House Oversight chairman Rep. James Comer, Maxwell's attorney David Markus said she is willing to sit before the committee but only after certain legal appeals are finalized or his client is granted clemency or a pardon by President Trump.
"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.
Markus wrote that any questions to Maxwell would have to be given to her in advance to "ensure accuracy and fairness," and that conducting the deposition in prison would create "security risks and undermines the integrity of the process."
Maxwell was for her role in helping Epstein recruit, groom and abuse underage girls. She is . Epstein died in federal custody in 2019 as he faced sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
Markus wrote that because Maxwell's ongoing appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction and other legal issues are currently pending, "any testimony she provides now could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool."
However, Markus wrote, if President Trump were to pardon Maxwell or commute her sentence, "she would be willing—and eager—to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C."
If those conditions are not agreed to, Markus wrote, Maxwell "will have no choice but to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights."
A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee said in a statement that the committee will respond to Markus' letter "soon," but said it "will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony."
In a informing her of the subpoena, Comer wrote that the committee is seeking Maxwell's testimony "to inform the consideration of potential legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations."
Todd Blanche, the second highest-ranking Justice Department official, on July 24 and 25 to discuss Epstein.
After the questioning had ended, Markus declined to comment "on the substance" of the meeting, but told reporters outside the office that "there were a lot of questions and we went all day."
Neither President Trump nor Markus have ruled out the possibility of a pardon for Maxwell, but on Monday Mr. Trump said he is "allowed" to pardon Maxwell but that nobody has asked him to issue one, yet.
Separately, Mr. Trump told reporters Tuesday he cut ties with Epstein in the early 2000s because the financier "stole" employees from his business — from a day earlier.
The president said the workers in question were young women who worked in the spa at Mar-A-Lago. Asked whether Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre was one of the employees, Mr. Trump said, "I think that was one of the people."
Giuffre has that she was a 16-year-old employee at Mar-A-Lago when Maxwell first met her and "recruited" her "into Epstein's sex trafficking activities." Giuffre — who — was among the most prominent people to accuse Epstein of sexual abuse. Mr. Trump noted Tuesday that Giuffre "had no complaints about us."
Mr. Trump was friends with Epstein for years before their relationship ended in the 2000s. In the past, the White House has said the president "kicked [Epstein] out of his club for being a creep." Asked Tuesday about whether Epstein was cut off for being a "creep" or for stealing employees, Mr. Trump said, "maybe they're the same thing."
"He took people. And because he took people, I said, 'Don't do it anymore, you know, they work for me,'" Mr. Trump said Tuesday, while flying back to the U.S. on Air Force One after a trip to Scotland. "Beyond that, he took some others. And once he did that, that was the end of him."
