Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, on Wednesday issued a subpoena for Ghislaine Maxwell to appear for a deposition next month, the latest development in an ongoing saga currently roiling Washington.
The subpoena calls for the deposition to occur on Aug. 11 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida, where Maxwell is serving out her 20-year sentence for her role in child sex trafficking.
“The facts and circumstances surrounding both your and Mr. Epstein’s cases have received immense public interest and scrutiny,” the subpoena cover letter reads. “It is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of you and Mr. Epstein.”
Comer said 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 nonprosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.”
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Following the subpoena, Maxwell attorney David Oscar Markus told CNN she “is taking this one step at a time. She looks forward to her meeting with the Department of Justice, and that discussion will help inform how she proceeds.”
Maxwell is slated to meet with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche “in the coming days.”
Not everyone in Capitol Hill is sold on the effort to consult with Maxwell, however. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters before Comer issued his subpoena that he was wary of a convicted sex trafficker testifying before Congress.
“If they see fit to bring in Ghislaine Maxwell for testimony, that’s fine,” Johnson said, as reported by CBS News. “I will note the obvious concern ... Could she be counted on to tell the truth? Is she a credible witness? I mean, this is a person who’s been sentenced to many, many years in prison for terrible, unspeakable, conspiratorial acts and acts against innocent young people.”
The tension over the release of Epstein-related documents escalated this month when Attorney General Pam Bondi said no further information on Epstein would be released.
It was a major change of tune from Bondi, who previously said she was reviewing Epstein’s “client list.” The turnaround immediately triggered an uproar from some of Trump’s most faithful supporters online, resulting in a series of posts from the president denouncing the saga as a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats and attacking those speaking out against his administration’s handling of the case.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
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