A House committee is unlikely to interview Ghislaine Maxwell after her lawyer said she would not answer questions

WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee has halted plans to impeach Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender, co-conspirator and confidant of Jeffrey Epstein, after Maxwell told the committee she plans to plead the fifth.

The committee intended to travel to Texas, where Maxwell is being held in a federal prison camp, to conduct the interview. But in an interview with Politico, committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said he was rethinking those plans because of Maxwell’s decision not to answer any of the committee’s questions.

“Her lawyers responded that she would not answer any questions.” Comer told Politico. “She’s only going to plead for the Fifth. I mean, I could spend a bunch of taxpayer money sending staff and members there, and if she’s going to plead for the Fifth, I don’t know that that’s a good investment.”

A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee confirmed the president’s comments to NBC News.

Comer said the committee would not accept Maxwell’s request after she said she would only answer questions if she was granted immunity and the questions were given in advance. She also said she would not answer questions until the appeals in her case are resolved.

NBC News has reached out to Maxwell’s attorney for comment on Comer’s statements.

Separately, Coomer told NBC News on Friday that his committee was still working to impeach former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, accusing them of giving Republicans “a way around it.”

Comer said he just wanted to know what they might know about Epstein and his crimes.

He added: “I do not accuse them of any wrongdoing…but Trump answered a large number of questions on this subject, and we never heard from Clinton.”

Maxwell has already been interviewed by Deputy District Attorney Todd Blanche Over two days in July. The Justice Department released a full transcript of that interview the following month.

The Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to Maxwell seeking her testimony in July. The subpoena and Blanche’s interview came as the Trump administration faced unusual scrutiny from its base over its handling of the files in the Epstein case.

The pressure did not subside. Congress voted almost unanimously this week to force the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law after previously opposing it.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking charges for recruiting and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Epstein died by suicide, while in prison awaiting trial, in 2019.

Days after her interview with Blanche, Maxwell was transferred to a less restrictive women-only prison. As NBC News reported this month, she told friends and family in emails that she was “happier” in the new facility, and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said a whistleblower provided evidence that she received preferential treatment there.

The whistleblower also said that Maxwell is in the process of asking Trump to commute the remainder of her sentence. The White House said it “does not comment on potential clemency requests,” noting that Trump has said several times that he is not considering pardoning Maxwell.