An attorney for Ghislaine Maxwell said she would only speak with the House Oversight Committee if she’s granted immunity.
The committee, which subpoenaed for Maxwell for testimony about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, denied the demand from Maxwell’s attorney.
“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,” committee spokesperson Jessica Collins said in a statement.
Maxwell has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn her sex trafficking conviction. Her attorney, David Oscar Markus, argued her testimony could jeopardize that effort.
“Any testimony she provides now could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool,” Markus wrote.
“Public reports—including your own statements—indicate that the Committee intends to question Ms. Maxwell in prison and without a grant of immunity,” he added. “Those are non-starters. Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity.”
Democrats are seeking new ways to keep the pressure on the Trump administration for more details on the Epstein case.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday called for the FBI to conduct a risk assessment to determine whether foreign countries might have intelligence linking Trump and Epstein that could be used as blackmail.
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is demanding the Justice Department (DOJ) turn over all recordings, transcripts and notes from its interview last week with Maxwell.
Vice President Vance dismissed those demanding more transparency.
“We’re not shielding anything,” Vance said at a press conference in Ohio to promote the Trump agenda bill. “He’s been incredibly transparent about that stuff, but some of that stuff takes time.”
MEANWHILE…
The Trump administration is ramping up its investigations into elite universities over antisemitism and hiring practices.
• The Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services opened an investigation into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal for allegedly using race-based discrimination to pick law journal members.
The Hill’s Lexi Lonas reports: “The departments want Duke to review and reform these policies, make ‘necessary’ personnel changes and give assurances to the government the university is following its new standards.”
• The University of California, Los Angeles, agreed to pay more than $6 million in a consent agreement after Jewish faculty and students brought an antisemitism lawsuit against the school over its handling of pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations.
• The DOJ’s investigation at George Mason University over its diversity programs has expanded to include individual members of faculty after professors published a resolution supporting the university’s diversity efforts.
According to The New York Times: “In a letter sent on Friday, the Trump administration said it would seek drafts of the faculty resolution, all written communications among the Faculty Senate members who drafted the resolution, and all communications between those faculty members and the office of the university’s president, Gregory Washington.”
The Times also reports that Harvard is open to spending up to $500 million to resolve its myriad disputes with the Trump administration.
ELSEWHERE…
• Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he will overhaul the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which compensates people who suffer adverse reactions from vaccines.
• The Environmental Protection Agency will propose to repeal its landmark 2009 finding that greenhouse gases pose a threat to the public, which has been used as the legal justification for climate regulations.
