Congressional staffers for the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee traveled to Texas on Tuesday to tour the minimum-security prison camp where convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell is incarcerated.
In a joint statement released late Tuesday, Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Robert Garcia (D-CA), the ranking members of the Judiciary and oversight committees, respectively, said the staffers met with Bureau of Prisons officials to discuss Maxwell’s “unprecedented transfer and VIP treatment.” They were unsatisfied with the answers.
“While the Camp Bryan staff provided an extensive tour of the grounds and programming of the facility, Bureau of Prisons leadership repeatedly shut down our lines of questioning or could not provide basic information about our central concerns, including Ms. Maxwell’s extraordinary treatment, allegations of sexual assault at the facility, and retaliation against inmates who tried to blow the whistle,” the congressmen said. “We also have serious concerns about the accuracy and veracity of information received by our investigative staff.”
The visit reportedly lasted about three hours, with Republican and Democratic committee staff touring the facility for two hours and questioning the warden and other prison leaders for the last hour.
The warden confirmed Maxwell was the only convicted sex offender out of roughly 600 inmates at the all-female Bryan prison, which Garcia told CNN was previously unknown. Garcia also recounted that the warden said prison officials do not know why Maxwell was moved there in the first place.
Maxwell, the co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, was transferred from a federal prison in Florida to the minimum-security prison in Texas last year after she discussed the Epstein case with then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on the condition that she was given limited immunity. The prison transfer fueled House Democrats’ suspicions that Maxwell received preferential treatment at the prison camp, which was confirmed by whistleblowers at the facility.
Garcia described the prison scenery, including fountains, trees, and ample room for inmates to walk around the grounds.
“All of the staff came back with the same conclusion, which is that this is a park-like campus and Ghislaine Maxwell should not be there,” he said on CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront.
The House oversight committee ranking member also revealed that the congressional staffers were not granted access to Maxwell for questioning.
“The American people are tired of seeing the Trump Administration pamper a sex trafficker and obstruct Congress’s investigation into Attorney General Blanche’s role in ensuring Ms. Maxwell remains comfortable and quiet,” Raskin and Garcia said.
The House Democrats’ investigation, which started last fall, remains ongoing.
Democrats have been especially interested in Maxwell and Epstein, given their past ties to President Donald Trump. During her interview with the Justice Department, Maxwell told Blanche she never saw Trump in any inappropriate situation with Epstein. Trump ended his friendship with Epstein years before the disgraced financier’s death in August 2019.