The House Oversight Committee indefinitely postponed the congressional deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted accomplice of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, citing a pending Supreme Court petition in her criminal case.
In a letter sent Friday, Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) agreed to delay Maxwell’s previously planned Aug. 11 deposition following a request from her attorneys, who argued that testimony should not proceed until the high court rules on her appeal. That decision isn’t expected until just before the Supreme Court begins its next term in October, during its annual Sept. 29 conference.
“Your testimony is vital to the Committee’s efforts regarding Mr. Jeffrey Epstein, including the 2007 non-prosecution agreement and the circumstances surrounding Mr. Epstein’s death,” Comer wrote, but said the committee would wait for the justices to weigh in.
The move comes just days after Maxwell’s attorneys submitted a list of demands in exchange for her cooperation, including congressional immunity, an advance look at questions, and a relocation of the interview outside of prison. Comer flatly rejected these requests.
In his response Friday, Comer said the committee was “willing to continue to engage in good faith negotiations,” but denied immunity and declined to provide her legal team with questions in advance.
Maxwell, who was transferred this week to the minimum security Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas without explanation by the government, is appealing her 2021 sex trafficking conviction on the basis that it was barred by Epstein’s earlier plea deal in the 2000s.
She was previously housed in a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, and is serving a 20-year sentence on charges such as conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts and sex trafficking conspiracy.
Maxwell’s team has petitioned the Supreme Court to resolve what they say is a circuit split on whether Epstein’s nonprosecution agreement extended to her, an argument the Justice Department has said does not pass legal muster, and one it has urged the high court to reject.
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The Supreme Court convenes annually for its “long conference” ahead of the start of its October term, during which it weighs whether to add additional cases to its docket for the upcoming term, routinely denying thousands of petitions in the process.
In order to grant certiorari, or review on the merits of Maxwell’s request, it would take a vote of four or more justices.