Political analysts and observers may have left this week’s Congressional deposition of Jeffrey Epstein’saccomplice Ghislaine Maxwell wanting more, but Congress still has a trick up its sleeve to make Maxwell sing, according to one lawyer.
Maxwell appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Monday for a closed-door deposition, where she invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Ahead of the hearing, Maxwell claimed that she was willing to clear President Donald Trump’s name in exchange for clemency, an offer that the president has so far resisted.
Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor, said during an interview on “The Illegal News”podcast with Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, that Congress could leverage Maxwell’s assertion of the Fifth Amendment to secure her testimony.
“The way it works is even though she has a Fifth Amendment, the way that you can get around that, it’s not really get around it, is that you can sort of solve for that, is to say, ‘You’re now given immunity, meaning that everything you say cannot be used to prosecute you,’” Weissmann said.
Accepting an immunity offer could force Maxwell to testify, and would make it more legally perilous for her if she lies.
“If she then just refuses after [questions] being given immunity, just to be clear, that is contempt and that is a separate crime and the punishment for that is consecutive to any crime that you’re any any time that you’re doing,” Weissmann said.
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