President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is seeking to meet with Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for child sex trafficking — but lawmakers are also pushing to interview her themselves.
Republican Rep. Tim Burchett introduced a motion Tuesday in the House Oversight Committee to subpoena Maxwell for deposition, a motion the panel adopted.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of child sex trafficking, among other crimes. Burchett told NOTUS he wants to hear from her because the information she could share may help bring justice for victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking. Democrats and some Republicans are pushing the Trump administration for more information about Epstein’s activities and associates after the Justice Department said earlier this month it found no “incriminating client list” or “credible evidence” that Epstein blackmailed powerful people.
“We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” the Justice Department memo reads.
That conclusion — and Trump’s attempts to knock Epstein out of the news cycle — have enraged much of his base.
“Bring her in. Let’s hear it,” Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has introduced legislation to force the Justice Department to release files related to Epstein, said of Burchett’s motion on Tuesday.
It’s not clear if Maxwell would appear in a public hearing or behind closed doors for a longer deposition. Massie said he can see benefits to both approaches. Private committee depositions are “a long format where you’re there for hours, and you have real practicing attorneys who can help you go through a series of questions,” he told NOTUS. “So it’s somewhat more constructive in the sense that it’s a longer attention span.”
“But there is something to be said for 40 or 60 members of Congress getting five minutes each,” Massie added. “There’s a competition to ask the questions that the constituents want to hear, and so it’s sort of a marketplace of questions in those public hearings.”
When asked if lawmakers would be able to believe anything Maxwell says after being convicted of child sex trafficking, Massie said he brings skepticism to all testimony.
“How do you trust anybody?” he said.
Depending on scheduling, hearing from Maxwell in a closed deposition over the August recess could provide some information while Massie runs out the clock on a procedural tool to force a vote on releasing documents. He’s teed up a discharge petition for a measure demanding the government provide any files related to Epstein, but that won’t ripen until Friday — and House GOP leaders are planning to send the chamber home for August recess early on Wednesday, forcing Massie to wait until after the August recess to compel floor action on the bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday explained the schedule change by saying Republicans are “done being lectured about transparency” by Democrats. Johnson also questioned Massie’s strategy. “Bless his heart,” Johnson said.
Massie said he expects to only gain more support from his colleagues over the break to force release of the documents. The legislation, introduced alongside Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, is formatted as a resolution tucked inside a bill, which would give it the force of law.
The measure would have to pass the Senate and receive Trump’s signature. Lawmakers could override any potential presidential veto if they have a two-thirds majority in support of the measure, which Massie told NOTUS he believes he can get.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, said she also wants more transparency. She praised the Justice Department’s effort to talk to Maxwell: “That’s the right thing to do,” Greene told reporters Tuesday morning.
“Can we trust what she says? Now, that’s another question,” she said. “She may be bartering for something. I mean, who knows?”
Greene said she doesn’t expect the furor from Trump’s supporters who want to see the files to ease up over the August recess. The calls coming into her office in recent weeks have been “almost 100% Epstein,” she said, and “they are demanding transparency.”
“You can ask my colleagues,” Greene said. “They are getting beaten up at home in their districts.”
Johnson is considering a nonbinding resolution asking for “all credible evidence” to be released instead, saying Tuesday he wants to make sure the documents protect the privacy of victims.
Massie on Tuesday scoffed at that approach.
“Everybody here inside the Beltway knows that’s just a make-a-wish resolution, and the only way you could really force this is with a law, which is the approach I’m taking,” Massie told reporters. “But I think the American people have a long enough attention span on this issue that they’re going to figure that out as well. And it could blow up in their face to put a fake resolution on the floor.”