House Epstein probe amps up amid document reviews, depositions

Ghislaine Maxwell in New York in 2013. Maxwell appeared virtually for a scheduled deposition before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform but then invoked her Fifth Amendment constitutional right not to incriminate herself in testimony.

• House lawmakers push for more info on Epstein probe, hint at new prosecutions
• Six unnamed men may face criminal charges, say Massie and Khanna
• Maxwell invoked her Fifth Amendment rights, refusing to answer questions.

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Key House lawmakers on Monday pushed for more information on the sex-trafficking probe of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and raised the prospect of new criminal prosecutions.

Speaking outside a Justice Department office after reviewing unredacted files in the Epstein inquiry, Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna said they believed there are six men whose names have not been revealed who could face criminal charges.

Massie said he’s willing to give Attorney General Pam Bondi more time to make their names public but signaled that he would list the names on the House floor if necessary.

“We want those things published,” Massie said.

The Justice Department has released about 3.5 million pages of emails, flight logs, photographs, videos and other documents in response to a law enacted last year.

The latest tranche of documents revealed even more details about the extent of Epstein’s network with influential business figures and financial institutions. Many of the documents released publicly are heavily redacted, but the Justice Department is allowing members of Congress to review uncensored files.

“There are very powerful people who raped these underage girls,” Khanna said. “And what we want to do is have the investigation get to those people, to answer those questions.”

Earlier in the day, Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted accomplice of Epstein refused to answer any questions from a House panel investigating the disgraced financier’s activities.

Maxwell appeared virtually for a scheduled deposition but then invoked her Fifth Amendment constitutional right not to incriminate herself in testimony, said James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The panel has been investigating Epstein and what role the financier’s broad network of connections may have played in facilitating his enterprise or delaying criminal prosecution.

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of recruiting girls for sexual abuse and participating in some of the assaults. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.

“She answered no questions and provided no information about the men who raped and trafficked women and girls,” said Representative Robert Garcia, the panel’s top-ranking Democrat. “Who is she protecting?”

Billionaire retail tycoon Les Wexner will testify on Feb. 18, Comer said.

Epstein was a long-time money manager for Wexner. An assistant US attorney in Miami personally contacted Wexner as part of a money laundering probe into Epstein in 2007, Bloomberg reported. The billionaire cut ties with Epstein shortly thereafter and later accused the financier of deception and misappropriating “vast sums of money from me and my family.”

Khanna said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of King Charles, should also appear before the committee to answer questions about his activities with Epstein.

After a heated back and forth with the committee over their testimonies, former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will appear before lawmakers on Feb. 26 and 27, the panel confirmed Tuesday.

Testimony by a former president to a congressional body is almost unheard of. Epstein died in prison in August 2019.