Politics
Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell seeks clemency from Trump before testimony
- Maxwell invokes Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate herself.
- Her lawyer says she’ll be ready to speak publicly if given clemency.
- Congress members given access to unredacted Esptein files.
WASHINGTON: Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell refused Monday to answer questions from US lawmakers, but her attorney said she was prepared to speak if granted clemency by US President Donald Trump.
Maxwell, 64, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee to discuss her relations with Epstein.
Rather than answer the committee’s questions, however, the former British socialite invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate herself.
A recording of the deposition released by the committee showed Maxwell speaking via video link, her eyes cast down at the table she was seated at in a Texas prison.
She was asked about her and Epstein’s co-conspirators, whether they surrounded themselves with the rich and famous in order to “curry favour” and avoid scrutiny, and whether Trump ever engaged “in sexual activity with an individual introduced to him by you or Jeffrey Epstein.”
Wearing a drab, beige uniform, Maxwell repeated the phrase “I invoke my Fifth Amendment right to silence” until the committee gave up and called off their questioning early.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, said she would be prepared to speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump.
“If this Committee and the American public truly want to hear the unfiltered truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path,” Markus said in a statement.
Markus also said that Trump and former president Bill Clinton — both of whom were once friendly with Epstein — are “innocent of any wrongdoing.”
“Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation,” he said.
Maxwell is the only person convicted of a crime in connection with Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
She was convicted in 2021 of supplying underage girls to Epstein, who had ties to powerful business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics.
Her deposition comes amid the recent release by the Justice Department of millions of documents related to the government’s investigation into Epstein, many of which have been heavily redacted.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) passed by Congress in November compelled the Justice Department to release all of the records in its possession related to Epstein.
It required the redaction of the names or personal identifying information about Epstein’s victims, who numbered more than 1,000 according to the FBI.
But the EFTA said no records could be “withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
Congressional access to unredacted files
Members of Congress were given access to unredacted versions of the files Monday, though only under strict, in-person visits at secure Justice Department viewing locations.
“I saw the names of lots of people who were redacted for mysterious or baffling or inscrutable reasons,” Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, told reporters, including “people who were enablers and cooperators.”
The Justice Department has said no new prosecutions are expected.
Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican, said he discovered the names of six men whose identities have been redacted from the publicly released documents and who “are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files.”
Massie declined to provide their identities but said one “is pretty high up in a foreign government.”
He also posted on X a sordid 2009 email exchange between Epstein and a redacted sender discussing a “torture video.”
Later, on CNN, Massie said prominent businessman Les Wexner was listed as a “co-conspirator” in a 2019 child sex trafficking case, in a file that had been improperly redacted. Wexner is the billionaire behind women’s retailers and lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret.
The House Oversight Committee has also summoned Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, to testify about their interactions with Epstein.
The Clintons have called for their depositions to be held publicly to prevent Republicans from politicising their testimony.
Trump was once a close friend of Epstein but has not been called to testify by the Republican-controlled committee.
- Over 3,200 events planned across all 50 states of United States.
- Organisers expect more protests in smaller communities this time.
- Protests driven by backlash against Iran conflict, Trump’s policies.
Massive protests against President Donald Trump kicked off Saturday across the United States and beyond, as millions of people vent fury over what they see as his authoritarian bent and other forms of cruel, law-trampling governance.
It is the third time in less than a year that Americans have taken to the streets as part of a grassroots movement called “No Kings,” the most vocal and visual conduit for opposition to Trump since he began his second term in January 2025.
Now they have something new to fume over — the war against Iran that Trump launched alongside Israel, with ever-shifting goals and timelines for completion.
The anti-Trump mood has spilled beyond US borders, with rallies Saturday in European cities including Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome.
US protests began in several cities, including Atlanta, where thousands of people gathered in a park to decry authoritarianism.
One man at the rally held a sign that read “We Are Losing Our Democracy.”
In the Michigan town of West Bloomfield, near Detroit, people braved below-freezing temperatures to protest.
Record numbers expected
The first “No Kings” nationwide protest day came last June on Trump´s 79th birthday and coincided with a military parade he organised in Washington. Several million people turned out, from New York to San Francisco.
The second such protest, in October, drew an estimated seven million protesters, according to organisers.
The goal now is to bring out even more people Saturday, as Trump´s approval rating sinks below 40% and midterm elections loom in November, when Trump´s Republicans could lose control of both chambers of Congress.
Just as Trump is worshipped by many in his “Make America Great Again” movement, he is disliked with equal passion on the other side of America’s wide political chasm.
Foes bemoan his penchant for ruling by executive decree, his use of the Justice Department to prosecute opponents, his apparent obsession with fossil fuels and climate change denial.
They also dislike his gutting of racial and gender diversity programs, and his taste for flexing US military power after campaigning as a man of peace.
“Since the last time we marched, this administration has dragged us deeper into war,” said Naveed Shah of Common Defence, a veterans association connected to the “No Kings” movement.
“At home, we’ve watched citizens killed in the streets by militarised forces. We´ve seen families torn apart and immigrant communities targeted. All of it done in the name of one man trying to rule like a king.”
Springsteen in Minneapolis
Organisers say more than 3,000 rallies are planned, in major cities and in suburbs and rural areas — even in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue, above the Arctic circle.
Minnesota is a key focal point, months after becoming ground zero for the national debate over Trump´s violent immigration crackdown.
Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, a fierce critic of the president, is scheduled to perform his song “Streets of Minneapolis” in the twin city of St. Paul, the capital of the northern state.
Springsteen wrote and recorded the protest ballad in just 24 hours in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens shot dead by federal agents during January protests against Trump´s immigration offensive.
What began in 2025 as a simple day of defiance has mushroomed into a “No Kings” movement of national resistance to Trump.
Organisers say two-thirds of those who plan to rally Saturday do not live in big cities, which in America are often Democratic strongholds — a data point that is up sharply since the last protest.
- Zelenskiy continuing Gulf visit after arriving in Riyadh on Thursday.
- Qatar says Doha, Kyiv have signed defence cooperation agreement.
- UAE, Ukraine earlier agreed to cooperate on security and defence.
Ukraine on Saturday agreed to cooperate on defence with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy travelled to both countries amid escalating tensions in the region.
Qatar’s defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Doha and Kyiv have signed a defence cooperation agreement, which includes the exchange of expertise in countering missiles and unmanned aerial systems.
Zelenskiy had earlier been to the UAE and met President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the two countries agreed to cooperate in the fields of security and defence.
“Our teams will finalise the details,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app with reference to the UAE discussions.
Ukraine, which now has years of experience shooting down Russian drones and missiles, was close to clinching several security agreements to counter Iranian attacks, its foreign minister Andrii Sybiha had told Reuters on Friday.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has killed more than 2,000 people, upended global markets and spurred Iranian retaliatory strikes that have effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz and targeted several countries across the Gulf with missiles and drones.
Zelenskiy had first arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday where the two countries also signed an agreement on defence cooperation.
- After Oli’s arrest, supporters staged protest rallies.
- Oli had resigned after fatal protests last September.
- Police say Oli and Lekhak will be brought to court Sunday.
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s former prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, was arrested on Saturday as police investigate whether he was negligent in failing to prevent dozens of deaths in a crackdown on Gen Z-led anti-corruption protests last September, said officials.
Oli’s arrest, which his lawyer said was illegal and sparked protests by supporters who clashed with police, followed rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s swearing in as prime minister on Friday and a recommendation by a panel investigating violence during the protests that he should be prosecuted for negligence.
His former home minister, Ramesh Lekhak, was also arrested.
76 people were killed last September during a police crackdown and arson and violent unrest during the protests, which led to Oli’s resignation.
After his arrest on Saturday, supporters staged protest rallies and clashed with police who tried to stop them burning tyres near the prime minister’s office. Police lobbed a teargas shell and used batons to break up the protests, injuring one person, witnesses said.
Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) called his arrest illegal and said it was an act of “revenge”. It demanded his immediate release and said more protests were planned for Sunday.
Shankar Pokhrel, a senior party official, told reporters that protest notes against the arrest would be handed to the government in all 77 districts of the country on Sunday.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung dismissed the criticism, saying on Facebook: “It is the beginning of justice. The country will take a new direction now.”
Election defeat
Oli was prime minister four times between 2015 and 2025 but never served a full five-year term. In 2020, he published a new political map including in it a small stretch of disputed land controlled by India, giving him a popularity boost in Nepal.
His popularity did not last, and he was beaten by Shah in his home constituency in an election this month, his second defeat since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990. Anger over the deaths in September’s protests helped Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party win the election by a landslide.
The panel investigating last September’s violence held Oli and Lekhak responsible for not taking any action to stop hours of firing on the protesters by police.
Police spokesperson Om Adhikari said Oli and Lekhak would be brought to court on Sunday.
Oli, 74, who has had two kidney transplants, has been transferred to a hospital from the police office where he was first taken, witnesses said.
His lawyer, Tikaram Bhattarai, told Reuters that the arrest was unwarranted and would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
“They have said it (the arrest) is for investigation. It is illegal and improper because there is no risk of him fleeing or avoiding questioning,” he said.
Lekhak and his lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
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