‘Who is she protecting?’: Rep. Mace blasts Ghislaine Maxwell after deposition

WASHINGTON (WCIV) — U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace said Monday that no one is above the law after Ghislaine Maxwell declined to answer questions during a deposition, invoking her Fifth Amendment rights.

Maxwell – under renewed scrutiny – was questioned during a video call from the federal prison camp in Texas, where she’s serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. And Mace, a member of the House Oversight Committee, sought answers as to why she is still refusing to provide lawmakers with more information surrounding Jeffrey Epstein.

“Today was Ghislaine Maxwell’s opportunity to answer the questions the American people deserve answered. She refused,” Mace said in a statement. “She’s shielding powerful people who participated in Jeffrey Epstein’s network of child abuse and predators. She would rather stay silent than expose the predators she enabled, and she’s made it clear that protecting the guilty matters more to her than giving victims the truth they deserve.”

READ MORE | “Rep. Mace demands Bill Gates testify under oath on alleged ties to Epstein.”

The deposition came on the same day that the Department of Justice began allowing members of Congress to review unredacted files related to the Epstein files, according to reporting from The Associated Press.

Mace plans to visit the Department of Justice this week to see some of the unredacted files involving the individuals Epstein was in communication with, she said while speaking to Newsmax. She is also looking for additional material surrounding Bill Gates’ relationship with Epstein.

The lawmaker has recently called on Gates to testify before the Oversight Committee.

“I want that list of names,” Mace said. “I want to see the individuals we think are potential predators. And then I want to figure out who covered it up.”

Maxwell has faced added pressure as lawmakers try to investigate how Epstein, a well-connected financier, was able to sexually abuse underage girls for years.

An attorney for Maxwell told lawmakers that she would be willing to testify that neither President Donald Trump nor former President Bill Clinton were culpable for wrongdoing in their relationships with Epstein, according to both Democratic and Republican lawmakers who exited a closed-door deposition with Maxwell.

Democrats argued that Maxwell’s assertion was an appeal to Trump to end her prison sentence.

“It’s very clear she’s campaigning for clemency,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat.

Maxwell has been seeking to have her conviction overturned, arguing that she was wrongfully convicted.

The release of a portion of the Epstein files has brought down figures in Europe, while the fallout remains far quieter in the United States.

Former U.K. Ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson was fired and could go to prison. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a leadership crisis over the Mandelson appointment.

Senior figures have fallen in Norway, Sweden and Slovakia. Before the latest batch of files, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III, lost his honors, princely title and taxpayer-funded mansion.

“The days of cover-ups are over,” Mace said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.