The House Oversight Committee has released a video of Ghislaine Maxwell repeatedly pleading the Fifth during a hearing from her lax prison camp, where she says she is “happier.”
Maxwell, 64, is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas. The Jeffrey Epstein associate, who is angling for a presidential pardon that Donald Trump has not ruled out, declined to answer all questions from lawmakers.
“I would like to answer your question, but on the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer that question or any related questions,” Maxwell said when asked if she was a “close friend and confidante” of the dead sex offender.
“My habeas petition is pending in the Southern District of New York,” she explained. “I therefore invoke my right to silence under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
Email exchanges obtained by NBC News show that Maxwell is “happier” at the minimum-security Texas facility than at Florida’s Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee, from where she was moved after an interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, last summer.
The facility, nicknamed “Club Fed,” offers a “puppy program” with gym and yoga classes. There are no cell blocks or guard towers. Prisoners can use an outdoor running track, access music programs, intramural competitions, social and cultural events, and even play table tennis, according to prison consultant Michael Santos.
In November, it was revealed that Maxwell is allowed an unlimited supply of toilet paper, in direct contrast to the privileges extended to other inmates. CNN also revealed that Maxwell has her meals delivered to her and had lived in a four-person cell by herself.
“The institution is run in an orderly fashion which makes for a safer more comfortable environment for all people concerned, inmates and guards alike,” Maxwell wrote upon her August arrival.
“The kitchen looks clean too — no possums falling from the celling [sic] to fry unfortunately on ovens, and become mingled with the food being served,” she wrote.
Maxwell wrote to a relative in another letter: “I am much happier here and more importantly safe.“
Maxwell has reportedly gained weight as well.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, took issue with the publication of his client’s emails.
“There’s nothing journalistic about publishing a prisoner’s emails, including ones with her lawyers,” Markus told The New York Post.
“That’s tabloid behavior, not responsible reporting. Anyone still interested in that kind of gossip reveals far more about themselves than about Ghislaine. It’s time to get over the fact that she is in a safer facility,” he added. “We should want that for everyone.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Markus for comment.
Last month, top Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees said more than a dozen whistleblowers had provided “damning information” about Maxwell’s alleged preferential treatment at the Texas facility.
