Rep. Melanie Stansbury accused the United States government of participating in what she described as an active cover-up tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, placing President Donald Trump at the center of that allegation, following a closed-door deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell conducted by the House Oversight Committee.
“It is Monday, February 9th. We are just walking out of the deposition with Ghislaine Maxwell after the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Ms. Maxwell to speak to the committee in our ongoing bipartisan investigation into the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and to hold accountable those who have not yet been investigated and convicted of those crimes,” Stansbury said.
🚨 Rep. Stansbury doesn’t mince words:
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) February 9, 2026
“The United States government is engaged in an active cover-up of the largest sex-trafficking and influence-peddling scandal in our history — and Donald Trump is right at the center of it.”
That’s a sitting member of Congress saying it out… pic.twitter.com/m3DnOD93p3
Stansbury said Maxwell did not answer questions during the deposition and instead broadly invoked her constitutional rights. “As was evidenced this morning, Ghislaine Maxwell did not provide information to the committee and instead invoked her blanket Fifth Amendment rights,” she said. Stansbury added that committee members could not discuss the details of the deposition until the record is made public, but said Maxwell’s intentions were clear.
BREAKING: FOOTAGE SHOWS MAXWELL PLEADING 5TH IN DEPOSITION
— 🟡 The Professor 🕵️♂️ (@TheNewsProfesor) February 9, 2026
Epstein associate refuses House Oversight questions invoking 5th Amendment.
Lawyer says she'll "speak fully and honestly" if Trump grants clemency first. pic.twitter.com/oCTX7smYQD
“While we are not able to speak to the specifics of what was said within the deposition until the deposition record is made public, it is very clear that she used this opportunity not only to campaign for clemency, as she has been doing, but also to send a direct message that she is hoping people who were sitting in the deposition will transmit to the President of the United States,” Stansbury said.
According to Stansbury, “That message is that her silence can be bought through clemency. It is very clear that this is the message she is trying to send directly to Donald Trump himself. She is telling Donald Trump through her deposition that she is trying to buy her clemency.”
Stansbury acknowledged Maxwell’s stated legal rationale for invoking the Fifth Amendment but rejected it as a justification. “Now, she did state that she is invoking her Fifth Amendment rights because of a pending habeas petition before the Southern District of New York,” she said. “But let us be clear: her case appeals have already gone to the United States Supreme Court, and they have been denied. She is not being released from jail unless, of course, Donald Trump buys what she’s selling.”
“So we want to be clear that she is exactly where she is supposed to be in terms of her conviction, and she needs to go back to the prison where she belongs,” Stansbury added.
Stansbury said lawmakers still have extensive unanswered questions about Epstein’s criminal operation and those connected to it. “Now, we have a lot of questions for Ms. Maxwell with regard to what actually happened in Epstein’s affairs—who was directly involved in the sex trafficking, money laundering, and influence-peddling scheme that she and Jeffrey Epstein were involved in; how Donald Trump was involved; and whether or not he committed any crimes himself, as did his many associates who are named in the Department of Justice files,” she said.
She emphasized the volume of references to Trump contained in recently released materials. “Let us be clear that Donald Trump is not only named thousands of times in the latest release from the Department of Justice—he is named over 38,000 times in the files that were released two weeks ago alone,” Stansbury said. “And we know that only represents half of the files that the Department of Justice has in its possession, including files that were used for direct investigations of perpetrators, people who committed crimes, people who were co‑conspirators in those crimes, and individuals who knew of those crimes.”
Stansbury continued by naming additional figures she said appear in the records. “We know that there are multiple administration officials, including Howard Lutnick and Elon Musk, who served as an appointee for the DOGE efforts in the White House. We know that the Secretary of the Navy, Steve Bannon, and more than three dozen associates, family members, and individuals directly associated with Donald Trump are named in those files,” she said.
She contrasted the U.S. response with actions taken by other countries. “Now, there are at least nine or ten other countries across the world that have opened investigations or forced their leaders to step down because of their mere association with Jeffrey Epstein,” Stansbury said. “And the United States government is engaged in an active cover-up of the largest sex trafficking scandal and influence-peddling scandal in the history of the United States, and Donald Trump is right at the center of it.”
Stansbury said Maxwell remains a central figure with direct knowledge of the alleged crimes. “The person who is living and able to provide the evidence—who knows what is going on—is trying to invoke the Fifth Amendment to buy her clemency,” she said. “So let’s be clear about what we saw here today. This was an effort to essentially try to secure her pardon by keeping her mouth shut, and we will not allow this silence to stand.”
She also pointed to upcoming actions by lawmakers related to Justice Department records. “It was announced late last week that the Department of Justice would allow members of Congress to view the unredacted files that have been released,” Stansbury said. “Many of us will head to the Department of Justice today to look at the memos and internal documents that were removed from the website to understand why names of survivors were unmasked and who the Department of Justice is shielding as they have redacted files that include perpetrators and co‑conspirators.”
