Ghislaine Maxwell Says She Won’t Cooperate Until Trump Pardons Her

Convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell refused to answer a single question during her virtual deposition with the House Oversight Committee on Monday.

“Unfortunately, she had an opportunity today to answer questions that every American has, questions that would be very important in this investigation, and she chose to invoke her Fifth Amendment,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer said.

This is a departure from the norm for Maxwell, as she was quite talkative in her July interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and in a more recent habeas petition claimed that 29 of Epstein’s friends had been “protected” by the Justice Department by way of “secret settlements.”

“After months of defying our subpoena, Ghislaine Maxwell finally appeared before the Oversight Committee and said nothing,” Democratic Oversight Committee member Robert Garcia said. “She answered no questions and provided no information about the men who raped and trafficked women and girls.”

Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, later explained why his client was staying mum: She’s holding out for a Trump pardon.

“She must remain silent because Ms. Maxwell has a habeas petition currently pending that demonstrates that her conviction rests on a fundamentally unfair trial,” Markus wrote. He then claimed that jurors “lied during voir dire” and that the government broke a promise to grant Maxwell immunity.

“If this Committee and the American public truly want to hear the unfiltered truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path. Ms. Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump,” he continued. “Only she can provide the complete account. Some may not like what they hear, but the truth matters. For example, both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing. Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.”

This is nothing more than an attempt to get a convicted, infamous sex trafficker out of prison.

Maxwell continues to serve out her 20-year sentence while members of Congress begin viewing unredacted files on Monday—and while Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton prepare for their own private depositions.

This story has been updated.

Shock YouTuber turned professional boxer Jake Paul did some Olympic-level backpedaling after he was dragged through the digital trenches for writing online that Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny was a “fake American.”

“Guys i love bad bunny idk what happened on my twitter last night ?? wtf,” Paul posted on X Monday morning in a post that mustered fewer than 5,000 likes.

Paul also changed his X bio to read: “Benito #1 fan,” referring to the Spanish-speaking global superstar by his first name.

The previous evening, Paul sparked enormous backlash after he put out a statement claiming he was going to be “turning off” Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show.

“Let’s rally together and show big corporations they can’t just do whatever they want without consequences,” Paul wrote. “Turn off this halftime. A fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America. I cannot support that.”

Ultimately, the Boricua’s performance was an ode to love and unity, rhapsodizing about the significance of family and cultural heritage while elevating the myriad talents of the island’s inhabitants to the national stage.

X users were quick to vilify Paul for his insulting take on the heartwarming set, reminding him that Puerto Rico is a part of America, a detail he should be well aware of considering that he lives there.

Even Paul’s brother Jake, who infamously trekked to Japan’s “suicide forest” to make content with dead bodies, had more class than his younger sibling.

“​​I love my brother but I don’t agree with this,” the elder Paul brother wrote. “Puerto Ricans are Americans & I’m happy they were given the opportunity to showcase the talent that comes from the island.”

Both Paul brothers have admitted in interviews that they relocated to Puerto Rico in 2021 in order to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent—also condemned Paul’s comments, arguing that Bad Bunny’s profound success makes Paul “look small.”

“Benito actually funds low income kids’ access to arts and sports programs, while you defund them,” she posted on X Monday morning.

Jake Paul attempted to clarify his stance on the issue in a follow-up tweet Monday, writing that he “wasn’t calling anyone a ‘fake citizen’ because they’re from Puerto Rico.”

“I live in Puerto Rico, and I love Puerto Rico,” he wrote. “But if you’re publicly criticizing ICE who are doing their job and openly hating on America, I’m going to speak on it. Period.

“If you benefit from a country and the platform it gives you, but publicly disrespect it at the same time, that’s what I mean by being a fake citizen,” Paul added.

A legal immigrant with a valid work permit who has lived in the U.S. for over 20 years has been held in ICE custody since September.

Seamus Culleton has no criminal record, “not even a parking ticket,” is married to a U.S. citizen, and owns a plastering business near Boston. Culleton said he was pulled over by ICE agents while driving home from work five months ago, and had his Massachusetts driver’s license and work permit with him.

He was then detained and held in a cell with several other immigrants before being flown to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Buffalo, New York, where he was asked to sign papers agreeing to his deportation. Culleton said he refused and checked a box that he was contesting his deportation on the grounds that his wife is a U.S. citizen and that he has a valid work permit, thanks to his pending application for permanent resident status filed last April.

But from there, he was taken to another ICE detention center in El Paso, Texas. Culleton said conditions there are “like a concentration camp, absolute hell,” in a phone interview with The Irish Times, as he shares a large, cold, and damp room with over 70 men. Meals are small child-size portions served in the center of the room, and detainees often fight over the food.

Culleton said that he has only left the room for fresh air and exercise less than 12 times in his nearly five-month detention, and is stuck lying on a bed most days. His wife paid a $4,000 bond for his release in November, but nothing happened, and days later, they found that Culleton’s bond had been denied, unlike in most other cases.

Culleton’s attorney appealed the case to federal court, where ICE agents claimed that he had signed documents agreeing to his own deportation, which he adamantly denies, saying that the signatures can’t be his.

“My whole life is here [in the U.S.]. I worked so hard to build my business. My wife is here,” Culleton said. A federal judge noted irregularities in the documents but still sided with ICE.

Legally, Culleton can’t appeal further, but believes that video of his interview with ICE in Buffalo would show that he refused to agree to his own deportation in writing. Any signatures, he said, would not match his. He added that ICE agents tried again to get him to sign a deportation order.

“You have one section of the government trying to deport me, and another trying to give me a green card,” Culleton said.

Conservative America launched its own musical performance Sunday evening to compete with Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show—but their star performer, Kid Rock, couldn’t have been more of a dud.

The country music rapper opened his portion of Turning Point USA’s “All American Halftime Show” with his hit “Bawitdaba,” but within minutes, it was crystal clear that Rock’s blaring voice wasn’t coming from his mouth.

The musician’s lips were closed during some portions of his obviously prerecorded vocal performance but open during moments of silence on the mic, eliciting scorn from viewers online, who likened his vocal talent to famed fakers Ashlee Simpson and Millie Vanilli. Others claimed that Rock’s set was “worse” than one of Frankie Valli’s cashed-out 2024 performances, in which the “Sherry” singer hardly moved his mouth at all.

As Rock’s set ended, large screens surrounding the stage flashed a tribute, noting that the entirety of the show was in remembrance of Turning Point USA’s founder Charlie Kirk, who was killed in September.

But the country singer’s questionable performance barely mattered, considering that basically no one watched the far-right halftime alternative. While a whopping 128 million people tuned in to watch global superstar Bad Bunny rap in Spanish about culture, beauty, and unity, just four million clocked in for Turning Point’s divisive, initial airing of its 25-minute broadcast, reported The Independent.

Even the president—whose administration said he would watch it—couldn’t be bothered to tune in for TPUSA. Instead, Donald Trump was glued to the Puerto Rican singer’s performance, which aired on all screens during a Super Bowl party at his Mar-a-Lago golf club, according to clips taken by attendees of the event.

Trump eventually confirmed he had watched Bad Bunny’s set instead of Kid Rock’s, though the news came by way of a classic Trump rant on Truth Social, in which he complained that he doesn’t understand Spanish and claimed that the dancing—which included reggaeton, salsa, bomba, and merengue—was “disgusting.”

Eight survivors of deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein used a Super Bowl commercial to call out Attorney General Pam Bondi for her lack of transparency on the Epstein files.

“On November 19, 2025, the Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law. Three million files still have not been released,” the ad read in between headshots of different Epstein survivors, some with their mouths covered by the black “redacted” effect, implying that they’ve been silenced.

“After years of being kept apart, we’re standing together,” they said aloud, holding pictures of their younger selves. “Because this girl deserves the truth … because we all deserve the truth.

“Stand with us. Tell Attorney General Pam Bondi IT’S TIME FOR THE TRUTH,” the ad concluded.

This ad comes as Bondi’s Justice Department continues to feign ignorance regarding who or what is in the files, claiming that it has no information on the men who used Epstein’s network to abuse dozens of young women. It has also done a poor job of redacting the files thus far. In the latest drop, multiple photos of naked women (perhaps teenagers) appeared unredacted while a photo of Trump was blacked out. And as the survivors’ ad noted, there are still millions of files that Bondi has yet to release, for no good reason—leaving anyone who’s been paying attention to speculate about what exactly the DOJ may be trying to hide.