MAGA Rep. Scott Perry is calling for “immediate action” by prison officials to ensure the safety of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell ahead of her possible testimony to Congress.
The Pennsylvania congressman posted a letter about the associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to Federal Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall on Wednesday.
“I implore you to take swift and immediate action in protecting Ms. Maxwell,” Perry wrote in the letter, dated July 22.
“I implore you to take swift and immediate action in protecting Ms. Maxwell.
“Given the atmosphere of a minimum-security prison, Ms. Maxwell must be isolated from fellow inmates, protected by facility guards, and be closely surveilled by guards and working video surveillance - continuously - for signs of distress until she has testified before Congress.”
Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Daily Beast. The Federal Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on Perry’s letter. The Daily Beast also reached out to the White House for comment.
Maxwell, 63, was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and conspiracy to recruit underage girls to travel for illegal sex acts. She has been serving a 20-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida—a low security women’s prison.
Perry’s request comes as the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to Maxwell for deposition scheduled August 11, and as Donald Trump’s Justice Department is aiming to interview her.
“The Department of Justice is cooperating and will help facilitate the deposition at the prison,” Rep. James Comer wrote when announcing that he had issued the subpoena.
The president’s relationship with Epstein has long been under the microscope, but especially so after the FBI and Justice Department announced earlier this month that they would not be releasing any more of the so-called Epstein files. That decision fractured Trump’s base, whom the president has sought to distract by feeding them conspiracies and culture war issues.
The specific nature of Perry’s letter—stressing the need for “working video surveillance,” for instance—appears to reference Epstein’s August 2019 death in his jail cell following his arrest for child sex trafficking. The death was ruled a suicide, but faulty security cameras and non-punctual guards spawned alternative theories.
Given Epstein’s “abrupt and unexpected demise,” Perry wrote, “we must take every precaution to ensure Ms. Maxwell is available to provide testimony.”
“Our justice system must not once again fail the countless survivors of Mr. Epstein,” he added.
