Epstein Case Update: Maxwell Pleads the Fifth
SmartHERNews
Jenna Lee
4.9 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jenna Lee explains the legal context behind Ghislaine Maxwell’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment during her House Oversight Committee deposition and her request for presidential clemency. This report provides a deep dive into the historical origins of the Bill of Rights and the complex political implications of using presidential pardons to uncover the truth in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Jenna examines the difficult balance between seeking transparency for the public and achieving justice for more than 1,200 victims.
00:00 The Jeffrey Epstein Case
02:20 Maxwell's Congressional Deposition
07:18 Context Of Maxwell's Conviction
08:24 History Of The Fifth Amendment
13:40 Presidential Clemency And Pardons
17:51 Justice And The National Interest
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello from the Heartland. My name is Jenna, and this is Smarter News, news when it matters and why it matters. |
| 0:09.9 | Our Smarter series features unique people who help us think and live smarter. |
| 0:15.5 | How can someone plead the fifth if they may know something about crimes committed against children? |
| 0:20.7 | How is that |
| 0:21.1 | even possible in the American justice system? And especially, how is that possible in a case as high |
| 0:27.0 | profile as Jeffrey Epstein's? I'm Jenna. This is Smarter News. And this is one of the big questions |
| 0:32.1 | that we're asking this week related to one of the many storylines still swirling about the case of Jeffrey Epstein. Before I get to that, I want to make a bit of a confession. Don't worry, it's not to a crime, but I thought you might find this interesting, and I always like sharing with you a little bit of what's happening behind the scenes. I actually recorded this podcast yesterday. I thought it was a really important topic. I wanted to tackle it for you. I recorded it. It took |
| 0:54.4 | me a little while because it's slightly complicated. But I felt good at the end. And a couple hours |
| 0:58.4 | later, I went back to re-listen and realize that the podcast had no audio. I don't know how that |
| 1:03.6 | happened. Simple mistakes. Sometimes it's hard to produce yourself. So I didn't have the podcast that I |
| 1:09.8 | thought I did. And my instant thought was, well, I'm going to re-record it tomorrow. |
| 1:13.2 | It has to be done. |
| 1:14.3 | And then this morning, I thought, why is this so important to me? |
| 1:17.1 | I could hold this story for another few days. |
| 1:19.4 | Probably it doesn't really matter. |
| 1:20.4 | I know you're busy. |
| 1:21.4 | You got a lot going on. |
| 1:22.9 | But here's why I think this angle of this story really matters. |
| 1:25.9 | And I had to get crystal clear on that today. |
| 1:28.3 | Number one, I think what we're going to talk about is really important to potentially the next |
| 1:32.8 | big move in this story. |
| 1:34.9 | I don't want you to get caught off guard by a headline, and I think what we're going to |
... |
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