Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) suggested that Republicans might push for a lighter sentence for convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell if they agreed with her upcoming testimony.
On Wednesday, Burchett was asked if he trusted Maxwell after House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) issued a subpoena for her to sit for a deposition related to Jeffrey Epstein.
"She is a liar, and she's a dirtbag," Burchett opined.
"So then why subpoena her if you can't trust her?" a reporter asked.
"Well, because the one thing we've got holding over her head is if we find out she lies, she goes back to her original sentence, and that's looking at a lifetime," the lawmaker said. "And if she's looking at maybe parlaying this into reducing her sentence, then we could have some leverage there."
"Would you want to attend this interview with her with the oversight committee?" the reporter wondered.
"100%, 100%," Burchett replied. "I want to know the chain. I want to know the money. I want to know the people involved. And all gloves are off."
"But I do warn people, though, just because somebody's on a travel log does not mean that they're a pedophile," he added. "If somebody's plane breaks down, somebody knows Epstein, and then they got a friend that gets on the plane with them, nobody knew this guy was as big a dirtbag as he was until the last few years, until y'all broke the story."
