Ghislaine Maxwell, the jailed associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has agreed to testify under oath before the congressional committee investigating the federal government’s handling of the Epstein files.

Committee chairman James Comer, who is leading the investigation, says Maxwell will depose virtually on 9 February.

Maxwell’s legal team has previously said she would decline to answer questions under her constitutional right to remain silent unless she is granted legal immunity.

Comer, previewing the deposition, said, “her lawyers have been saying she is going to plead the Fifth,” referring to the US Fifth Amendment right to decline to speak to authorities.