CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — Former President Bill Clinton on Friday denied any wrongdoing in a closed-door deposition before a Republican-led House committee investigating links to Jeffrey Epstein, as Democrats pressed to turn the spotlight onto former President Donald Trump’s connections to the late sex offender.
“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton said in an opening statement shared on social media. He said he severed ties with Epstein well before the financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses.
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House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said afterward that “we believe this was a very productive deposition that President Clinton answered every question — or attempted to answer every question.” Comer has said the panel intends to probe Clinton’s documented contacts with Epstein, noting records showing Epstein visited the White House 17 times during Clinton’s presidency and that Clinton flew on Epstein’s private jet at least 27 times in the early 2000s.
Democrats countered that the inquiry should focus on Trump. “Let’s be real, we are talking to the wrong president,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., who added that Clinton did not dodge questions. In his statement, Clinton did not name Trump but said, “no person is above the law, even presidents — especially presidents.”
Trump, who has voiced skepticism about the inquiry, told reporters he likes Clinton and “doesn’t like seeing him deposed.” Neither Trump nor Clinton has been accused of a crime or formally investigated in connection with the records.
The deposition unfolded amid fresh attention to recently released Justice Department records tied to Epstein. Previously unseen photographs include one showing Clinton reclining in a hot tub and another depicting him swimming alongside a dark-haired woman who appears to be Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate.
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, testified before the committee Thursday and urged Republicans to call Trump. She said lawmakers should ask the former president “directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.” She also said she never knew Epstein or visited any of his properties.
The Clintons have pushed for public proceedings, with Bill Clinton likening the private depositions to a “kangaroo court.” The closed-door interviews are taking place in Chappaqua, where dozens of journalists and Secret Service agents gathered.
Bill Clinton has acknowledged extensive interactions with Epstein and flights on Epstein’s plane for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but he says he never visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island. “Not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing — I would have turned him in,” Clinton said in his statement.
The Clintons initially rejected subpoenas to testify but agreed after House Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a minor and died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
