Hillary Clinton says she’s confident Bill Clinton knew nothing of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes after House deposition
CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — Hillary Clinton said she is confident her husband, former President Bill Clinton, knew nothing of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, speaking after a closed-door deposition Wednesday before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee in the Clintons’ hometown.
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“I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended years, several years, before anything about Epstein’s criminal activities came to light,” the former secretary of state said, adding that she found the questioning “long and very repetitive.” Asked if she was confident Bill Clinton did not know of Epstein’s abuse of minors or other crimes, she replied, “I am.”
In an opening statement shared on social media, Clinton said she had no information about Epstein’s criminal activities and did not recall ever encountering him. During the deposition, she urged lawmakers to also question former President Donald Trump under oath about his own ties to the disgraced financier, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The interview followed months of back-and-forth between House Republicans and the Clintons, who initially rejected subpoenas to testify. The couple agreed to appear after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.
The session was briefly paused after a photo of Hillary Clinton at the deposition table was leaked on social media in violation of committee rules, according to adviser Nick Merrill. Conservative commentator Benny Johnson, who posted the image, said it was taken by Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican. The committee did not immediately comment on the leak.
House Oversight Chair James Comer said the deposition was “productive” but that members were not satisfied with some answers. He noted Clinton frequently responded, “You’ll have to ask my husband,” when pressed on the Clinton Global Initiative and past associations involving Epstein. Comer said the committee plans to release the full video and transcript “as quickly as we can.”
Bill Clinton is scheduled to testify Thursday in a rare instance of a former president being compelled to appear before Congress. He has acknowledged flying on Epstein’s plane several times in the early 2000s after leaving office, has denied wrongdoing and has expressed regret over the association. Comer said the panel’s broader aim is to “try to understand many things about Epstein.”
Democrats on the committee said Trump and businessman Howard Lutnick should also be called to testify. Lutnick has admitted visiting Epstein’s private island years after he says he broke off ties. Trump socialized extensively with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s and has said he cut off contact before Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Comer said evidence gathered by the panel does not implicate Trump.
Hillary Clinton challenged Republicans to put Trump under oath, saying that “if this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes,” it would question him about “the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.”
Comer said the committee also is seeking details on any interactions Hillary Clinton might have had with Epstein, his involvement with the Clintons’ charitable work and any relationship she may have had with Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell, the former socialite convicted of sex trafficking, is serving a 20-year prison sentence. She appeared via videolink before the committee earlier this month but invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Her attorney, David Markus, said Maxwell would be prepared to speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump, and asserted that both the president and Bill Clinton are “innocent of any wrongdoing.”
The Justice Department has released more than three million pages of Epstein-related documents in recent months to comply with a new law. The records have underscored Epstein’s reach, revealing ties to business and political leaders including Lutnick and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Comer has said Epstein visited the White House 17 times during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
Hillary Clinton has said she and her husband “have nothing to hide,” arguing Republicans are using the inquiry to deflect attention from Trump. “Look at this shiny object,” she said last week. “We’re going to have the Clintons, even Hillary Clinton, who never met the guy.”
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
