Former President Bill Clinton told a congressional panel he “saw nothing,” and “did nothing wrong” in relation to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The all-day hearing behind closed doors in New York featured the former president being asked about his inclusion in newly released files related to the financier, including in a photo with an unidentified person in a hot tub.
His testimony came one day after his wife, ex-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, told the committee she also “had no idea” of Epstein’s crimes.
Appearing in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing, and neither Clinton has been accused of misconduct by Epstein survivors who have come forward so far.
Clinton said that he would have cut off ties to Epstein and never would have flown on his plane if he “had any inkling of what he was doing”.
“I would have turned him in myself,” he said in his opening statement released to the public ahead of his testimony.
After his testimony in New York, he posted a video that largely repeated his opening statement, saying he did not know of Epstein’s crimes “no matter how many photos they show of me”.
“When the video of my testimony today is released, I hope it will motivate everyone to go in front of Congress to say what they know,” Clinton said. “I hope it will motivate the justice department to finally release all the files and to ensure that this never happens again. The survivors deserve that.”
Both he and his wife had resisted subpoenas from the panel, dismissing them as politically motivated, before agreeing to testify before the House Oversight Committee as potential contempt-of-Congress proceedings loomed against them.
When questioned about the photograph showing the former president lounging in a hot tub with the person who appeared to be a woman – whose face is blacked out to protect her identity – Bill Clinton told lawmakers that he did not know her. When asked if he had sex with the woman, he said he did not, a source told the BBC.
Unlike his wife, Clinton did not come out and speak to reporters after his deposition wrapped up.
James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, called the hours-long interview “a very productive deposition.
“President Clinton answered every question, or attempted to answer every question,” he said, adding that video of his testimony and a full transcript would be released in the coming days.
He also called the Clintons’ depositions “historic” and said they are the two highest-ranking officials to ever be deposed by Congress.
President Gerald Ford voluntarily appearedbefore a congressional committee in 1974 to explain his pardon of former President Richard Nixon.
“This is a serious investigation,” Comer said. “We will continue to try and get the truth to the American people and justice to the victims.”
Among the topics that arose during Bill Clinton’s testimony was President Donald Trump’s relationship with Epstein.
House Democrats said his testimony brought up “additional information” about Trump that warranted renewed calls to bring the current president in for questioning.
Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Clinton brought up “additional information about some discussions with President Trump”.
Garcia, like other Democrats, repeated his demand for Trump to testify before the committee.
“We now have a new precedent in this country that presidents and former presidents can testify before this committee,” Garcia added.
According to congressional records, six sitting and former presidents had testified before congressional committees. Clinton is now the seventh.
Comer told reporters that during the deposition, Clinton was asked whether Trump should be called before the committee to testify.
Comer said Clinton replied: “That’s for you to decide”.
He said the former president went on to say that he has no knowledge of Trump’s involvement in Epstein’s crimes. Comer added that any new information Clinton provided did not change his belief that Trump has been cleared of wrongdoing.
“He’s been exonerated for a long time,” he said.
Trump, meanwhile, spoke out about Clinton’s deposition on Friday, telling reporters: “I don’t like seeing him deposed”. During a break a few hours into the deposition, lawmakers from both parties told reporters that Clinton was cooperating, answering questions and being transparent.
Clinton has said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and cut off ties with him two decades ago.
He said their contact arose in connection with his charity work after he left the presidency in 2001, and he has voiced regret that he was ever associated with the financier, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The Clintons’ names crop up hundreds of times in the Epstein files. Appearing in the millions of justice department documents related to the late sex offender does not imply any wrongdoing.
Bill Clinton appears in documents and photos that have been released in stages by the Department of Justice in its disclosure of material uncovered during federal investigations into Epstein’s crimes.
The files more broadly reveal the extent of Epstein’s connections with multiple high-profile individuals, including after he was first convicted of a sex crime in 2008.
Congressional depositions normally occur behind closed doors, though the Clintons had fought for their testimony to be public so that selective portions of their answers could not be leaked to the media without context.
By BBC News
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