Topline
Former President Bill Clinton is testifying to House lawmakers Friday about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, marking the first time a former president has been compelled to testify before Congress and the first time Clinton has had to answer questions under oath about the late financier, after the former president has long said he did not have any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Key Facts
Clinton is testifying before the House Oversight Committee in Chappaqua, New York, where he lives, after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to lawmakers Thursday.
The testimony began shortly after 11 a.m. EST, according to CNN and BBC News.
The former president is testifying as part of the committee’s broader probe into Epstein and his alleged sex trafficking.
Clinton has long been tied to Epstein and flew multiple times on the financier’s private plane, but has never been accused of wrongdoing, and has maintained he did not know about Epstein’s alleged abuse and cut ties with the financier in 2005, three years before Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution.
Friday’s testimony will take place behind closed doors and will not be broadcast to the public, but the video and transcript are expected to be released to the public in the coming days.
What To Watch For
It’s unclear how long Clinton’s deposition will take, though Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the House Oversight Committee, told reporters Thursday he predicted it will be an “even longer deposition” than Hillary Clinton’s on Thursday, which took more than six hours. It remains to be seen when the transcript and video will be released to the public, with Comer previously saying on Thursday that all transcripts have to be reviewed first by the Clintons’ attorneys to make sure there are no errors. The deposition is likely to be released swiftly, however: Comer suggested video of Hillary Clinton’s testimony could be made public as soon as Friday, and Democratic lawmakers called Friday for the videos’ release to come no more than 24 hours after the depositions end.
What Will Clinton Be Asked About?
House Oversight lawmakers suggested Friday they will broadly ask Clinton about his relationship with Epstein and about specific pieces of evidence in the Epstein files, such as photos of the former president and email correspondence. Comer also said Clinton would be asked about Epstein’s visits to the White House when Clinton was in office. Both Republicans and Democrats expressed desire to learn more about Clinton’s relationship with Epstein, with Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., saying the lawmakers “have real questions that deserve serious answers.” Garcia is the committee’s top Democrat.
What Was Bill Clinton’s Relationship With Epstein?
Clinton was known to have associated with Epstein in the early 2000s, which the former president has maintained was for his work with the Clinton Foundation and did not involve any wrongdoing. The former president has appeared in a number of undated photos in the Epstein files and has been confirmed to have flown multiple times on Epstein’s private jet in 2002 and 2003, and publicly praised the financier in 2002, telling New York Magazine Epstein was “both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science.” Clinton has maintained he never visited the financier’s private island, but Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre previously testified she was on the island with Clinton, though she said the former president did not commit any wrongdoing. Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell has also said under oath that Clinton did not visit the island, saying in a DOJ interview last year the former president “never, absolutely never went.” Epstein also denied in emails before his death that Clinton was ever on the island, saying in 2015, “Clinton was NEVER EVER there, never.” Maxwell has been reported to have been the link between Epstein and Clinton, and the Clintons appeared to associate with the British socialite after the former president broke ties with Epstein in 2005. “President Clinton was my friend, not Epstein’s friend,” Maxwell testified to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “President Clinton liked me, and we got along terribly well. But I never saw that warmth with Mr. Epstein.” Epstein also displayed a painting of Clinton wearing a blue dress in his New York home.
What Has Clinton Said About His Relationship With Epstein?
The former president has long maintained he did nothing wrong in connection with Epstein and was not aware of the financier’s alleged crimes. His office issued a statement in July 2019 after Epstein was arrested for alleged sex-trafficking, in which spokesperson Angel Urena said Clinton “knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.” The statement went on to explain Clinton’s meetings with Epstein, saying the former president flew on Epstein’s plane four times, along with foundation staff and Secret Service detail, and had two meetings with Epstein in New York City, one of which was at the financier’s home. Clinton has “not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade,” the statement added, “and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida.” The former president and his office have maintained Clinton “knew nothing” about Epstein’s alleged abuse, and he and Hillary Clinton have characterized Republicans’ focus on them in calling them to testify as a way to distract the public from President Donald Trump’s Epstein ties. Urena described the former president as a “scapegoat” for Republicans after a tranche of photos from the Epstein files included a number of photos of Clinton, saying in a statement, “There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first.”
Key Background
Clinton’s testimony comes after he and Hillary Clinton were initially supposed to testify to the House Oversight Committee in October, then December, then January. The former first couple fought their subpoena and declined to show up for the interviews, arguing they were being unfairly forced to give depositions after other subpoenaed witnesses were allowed to submit written statements instead. The House Oversight Committee voted to hold both Clintons in contempt after they failed to appear for their January deposition dates, and though the couple first appeared poised to battle the subpoenas in court, they ultimately switched course and agreed to testify before the contempt votes went to the full House. The former president is speaking with the House Oversight Committee after Hillary Clinton told lawmakers Thursday she never met Epstein and “had no idea” about his crimes. Democratic lawmakers accused their GOP colleagues of conducting “political theater” by calling her to testify while those with more robust ties to Epstein, like President Donald Trump, are not being subpoenaed. The former secretary of state told reporters after her deposition she faced “repetitive” questioning from the committee, commenting, “I don’t know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein. I never went to his island, I never went to his home, I never went to his offices.”
