Hillary Clinton Testifies on Epstein   02/27 06:10

   Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told members of Congress on 
Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's or Ghislaine Maxwell's 
crimes, starting off two days of depositions that will also include former 
President Bill Clinton.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told members of 
Congress on Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's or 
Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes, starting off two days of depositions that will also 
include former President Bill Clinton.

   "I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever 
encountering Mr. Epstein," Hillary Clinton said in an opening statement she 
shared on social media. The closed-door deposition concluded Thursday after 
over six hours of Hillary Clinton giving an answer to every question.

   The depositions in the Clintons' hometown of Chappaqua, a typically quiet 
hamlet north of New York City, come after months of tense back-and-forth 
between the former high-powered Democratic couple and the Republican-controlled 
House Oversight Committee as it investigates Epstein, who killed himself in a 
New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. It will be the first time that 
a former president has been forced to testify before Congress.

   Yet the demand for a reckoning over Epstein's abuse of underage girls has 
become a near-unstoppable force on Capitol Hill and beyond.

   President Donald Trump, a Republican who has expressed regret that the 
Clintons are being forced to testify, bowed last year to pressure to release 
case files on Epstein. The Clintons, too, agreed to testify after their offers 
of sworn statements were rebuffed by the Oversight panel and its chairman, Rep. 
James Comer, R-Ky., threatened criminal contempt of Congress charges against 
them.

   "Like every decent person," Hillary Clinton added in her opening statement, 
"I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes."

   She has previously said that her husband flew with Epstein for charitable 
trips but that she did not recall ever meeting Epstein. She had also interacted 
with Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend and confidant, at conferences hosted 
by the Clinton Foundation.

   Maxwell, a British socialite, also attended the 2010 wedding of their 
daughter, Chelsea Clinton.

   As she exited the event center where the deposition was held, Hillary 
Clinton told reporters that Maxwell had come to the wedding as a guest of 
someone else and that she had told the committee she only knew Maxwell "as an 
acquaintance."

   Republicans relish chance to question Clintons

   Bill Clinton, however, has emerged as a top target for Republicans amid the 
political struggle over who receives the most scrutiny for their ties to 
Epstein. Several photos of the former president were included in the first 
tranche of Epstein files released by the Department of Justice in January, 
including a number of him with women whose faces were redacted. Clinton has not 
been accused of wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein.

   Comer has also pointed to Hillary Clinton's work as secretary of state to 
address sex trafficking as another reason to insist on her deposition. Clinton 
defended her work to address sex trafficking around the world, saying that it 
remained important to help the millions of survivors of sex trafficking.

   The committee's investigation has also sought to understand why the 
Department of Justice under previous presidential administrations did not seek 
further charges against Epstein following a 2008 arrangement in which he 
pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an 
underage girl but avoided federal charges.

   Hillary Clinton accused Comer of running a one-sided investigation that has 
failed to hold Trump and other Republican officials to account. "This 
institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public 
official," she said.

   Yet conspiracy theories, especially on the right, have swirled for years 
around the Clintons and their connections to Epstein and Maxwell, who argues 
she was wrongfully convicted. Republicans have long wanted to press the 
Clintons for answers.

   Hillary Clinton said that one Republican lawmaker asked her a line of 
questions about "vile, bogus conspiracy theories."

   The deposition was also paused after Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., sent a 
photo of Hillary Clinton in the private proceeding to a conservative influencer 
who posted it on social media, violating the committee's rules for depositions.

   Democrats said that the incident underscored how important it was for there 
to be a clear public record of the deposition. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top 
Democrat on the Oversight panel, said that Hillary Clinton, after the incident, 
repeated her longstanding demand that the deposition be made public, and 
Democrats called for a video and transcript of the complete proceedings to be 
released quickly.

   Comer said that he would work quickly to release a video and transcript of 
the deposition.

   "The purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things 
about Epstein," he told reporters outside the convention center where the 
depositions were being held. "How did he accumulate so much wealth? How was he 
able to surround himself with some of the most powerful men in the world?"

   Democrats call for Trump to testify

   Democrats, now being led by a new generation of politicians, have 
prioritized transparency around Epstein over defending the former leaders of 
their party. Several Democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans on the 
Oversight panel to advance the contempt of Congress charges against the 
Clintons last month. Several said they had no relationship with the Clintons 
and owed no loyalty to them.

   Garcia also called on Trump to testify in the investigation. He argued that 
Bill Clinton's appearance sets a precedent that should apply to Trump as well.

   "Let's get President Trump in front of our committee to answer the questions 
that are being asked across this country from survivors," Garcia said.

   Comer previously said that the committee can't depose Trump because he is a 
sitting president.

   Still, Democrats are also coming off an effort this week to confront Trump 
about his administration's handling of the Epstein files by taking women who 
survived Epstein's abuse as their guests to Trump's State of the Union address.

   Garcia and others are also challenging the Department of Justice's assertion 
that it has met the requirements of a law passed by Congress last year that 
mandates the release of many of the case files on Epstein.

   Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his caucus in the 
coming days would also review unredacted versions of the Epstein case files at 
a Department of Justice office. Schumer, who demanded that the department 
release all of the files and preserve all materials, said they will "pull on 
every thread" until they "reveal this massive cover-up."