Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before the United States House Oversight Committee for a Jeffrey Epstein deposition.
The proceeding, which is taking place near her residence in Chappaqua rather than on Capitol Hill, marks a major turning point in the congressional investigation into the late financier Jeffrey Epstein’s network.
The testimony comes after months of legal friction between the Clintons and the Republican-led committee. Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued subpoenas for both Hillary and former President Bill Clinton late last year, leading to a tense standoff.
Hillary Clinton and her husband, former U.S President Bill Clinton, agreed to testify behind closed doors after a lengthy back-and-forth with the Republican-led panel culminated in a bipartisan vote to recommend that both be held in criminal contempt of Congress for failing to appear under subpoena.
In her opening statement, Hillary Clinton says she has no information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
She said: “As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that.”
She also said that the committee has chosen to depose her, despite the fact that she says she never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his crimes, as a way to distract from and cover up President Trump’s actions.
She accused the committee of making little effort to question and investigate the people who most prominently appear in the Epstein files.
“This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official, rather than to seek truth and justice for the victims and survivors, as well as the public who also want to get to the bottom of this matter,” she added during the Epstein deposition.
Speaking ahead of the Epstein deposition of Clinton, Comer reiterated at a news conference that “no one’s accusing, at this moment, the Clintons of wrongdoing.”
“They’re going to have due process,” Comer said. “But we have a lot of questions.”
Comer said that the committee is seeking to understand how Epstein accumulated his wealth, how he surrounded himself with powerful individuals, and whether he was a government asset.
“These are the questions that we’re going to ask over the next two days, and hopefully we’ll be able to get some answers,” he said.
The chairman said the committee would release the transcript and video of the deposition after they are reviewed and approved. He said he expects a “long deposition” on Thursday, and an “even longer deposition” from the former president. His testimony is scheduled for Friday.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said that Democrats are glad that the Clintons are willing to testify.
“Oversight Democrats, from day one we have said that we want to talk to anyone,” Garcia said. “Whether that is a Democrat, a Republican, how much wealth they have, how powerful their position is, we want to talk to anyone.”
Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Virginia Democrat who also serves on the committee, questioned the motivation for deposing the former secretary of state.
“There is no indication — zero, zip, zilch, nada — that Secretary Clinton had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes,” he said. “My fear is we’re here today as part of a political exercise, part of a long-running fever dream where Republicans want to lock up Secretary Clinton.”
Neither Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing and both have called for the full release of the Epstein files.
