Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton testified for greater than six hours behind closed doorways on Thursday earlier than the Republican-led Home Oversight Committee as a part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.The deposition, held within the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, New York, adopted months of tense back-and-forth between the previous Democratic energy couple and the committee. The Clintons had resisted the panel’s subpoena, dismissing it as politically motivated, earlier than agreeing to testify as potential contempt-of-Congress proceedings loomed in opposition to them.It was the primary time {that a} former president has been compelled to testify earlier than Congress. Former President Invoice Clinton is scheduled to seem earlier than the committee on Friday.
Hillary denies any information of crimes
In a gap assertion shared on social media, Hillary Clinton mentioned she had no information of the felony actions of Epstein or Maxwell. “I had no thought about their felony actions. I don’t recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein,” she mentioned.“I don’t recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein,” she mentioned in her ready remarks. “I by no means flew on his aircraft or visited his island, properties or workplaces. I’ve nothing so as to add to that.”“Like each respectable particular person,” she added, “I’ve been horrified by what we now have realized about their crimes.”Clinton mentioned Thursday she was assured her husband knew nothing of Epstein’s abuse of minors or different crimes. “I feel the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended years, a number of years, earlier than something about Epstein’s felony actions got here to gentle,” she mentioned after giving what she described as a “lengthy and really repetitive” deposition.
Questions on UFOs and ‘Pizzagate’
After her deposition, Hillary mentioned that the questioning shifted after she repeatedly instructed Home Republicans she didn’t know Jeffrey Epstein.She mentioned the change grew to become “fairly uncommon, as a result of I began being requested about UFOs and a sequence of questions on Pizzagate, probably the most vile, bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the web, that was serving as the premise of a member’s inquiries to me.”Pizzagate was a 2016 conspiracy principle constructed on the false declare that members of Clinton’s marketing campaign group used coded emails to debate little one intercourse slaves allegedly held within the basement of Comet Ping Pong — a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC, that has no basement and no connection to little one sex-trafficking.The conspiracy principle was promoted by far-right supporters of Donald Trump, together with Jack Posobiec, till late 2016 when a person armed with an assault rifle, who believed the claims had been true, entered the restaurant to “self-investigate” and fired a shot inside.Chatting with reporters after her deposition, Hillary mentioned she answered each query that was requested of her.
Name for Trump to testify
Hillary accused the committee of focusing on her to distract from Donald Trump.“You’ve got compelled me to testify, absolutely conscious that I’ve no information that will help your investigation, as a way to distract consideration from President Trump’s actions and to cowl them up regardless of reliable requires solutions,” she mentioned in her opening assertion.She mentioned the committee ought to ask Trump “instantly below oath concerning the tens of hundreds of occasions he exhibits up within the Epstein information.”Trump was a one-time shut buddy of Epstein however has not been charged with any wrongdoing associated to the disgraced financier, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 whereas awaiting trial for intercourse trafficking.Hillary additionally accused the committee of an “institutional failure” that was designed to “defend one political get together and one public official, fairly than to hunt reality and justice for the victims and survivors (of Epstein).”
Agreed areas of testimony
The Clintons and members of the Home Oversight Committee agreed to 5 subject areas for the depositions. They’re:
- alleged mismanagement of the federal authorities’s investigation into Epstein and Maxwell;
- the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Epstein’s 2019 loss of life;
- the methods the federal authorities may successfully fight sex-trafficking rings;
- how Epstein and Maxwell sought to curry favor to guard their unlawful actions;
- and potential violations of ethics guidelines associated to elected officers.
The committee’s investigation has additionally sought to grasp why the Division of Justice below earlier presidential administrations didn’t search additional fees in opposition to Epstein following a 2008 association during which he pleaded responsible to state fees in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage woman however averted federal fees.
Disruption throughout deposition
The testimony was briefly halted after Rep Lauren Boebert shared {a photograph} of Hillary answering questions from contained in the deposition room. The picture was posted on social media by Benny Johnson.Hillary’s attorneys instantly requested to pause the proceedings, noting that she had been denied her request for a public listening to. The deposition resumed about half-hour later. Rep Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., mentioned the primary hour of the deposition earlier than the interruption had been a humiliation to Republicans, turning up nothing of significance. “Secretary Clinton is puzzled as to why she’s right here answering questions,” he mentioned. “I am attempting to determine what else to ask her. She would not know a lot.”
Pictures, flights and social occasions resurface
Hillary Clinton has beforehand mentioned her husband flew with Epstein for charitable journeys however that she didn’t recall ever assembly Epstein.Invoice Clinton traveled on Epstein’s non-public aircraft not less than 16 occasions, in line with a CNN evaluate, and was pictured with girls in a jacuzzi in information launched by the US Division of Justice. A number of photographs of the previous president had been included within the first tranche of Epstein information launched in January, together with quite a few him with girls whose faces had been redacted. He was additionally pictured with Ghislaine Maxwell.Hillary Clinton acknowledged that she had interacted with Maxwell at conferences hosted by the Clinton Basis. Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, additionally attended the 2010 wedding ceremony of the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea Clinton.Whereas exiting the occasion middle the place the deposition was held, Clinton instructed reporters that Maxwell had come to the marriage as a visitor of another person and that she had instructed the committee she solely knew Maxwell “as an acquaintance.”Epstein survivors and legal professionals representing them have mentioned it’s important for the Clintons, notably the previous president, to testify as lawmakers proceed to look at the federal government’s dealing with of the case.
