Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told U.S. House lawmakers in New York 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 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 Democrat couple and the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee.
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, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
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 had said that her husband had flown with Epstein for charitable trips but that she did not recall meeting Epstein. She had 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.
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.
Comer pledged lengthy days of questioning for both Clintons.
“We have a lot of questions, and 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, now being led by a new generation of politicians, have prioritized transparency around Epstein over defending the former leaders of their party. Several Democrat 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.
On Thursday, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, 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.
Even senior Democrats, such as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, said it was appropriate for the committee to interview anyone, including the former president, who was connected to Epstein.
“We want to hear from everyone,” Pelosi said, adding that she did not see why Hillary Clinton was being interviewed and that it was important to “believe survivors.”
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