Ex-US President Bill Clinton testified in front of the members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee about his ties to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Friday.
In his opening remarks, the former POTUS said, “First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that, at the end of the day, matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos,” Clinton said.
Notably, Clinton became the first sitting or former president to testify before members of Congress in more than 40 years.
‘I know what I saw and what I didn’t see’
Elaborating further on his remarks, Clinton said he is sure what he saw and what he didn’t. “I know what I did and more importantly, what I didn’t do. I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” he added.
Clinton’s closed-door testimony
Clinton’s closed-door testimony comes a day after former Secretary of State and his wife, Hillary Clinton, was deposed on the matter, during which she criticised questions that veered off topic.
The location for the testimony was negotiated between Kendall and Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, in hopes of avoiding the indignity and precedent-setting move of summoning a former president to Capitol Hill for questioning.
This marks the second high-profile testimony (following Hillary Clinton’s) linked to the Epstein probe ever since an avalanche of emails and other documents linked to the case were released by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
What Hillary said during her deposition
In her opening remarks, Hillary said, “A committee endeavouring to stop human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008…But that’s not happening. Instead, you have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Donald Trump’s actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers.”
Hillary told lawmakers that she had no knowledge of Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal activities. She also will say she never engaged with Epstein nor been on his infamous plane, which has been nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” Fox News reported.
According to Comer, she also deferred a number of questions during her deposition yesterday to her husband.
“There were at least a dozen times when she said, ‘You’ll have to ask my husband that, I can’t answer that.'” Comer told reporters in Chappaqua, New York. “So we already had a big portfolio of questions for him, and that increased yesterday,” he added.
What is Bill and Hillary’s connection to Epstein?
Emails connected to Jeffrey Epstein indicate that he was reportedly the first person to raise funds for the Clinton initiative, the Clinton Foundation, and that he solicited donations for the foundation at some of his properties, according to Comer.
Bill Clinton has acknowledged that he flew on Epstein’s plane several times in 2002 and 2003 on Clinton Foundation trips, NBC reported.
Neither of the Clintons has been accused of anything related to Epstein’s crimes. But the former president’s name appears multiple times in released documents.