Hillary Clinton answers questions but decries GOP partisanship in Epstein probe

By Annie Grayer, MJ Lee, CNN

(CNN) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defiantly faced lawmakers Thursday who sought to question her about her family’s past ties to Jeffrey Epstein, insisting that she had no information about the late convicted sex offender’s criminal activities and blasting Republicans for what she termed a faux effort at transparency.

Clinton insisted in sworn testimony before the House Oversight Committee that she could not recall meeting Epstein, had no knowledge of his crimes and only interacted with a convicted accomplice of his, Ghislaine Maxwell, a handful of times, according to her opening statement and accounts from those in the room. She and other Democrats criticized Republicans, asking why they had not questioned others with ties to Epstein, including President Donald Trump.

“You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions,” Clinton said in her opening statement, which she delivered behind closed doors but also posted publicly.

The deposition – taking place in New York, near where she lives with former President Bill Clinton – is one of the highest-profile interviews yet in the Republican-led committee’s investigation into Epstein. It comes after both Clintons vigorously resisted testifying in what they denounced as a Republican plot against them, only to reverse course when faced with the prospect of being held in criminal contempt of Congress. Bill Clinton is set to testify Friday.

By midday, the deposition had already devolved into a rancorous partisan affair. The proceedings had to be paused briefly after conservative podcaster Benny Johnson posted a photo from the ongoing interview on X – which Democrats asserted was a violation of House rules. The image, Johnson said, was provided by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert.

“I admired her blue suit,” the congresswoman quipped to reporters during a break in the proceeding.

Speaking to reporters during that break, Democrats blasted Republicans over the episode and called for members of the media to be allowed in the deposition room.

“We are sitting through an incredibly unserious clown show of a deposition where members of Congress and the Republican Party are more concerned about getting their photo op of Secretary Clinton than actually getting to the truth and holding anyone accountable,” Arizona Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari said.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said Clinton was “completely cooperating with the deposition and the committee, and is answering questions in full faith and in good faith.” He declined to provide specifics, imploring Republicans to quickly release the full video of the deposition.

In her opening statement, Clinton sought to make clear she knew nothing of Epstein’s crimes.

“The Committee justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Let me be as clear as i can. I do not,” Clinton said in the prepared remarks. “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.”

Republicans have insisted the Clintons’ testimony is vital to their probe, and noted that neither Bill nor Hillary have answered detailed inquiries about their ties to Epstein.

“It is a bipartisan investigation. The American people have a lot of questions. To my knowledge, the Clintons haven’t answered very many if any questions about their knowledge or involvement with Epstein and Maxwell,” said Kentucky GOP Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina asked Clinton a number of questions about her husband, including whether the former first lady had any feelings about young women massaging him, according to a source who watched the deposition. Clinton responded she would not speculate about events for which she was not present and was not there to discuss feelings.

Bill Clinton has never been accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing related to Epstein, and a spokesperson has repeatedly said he cut ties before Epstein’s arrest on federal charges in 2019 and was unaware of any crimes.

A CNN review showed the former president traveled on Epstein’s private plane at least 16 times, and he was pictured in Epstein case files released by the Justice Department with women in a jacuzzi, as well as with Maxwell.

Hillary Clinton was accompanied Thursday by her attorneys, who have been working through painstaking details of what areas could be covered during questioning.

Even the location for the depositions, the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, was negotiated between Clinton lawyer David Kendall and Comer in hopes of avoiding the indignity and precedent-setting move of summoning a former president to Capitol Hill for questioning.

The former first lady arrived out of direct sight of the gaggle of reporters who had gathered in front of the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center. But the two images of Clinton flanked by her attorneys that surfaced on social media during the proceeding briefly ground the deposition to a halt, with Democratic lawmakers accusing their Republican colleagues of breaking their own rules.

The Clintons and members of the House Oversight Committee agreed to five topic areas for the depositions, a person familiar with the agreement told CNN. They were:

• alleged mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation into Epstein and Maxwell;
• the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Epstein’s 2019 death;
• the ways the federal government could effectively combat sex-trafficking rings;
• how Epstein and Maxwell sought to curry favor to protect their illegal activities;
• and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials.

Survivors of Epstein’s abuse and lawyers representing them told CNN that they believe it is important for the Clintons, and especially the former president, to testify. In interviews, they stressed that the presence of an individual in the Epstein files and their cooperation with Congress does not indicate wrongdoing.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.