Former President Bill Clinton denied any wrongdoing in his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein as he sat for a deposition with House lawmakers Friday, saying he had no idea of the crimes the now-dead sex offender was committing, according to prepared remarks.
The former Democratic president, during a deposition in New York, testified that he saw nothing that gave him pause and that he had long stopped associating with Epstein by the time Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges in 2008, a much-criticized deal that later allowed him out of custody.
Clinton is among a series of high-profile men, including President Donald Trump, who appeared in photos with Epstein and are known to have had ties with him. Clinton was also among the figures seen in images released by the Justice Department, as mandated under a bipartisan Epstein files transparency law.
Testifying Friday before lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Clinton rebutted insinuations that the photos were proof he knew about Epstein’s conduct.
“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. I know what I saw and, more importantly, what I didn’t see. I know what I did and, more importantly, what I didn’t do,” Clinton said, according to the prepared remarks. “I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong.”
Clinton also told lawmakers he would have turned Epstein in himself and called for justice if he had had any suspicion of what he was doing, according to the remarks.
“We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long,” he said.
Epstein, a sex offender who died in custody in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking, is thought to have harmed hundreds of victims, according to the Justice Department.
The closed-door deposition was months in the making. There were strained negotiations involving Bill Clinton and his spouse, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and House lawmakers after a panel subcommittee voted to subpoena the Clintons last year.
Both Clintons declined to appear for depositions on Capitol Hill in January, and the House Oversight panel later voted to recommend holding them both in contempt of Congress. The duo later agreed to depositions as the House took steps to vote on the contempt measures, a path that could have led to criminal charges against the Democratic duo.
Bill Clinton, in the prepared remarks, foreshadowed that he might not be able to provide the lawmakers with all the answers they seek.
“You’ll often hear me say that I don’t recall. That might be unsatisfying. But I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of,” Clinton said, according to the remarks.
The Clintons have generally criticized the subpoena push.
Bill Clinton’s deposition comes one day after Hillary Clinton appeared before the lawmakers and said she didn’t have information about the past criminal investigation into Epstein and never recalled meeting him.
Speaking before the deposition, Chairman James R. Comer, R-Ky., said Hillary Clinton deferred a lot of questions to her husband.
“We already had a big portfolio of questions for him, and that increased yesterday, so we look forward to that,” Comer said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight panel, said Democrats want to hear from anyone who might have information on Epstein. But for the deposition Friday, he said they didn’t want a “sideshow” or questions about long-ago “conspiracy theories,” something he said happened during the deposition with Hillary Clinton.
Garcia also called for Trump to testify in front of House Oversight, noting his name’s appearance in the Epstein files.
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