During former U.S. Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton's deposition in the House Oversight Committee's investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein files was briefly halted after an unauthorized photograph from inside the closed-door session was intentionally leaked online.
Clinton had been scheduled for a private deposition in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons live, as part of a broader investigative push by the Republican-led panel. The deposition was filmed and will be released to the public at a later date.
Moments after the session began, Republican Representative Lauren Boebert took a photograph of Clinton seated before the committee and sent it to conservative commentator Benny Johnson, who promptly posted the image on the social media platform, X.
🚨BREAKING: The first image of Hillary Clinton testifying under oath about Jeffery Epstein to the Republican Oversight Committee.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 26, 2026
This is the first time Hillary has had to answer real questions about Epstein. Clinton does not look happy.
Photo provided by Rep. Lauren Boebert. pic.twitter.com/mPtUyA4u5i
Because rules for the deposition prohibit photography or video by attendees outside official recordings, the release of the picture prompted immediate objections from Clinton's legal team and a temporary pause in questioning. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill told reporters that "The hearing has been paused briefly while we figure out where the photo came from and why possibly members of Congress are violating House rules."
Advisors to Hillary Clinton say the House Oversight Committee's deposition hearing has been paused due an unauthorized photo from the hearing shared on social media: "It came from Benny Johnson, he said Lauren Boebert gave it to him." pic.twitter.com/DAOMZmuSkn
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 26, 2026
Boebert and Johnson maintained that no rules were broken, with Boebert publicly defending the influencer's actions, saying, "Benny did nothing wrong," and that the deposition should proceed. The committee ultimately resumed the hearing after the brief interruption.
Benny did nothing wrong.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) February 26, 2026
Proceeding with deposition. https://t.co/zwAUKjfi9V
Once testimony resumed, Axios reported that Clinton delivered her opening statement under oath, firmly denying any knowledge of Epstein's criminal activities or any personal relationship with him. She stated she did not recall ever meeting Epstein, denied traveling on his private jet, and said she had never visited his private island or properties, a point of intense interest as previously released Epstein files documents have included photographs of various high-profile figures with Epstein.
Hillary's husband, former President Bill Clinton, is scheduled to testify on Friday, in continuation of the committee's efforts to explore his long-documented connection to Epstein and his late associate Ghislaine Maxwell. However, neither Hillary nor Bill Clinton has been accused of criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein's sex trafficking crimes.
The deposition comes as the Department of Justice was ordered to release all of its files related to Epstein as part of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was passed in November 2025. The release of the files has implicated numerous influential figures, including Trump, Clinton, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Harvard economist and Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Earlier this week, a report from NPR that was corroborated by multiple outlets accused the DOJ of removing hundreds of pages of files related to Epstein that mention Trump. Among the documents reportedly removed from public view are FBI interview notes with two women whose interviews had references to Trump when he was a private citizen and whom the agency interviewed in connection with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell investigations.
One account in the internal files reportedly alleges that Epstein introduced a then-13-year-old girl to Trump in 1983 and describes a forced sexual encounter. The initial FBI interview that is part of the public database does not contain such allegations, suggesting the missing pages contained that detail.
Another series of interviews that originally appeared briefly in the online repository and were later removed describes a separate woman meeting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club during the time she was abused by Epstein, though versions of some of these files have since been restored.
