The most telling moment from Hillary Clinton's seven-hour deposition wasn't about Jeffrey Epstein. It was about aliens and a debunked internet hoax.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged from her closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday and dropped a bombshell: Republican lawmakers had spent official congressional time questioning her about UFOs and Pizzagate — the false conspiracy theory she called 'one of the most vile, bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the internet,' according to MS Now.
'It then got, at the end, quite unusual because I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate,' Clinton told reporters outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Centre in New York. She didn't name which lawmaker posed the questions.
A Conspiracy Theory With Real-World Violence
Pizzagate isn't just internet noise. The theory spread during the 2016 presidential election, falsely claiming that high-ranking Democratic officials were running a child sex trafficking ring from a Washington pizza restaurant.
In December 2016, Edgar Maddison Welch drove from North Carolina to Comet Ping Pong in Washington, DC, armed with an AR-15 rifle. He fired into a locked door while searching for children he believed were hidden in the basement. No one was hurt, according to CBS. Welch pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison.
That a debunked theory — one that already inspired real-world gunfire — would resurface in an official House deposition raises hard questions about what Republicans actually wanted from Clinton's testimony.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer told reporters that 'some of the comments' Clinton made at the end about Epstein will be 'interesting'. He gave no specifics.
Clinton: 'I Never Met Jeffrey Epstein'
For most of the session, Clinton repeated the same answer. Over and over again.
'I don't know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein,' she told reporters. 'I never went to his island. I never went to his homes. I never went to his offices.'
In her opening statement, which she posted on X, Clinton accused the committee of partisan 'fishing expeditions' designed to deflect attention from President Trump's own documented ties to the late financier.
Here is my opening statement to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today. pic.twitter.com/NZSF2epcI5
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 26, 2026
'What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up?' she asked in that statement. She argued that if Republicans were serious, they would question Trump 'directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.'
Democrats Fire Back: Now Depose Trump
Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Republicans had set 'a new precedent' by forcing the Clintons to testify under subpoena. He wants the same standard applied to Trump.
'We're demanding immediately that we ask President Trump to testify in front of our committee and be deposed in front of Oversight Republicans and Democrats,' Garcia said, according to the Washington Times. 'He is the person that appears almost more than anyone else' in the Epstein files.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing connected to Epstein. But he's never answered questions under oath.
Deposition Halted After Boebert Leaks Photo
The testimony was briefly paused after Representative Lauren Boebert leaked a photograph of Clinton during the deposition to conservative influencer Benny Johnson.
Garcia condemned the leak as 'completely against the rules' and called for repercussions. Clinton said she found the incident 'very upsetting' because it raised concerns about whether other agreed-upon rules might also be broken.
'Benny did nothing wrong. Proceeding with deposition,' Boebert tweeted shortly after.
What Happens on Friday
Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to testify on Friday — the first time in decades that a former president will appear before Congress under subpoena. Neither Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing in the Epstein case.
The Epstein scandal touches powerful figures across party lines. Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's plane multiple times for Clinton Foundation trips. Trump appears extensively in the files. This was supposed to be a bipartisan accountability moment.
But when House Republicans use official questioning time to ask about aliens and a conspiracy theory that already sent a gunman into a pizza shop, you have to wonder: is this an investigation — or just theatre?
