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Bill Clinton told a congressional committee on Friday that he “had no idea of the crimes” Jeffrey Epstein was committing and insisted he “did nothing wrong” in his relationship with the disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker.
The former president’s remarks came in his opening statement in a deposition to the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, a day after his wife, Hillary Clinton, appeared before the same body and called the proceedings “partisan political theater” and “an insult to the American people”.
In his statement, Bill Clinton said he would have reported Epstein’s crimes if he had been aware of them and referenced his own upbringing in an abusive household.
“As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing – I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals,” he said in a statement posted on social media after Friday’s hearing began.
“But even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause. We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long.”
By the time Epstein’s crimes came to light as a result of a plea deal in 2008, Clinton said, he had ended his association with the financier.
Before the deposition began,James Comer, the committee’s chair, said the former president would be subjected to “a big portfolio of questions” after Hillary Clinton deferred at least a dozen questions about the couple’s relationship to Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker who died in custody in 2019.
The Clintons are testifying to the House of Representatives’ oversight committee in a performing arts centre near their home in Chappaqua in upstate New York.
During a break in Friday’s proceedings, Comer briefed journalists that the former president had testified suggesting that Donald Trump - whom Democrats say should also be subpoenaed to appear before the committee – was not “involved” in Epstein’s crimes.
“[Ranking Democrat Robert] Garcia asked President Clinton ‘should President Trump be called to answer questions from this committee?” And President Clinton said: ‘That’s for you to decide’,” Comer said.
“And [Clinton] went on to say that the president – Trump – has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved when he met with Epstein.”
Comer’s interpretation was challenged by Garcia moments later when Democrats addressed reporters.
“I think the best response to that is for you to view the complete record of what actually he said,” Garcia said.
“President Clinton did bring up some additional information. about some discussions with President Trump. The way Chairman Comer described it I don’t think is a complete, accurate description of what actually was said.”
During her own deposition on Thursday, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, insisted that she had never met Epstein.
After the hearing, she complained about the repetitive nature of the questions and said she had also been asked about UFOs and the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.
Speaking to reporters before Friday’s deposition, Comer attributed the repetition to a “lot of documentation that would suggest that she had a relationship with Epstein”.
He said: “One reason there were repetitive questions about Epstein is because we went through every email and every correspondence that implied Hillary Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein communicated often.”
The former Democratic president flew on Epstein’s private jet several times in the early 2000s, but said he never visited his island. Comer said Hillary Clinton had confirmed that Epstein visited the White House 17 times – as suggested in the presidential mansion’s visitor records – during her husband’s presidency and had flown at least 27 times on the Epstein plane, which was nicknamed the “Lolita express”.
Clinton, who engaged in an extramarital affair while president and has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women, also appears in a photo from the recently released files, in a hot tub with Epstein and a woman whose identity is redacted.
Clinton has denied the sexual misconduct claims and was not charged with any crimes. He also has not been accused of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein.
Clinton said he cut ties with him around 2005, before the disgraced financier, who died from suicide in 2019, pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor in Florida.
Comer said committee members would be asking about Bill Clinton’s ties to Epstein, including documented visits to the White House and rides on his airplane, and Epstein’s ties to Clinton-related initiatives.
He said he expected video of Hillary Clinton’s testimony to be released either later Friday or Saturday, and he defended the repetitive questions the committee asked her on Thursday.
“Every item of evidence that would suggest Hillary Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein had a close relationship, we went and asked about that,” he said. “So it may have seemed repetitive, because there was a lot of documentation that would suggest that she had a relationship with Epstein.”
Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican representative, claimed Hillary Clinton responded to some of her questioning by “screaming” and called Hillary Clinton “unhinged”.
“I hope that President Clinton is less unhinged today than his wife was yesterday,” Mace said.
The claim was rebutted by Robert Garcia, the committee’s ranking Democrat, who called on the Republican majority to release unedited video footage of the proceedings. “To say that the secretary was screaming, I think, is beyond a mischaracterization. What happened yesterday was a disgrace to be asking about UFOs, pizza gate conspiracy theories,” he said.
Democrats called for Donald Trump to be questioned before the committee – pointing to the appearance of Bill Clinton, the first former president to testify before Congress since Gerald Ford in 1983.
“A new precedent has been set in America today,” said Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and co-sponsor of the legislation that has mandated the release of the Epstein files.
“Now we have the Clinton rule, which is: the presidents and their families have to testify when Congress issues a subpoena. And that means that Donald Trump needs to come before our committee and explain what he knew about Epstein.”
The House committee subpoenaed the Clintons in August. They initially refused to testify, but agreed after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt.
The Clintons asked for their depositions to be held publicly, with the former president stating that to do so behind closed doors would amount to a “kangaroo court”.
Comer did not grant their request, and the proceedings will be conducted behind closed doors with video to be released later.
