Videos of Bill Clinton, the former US president, and Hillary Clinton, the former US secretary of state, answering questions about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released on Monday by a House committee investigating the late financier.
The recordings of the depositions, which spanned hours over two days last week, show how both Clintons distanced themselves from Epstein. Bill Clinton told the committee that he had ended his relationship with Epstein years before the financier entered a guilty plea in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
The former Democratic president said he first remembered meeting Epstein when he flew on his private jet in 2002 for the Clintons’ humanitarian work, and they parted ways the year after.
“There’s nothing that I saw when I was around him that made me realize he was trafficking women,” Bill Clinton told the committee.
Epstein visited the White House numerous times during Clinton’s presidency and there are photos of them shaking hands, but Bill Clinton said he did not recall those interactions.
Hillary Clinton said she never even recalled meeting Epstein.
The former first lady took the opportunity during the deposition to admonish Republicans on the House oversight committee, saying: “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.
“You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files. And when you did, not a single Republican member showed up for Les Wexner’s deposition,” she continued.
“This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official, rather than to seek truth and justice for the victims and survivors.”
Footage released during Hillary Clinton’s testimony also shows the former secretary of state finding out that Representative Lauren Boebert has shared an unauthorized photo with conservative YouTuber Benny Johnson.
“I’m done with this. If you guys are doing that, I am done. You can hold me in contempt from now until the cows come home,” she said. “This is just typical behavior … We all are abiding by the same rules.”
In the footage, Boebert can be heard saying: “I will take that down.”
Still, the former president and first lady faced hours of questioning under oath from lawmakers who are searching for accountability for anyone who was aware of or ignored Epstein’s abuse of underage girls.
