Former United States President Bill Clinton, during the congressional hearing on Friday, said that he “did nothing wrong” in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Clinton faced hours of grilling from lawmakers over his connections with sex offender Epstein.
“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” he said.
The closed-door hearing was held in Chappaqua, New York. It is the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress. Bill Clinton’s hearing came a day after his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat with the lawmakers for her own deposition.
Appearance of the names in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing, the Clintons maintained.
Speaking to the public after the testimony, Clinton said that he would have cut ties and turned him in if he knew about Epstein’s crimes.
“When the video of my testimony today is released, I hope it will motivate everyone to go in front of Congress to say what they know,” said Clinton in a short video posted after the hearing.
Dismissing them as politically motivated, the Clintons had resisted the subpoenas from the panel before agreeing to testify before the House Oversight Committee.
Following the release of files linked to Jeffrey Epstein, a photograph emerged appearing to show Bill Clinton alongside a woman in a hot tub. When questioned, Clinton stated that he did not know the individual and explicitly denied having sex with her.
While Bill Clinton faces no accusations of wrongdoing, lawmakers are redefining American accountability as other global leaders lose their positions for maintaining ties to Epstein after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor.
The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, called the interview ‘a very productive deposition’.
Unlike Hillary, Bill Clinton would have to answer questions on a well-documented relationship with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, even if it was from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
According to congressional records, six sitting and former presidents had testified before congressional committees. Clinton is the seventh.
When asked whether Donald Trump should be called before the committee to testify, he said, “That’s for you to decide”, adding that he did not have any knowledge of Trump’s involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
Bill Clinton testifies on Epstein files: What former US president actually said about hot tub photo allegations
