Former President Bill Clinton is sitting for a closed-door deposition Friday before the House Oversight Committee in New York as part of its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It marks the first time a former U.S. president has been compelled to testify before Congress under subpoena.
Subpoena Battle Ends in Testimony
The deposition follows a months-long standoff led by Committee Chairman James Comer, who pushed to enforce subpoenas against Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Both ultimately agreed to testify after facing possible contempt proceedings.
Hillary Clinton appeared before the panel a day earlier. Republicans said she repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.
Clinton Denies Wrongdoing
Bill Clinton has appeared in photographs with Epstein and acknowledged taking several trips on Epstein’s private plane in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation work. In a sworn declaration, he denied ever visiting Epstein’s private island and said he had no knowledge of Epstein’s or associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal conduct.
“To be clear, I had no idea,” Clinton stated, adding he had not been in contact with Epstein for more than a decade before Epstein’s 2019 arrest.
Hillary Clinton echoed that defense, saying she is confident her husband was unaware of any crimes.
Trump Mentioned in Files
Top Democrat Robert Garcia called the deposition a new precedent and urged the committee to seek testimony from Donald Trump, whose name appears in recently released Epstein-related documents. Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the controversy a “hoax.”
While past presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, compelling one under subpoena is unprecedented.
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