Feb. 26 (UPI) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she has “no knowledge” that would assist the House Oversight Committee in its investigation involving late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in her opening statement before the panel Thursday.
Clinton posted the prepared statement on her social media account ahead of the closed-door deposition.
She said the committee didn’t ask President Donald Trump under oath about his appearances in the Epstein files or demand information from Florida or New York prosecutors about the plea deal Epstein made in 2008 that allowed him to avoid federal sex trafficking charges.
“Instead, you have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers,” Clinton said, according to the statement she posted on X.
“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, as well as the public who also want to get to the bottom of this matter,” Clinton said. “My heart breaks for the survivors. And I am furious on their behalf.”
Clinton gave a sworn declaration to the Oversight Committee on Jan. 13 in which she said she had no knowledge of crimes committed by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his convicted accomplice, and said she did not remember ever meeting Epstein.
The testimony Thursday at the Chappaqua, N.Y., Performing Arts Center, was interrupted during the first hour after right-wing influencer Benny Johnson shared an image on X from the closed-door proceedings.
“This is the first time Hillary has had to answer real questions about [Jeffrey] Epstein,” Johnson wrote on the post with the photo, which he attributed to Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. “Clinton does not look happy.”
Nick Merrill, a Clinton adviser, told reporters that the post caused the testimony to go off the record, “while they figure out where the photo came from and why possibly members of Congress are violating House rules,” Politico reported.
Before the testimony began, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., gave a press conference outside of the venue.
“No one’s accusing, at this moment, the Clintons of any wrongdoing. They’re going to have due process,” The Hill reported Comer said
“But we have a lot of questions,” Comer said. “And the purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein. How did he accumulate so much wealth? How was he able to surround himself with some of the most powerful men in the world? Was he an asset for our government or any other government?”
Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, initially said they would testify in a public hearing, but committee chair Comer said the committee’s practice is to do interviews behind closed doors first, then hold hearings.
The House of Representatives was close to holding a bipartisan vote to hold them in contempt for ignoring a subpoena when the Clintons relented and agreed to be questioned in private.
Bill Clinton’s deposition is scheduled for Friday. Neither Clinton has been accused of any crimes, and both have called for the full release of the Epstein files.
At least 10 Republican members and nine Democrats were expected to attend the event, which was in the town where the Clintons now live, CBS News reported.
Clinton has said that she and her husband have little information to offer the committee.
“Other witnesses were asked to testify. They gave written statements under oath. We offered that,” she told the BBC last week. “Why do they want to pull us into this? To divert attention from President [Donald] Trump. This is not complicated.”
There are undated photos of Bill Clinton in the Epstein files with Epstein, who died by suicide in prison in 2019.
Bill Clinton’s spokesperson, Angel Ureña, has said he flew on Epstein’s plane four times in 2002 and 2003. The flights were for trips for the Clinton Foundation.
Hillary Clinton has said she doesn’t believe she ever met Epstein, but she was familiar with Maxwell. Maxwell is serving 20 years in prison for her sex trafficking conviction.
Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last year that, “President Clinton was my friend, not Epstein’s friend,” NBC News reported. She said she offered the plane to the former president. She also said that Bill Clinton was a close friend of billionaire Ted Waitt, founder of Gateway computers, whom she dated from 2003 to 2010. Maxwell and Waitt attended Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010.
