Former US President Bill Clinton is set to testify before a Congressional panel on Friday over his reported connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as Democrats seek to highlight President Donald Trump’s ties to Epstein. Clinton, who has acknowledged interactions with Epstein, maintains he severed ties before Epstein’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving minors.
Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, testified Thursday, urging that Trump also be subpoenaed to appear before the panel. She stated, “If this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes… it would ask Trump directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.”
The depositions are taking place behind closed doors in Chappaqua, New York, with Bill Clinton calling the process a “kangaroo court” and both Clintons requesting the hearings be televised. While Bill Clinton has admitted to flying on Epstein’s private plane for Clinton Foundation-related work, he insists he never visited Epstein’s Caribbean island.
Epstein, who mingled with global elites, was convicted in 2008 for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14 and died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing individuals connected to Epstein, especially following the Justice Department’s release of millions of previously undisclosed investigative documents. While Clinton appears in numerous files and photographs—including some with Epstein’s alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell—he has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, confirmed both Clinton and Trump are “innocent of any wrongdoing.”
The Clintons initially resisted subpoenas but agreed to testify after threats of congressional contempt. Republican committee chair James Comer noted that lawmakers had “a lot of questions” for Bill Clinton following Hillary’s appearance. Journalists and Secret Service personnel have descended on the town, with barricades set up around the arts centre hosting the depositions.
