skip to main content

US House panel releases videos of Clinton Epstein depositions

Former President Bill Clinton and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrive prior to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at the United States Capitol
Hillary Clinton told the panel that she did not know Epstein and Bill Clinton said he broke ties with him before the financier's sex crimes came to light in 2008 (File image)

A US congressional committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein released videos of the depositions of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The former US president and former US secretary of state appeared before the House Oversight Committee last week to testify about their relations with Epstein.

Hillary Clinton told the panel that she did not know Epstein and Bill Clinton said he broke ties with him before the financier's sex crimes came to light in 2008.

In statements to the committee, Bill Clinton said he had done "nothing wrong" and Hillary Clinton called for the panel to depose US President Donald Trump, once a close friend of Epstein.

The politicians should ask Mr Trump "directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files," she said.

Being mentioned in the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice does not imply wrongdoing and Bill Clinton - like Mr Trump - has not been formally accused of a crime.

Bill Clinton has acknowledged extensive interactions with Epstein but said he never visited his infamous private Caribbean island where the financier allegedly trafficked young women and girls to powerful business and political figures.

Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying on Epstein's private plane several times in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14, but died in a New York jail cell in 2019 before he could be tried on sex trafficking charges.

His death was ruled a suicide but, like much else around Epstein, is the subject of lurid conspiracy theories.

The Clintons had initially rejected subpoenas ordering them to testify, but the Democratic power couple agreed to do so after House Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.

Democrats say the investigation is being weaponised to attack Mr Trump's political opponents rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.

The closed-door depositions were held last week in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons reside.

Mr Clinton offered an explanation for viral photos released as part of the Epstein files that show the former US president in a hot tub and a pool with a woman whose face is redacted.

Mr Clinton said the photos were taken at a hotel during a visit he made to Brunei at the invitation of the Sultan, who was interested in helping with the Clinton Foundation's AIDS initiative.

"He invited me to stay there and he said: 'I want you to stay at this hotel and I hope you'll use the pool,'" Mr Clinton said.

"I swam around. I sat in the hot tub for five minutes or whatever it was and I got up and went to bed," he said.

"I also believe that there was a Secret Service agent there at the other end of the pool."

Mr Clinton said he did not know the identity of the unidentified woman in the photos but he believed she was a member of the travelling party.

"I don't know who that is," he said. Asked if he had "engaged in any sexual activities" with the woman in the photos, Mr Clinton replied: "No."


Read more:
'I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong' - Bill Clinton tells US committee on Epstein
Hillary Clinton confident husband knew nothing of Epstein's crimes
US justice dept accused of withholding documents on Trump Epstein allegation