Hillary Clinton challenged a Republican-led panel to question Donald Trump under oath about his links to Jeffrey Epstein, denying any knowledge of the sex offender’s crimes.
CHAPPAQUA: Hillary Clinton turned the tables on a Republican-led congressional committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein, demanding that former president Donald Trump be called to testify under oath about his own links to the deceased sex offender.
Appearing before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, Clinton stated she had no information about Epstein’s crimes. She accused the panel of trying to “protect one public official” – Trump.
“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,” Clinton challenged the lawmakers.
Committee chairman James Comer said the investigation aimed to understand many things about Epstein. The panel is probing individuals linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The top Democrat on the committee, Robert Garcia, also called for Trump to testify “to answer the questions that are being asked across this country from survivors.” Democrats argue the probe is weaponised to attack Trump’s political opponents.
Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, initially rejected subpoenas but agreed to testify after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress. In her opening statement, Clinton was unequivocal: “Let me be as clear as I can. I do not,” have information regarding Epstein’s criminal activities.
Both Trump and Bill Clinton, who is scheduled to testify on Friday, feature prominently in recently released government documents related to Epstein. Both men have said they severed ties with the financier before his 2008 conviction in Florida.
The Clintons had requested public depositions, but the committee insisted on closed-door questioning, a move Bill Clinton denounced as akin to a “kangaroo court.” The depositions are being held in Chappaqua, New York, where the couple resides.
Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying on Epstein’s plane several times in the early 2000s for humanitarian work but said he never visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island. Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
Maxwell appeared via video-link before the committee earlier this month but refused to answer questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right. Her attorney said she would speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump.
The release of Epstein case files has had global repercussions, leading to arrests in Britain and damaging the reputations of numerous prominent figures. So far, Maxwell is the only person convicted of a crime in connection with the late financier.