US Politics
Bill Clinton sheds light on Trump and Epstein’s falling out in newly released video from deposition
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Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have released the filmed depositions of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who each testified for six hours each in connection with a congressional probe into the investigations surrounding Jeffrey Epstein.
The Clintons agreed to testify last week after initially resisting subpoenas to compel their testimony in a searing letter that condemned Donald Trump’s administration and the alleged failures of a Republican-dominated Congress to hold it accountable.
In their separate closed-door testimonies in upstate New York, Hillary Clinton said she did not know Epstein well, had never been to his home or offices, never traveled on his jet and did not remember meeting him.
The former two-term Democratic president said he “did nothing wrong” and “saw nothing” that gave him pause after he was grilled about his connections to Epstein and appearances in photographs released by the committee and the Department of Justice.
Each deposition video is more than four hours long.
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Clinton recalls severing ties with Epstein and Maxwell
The former president said he first remembered meeting Epstein in “late 2001 or early 2002,” after his former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers called him and recommended the use of his plane in connection with the Clinton Global Initiative.
“He said that he was calling because a man named Jeffrey Epstein, who had made a substantial commitment of several million dollars … to brain research, and he was an information-hungry person, and he wanted to spend some time talking to me about economics and politics,” Clinton said.”
He said he believes he met Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell around the same time.
Asked how his relationship ended, Clinton said he thought Epstein was an “interesting man but not interested in what I was doing” with his foundation.
He severed ties in 2008 when Epstein was convicted in Florida, Clinton said.
“There’s nothing I saw when I was around him that made me realize he was trafficking women,” Clinton said.
He had lost touch with Maxwell more than a decade ago, he said.
“This thing was really hard for me when it came out because we were friends with Ghislaine,” he said of the trafficking charges against her. “I was sad. But it was terrible what she did and she has to be punished. Somebody besides me should make a decision on what it is.”
Asked later about a painting found hanging in Epstein’s apartment showing Clinton in a blue dress while sitting in a chair, the former president said he had never seen it.
“If I had I known Jeffrey Epstein had this painting,” Clinton said, “it would’ve saved me this whole day.”
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Bill Clinton recalls Trump mentioning Epstein
The former president recalled golfing with Trump, who brought up the subject of Epstein’s plane.
“And he said, ‘You know, we had some great times together over the years, but we fell out all because of a real estate deal,’ and he said, ‘I’m sorry it happened,” according to Clinton.
Bill Clinton says no law enforcement contacted him about Epstein
Asked whether he had ever been contacted by a law enforcement agency about Epstein or Maxwell, Bill Clinton said “as far as I remember, no.”
“Back in 2008, I sort of thought somebody might ask me something because – and I was glad this has come out since it happened,” he said.” But I don’t believe anybody ever did.”
Asked why he believed law enforcement would want to speak with him, he said: “Just because he let me use his airplane.”
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Hillary Clinton fires back at Boebert over photo
After learning from her counsel that photos of the former secretary during her testimony were being published on social media, Clinton said “I’m done with this.”
“If you guys are doing that, I am done. You can hold me in contempt from now until the cows come home,” he said.” This is just typical behavior. Oh, for heaven’s sake.”
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, who took the photo, can be heard saying “I will take that down.”
Clinton then stands up from the desk and says “I’m done, for now.”
Nancy Mace and Hillary Clinton shout over questions about Howard Lutnick
Asked how she knows Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was photographed on Epstein’s island, Hillary Clinton recalled that his former firm Cantor Fitzgerald lost more than 600 employees in the September 11 terror attack at the World Trade Center, when she was a New York senator.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace then begins to cut her off, infuriating Clinton.
“You asked the question. I’m going to answer your question. This is what I spent my time doing,” she said.
“Now you’re going to yell at me?” Mace can be heard saying as she speaks over Clinton.
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“I’m a survivor trying to look out for others,” Mace continues. “Six months, and now you’re being defiant and indignant today.”
Mace then accused Clinton of trying to “get Epstein to give money” to her, which Clinton has denied.
“You want to yell at me? That’s fine. I’ll yell right back,” Mace said.
The congresswoman referenced Lutnick’s email from November 2015 to Epstein to attend “a very intimate fund-raising event” for Clinton’s presidential campaign at Cantor Fitzgerald’s offices. Federal campaign contribution records do not show that Epstein contributed personally during that election cycle.
Clinton said she is “very sympathetic” for Mace, who has spoken publicly about being a survivor of sexual abuse. “I have read about it, seen you testify and speak out on the floor about it, and I very much sympathize not only with what you went through, and I appreciate your effort to stand up for survivors.”
As for Lutnick, she said she knew him as a senator representing victims of 9/11, and “I knew him as the man who lost employees that he knew intimately, including his brother.”
“If you don’t want to hear what emotionally affected me, that’s fine,” she said. “But that’s how I know Howard Lutnick.”
Mace accused her of “obfuscating” from questions about Epstein.
