Featured Image Credit: The US Justice Department / Handout /Anadolu via Getty Images/David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Topics: Jeffrey Epstein, Sex Trafficking
William Morgan
Topics: Jeffrey Epstein, Sex Trafficking
In explosive remarks before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, former President Bill Clinton has forcefully rejected assertions that he knew anything about Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation.
"I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong," the 79-year-old said in a direct opening statement, which he shared on social media, further asserting that he 'had no idea of the crimes' being committed by the dead convicted pedophile during the time that he knew him.
The 42nd POTUS testified in a closed-door deposition in New York before the House of Representatives' oversight committee, with his wife, Hillary, previously giving her own deposition on Thursday (February 26).
Turning to his association with Epstein from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, Clinton told the committee that he 'saw nothing that ever gave me pause,' in an opening statement that then turned on the gathered Representatives for hauling Hillary before them yesterday, February 26.
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Both Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify about their relationship with Epstein after being threatened with criminal charges.
“But before we start, I have to get personal. You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing,” Clinton blasted. “Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her was simply not right.”
The former president told the gathered politicians that Epstein's ability to conceal his crimes from others was part of how he evaded the law for so long, as he continued: “We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long. And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him.”
However, he also added that his answers might be 'unsatisfying' as he simply did not recall all the details, as he said: "This was all a long time ago. And I am bound by my oath not to speculate, or to guess.
"This is not merely for my benefit, but because it doesn’t help you for me to play detective 24 years later."
Clinton also pointed to his upbringing, appealing to his moral character as a reason he would not have stood by had he known of Epstein's horrific crimes.
Referring to his alcoholic stepfather's abuse of his mom and half-brother, he said: "As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing—I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals."
Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer will doubtlessly have found this opening statement frustrating, after signposting beforehand that he had 'a big portfolio of questions' to ask the former president as a result of Hillary's own deferrals the day before.
But Clinton told the committee: “No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things at the end of the day matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos.
"I know what I saw, and more importantly, what I didn’t see. I know what I did, and more importantly, what I didn’t do.”
Revelations from the three million documents released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) have shown that Clinton likely flew on Epstein's private jet at least 24 times in the years before Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting child prostitution.
The DOJ's release of the Epstein files towards the end of December also included pictures showing Clinton with a number of redacted females, as well as an image of him in the pool with Epstein's now-convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Inclusion in the Epstein files doesn't suggest any wrongdoing.
Following the release of the files, a spokesperson for the former President responded in a statement, claiming 'this isn't about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be'.
In his 2024 memoir, Citizen: My Life After the White House, Clinton also expressed regret about knowing Epstein, writing: "I wish I had never met him."
In her testimony yesterday, where a photo of her was also leaked, Clinton, 78, said she had 'no idea' about Epstein's crimes, adding that she didn't recall 'ever encountering Mr Epstein'.
"I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that," she continued, adding that her husband had ended his friendship with Epstein 'several years' before his conviction.
While under oath, she urged politicians to speak to President Donald Trump about Epstein, as she said: "If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files."
In an interview with the BBC, she accused the Trump administration of using her and her husband to draw focus from Trump, as well as attempting to 'cover up' the files, adding: "Get the files out. They are slow-walking it."
In response to Clinton's comments, Trump said he had 'been exonerated' and 'had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein', while the White House said that 'the Trump Administration has done more for the victims than Democrats ever have'.