(Andrew Rice, The Center Square) Former President Bill Clinton said he had “no idea” of the crimes convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein committed.
The U.S. House Oversight Committee questioned Clinton over his ties to Epstein in a closed-door hearing on Friday in New York.
“I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing,” Clinton wrote in an opening statement posted to social media. “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong.”
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the committee, said he plans to question former President Clinton on his inclusion in the Epstein files. He said Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane at least 27 times and Epstein was in the White House 17 times during Clinton’s presidency.
Comer also said he plans to ask about Clinton’s appearance in pictures released by the U.S. Department of Justice. Several photos released in the Epstein files show Clinton in close proximity with women whose faces are redacted.
“No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that at the end of the day matter more than those 20-year old photos,” Clinton wrote in his opening statement.
Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Epstein, previously stated she saw and met former President Clinton on Little St. James, the island owned by Jeffrey Epstein.
Comer said Hillary Clinton deferred answers on at least a dozen questions to her husband during a deposition on Thursday. He said those questions, including Epstein’s ties to the Clinton’s charitable foundations, will be asked during Friday’s deposition.
“We had a big portfolio of questions for him, and that increased yesterday,” Comer said.
Hillary Clinton described the deposition as “repetitive” in a news conference on Thursday. Comer explained that many questions had to be raised due to apparent evidence in the Epstein files that Hillary Clinton had a relationship with Epstein.
“It may have seemed repetitive because there was a lot of documentation that would suggest that she had a relationship with Epstein,” Comer said.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., questioned whether Hillary Clinton was honest in her responses to questions during the deposition on Thursday. If an individual is found to knowingly make false statements before a congressional body in a deposition, they can be found guilty of perjury. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., described Hillary Clinton as “unhinged” during Thursday’s deposition.
“I hope that President Clinton is less unhinged today than his wife was yesterday,” Mace said.
House Democrats refuted Mace’s claim about Hillary Clinton’s behavior, calling it a “mischaracterization.”
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., pointed out that Hillary Clinton did not invoke the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination once during Thursday’s deposition. House Democrats called on President Trump to be subpoenaed over his knowledge and association with Jeffrey Epstein.
“Now we have the Clinton rule, which is that presidents and their families have to testify when Congress issues a subpoena, and that means that Donald Trump needs to come before our committee and explain what he knew about Epstein and explain why we have not had a full release of the documents,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.
Clinton said he might not be able to recall all of the details in his relationship with Epstein. He also said he saw “nothing that ever gave me pause.”
“I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of. This was all a long time ago. And I am bound by my oath not to speculate, or to guess,” Clinton wrote. “This is not merely for my benefit, but because it doesn’t help you for me to play detective 24 years later.”
“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.”
