Bill Clinton faces ‘even longer’ Epstein grilling as he becomes first ever ex-president dragged before Congress
Bill Clinton will make history Friday by becoming the first former president forced to testify before Congress against his will.
The 79-year-old man is appearing before MPs over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after he was threatened with defamation charges.
Clinton’s deposition is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in New York’s Westchester County. Here Hillary was interrogated yesterday.
While Hillary told lawmakers she never met Epstein and only met Ghislaine Maxwell a few times, Bill must answer to much more evidence.
Photos released by Congress and the Justice Department over the past few months show the former president with his arm around a young woman on a private jet, swimming with Maxwell and relaxing in a jacuzzi with another unidentified woman.
Clinton and Epstein were together from the early 1990s to the early 2000s.
The financier says he flew on Epstein’s private plane during Clinton Foundation trips before he was charged with any sex crimes, but he denies wrongdoing and says he cut ties years before Epstein was arrested in 2006 for soliciting a minor to engage in prostitution.
No evidence has emerged to suggest that either Bill or Hillary Clinton were involved in criminal conduct related to Epstein.
Bill Clinton has his arm around a young woman on a private jet in a photo from the Epstein files
Another photo from files tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shows former President Bill Clinton in a hot tub and a woman with her face altered.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell grinned with Clinton during a VIP tour of the White House in 1993
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s infamous wife, attended Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010, years after Epstein was found guilty of sexual assault.
President Clinton and first lady Hillary share a tender moment during an East Room ceremony at the White House in Washington on July 17, 1996
Hillary said Thursday that she expects her husband to testify that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s sexual abuse when they knew each other.
Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, predicted Thursday it would take “even longer” for the former president to testify.
“The Clintons have not answered many, if any, questions about their relationships with or knowledge of Epstein and Maxwell,” he added.
“Right now, no one is accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing,” he added.
Republicans had wanted to question Clinton about Epstein for years, especially after conspiracy theories emerged. Epstein’s suicide in 2019 While facing sex trafficking charges in a New York jail cell.
Those calls came to a head late last year, when photos released late last year revealed new depths of the well-publicized Epstein relationship.
Epstein visited the Clinton White House at least 17 times between 1993 and 1995, and the two later went on international trips together for humanitarian work.
Before the testimony, Clinton insisted she had limited knowledge of Epstein and was unaware of any sexual misconduct he committed.
In a statement to lawmakers last month, Clinton admitted to flying on Epstein’s plane during international travel for the Clinton Foundation in 2002 and 2003.
Clinton said Epstein ‘offered a plane large enough to accommodate me, my staff, and the U.S. Secret Service team as support for visiting the Foundation’s philanthropic work.’
The former president said he never visited Little St James, Epstein’s private Caribbean island where many of the pedophile’s accusers say he was trafficked for abuse.
Clinton was never there, Maxwell said in an interview with the Justice Department last year.
Clinton’s statement said, ‘I do not remember speaking to Mr. Epstein more than a decade before his arrest in 2019.’
Following her testimony, Hillary said: ‘I think the chronology of her connection to Epstein ended a few years before anything about Epstein’s criminal activities came to light.’
Comer promised a thorough questioning of the former president. He claimed that Hillary repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.
Epstein was found hanged in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence, the only accomplice ever convicted.
Democrats backing the effort to get answers from Clinton argue it also sets a precedent that should stand. Donald TrumpA Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein.
Only four former presidents (Trump, Harry Truman, John Tyler and John Quincy Adams) and a sitting president, Richard Nixon, were formally subpoenaed by Congress to testify. While Trump, Truman, Nixon and Quincy Adams refused to comply, Tyler agreed to participate.
The Supreme Court has never ruled definitively on whether a president can be forced to testify to Congress; however, the Justice Department has historically argued that presidents have ‘testimony immunity’ to preserve the separation of powers.
“We immediately demand that President Trump testify before our committee and testify before Oversight Republicans and Democrats,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the committee’s top Democrat, said Thursday.
Comer backed off that idea, saying Trump was answering the press’ questions about Epstein.
Democrats also want Trump’s Commerce Secretary to resign Howard Lutnick.
Lutnick was a longtime neighbor of Epstein’s in New York but said in a podcast that he cut ties with Epstein after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that left Lutnick and his wife uncomfortable.
The public release of the case files showed that Lutnick did in fact meet with Epstein twice, years later.
In 2011, she attended an event at Epstein’s home, and in 2012, her family had lunch on Epstein’s private island.
Last night, a new photo emerged showing Lutnick on Epstein’s private island, which appears to have been deleted by the Department of Justice.
Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton and an unidentified man in a photo from the Epstein files
Clinton and pedophilia financier photographed together multiple times, statement says
Oil painting of Clinton dressed as a woman that Epstein kept in his home
The apparent removal of the photo sparked new calls for Lutnick to testify and deepened concerns about alleged cover-ups by the Trump administration.
“He should be relieved of his duties and at least appear before the committee,” Garcia said of Lutnick.
On Thursday, Comer said it was “very possible” that Lutnick would be subpoenaed.
