Bill Clinton To Face Grilling on Significant Epstein Ties
Chappaqua: Former US president Bill Clinton will be debated by a Congressional panel on Friday over his well-documented links to Jeffrey Epstein, as Democrats seek to shift the focus to Donald Trump’s own ties to the convicted sex offender.
Clinton figures prominently in Epstein’s latest dossier disclosures; The former president insists the disgraced billionaire cut ties with him long before he was convicted of sex crimes in 2008.
Just because it is mentioned in the files released by the U.S. Department of Justice does not mean there was any wrongdoing, and Clinton was not charged with a crime or formally investigated.
He follows in the footsteps of his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who testified Thursday and defiantly called for President Trump, who, like Bill Clinton, has ties to Epstein, to appear before the panel.
“If this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes… it will ask (Trump) directly under oath about his tens of thousands of appearances in the Epstein files,” he said in an opening statement posted online.
Although the Clintons wanted the statements to be open and televised, the statements are being kept behind closed doors; Bill Clinton condemned the move, likening it to a “kangaroo court.”
The questioning poses a far greater danger to the former president than to his wife, as she has acknowledged extensive interaction with Epstein but has said she has never visited the shady financier’s private Caribbean island.
Epstein was associated with the world’s rich, famous and powerful and was convicted in 2008 of soliciting sex from 14-year-old girls.
He died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while on trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is investigating those connected to Epstein, especially in light of the Justice Department’s disclosure of millions of new documents related to its investigation of him.
Hillary insisted that she did not fly on Epstein’s plane or visit his island.
The Clintons had initially refused subpoenas ordering them to testify in the panel’s investigation, but the Democratic power couple agreed to do so after House Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.
newly released pictures
In her opening statement to the panel, Hillary Clinton said she “justified the subpoena against me based on the assumption that I had knowledge of investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.”
“Let me be as clear as possible. I don’t.”
Democrats say the investigation is being weaponized to attack Trump’s political opponents rather than legitimate oversight.
Bill Clinton figures prominently in investigative files released by the Justice Department regarding Epstein but has not been charged with any crimes.
Among the never-before-seen photos in the files is one showing the former president lounging in a jacuzzi; Part of the image is obscured by a black rectangle.
In another, Clinton is seen swimming with a dark-haired woman who appears to be Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
Clinton acknowledged flying on Epstein’s private plane several times in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work.
Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, recently said Clinton and Trump are “innocent of any wrongdoing.”
The depositions are being held in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons reside.
Dozens of journalists converged on the wealthy village and the Secret Service set up metal barricades around the arts center where the depositions took place.
Republican committee chairman James Comer said at the end of Hillary’s speech that lawmakers had “a lot of questions for her husband tomorrow.”
