Tense moment Bill Clinton is grilled under oath over whether he believes Epstein killed himself
Bill Clinton said under oath that he admitted that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide, but explained that no one could know for sure.
The former president was directly pressured during closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Friday.
‘I want to ask you personally and directly, do you believe Jeffrey Epstein killed himself?’ Clinton was asked this question in the newly released video.
‘Are you asking him to speculate on how Mr. Epstein died?’ His lawyer intervened immediately.
The questioning continued: ‘Mr Clinton, was your friend Jeffrey Epstein suicidal? ‘Mr Clinton, do you believe Mr Epstein is suicidal?’
Clinton replied: ‘I don’t know. I didn’t know what the medical finding was. I think he was finally caught. I don’t know. I accepted this in my own mind. I don’t know what happened.”
When asked to explain what he was agreeing to, the questioner pressed him again.
‘He did this. But I don’t know. So are you. “None of us know,” Clinton replied.
Video has been released of Bill Clinton testifying behind closed doors before the House Oversight Committee last week.
Clinton said at Friday’s hearing that she stated that she had already left her relationship with Epstein when he confessed to the crime in 2008. The couple was seen together in silk shirts
Clinton testified that she had no knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes
The exchange took place during hours of deposition last week in Chappaqua, New York, where Clinton lives with his wife.
It was announced Monday by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.
Epstein was convicted of soliciting sex from 14-year-old girls in 2008, but died in a New York jail cell in 2019 before he could be tried on sex trafficking charges.
His death was ruled a suicide, but like so much else surrounding Epstein, it has been the subject of lurid conspiracy theories.
The testimony comes amid renewed efforts by Congress to investigate Epstein’s network of powerful associates.
Clinton told lawmakers she had no knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes.
“There is nothing I saw around him that made me realize he was trafficking women,” Clinton said in her statement.
The former Democratic president said he first remembered meeting Epstein in 2002, when the Clintons flew on the financier’s private jet for humanitarian work, and that they parted ways a year later, well before Epstein’s 2008 criminal complaint.
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Epstein visited the White House many times during Clinton’s presidency and there are photos of them shaking hands. Clinton told lawmakers she did not remember those interactions. Pictured, Epstein and Maxwell talking to then-President Clinton in 1993
Images from Epstein files show Clinton on a private jet with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein
This photo from the Epstein files shows former President Bill Clinton and an unidentified woman
Epstein visited the White House on 14 separate days, stopping by twice and three times in one day during Bill Clinton’s first term.
Clinton described the relationship as “cordial,” saying, “We were friendly, but I didn’t know him well enough to say we were friends.”
Clinton also said she visited Epstein’s home in New York once, but has repeatedly denied visiting Epstein’s private Caribbean island.
Asked if she had ever had sexual relations with any young women or girls introduced to her by Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, Clinton responded firmly: ‘No.’
In a separate speech, he added that he ‘did nothing wrong’.
Epstein visited the White House many times during Clinton’s presidency and there are photos of them shaking hands. Clinton told lawmakers she did not remember those interactions.
Clinton faced probing questions about photos of the former president released as part of the Epstein-related case files.
In response to questions from Democratic lawmakers about a photo showing him in a pool with a woman whose face had been altered, the former president said he did not know the woman and had not engaged in sexual activity with her.
He said the photo was from a charity trip to Brunei and that some people in the travel party were swimming.
He also said he was unaware that a young woman who ostensibly worked as a masseuse and gave him a neck massage on a flight was actually a victim of sexual abuse.
Flight records show Clinton flew the Boeing 727 tri-jet 26 times, traveling to a number of exotic destinations including Brunei, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Africa. The celebrity was seen playing cards with a cigar in his mouth on the jet
Jeffrey Epstein’s private Boeing 727 plane ‘Lolita Express’ carrying celebrity passengers and alleged underage girls will be broken up and scrapped
In 2019, the Daily Mail revealed a bizarre portrait of Epstein depicting the former Commander-in-Chief lounging on a chair in the Oval Office, wearing blood-red heels and a figure-hugging blue dress.
Clinton acknowledged that she maintained a closer relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and confidant.
But he argued that this was largely due to close interconnections. He also said he ‘should be punished’ for his conviction on sex trafficking charges.
The statement also touched on President Donald Trump, who had a past relationship with Epstein.
Clinton said Trump “didn’t say anything that would make me think he was involved in anything inappropriate with Epstein.” ‘He didn’t,’ he added.
Recalling a speech at a charity golf tournament nearly two decades ago, Clinton quoted Trump as saying about Epstein: ‘You know, we had some great times together over the years, but we fell out over a real estate deal.’
Trump had made various statements over the years about the end of his relationship with Epstein.
Republican lawmakers who came out of the statement argued that Clinton’s testimony suggested there was no evidence of wrongdoing by Trump in connection with Epstein.
Democrats, meanwhile, accused Republicans of using the investigation as a weapon to attack political opponents rather than legitimate oversight.
In a photo released by the Justice Department in December, Bill Clinton is seen lying in a jacuzzi next to a woman with her face corrected.
The photo, which shows Ghislaine Maxwell on the left and Bill Clinton in the middle, was taken at the Empire Hotel in Brunei, where Clinton was staying in the Emperor Suite.
Epstein’s procurer Ghislaine Maxwell was one of the guests at Chelsea Clinton’s 2010 wedding to Marc Mezvinsky, at least a year after the former president said he last spoke to the financier.
Hillary Clinton told the House Oversight Committee that she did not know Jeffrey Epstein and at one point threatened to end his testimony after a photo was made public
A day earlier, Hillary Clinton had told the committee in her own testimony that she did not remember knowing Epstein.
At one point, after a photo taken by a Republican lawmaker was made public, he angrily threatened to end his testimony.
‘I’m tired of this. If you’re doing this, I’m done. “From now on, you can underestimate me until the cows come home,” he said, banging on the table.
He also called on lawmakers to question Trump directly under oath about his ties to Epstein, saying they should ask him ‘directly under oath about his appearances in the Epstein files tens of thousands of times.’
The mere mention of his name in the documents released by the Department of Justice does not in itself constitute a mistake, and neither Bill Clinton nor Donald Trump has been formally charged with crimes related to Epstein.
High-status men around the world have been forced to resign over revelations of their relationships with Epstein, but so far there is little sign of serious legal consequences in the US.
