Former US President Bill Clinton told lawmakers he had “no idea” about the crimes committed by late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, insisting he “saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong” during hours of questioning by a congressional committee.
“Even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause,” Clinton said at the closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, New York—the first time a former US president has been compelled to testify to Congress. Republican chairman James Comer said Clinton would be asked about photos, emails and travel movements tied to Epstein.
Clinton’s appearance came a day after his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, told the panel she did not recall meeting Epstein and had no knowledge of his crimes. Bill Clinton’s ties to Epstein and to Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell are well documented: Epstein visited the White House several times while Clinton was president, and Clinton took multiple flights on Epstein’s plane in the early 2000s after leaving office.
Clinton said he would never have used Epstein’s plane had he known about allegations of sex trafficking involving underage girls. “We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long,” Clinton added, saying he had largely stopped associating with Epstein by the time of Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea.
Epstein was jailed in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor and died by suicide in jail in 2019 while facing federal sex‑trafficking charges. Documents released by the Justice Department include photos of Clinton with women whose faces have been redacted—one showing him with his arm around a woman on a plane, another in a pool with Maxwell and a third person whose face is redacted.
Clinton was also expected to be questioned about any links between Epstein and the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. The Clintons have not been accused of wrongdoing.
Democrats urged that President Donald Trump also be questioned under oath, arguing Clinton’s deposition sets a precedent. “President Clinton’s presence here today under oath highlights the Donald Trump‑sized gaping hole in Chairman Comer’s investigation,” said Representative James Walkinshaw. Trump appears in Epstein files multiple times and says he cut ties before Epstein’s 2008 conviction; Comer has ruled out calling Trump to testify.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
