Former President Bill Clinton (1993-2001) is scheduled to appear this Friday, one day after his wife, before the House Oversight Committee.
“The Committee justified its subpoena based on the assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell,” Clinton stated in her opening statement. “I’ll be as clear as possible: I don’t have it.”
He continued: “As I stated in my sworn statement of January 13had no idea about his criminal activities. I don’t remember ever meeting Mr. Epstein. I never flew on their plane or visited their island, their homes or their offices. “I have nothing to add.”
Epstein allegedly died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. But the doubts about an assassination do not cease due to all the information he had about bribery of politicians, public figures, senior officials and former presidents such as Bill Clinton and the former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
Both Republicans and Democrats forced the Clintons to testify, under threat of contempt.
Republicans have ““many questions” for the Clintonsdeclared the head of the investigation commission, James Comer.
The hearing develops behind closed doors in an artistic events center in the town where the Clintons live.
Close ties
For years, photos and documents in which Bill Clinton appears in the Epstein’s private planeor in parties or orgies organized by the tycoonhave emerged after the release of all documents against Epstein at the request of President Donald J. Trump, the main collaborator and whistleblower to the FBI to arrest Epstein.
However, as expected, Democrats now want to link Trump to the same case, when reports reveal otherwise.
The Clintons resisted the committee’s subpoenas for months, until they received an ultimatum before proceeding to try them for contempt of Congress.
This reversal marked a victory for Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s Republican chairman. Comer rejected the Clintons’ requests to conduct the questioning in public, but indicated that public hearing possible after closed-door statements.
Bill Clinton appears prominently in the latest batch of government documents released in connection with Epstein, but claims he severed ties with the financier before his 2008 conviction in Florida as a sex offender.
In any case, the mere mention in the files does not constitute proof of having committed a crime.
Closed-door interrogation
The Clintons demanded that their statements be made public, but the committee insisted on questioning them behind closed doors, a decision that Bill Clinton called “pure politics.”
Testimonies behind closed doors are usually common in investigative committees, since allow more incisive questions to be asked of the witnesswhich for legal reasons cannot be performed before television cameras.
Comer reiterated at a pre-deposition news conference Thursday that “no one is accusing the Clintons, at this point, of wrongdoing.”
“They will have due process,” Comer declared. “But we have a lot of questions.”
Comer said the committee is seeking to understand how Epstein accumulated his wealth, how he surrounded himself with powerful people and whether he was a government asset.
“These are the questions we will ask over the next two days, and we hope to get some answers,” he said.
Hillary, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, said in an interview with the BBC last week that she and her husband “have nothing to hide.”
The only person tried and convicted in the huge international scandal is Epstein’s partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, 64, who is being held in a high-security prison.
Hillary Clinton has acknowledged that she met with Maxwell “on a few occasions” but never had significant interactions with Epstein.
Security measures in Chappaqua are important, and to avoid photos, a white tent was set up at a side door.
sex trafficking
Bill Clinton has acknowledged that he flew on Epstein’s plane several times in the early 2000s for alleged humanitarian work related to the Clinton Foundation, but claimed that he never visited his private Caribbean island.
More problematic are the recently released photos in which Clinton appears in places such as a swimming pool, surrounded by young women and at parties.
Maxwell appeared by video conference before the House Oversight Committee earlier this month but refused to answer any questions, invoking her right not to incriminate herself.
Her lawyer, David Markus, said Maxwell would be willing to speak publicly if Trump granted her clemency.
Markus also claimed that Trump and Bill Clinton are “innocent of any wrongdoing.”
“Only Ms. Maxwell can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation,” he said.
Epstein cultivated a network of powerful business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics, and the release of the files has had repercussions around the world, including the arrests in the United Kingdom of former Prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson, the former ambassador to the United States.
Several prominent Americans have had their reputations damaged by their friendships with Epstein and have resigned from their positions, but no one other than Maxwell has faced legal consequences.
