Former President Bill Clinton told House lawmakers he “saw nothing” that ever “gave him pause,” during his years associated with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein or his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Mr. Clinton, sitting for an unprecedented congressional deposition of a former president, said that despite photos showing him with Epstein and some of Epstein’s victims, he had limited interactions with him.
“I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing, no matter how many photos you show me,” Mr. Clinton said.
Lawmakers grilled Mr. Clinton on Friday at a closed-door deposition held in Chappaqua, New York, where he lives. The questioning was expected to last all day, according to House Republicans on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is conducting the probe.
“I saw nothing and did nothing wrong,” Mr. Clinton said. “As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane, if I had any inkling of what he was doing; I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals.”
Mr. Clinton testified a day after his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, provided her own deposition to the panel regarding Epstein and Maxwell. Mrs. Clinton said she has no memory of meeting Epstein, although she appears in a few photos with him. Maxwell was a guest at daughter Chelsea’s 2010 wedding, but was not personally invited and came as the date of an invited guest.
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“You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing. She has no memory of even meeting him. She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties. Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her, was simply not right,” Mr. Clinton told the panel.
Mr. Clinton, 79, had a well-documented friendship with Epstein that included 17 White House visits and several trips aboard his private jet after his presidency ended in 2001.
He was among the most prominent of the many wealthy and powerful individuals who associated with Epstein ahead of his first arrest in 2006, 13 years before he died.
Mr. Clinton is pictured in photographs from the Epstein files, and some of the images show him in proximity to Epstein’s victims. He’s denied knowledge of the crimes and has never been accused of wrongdoing. Mr. Clinton said he cut ties with Epstein by 2006.
Epstein helped fund the Clinton Global Initiative and wired $1 million, through Maxwell, to a publicity firm for the organization’s 2005 launch.
Mr. Clinton called for “justice and healing” for Epstein’s sex trafficking victims, many of whom were underage when they were lured into the financier’s orbit and sexually assaulted.
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“Though my brief acquaintance with Epstein ended years before his crimes came to light, and though I never witnessed during our limited interactions any indication of what was truly going on, I am here to offer what little I know so that it might prevent anything like this from ever happening again,” Mr. Clinton said.
Democrats said they are eager to question Mr. Clinton about his relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, but added that Republicans must also subpoena President Trump, who was also friends with Epstein before ousting him from Mar-a-Lago.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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