Hillary Clinton told a congressional committee she “had no idea” about the crimes committed by late financier Jeffrey Epstein, and urged lawmakers to question President Donald Trump under oath regarding his past association with the convicted sex offender according to BBC.
“I want to see the truth come out,” the former US secretary of state said after giving hours of closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating Epstein.
Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is scheduled to testify on Friday.
The couple had initially resisted the panel’s subpoena, describing it as politically motivated, but later agreed to appear as the prospect of contempt-of-Congress proceedings loomed. Both the Clintons and Trump deny any wrongdoing linked to Epstein.
After six hours before the committee on Thursday, Clinton told reporters she was “disappointed” the session was not made public, saying this would have spared her from having to characterise it herself.
She praised Chairman James Comer for raising what she described as significant questions about the scope of the investigation and for listening to her concerns.
“I appreciated that. I want to see the truth come out, so that was a reassuring way to end a very long, repetitive deposition,” she said.
Clinton also criticised Republican members of the committee, saying they had not questioned other witnesses about Epstein or his convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Bill Clinton has maintained that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and ended contact with him two decades ago. He has said their association was linked to charity work after he left office and has expressed regret over having any connection with the financier, who died in a New York jail in 2019.
Ahead of Thursday’s hearing in Chappaqua, near the Clintons’ home, Hillary Clinton released her opening statement on X.
“I had no idea about their criminal activities,” she said of Epstein and Maxwell.
The statement added: “I do not recall ever encountering Mr Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that.”
She also called on the committee to summon Trump to testify under oath about references to his name in the Epstein files. While the Clintons’ names also appear in the extensive justice department documents, there is no suggestion that being mentioned implies wrongdoing.
Proceedings were briefly paused after a photograph from inside the closed session was leaked. Democrats said the image, taken by Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert, breached committee rules. Boebert said she had sent the image to a conservative influencer and that it was taken before testimony began.
Clinton later said the incident prompted her team to halt the session temporarily to ensure compliance with committee rules.
Democratic congressman Robert Garcia called for the full, unedited transcript of Clinton’s evidence to be released within 24 hours and insisted that Trump should testify immediately. Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari described the hearing as an “unserious clown show” and accused Republicans of focusing more on photographs than accountability.
In a recent interview in Berlin, Clinton said: “We have nothing to hide. We have called for the full release of these files repeatedly. We think sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
She reiterated that she never met Epstein but had encountered Maxwell “on a few occasions”. Maxwell attended the wedding of the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, in New York in 2010.
Comer said securing testimony from both Clintons was a bipartisan effort to demonstrate that “no-one is above the law”. After Thursday’s session, he described it as a “shame” that it had taken seven months to arrange, adding that while most questions were answered, some responses had not satisfied committee members.
Bill Clinton’s appearance on Friday will mark the first time a former US president has testified before a congressional panel since Gerald Ford did so in 1983.