The House Oversight Committee has released video footage of the closed-door depositions of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton that occurred last week in Chappaqua, New York, as part of the panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The former president and secretary of State each faced roughly 4 1/2 hours of questioning from Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Until now, everything that is known about the depositions was shared by people who were in the room.
Bill Clinton denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes during what he said at one point was the pair’s “brief acquaintance.”
“It wasn’t just an acquaintance either. I felt friendly toward him, but he was, as I said in my book, odd,” Clinton said. “There was always something a little holding back.”
Repeatedly, lawmakers showed the former president photos of himself with women from Epstein materials recently released by the Justice Department, asking if he had sex with them. Each time, he told them he did not, two sources familiar with the testimony said.
At one point, the panel homed in on a particularly well-known photo of Bill Clinton in a jacuzzi with a woman, her face redacted. Clinton said he did not know her, and he denied having sex with her, two sources said.
Here are key moments from the depositions.
Bill Clinton asked about hot tub photo in Epstein files
Around halfway through Bill Clinton’s deposition, the former president denied sexual activity related to a photo of him in a hot tub near a woman with a redacted face.
“I sat in the hot tub for five minutes or whatever it was, and I got up and went to bed,” Clinton told Republican Rep. Nick Langworthy of New York.
When asked if he engaged in sexual activity with the redacted person, Clinton said no.
“I don’t know who that is,” Clinton said when asked who the person was.
The former president said he thought everyone in the pool area was part of his travel party, which included Jeffery Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and a team working on Clinton’s AIDS initiative. Clinton and his team showed an additional photo that was described to show the larger area with a pool next to the hot tub.
Clinton said he was “almost sure” that the photo had been taken during a trip to Brunei where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference was being hosted in 2000.
Clinton stressed that the Sultan of Brunei insisted that he stayed at the hotel and encouraged him to use the pool.
Bill Clinton told the panel while his note to Epstein appears in the convicted sex offender’s 50th birthday book, he did not consider Epstein a “friend” and that he’s written “hundreds and hundreds” of birthday greetings to people over the years.
Clinton, asked whether he knew of Epstein’s “inappropriate activities” at the time that he penned the note, responded: “Absolutely not. I knew nothing about that.”
Hillary Clinton says Trump has a ‘tell’ when he is ‘worried about being found out himself’
Hillary Clinton said during her deposition that her years of watching and running against Donald Trump has led her to believe that he has a “tell” of deflecting when he is worried about being “found out himself.”
Clinton used this observation to explain why the president has changed his tune on the Epstein files, from demanding its release as a presidential candidate, to now calling the effort a “hoax” and telling the country to “get on to something else.”
“Having observed President Trump up close and personal for a number of years now since I ran against him, he has a tell. He has a behavioral tell,” she said. “Whenever he is worried about being found out himself, he accuses somebody else of doing what he actually has done. And it’s just a pattern with him.”
“So, it’s no surprise to me that all of a sudden what he promised in his campaign to reveal, everything about the files, and then when his people began looking at the files and realized how potentially incriminating they were of him, all of a sudden, that was no longer the focus,” she added.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina repeatedly goaded Hillary Clinton to share her reactions to photos showing her husband, Bill Clinton, with women and Epstein. The latter part of Clinton’s presidency was derailed by his marital infidelity.
Hillary Clinton repeatedly declined to weigh in on the photos she had seen. She repeatedly said she would not share such “opinions” and that she was there to testify about specific matters.
When Mace persisted, Clinton suggested she was employing “innuendo,” but Mace said she was asking “black and white” questions.
Finally, when Mace asked whether Clinton did anything to investigate her husband’s interactions with Epstein after learning about the allegations against him, Clinton hit back.
“I don’t find any of your questions to be relevant to the investigation,” Clinton said.
” class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image__dam-img–loading’)’ onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1080″ width=”1920″/>Hillary Clinton learns mid-deposition that a photo of it has been posted
” class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image__dam-img–loading’)’ onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1080″ width=”1920″ loading=’lazy’/>About an hour and twenty minutes into her deposition, Hillary Clinton became furious that a Republican congresswoman had released a photo from her deposition, which is against House rules.
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado shared the photo with conservative influencer Benny Johnson.
“I’m done with this,” Clinton said. “If you guys are doing that, I am done. You can hold me in contempt from now until the cows come home. This is just typical behavior.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sakes,” an exasperated Clinton added.
Boebert eventually said she would take the photo down. (Publicly, Boebert has been unapologetic.)
Democrats asserted this was a violation of House rules and the discovery of the image being shared caused the deposition to be paused while the two sides negotiated how to move forward.
The Clintons had repeatedly said they wanted to appear in public.
“I will confess, that I had some concerns about whether the majority on the committee would treat me fairly, and would you know fairly convey what I say and what I did and I how I looked and how I responded,” Clinton said at one point, adding that if the hearing was public the photo would not have been an issue.
Clinton told the committee he didn’t recall ever meeting Epstein at the White House when he was president.
A lawyer for the committee’s Democratic side informed Clinton that their records indicate that Epstein had visited the White House 17 times between 1993 and 1995 – years when Clinton was president.
Clinton said that while he has now seen a photograph from a White House Historical Association reception, he doesn’t have specific recollection of seeing Epstein at that event. As for the other 16 times that Epstein was recorded as having visited the White House, Clinton said “I don’t think I did” meet with Epstein.
“I don’t know who he saw,” Clinton added.
Clinton said he “doubts” he was a target of alleged intel operations related to Jeffery Epstein.
“I don’t (know),” Clinton said when asked if he knows if he was ever targeted. “I’d sort of be surprised, but I don’t know.”
Numerous members of the oversight committee asked Clinton if he was a “victim” of “targeting” or “honeypot” operations. The released Epstein files have sparked ongoing conspiracy theory that Epstein was working as an intelligence agent for Israel’s Mossad or Russia.
CNN has previously reported that documents showed Epstein attempting to cozy up to Russian officials.
When asked if he if he was ever informed by Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell that they were affiliated with any intelligence agencies, either in the US or foreign, Clinton said no, and that he also did not suspect it.
Hillary Clinton and Mace get into a heated exchange over Howard Lutnick
Rep. Mace asked Hillary Clinton how she knew Howard Lutnick in the early 2000s and the deposition got heated.
At the time Lutnick, whose ties to Epstein have emerged while now serving as President Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary, was leading a New York City firm that was devastated by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack.
When Clinton started answering how she knew Lutnick, Mace interrupted her. An unidentified voice instructed Mace to let Clinton finish.
“You asked the question. I’m going to answer your question” Clinton said, appearing to raise her voice.
Mace shot back: “I’m a survivor trying to look out for other survivors” adding that the panel had waited six months to hear Clinton’s testimony.
Clinton, who was a senator from New York at the time of the attacks, banged the table as she responded: “I was taking care of the people who lost 3,000 lives at the World Trade Center.”
Mace accused Clinton of being “defiant and indignant” in her responses.
The GOP lawmaker was questioning whether Clinton ever tried to solicit money directly from Epstein. She said she had an email of Lutnick inviting Epstein and his people for an “intimate event” on behalf of Clinton at his New York City offices.
But Clinton said she knew nothing about that.
You want to yell at me that’s fine, but I’ll yell right back.” Mace said.
Prior to the deposition video being released, Mace told reporters in Chappaqua last week that Clinton was “screaming” and “unhinged” under her questioning.
In a particularly bizarre exchange, Boebert asked Hillary Clinton if she had reviewed any emails in the Epstein files pertaining to the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory from the 2016 election season.
Pizzagate was a baseless online conspiracy theory that was widely shared a decade ago. It claimed that a cabal of pedophiles were running the government and sacrificing children. An adherent eventually appeared at the restaurant cited in the conspiracy theory and fired a gun.
Some online theorists have argued that the Epstein files contain coded references to Pizzagate. While trying to clarify the question, Clinton’s lawyer referred to it as a “wacky.”
“You can characterize it however you want,” Boebert told him.
When Clinton’s other lawyer clarified the question again, Clinton gave a wry smile.
“Pizzagate was totally made up,” Clinton said eventually. “It was an outrageous allegation that ended up hurting a number of people that caused a deranged young man to show up with his assault rifle and shoot up a local pizzeria. I can’t believe you’re even referencing it.”
“There are connections to the — the language,” Boebert responded.
“Well, the QAnon people believe there are,” Clinton responded.
After a lengthy exchange, Clinton reflected: “I expected a lot of interesting questions today, but Pizzagate was not on my list.”
Bill Clinton on what Trump told him about his Epstein falling-out
Bill Clinton describes Trump and Epstein falling out
Bill Clinton told the House Oversight Committee that he remembered having a conversation in the early 2000s with Donald Trump in which Trump described having had a falling out with Epstein over a land dispute.
Clinton told lawmakers that in 2002 or 2003, he attended a charity golf tournament in New York, and that he recalls Trump telling him: “We had some great times over the years but we fell out, all because of a real estate deal.”
“He said ‘I’m sorry it happened,’” Clinton added.
Asked whether Trump at the time elaborated on the “great times” he had with Epstein, Clinton responded that he did not. Clinton also said that he did not read into those specific comments at the time, saying: “I didn’t put any, you know, sexual spin on it.”
Clinton’s description of the brief conversation with Trump from years ago came when the Democratic side of the committee asked whether he believes Trump should also be deposed.
“That’s for you to decide,” Clinton said.
He then said: “The president, never — this is 27 years ago — never said anything to me to make me think he was involved with anything improper with regard to Epstein either. He just didn’t.”
Republican lawmakers have pointed to these comments to suggest that Trump is clear of wrongdoing related to Epstein.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
