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The House Oversight Committee on Monday released videos from closed-door depositions in which former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answered questions tied to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. The sessions, held last week, ran longer than lawmakers expected and at times shifted into other topics, including the pizzagate conspiracy theory and questions about what the government should release regarding UFOs. The videos landed as lawmakers continued their push for a reckoning over Epstein, who died in 2019 while facing sex-trafficking charges involving abuse of underage girls.
The committee had been working for about six months to schedule and question the Clintons, according to the video releases. When the depositions finally took place with senior lawmakers, the questioning diverged from lawmakers’ focus on Epstein connections to other lines of inquiry, including whether conspiracy claims and UFO-related disclosure issues should be addressed as part of the broader record.
One flashpoint came during Hillary Clinton’s deposition on Thursday, when the session was paused. The pause happened after Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert sent a photo of Hillary Clinton at the deposition to a conservative influencer who posted it online, which the committee said violated deposition protocol. Hillary Clinton reacted by telling lawmakers: “I am done with this if you guys are doing that,” before adding: “You can hold me in contempt from now until the cows come home.”
After the two sides reached an agreement to continue, the deposition continued with Hillary Clinton showing strain under repeated questioning. As the afternoon wore on, she said she was tired of answering whether she had connections to Epstein, telling lawmakers at one point, “I am so tired of answering that question.” She also sparred with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, including when Mace asked about her connection to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the video.
The clips also show Republicans asking whether Epstein case files contained material referencing pizzagate, a conspiracy theory that has claimed Democratic Party insiders harbored child sex slaves at a Washington pizza parlor. Hillary Clinton responded by saying, “I can’t believe you’re even referencing it” and she reminded the committee that the conspiracy theory was linked to a man bringing a gun to a Washington restaurant, according to the released video.
While the depositions veered into those contested topics, lawmakers also asked about government transparency related to UFOs. During Hillary Clinton’s testimony, Rep. Eric Burlison asked for her opinion on releasing more information, and she agreed that any releases should not include national security information, while also saying the issue was “of real importance to so many people.”
On Friday, Bill Clinton faced questioning from both Republicans and Democrats, including over photos that have been released as part of the Epstein case files. Clinton told lawmakers he first remembered meeting Epstein after he flew on the financier’s private jet in 2002 for the Clintons’ humanitarian work, and said the two parted ways the following year. He described their relationship in those terms as little more than “cordial,” and said Epstein provided the jet for humanitarian trips in exchange for Clinton discussing politics and economics.
Clinton told lawmakers that Larry Summers, who had worked as treasury secretary in Clinton’s administration, helped connect him to Epstein. Clinton said the relationship changed after he sensed Epstein was not deeply interested in the humanitarian work, and he said lawmakers pressed him on photos from Epstein’s visits and on what he recalled about specific interactions. He also said he did not recall shaking hands with Epstein during White House visits that took place when Clinton was president.
When asked about a photo that showed Clinton in a pool with a woman whose face was redacted, Bill Clinton said he did not know the woman and that he did not engage in sexual activity with her. He said the image was from a trip to Brunei for charitable work and that several people in their travel party were swimming, and he said he was not aware that one young woman who gave him a neck massage on a flight was, in fact, a victim of sexual abuse.
Clinton also addressed allegations reflected in the case files by telling lawmakers, “There’s nothing that I saw when I was around him that made me realize he was trafficking women.” He said he visited Epstein’s townhouse in New York City but repeatedly said he had never visited Epstein’s private island or other properties tied to him.
In questioning that touched on Maxwell, Clinton acknowledged that he had a closer relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant. He said that he maintained that closeness largely because of mutual connections, and he told lawmakers “she has to be punished” for her sex-trafficking conviction.
Clinton’s deposition also included a line of inquiry involving President Donald Trump. Clinton told lawmakers he believed it was important for anyone—including presidents—to come forward and testify to any knowledge they had about Epstein, and he said he and Trump briefly discussed Epstein at a charity golf tournament more than 20 years ago. Clinton said Trump never “said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein,” while also saying that the two men later had a falling-out over a real estate deal, according to the video.
In the days after the depositions, Republicans appeared to emphasize Clinton’s comments in arguing there was no evidence that Trump did anything wrong in his relationship with Epstein, the Associated Press reported. Democrats, in contrast, suggested Clinton’s testimony undermined Trump’s account of why he and Epstein had a falling-out, including what Trump has said about disagreement tied to employees leaving Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.