Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “cover-up” over the Epstein files, while claiming that she and her husband are being forced to testify before the US Congress to deflect scrutiny from Donald Trump.
In an interview with the BBC, Clinton said the US department of justice was “slow-walking” the release of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s catalogue of crimes and urged the administration to “get the files out”.
Despite periodic document dumps of the files since Congress mandated their release late last year, the justice department is still withholding about 3m files.
Clinton’s comments, at the Munich Security Conference, came as she and her husband, Bill Clinton, the former president, prepare to give sworn depositions on the affair before the House oversight committee.
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Hillary Clinton is scheduled to testify on February 26th, while Bill will appear the day after. It will be the first appearance by a former president in front of a congressional panel in more than 40 years.
Clinton, a former US secretary of state, said she and her husband were being treated unfairly compared with other witnesses and were being singled out.
“I think everybody should testify who was asked to testify,” she said in response to whether she thought Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former prince, should appear.
“I just want it to be fair. I want everybody treated the same way. That’s not true for my husband and me, because [when] other witnesses were asked to testify, they gave written statements under oath.
“We offered that [but] they want to pull us [in]. Why do they want to pull us into this? To divert attention from president Trump. This is not complicated.”
Trump, who is mentioned thousands of times in the files released so far, told reporters in response to Clinton’s comments that he had been absolved.
“I’ve been totally exonerated,” he said, speaking on Air Force One. “They’re getting pulled in, that’s their problem, we’ll have to see what happens. I watched her in Munich, and she seriously has Trump derangement syndrome.”
Bill Clinton is also featured in the files, but says he cut off contact with the disgraced financier after information emerged of his sexual crimes against minors. The released files include photos showing the former president in a hot pool with Epstein along with a person the justice department described as a victim.
Bill Clinton has denied wrongdoing and has also called for all the files to be released.
The Clintons agreed to give filmed behind-closed-door depositions on February 3rd after committee members signalled they were ready to hold them in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena filed by James Comer, the committee’s Republican chair.
Comer rebuffed the pair’s offer to provide written testimony under oath.
Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 US presidential election to Trump, told the BBC that she had never met Epstein, but had met his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a jail sentence as a convicted co-conspirator in his sex-trafficking crimes, “on a few occasions”.
“We have a very clear record that we’ve been willing to talk about, which my husband has said he took some rides on [Epstein’s] airplane for his charitable work,” she said.
“I don’t recall ever meeting him. I did [meet Maxwell] on a few occasions, and thousands of people go to the Clinton Global Initiative (a program involving business and government leaders established by the former president’s Clinton Foundation.) So it’s not it’s not something that is really at the heart of what this matter is about. They are accused, and in both cases, were convicted, of horrific crimes against girls and women. That should be the focus.
“We have nothing to hide,” she added. “We have called for the full release of these files repeatedly. We think sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
The Clintons have called for their hearings to be held in public. Comer has said he is happy to hold public hearings in addition to the closed-door testimony. – Guardian
