Former US president Bill Clinton has told members of Congress on Friday that he “saw nothing and did nothing wrong” in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and saw no signs of his abuse.
Clinton faces hours of questions from lawmakers over his connections to the disgraced financier from more than two decades ago.
The closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, New York, marks the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress.
“First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing,” Clinton said in an opening statement he shared on social media.
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“No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that at the end of the day matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos.
“I know what I saw, and more importantly, what I didn’t see. I know what I did, and more importantly, what I didn’t do. I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong.”
Clinton‘s testimony behind closed doors to a congressional panel is set to be a tense confrontation between the former Democratic leader and president Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans.
It follows that of his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who told the House of Representatives oversight committee on Thursday that she does not remember ever meeting Epstein and had nothing to share about his sex crimes.
Bill Clinton, however, flew on Epstein’s plane several times in the early 2000s after he left office, and a tranche of millions of documents released by the US justice department includes photos of him with women whose faces are redacted. He has denied wrongdoing and expressed regret for his association.
The panel’s Republican chairman, James Comer of Kentucky, says the Clintons are not accused of wrongdoing but must answer questions about Epstein’s involvement with their charitable foundation.
They agreed to testify near their main residence of Chappaqua, New York, after the House of Representatives threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress for refusing to co-operate. Some Democrats supported the move.
Both Clintons accuse Republicans of conducting a partisan exercise designed to protect Trump from scrutiny, noting that others in the inquiry were allowed to submit written statements rather than testify in person.
Democrats say the panel should also subpoena Trump, whose name appears frequently in the Epstein-related files. Trump socialised extensively with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s, before Epstein’s 2008 conviction of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Democrats are also accusing Trump’s justice department of withholding records of a woman who accused Trump of sexually abusing her when she was a minor. The justice department has said it is looking at the material in question and will publish it if appropriate.
The department has previously cautioned that the material it has released includes unfounded accusations and sensationalist claims about Trump, and authorities have not accused him of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 while facing federal sex-trafficking crimes. His death was ruled a suicide. - Reuters
