Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has given evidence for an investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein this week.
The investigation is being carried out by a U.S. Congress committee.
Her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, will testify tomorrow. Speaking after testifying, Hillary said Bill is one of the “vast majority of people” who knew Epstein but “did not know what he was doing” before he was charged the first time.
The Clintons initially refused to testify in person, but then called for their testimony to be open to the public.
Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier and convicted sex offender.
In 2008, he served 13 months in jail after pleading guilty to charges related to sex-trafficking minors in a controversial deal.
In 2019, police arrested him again on new federal sex trafficking charges. Epstein was denied bail and died by suicide in his jail cell while awaiting trial.
The Clintons
Bill Clinton was U.S. President from 1993 to 2001. During his presidency, Clinton was publicly accused of sexual misconduct by three different women.
He paid a financial settlement with no admission of guilt to one woman, and investigations into the other two sets of allegations never proceeded.
Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State under Barack Obama, and ran as Democratic nominee for the 2016 Presidential election, won by Donald Trump.
Epstein connection
Bill Clinton was photographed with Epstein at public events during his presidency, prior to Epstein’s first criminal conviction.
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In 2019, a representative for Bill Clinton posted to X (then Twitter), saying the former President “knows nothing about [Epstein’s] terrible crimes”.
The statement said Clinton “took a total of four trips” on Epstein’s plane and that he never visited his island. Hillary has said she never met Epstein but met Maxwell a handful of times.
Bill Clinton also appears in the ‘Epstein files’, the documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice in recent months.
He is pictured in a pool with convicted Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, on Epstein’s plane with multiple women whose identities were redacted, and with musicians Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, and Diana Ross.
The Clintons have not been accused of wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Investigation
A Congressional committee launched an investigation into Epstein last year, subpoenaing (legally compelling) several people, including the Clintons, to testify in person.
The Clintons dismissed the subpoenas, describing them as a political ploy ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump to embarrass his rivals.
They later agreed to testify in person after the committee initiated proceedings to charge them with contempt (disobeying legal proceedings). Once they had agreed to testify in person, the Clintons called for their hearing to be public.
The committee said their testimony would be filmed and transcribed, but was not going to be broadcast live or open to reporters.
During Hillary’s testimony, committee member Representative Lauren Boebert (Republican) took a photo of her, against committee rules.
Boebert sent it to right-wing social media commentator Benny Johnson, who posted it on X.
The proceedings were temporarily paused in response.
