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Bill Clinton says he ‘did nothing wrong’ ahead of grilling over Epstein relationship

· Toronto Sun

Former U.S president Bill Clinton denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and saw no signs of his abuse.

Clinton faced hours of grilling from House Republicans over his connections to the late convicted sex offender from more than two decades ago, including Epstein’s fundraising, numerous visits to the White House, and photos in Justice Department files.

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“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton said in a statement he shared on social media.

“As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing, I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals.”

The closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, N.Y., marks the first time a former president has been forced to testify before Congress.

His testimony comes a day after his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat with lawmakers for her own deposition .

Clinton told House Oversight Committee members that he appeared voluntarily because “no person is above the law, even presidents,” and said his testimony was intended to help restore public trust and aid Epstein’s victims.

The ex-president said he was there to “offer what little I know” so that similar crimes could be prevented, while maintaining that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s conduct at the time and stopped associating with him years before the disgraced financier’s crimes became public.

Clinton also defended his wife, saying it was “simply not right” for the committee to compel her to appear on Thursday.

He insisted she “had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein” and doesn’t even remember meeting him.

Clinton vs. Comer

Clinton repeatedly denied any wrongdoing of his own, telling lawmakers, “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” and said he would not speculate or guess under oath, even if his answers did not satisfy those looking for answers.

He added that he was prepared to answer questions truthfully “consistent with the facts as I know them,” before telling Kentucky Republic Rep. James Comer, “With that, Mr. Chairman, fire away.”

“Men — and women for that matter — of great power and great wealth from all across the world have been able to get away with a lot of heinous crimes and they haven’t been held accountable and they have not even had to answer questions,” Comer said before the deposition began.

“No one’s accusing anyone of any wrongdoing, but I think the American people have a lot of questions,” Comer added.

Those questions likely pertain to getting more details on Epstein’s 17 visits to the White House during Clinton’s time in office, and the 27 times Clinton was on Epstein’s private plane.

Republicans have wanted to question Clinton about Epstein for years, which only further intensified late last year when several photos of the former president surfaced in the DOJ’s first release of case files on Epstein and his associate, socialite-turned-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

In one photo, Clinton is seated next to a woman, whose face is redacted, with his arm around her.

Another photo showed Clinton and Maxwell in a pool with another person whose face was redacted.

Epstein also visited the White House several times during Clinton’s presidency, and the pair later made several international trips together for their humanitarian work.

“I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended several years before anything about Epstein’s criminal activities came to light,” Hillary said at the conclusion of her deposition Thursday.

Will Trump be next?

While Democrats have supported the push to get answers from Clinton, they argued that President Donald Trump, who had his own relationship with Epstein, should also be compelled to testify.

“I think that President Trump needs to man up, get in front of this committee and answer the questions and stop calling this investigation a hoax,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, on Friday.

Comer pushed back, saying that Trump has answered questions on Epstein from the press.

Democrats are also calling for the resignation of Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Epstein’s longtime neighbour, who claimed he severed ties with him in 2005.

However, the latest batch of files showed that Lutnick met with him in 2011 and 2012 .

“He should be removed from office and at a minimum should come before the committee,” Garcia said of Lutnick.

“I believe we will have the votes to subpoena him,” Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said about bringing Lutnick before the committee.

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