Bill Clinton faces ‘even longer’ Epstein grilling as he becomes first ever ex-president dragged before Congress
Bill Clinton will make history on Friday as the first ever former president compelled to testify before Congress against his will.
The 79-year-old is being hauled before lawmakers over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after being threatened with contempt charges.
Clinton’s deposition is scheduled for 11am at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Westchester County, New York, where Hillary yesterday faced a grilling.
While Hillary told lawmakers she never met Epstein and only Ghislaine Maxwell on a few occasions, Bill has to answer to far more damning evidence.
Photos released by Congress and the Department of Justice over the last few months show the former president on a private jet with his arm around a young woman, swimming with Maxwell and relaxing in a hot tub with another unidentified woman.
Clinton and Epstein were associated from the early 1990s and into the early 2000s.
He says he flew on Epstein’s private plane during Clinton Foundation trips before the financier was charged with any sex crimes, but denies wrongdoing and says he cut ties years before Epstein’s 2006 arrest for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
No evidence has emerged implicating either Bill or Hillary Clinton in criminal conduct related to Epstein.
Bill Clinton with his arm around a young woman on a private jet in a photo from the Epstein files
Former President Bill Clinton in a hot tub and a woman whose face has been redacted are seen in another image from the files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell grin with Clinton during a VIP tour of the White House in 1993
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s infamous madam, attended Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010, years after Epstein had been convicted of sexual abuse
President Clinton and wife Hillary share a tender moment during an East Room ceremony at the White House in Washington, July 17, 1996
Hillary said Thursday that she expected her husband to testify that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s sexual abuse at the time they knew each other.
Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, predicted Thursday that the former president’s deposition will take ‘even longer’.
‘The Clintons haven’t answered very many, if any, questions about their knowledge or involvement with Epstein and Maxwell,’ he added.
‘No one’s accusing, at this moment, the Clintons of any wrongdoing,’ he added.
Republicans have wanted to question Clinton about Epstein for years, especially as conspiracy theories arose following Epstein’s 2019 suicide in a New York jail cell while he faced sex trafficking charges.
Those calls reached a fever pitch late last year when the photos released late last year revealed new depths to the well-publicized Epstein relationship.
Epstein visited the Clinton White House at least 17 times between 1993 and 1995, and the pair later made international trips together for their humanitarian work.
In the lead-up to the deposition, Clinton has insisted he had limited knowledge about Epstein and was unaware of any sexual abuse he committed.
‘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 after her deposition.
Comer has pledged extensive questioning of the former president. He claimed that Hillary had repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.
Democrats, who have supported the push to get answers from Clinton, are arguing that it sets a precedent that should also apply to Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein.
Only four ex-presidents, Trump, Harry Truman, John Tyler and John Quincy Adams, and one sitting president, Richard Nixon, have been formally subpoenaed by Congress to testify. Trump, Truman, Nixon, and Quincy Adams all refused to comply, while Tyler agreed to appear.
The Supreme Court has never definitively ruled on whether a president can be compelled to give testimony to Congress, though the DOJ has historically argued that presidents have ‘testimonial immunity’ to protect the separation of powers.
‘We’re demanding immediately that we ask President Trump to testify in front of our committee and be deposed in front of Oversight Republicans and Democrats,’ Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said Thursday.
Comer has pushed back on that idea, 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.
Lutnick was a longtime neighbor of Epstein in New York City but said on a podcast that he severed ties with Epstein following a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.
The public release of case files showed that Lutnick actually had two engagements with Epstein years later.
He attended a 2011 event at Epstein’s home, and in 2012 his family had lunch with Epstein on his private island.
A new photo emerged last night which appeared to have been deleted by the Justice Department, showing Lutnick on Epstein’s private island.
Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton and an unidentified man in a photo from the Epstein files
Clinton and the pedophile financer were photographed together multiple times in the release
An oil painting of Clinton dressed as a woman that Epstein kept at his home
The apparent removal of the photo sparked renewed calls for Lutnick to testify and deepening concerns over the alleged cover-up by the Trump administration.
‘He should be removed from office and at a minimum should come before the committee,’ Garcia said of Lutnick.
Comer on Thursday said that it was ‘very possible’ that Lutnick would be called to testify.