Former President Bill Clinton did not say President Donald Trump should be subpoenaed in Congress’s sprawling Jeffrey Epstein investigation, claiming he was unaware of any wrongdoing. 

The House Oversight Committee deposed Bill and Hillary Clinton last week to determine their connections to and knowledge of Epstein. The panel released the never-before-seen videos of the hours-long depositions on Monday afternoon. 

When pressed by the top Democrat on the panel, Congressman Robert Garcia of California, on whether Trump should be subpoenaed to testify in the investigation, the ex-President turned the tables on the California lawmaker. 

‘That’s for you to decide, but he (Trump) did know him well, and I once had a brief discussion with him about it,’ Clinton, 79, told Garcia. 

It was the first time in US history that Congress had deposed a US President. Given the new precedent, Democrats have said they want to bring in Trump to testify, though Clinton refused to weigh in on whether they should or should not. 

Garcia then thanked Clinton, and the room fell silent, the video of the testimony shows.   

After a pause, Clinton spoke up, offering clarifying information and noting how Garcia never asked a follow-up.

‘I hate this,’ Clinton declared after the long pause. ‘But since there was no follow-up question, he’s never, the president, never, this is 20-something years ago, never said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper.’

Clinton described a conversation he had with Trump about Epstein in the early 2000s – his only discussion with the Republican on the topic. 

‘It was on his golf course,’ the former President began. 

Clinton said he and Trump were playing in a celebrity golf tournament for a mutual friend, Joe Torre, the former general manager of the New York Yankees. 

The charity event was an annual affair that Trump would offer up his golf course for, the Democrat said. 

‘And the day I was there, he would typically, Donald Trump, would come out and play a few holes with us, and he somehow knew I had flown on Jeffrey Epstein’s aircraft,’ Clinton testified. 

‘And he said, you know, we had some great times together over the years, but we fell out all because of a real estate deal. And he said, I’m sorry, it happened. That’s all.’

Hours later, Clinton again clarified again that Trump didn’t do anything wrong as far as he knew. 

‘You know, as I said earlier, the only conversation I had with President Trump about this was in the early 2000s, and I have no information who had that he did anything wrong.

Clinton was grilled by lawmakers after photos in the newly released Epstein files showed him swimming with Maxwell and lounging in a hot tub with an unidentified woman.

Asked about others in the hot tub, Clinton said: ‘I don’t think there’s anybody in the hot tub. I don’t even – I had forgotten that there was anybody in the hot tub, but it was big.’ 

Clinton said the photo was from a hotel where their group was staying during a work trip for his charitable foundation, adding that a member of his Secret Service detail was present at the pool.

The former president denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, stating: ‘There’s nothing that I saw when I was around him that made me realize he was trafficking women.’ 

Asked whether he felt that Epstein and Maxwell fooled powerful people, he responded: ‘I really don’t know. I’ve thought about it a lot, but if you can figure it out I’d like to know.’

Trump has also defended Clinton during the Congressional investigation.

‘I don’t like seeing him deposed, but they certainly went after me a lot more than that,’ Trump said last week. ‘Look, I like him, and I don’t like seeing him deposed.’

Trump told NBC News in early February: ‘It bothers me that somebody is going after Bill Clinton.’

The statement stood in stark contrast to a November Truth Social post in which Trump called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to probe Clinton’s ties to Epstein. 

‘I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,’ Trump wrote on November 14.

The infamous picture of Bill Clinton in a hot tub with a mystery woman is from a 2002 trip to Asia the ex-president took with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and madam Ghislaine Maxwell, The Post can reveal.

Clinton was grilled on the racy photo during his deposition before the House Oversight Committee Friday, insisting he did “nothing wrong” and did not have sex with the woman whose face was redacted in the picture released as part of the Department of Justice’s files on the sex predator.

The snap that landed Bubba in hot water was taken at the Emperor suite of the Empire Hotel in Brunei in 2002 — a $20,000 a night palatial suite with a private elevator, pool, jacuzzi, steam room, sauna and theater, a Post analysis found.

Clinton visited the oil-rich Southeast Asian country one year after he left office, as part of a trip related to work for the Clinton Foundation, the organization he founded after he left the presidency, it was said at the time.

According to flight logs made public in court proceedings, he travelled on Epstein’s private sex jet, the Lolita Express, to Brunei in May 2002.

The flight entries show the Lolita Express — with Epstein, Maxwell and associate Sarah Kellen on board — picked up Clinton at a US naval air base in Japan on May 22, 2002, along with his chief advisor Doug Band, someone named Mike, and two women whose names were only listed as “Janice” and “Jessica.”

The gang stopped in Hong Kong for an evening, then Shenzhen, China, for two nights, before landing in Brunei capital Bandar Seri Begawan on May 25.

Clinton played golf and had dinner with Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah — a creep who’s been accused of hosting sex parties with underage girls and who donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton presidential library through the foundation.

The same night Clinton took his dip in the jacuzzi, he was also seen with Maxwell and the mystery woman in a pool, while a game of golf plays on a big screen.

Epstein meanwhile, was photographed sitting at the piano in sweatpants.

The complete photo set, which was part of one the Department of Justice’s file dumps, shows the hot tub and the pool are part of the same area.

Clinton denied knowing who the woman was in testimony to the House Oversight Committee this week, a source said. The former president has also repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Donald Trump has rebuked his Republican allies for dragging Bill Clinton to testify over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

‘I don’t like seeing him deposed, but they certainly went after me,’ Trump said, adding: ‘I like him.’ 

Trump spoke to reporters outside the White House on Friday as Clinton became the first former president ever compelled to testify before Congress against his will.  

Democratic lawmakers said outside the hearing in Chappaqua, New York, that ‘we’re talking to the wrong president today,’ amid mounting calls for Trump to testify. 

Trump and Clinton have come under intense pressure to answer questions about their relationships with the pedophile financier after they were each named tens of thousands of times in the new Epstein files released by the Justice Department.

Clinton issued a blistering statement insisting ‘I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,’ as he was grilled by the House Oversight Committee over Epstein and the Justice Department’s handling of the case.

The 79-year-old fumed at Republicans for dragging his wife to testify after Hillary on Thursday repeatedly told lawmakers she never met Epstein.

‘Before we start, I have to get personal. You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing,’ Clinton said. ‘She has no memory of even meeting him. She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties. Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her was simply not right.’

Clinton signaled his answers would echo a phrase synonymous with his scandal-filled presidency: ‘I don’t recall.’ 

‘You’ll often hear me say that I don’t recall. That might be unsatisfying. But I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of,’ he continued. 

‘This was all a long time ago. And I am bound by my oath not to speculate, or to guess. This is not merely for my benefit, but because it doesn’t help you for me to play detective 24 years later.’

Lawmakers are grilling Clinton after evidence from the Epstein files revealed new depths of his friendship with the pedophile.

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.

In his opening statement, Clinton spoke of growing up in a family plagued with domestic abuse. 

‘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,’ Clinton said.

Clinton’s stepfather, Roger Clinton, was an alcoholic who was physically abusive to Clinton’s mother, Virginia Kelley. The former president has previously recalled intervening to defend his mother against his stepfather’s abuse. 

Epstein visited the Clinton White House at least 17 times between 1993 and 1995 and flew at least 27 times on the pedophile’s private jet. 

‘But even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause. We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long,’ Clinton added. ‘And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him.’

He finally agreed to appear after being threatened with contempt charges. 

The deposition is being held in private, but it is recorded by cameras and the testimony is expected to be released after it is viewed by the Clintons’ legal team. 

Republicans have sought 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 fever pitch late last year when the new DOJ photos revealed his relationship with Epstein ran deeper than previously known. 

In a declaration to lawmakers last month, Clinton admitted flying on Epstein’s plane in 2002 and 2003 while he was traveling internationally for the Clinton Foundation.

Clinton said Epstein ‘offered a plane that was big enough to accommodate me, my staff and my US Secret Service detail, in support of visiting the Foundation’s philanthropic work.’

The former president said he never visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little St James, where many of the pedophile’s accusers say they were trafficked for abuse.

Maxwell said in an interview with the Justice Department last year that Clinton was never there.

‘I do not recall speaking to Mr. Epstein for more than a decade prior to his 2019 arrest’ Clinton’s declaration said.

Hillary said after her deposition: ‘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.’

Comer has pledged extensive questioning of the former president. He claimed that Hillary had repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.

Epstein was found hanged in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence as his only co-conspirator ever convicted.

Democrats argue the Clinton deposition sets a precedent that should apply equally to Trump, who had his own documented 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 testify before Congress, though the DOJ has historically argued presidents enjoy ‘testimonial immunity’ to protect the separation of powers. 

Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: ‘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.’ 

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

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.

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. 

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.

Hillary Clinton gave her hours-long testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein congressional hearing, where the questions turned to UFOs and conspiracy theories.

The former First Lady and Secretary of State was questioned by the House Oversight Committee about Epstein’s activities and what knowledge she had.

Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential race to Donald Trump, said that she didn’t remember ever meeting the late convicted paedophile and financier and that she had no information to share.

In a statement, Clinton said: ‘I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices.’

Clinton said some of the questions during her seven-hour hearing got ‘unusual.’

She said: ‘It got quite unusual because I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate, one of the most vile bogus conspiracy theories.’

Pizzagate refers to the conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 election, falsely claiming that a pizza restaurant in Washington DC was a front for a paedophile ring run by Clinton, and that the police had discovered a child sex crime ring linked to Democrats.

Clinton, who appeared calm despite the long testimony, told reporters after it: ‘We returned to answer questions repetitively, literally over and over again.

‘I don’t know how many times I had to say that I never knew Jeffrey Epstein, I never went to his island, I never went to his homes, I never went to his offices.

‘So it’s on the record numerous times.

Clinton took aim at Trump in her testimony, accusing the Republican-led panel of trying to shift attention away from the president’s links to Epstein.

She accused Trump’s administration of ‘gutting’ a government department focusing on international sex trafficking.

She was quizzed for seven hours behind closed doors at the hearing in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons reside.

Her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, will give his deposition later today.

The Clintons had initially refused to testify, saying the hearings were politically motivated, but agreed to do so later.

James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said: ‘No one is accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing.

‘We just have a lot of questions.’

Other high-profile people invited to the hearing include Epstein’s associate and girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in a US prison for sex trafficking of girls, refused to answer questions, invoking her right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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