Clinton Responds Forcefully Following Lengthy GOP Questioning in Epstein Deposition

In a contentious six-hour deposition before the House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein probe, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged Thursday evening criticizing Republicans for conducting the session behind closed doors rather than in public view.

“I answered questions repetitively, literally over and over again,” Clinton told reporters outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in her hometown in New York. She expressed frustration at Republicans’ decision to hold a closed-door session, saying, “They had a chance to do it in public and I wish they had done it in public.”

When asked if she would testify again in a public hearing, Clinton firmly declined, suggesting Republicans were “making the wrong decision, avoiding doing it in public.”

The former secretary of state described how the questioning took an unusual turn toward the end of the session, claiming she “started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate — one of the most vile, bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the internet — that was serving as the basis of a member’s questions.”

Despite her criticisms, Clinton did offer praise for Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) for “raising a series of significant questions” about the investigation’s nature and areas she believed should be explored. “I appreciated that. I want to see the truth come out. So that was a reassuring way to end a very long, repetitive deposition,” she added.

Clinton reiterated statements from her opening remarks that she did not know Jeffrey Epstein and only knew Ghislaine Maxwell “as an acquaintance.” When questioned about why Maxwell attended her daughter Chelsea’s wedding, Clinton explained that Maxwell was a “plus one of someone invited.”

Chairman Comer characterized the deposition as “productive,” saying Clinton “answered most of our questions.” However, he noted Republicans “weren’t satisfied” with what they learned, pointing out that “the number of times that she said, ‘I don’t know, you’ll have to ask my husband,’ was more than a dozen.”

The tension inside the deposition room became evident when Clinton accused Republicans of breaking agreed-upon rules after Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) reportedly shared a photo from inside the room with a conservative influencer. “We had to cease the hearing for a period of time until we could get assurances that no rules would be broken going forward,” Clinton explained.

Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) expressed frustration with Clinton’s demeanor, describing her as “obstinate and sort of annoyed at the process.” He added, “She had an excuse for everything. But when you’ve got a pattern of involvement and a pattern of association, the American people deserve answers.”

While neither Clinton is implicated in wrongdoing related to Epstein or Maxwell, former President Bill Clinton was known to have had a relationship with the late financier before federal investigations into his crimes became public. Hillary Clinton maintained that relationship “ended years, several years before, anything about Epstein’s criminal activities came to light.”

Bill Clinton is scheduled to testify Friday in what Comer described would be an “even longer” deposition, also at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center. Rep. Timmons suggested the former president “has a lot of really hard questions to answer,” adding, “I don’t think that the American people are going to like his answers.”

The Clintons’ testimonies come after months of resistance to congressional subpoenas in the investigation into Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was later convicted of related crimes and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The congressional probe aims to uncover the extent of connections between high-profile figures and Epstein’s criminal activities, which have continued to draw public interest and speculation years after his death.