Former President Bill Clinton faces questioning from House lawmakers Friday about his relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The unprecedented deposition of a former commander-in-chief was underway at the Performing Arts Center in the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, New York.
Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said they have a long list of questions for Mr. Clinton, who associated with Epstein during his presidency and in the years after he left the White House.
Republicans interviewed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday and, according to GOP lawmakers, she responded to many of their questions by deferring to the former president.
Former President Bill Clinton speaks in …
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“We already had a big portfolio of questions for him, and that increased yesterday,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, said.
Mr. Clinton, 79, had a well-documented friendship with Epstein that included 17 White House visits and several trips aboard his private jet after his presidency ended.
He was among the most prominent of the many wealthy and powerful individuals who associated with Epstein ahead of his first arrest in 2006.
Mr. Clinton is pictured in photographs from the Epstein files and some of the images show him in proximity to Epstein’s victims. He’s denied knowledge of the crimes and has never been accused of wrongdoing. Mr. Clinton said he cut ties with Epstein by 2006.
On Thursday, Mrs. Clinton defended her husband’s association with Epstein, telling reporters the former president, like others, associated with Epstein prior to his 2008 conviction on soliciting prostitution from a minor.
“I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended years, several years before anything about Epstein’s criminal activities came to light,” Mrs. Clinton said.
Democrats, speaking to reporters ahead of the deposition, said they, too, want to talk to Mr. Clinton about Epstein and Maxwell.
“We have real questions that deserve serious answers from former President Clinton,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said.
Democrats never voted to object to the House panel’s decision last year to subpoena the Clintons, and several Democrats voted to hold the former first couple in contempt of Congress for failing to show up for scheduled depositions on Capitol Hill.
Democrats said on Friday the GOP has set a new precedent by requiring Mr. Clinton to testify and they believe that has cleared the way for Mr. Trump to be subpoenaed about his own relationship with Epstein.
“That means that Donald Trump needs to come before our committee and explain what he knew about Epstein and explain why we have not had a full release of the documents,” Rep Ro Khanna, California Democrat, said.
Democrats accused Mr. Trump and the Justice Department of a cover-up because millions of documents related to the federal government’s probe of Epstein have been withheld from the public.
