Clinton denies wrongdoing at grilling on Epstein ties

Former president tells lawmakers he broke ties before disgraced billionaire’s conviction

CHAPPAQUA, UNITED STATES:

Former US president Bill Clinton denied wrongdoing at a Congressional panel on Friday on his well-documented links to Jeffrey Epstein, as Democrats seek to shift focus toward Donald Trump’s own ties to the convicted sex offender.

Clinton features prominently throughout the Epstein files, but he insists that he broke ties well before the disgraced billionaire’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses. “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton said in his opening statement, shared on social media.

The Republican chair of the House committee probing Epstein, James Comer, said ahead of Bill Clinton’s deposition he looked forward to “asking lots of questions”. But Democrats on the committee reiterated their call for Trump to be quizzed.

“Let’s be real, we are talking to the wrong president,” said Democrat committee member Suhas Subramanyam. Clinton did not name Trump directly but said “no person is above the law, even presidents — especially presidents.”

Being mentioned in the files released by the US Department of Justice does not imply wrongdoing, and Clinton has not been accused of a crime or formally investigated. He follows his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who testified on Thursday.

Hillary Clinton defiantly called for President Trump—who like Bill Clinton had many ties with Epstein — to appear before the panel. The lawmakers should ask Trump “directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files,” she said.

The depositions are being held behind closed doors, with Bill Clinton likening the proceedings to a “kangaroo court.” The couple has called for them to be open and televised. The grilling comes with greater peril for the former president than for his wife, as he has acknowledged extensive interactions with Epstein but said he never visited the financier’s private Caribbean island.
Epstein mingled with the world’s rich, famous and powerful, and was convicted in 2008 for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14. He died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while facing trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing those who were linked to Epstein in light of the Justice Department’s disclosures of millions of new documents related to its investigation of him.