Former US president Bill Clinton is set to testify before a congressional panel on Friday over his past associations with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Clinton appears prominently in recently disclosed investigative files released by the US Department of Justice. However, mere mention in the documents does not imply wrongdoing, and he has not been accused of any crime or formally investigated.
The deposition follows testimony by his wife, Hillary Clinton, who appeared before the panel on Thursday. In her opening statement, she called on President Donald Trump to also testify under oath.
“If this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes… it would ask (Trump) directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files,” she said.
Like Clinton, Trump has previously acknowledged knowing Epstein, but has denied any wrongdoing.
The depositions are being conducted behind closed doors, despite the Clintons’ request for the sessions to be open and televised. Bill Clinton reportedly criticised the format, describing it as akin to a “kangaroo court.”
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is leading the probe. Lawmakers say they are examining links between Epstein and high-profile individuals following the Justice Department’s disclosure of millions of new documents related to its investigation.
Epstein, who associated with wealthy and influential figures, was convicted in 2008 for soliciting sex from underage girls. He died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Authorities ruled his death a suicide.
Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying several times on Epstein’s private jet in the early 2000s for humanitarian work connected to the Clinton Foundation. He has said he never visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island.
Photographs contained in the newly released files show Clinton in social settings, including one image of him reclining in a hot tub and another swimming alongside a woman identified as Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
An attorney for Maxwell, David Markus, recently stated that both Clinton and Trump are “innocent of any wrongdoing.”
Hillary Clinton told the panel she had neither flown on Epstein’s plane nor visited his island.
“Let me be as clear as I can. I do not,” she said, referring to any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities.
The Clintons initially rejected subpoenas compelling their testimony but agreed to appear after House Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.
The depositions are taking place in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons reside. Journalists gathered outside the venue as the Secret Service erected metal barricades around the arts centre hosting the sessions.
Republican committee chair James Comer said at the conclusion of Hillary Clinton’s testimony that lawmakers had “a lot of questions for her husband tomorrow.”
Democrats have criticised the investigation, arguing that it is being used to target Trump’s political opponents rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.
