Hillary Clinton Testifies Before Oversight Committee on Epstein Links

Hillary Clinton Testifies Before Oversight Committee on Epstein Links

Closed-Door Deposition Held in Chappaqua, New York

Hillary Clinton testified before the House of Representatives oversight committee on Thursday, February 26, 2026, in a closed-door deposition regarding her alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein. The hearing took place at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center near the Clintons' home in Chappaqua, upstate New York.

Clinton appeared in response to a subpoena issued by the committee's Republican chair, James Comer. The Clintons had been threatened with contempt of Congress charges if they did not comply.

Clinton's Opening Statement

In her opening statement, Clinton called the proceedings a "fishing expedition" and "partisan political theatre." She described the hearing as "an insult to the American people" and stated it was "designed to protect one political party and one public official, rather than to seek truth and justice for the victims and survivors."

Clinton repeated her position that she had never met Epstein, the financier and convicted sex trafficker who died in 2019.

"You have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump's actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers," she said, according to remarks she shared during the closed-door testimony.

Referencing her career campaigning against sex trafficking, Clinton stated: "If this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files."

She added: "If the majority was serious, it would not waste time on fishing expeditions. There is too much that needs to be done. What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up?"

Hearing Suspended After Photo Breach

The hearing was temporarily suspended after a photo of Clinton giving testimony was shared on social media. The picture was posted by Maga influencer Benny Johnson. It was later reported that the photo had been taken by Lauren Boebert, a Republican member of the committee. Taking pictures during closed-door congressional hearings is against the rules. Democrats called the breach "unacceptable."

Boebert defended her conduct on social media. "No US ambassadors were harmed in the taking of today's photo," she wrote, referencing the 2012 storming of a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, which occurred while Clinton was secretary of state and resulted in four American deaths.

Clinton resumed testimony shortly after the disruption.

Clinton's Post-Testimony Remarks

Robert Garcia, the committee's ranking Democrat, said Clinton had called for the hearing to be opened to the media during the interruption.

Speaking to press outside the hearing venue, Clinton said she would have preferred the testimony be public. "They had a chance to do it in public and I wish they had done it in public," she said. She described the questions as "very repetitive." "I don't know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein," she said. "It is on the record numerous times."

Clinton said the questions "got quite unusual," including questions about UFOs and Pizzagate, which she described as a repeatedly discredited conspiracy theory linking the Democratic party to a pedophilia ring.

She also stated: "No Republican members asked any questions about Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell to anyone else they have deposed."

Committee Chair and Ranking Member Statements

Comer told reporters that the Clintons had tried to avoid the subpoena while other public figures — including Bill Barr and Alex Acosta, members of the first Trump administration — had responded willingly.

"The Clintons haven't answered very many, if any, questions about their knowledge or involvement with Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell," Comer said. "Again, no one is accusing at this moment the Clintons of any wrongdoing. They're going to have due process. But we have a lot of questions, and the purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein."

Garcia said Clinton had answered every question. He called for transcripts of her deposition to be released within 24 hours. "The American people have a right to know exactly what she said, what questions were asked of her and how she responded," he said.

Garcia said he supported Bill Clinton being asked to address the committee. He also said Democrats would demand that Trump testify following disclosures that files relating to a woman alleging Trump had sexually assaulted her when she was a minor had been excluded from the released documents.

"Let's get President Trump in front of our committee to answer the questions that are being asked across this country, from survivors, from those have been brutally attacked and raped, sometimes as children," Garcia said.

James Walkinshaw, a Virginia Democrat on the committee, stated: "There is no indication – zero, zip, zilch, nada – that Secretary Clinton had any knowledge of Epstein's crimes. My fear is we're here today as part of a political exercise, part of a long-running fever dream where Republicans want to lock up Secretary Clinton."

Bill Clinton Deposition Scheduled for Friday

Bill Clinton is scheduled to give testimony under identical circumstances on Friday, February 27, 2026. Committee members traveled to Chappaqua for the proceedings after it was agreed that the Clintons would not have to testify on Capitol Hill. Written transcripts and video footage from the depositions are expected to be released in the coming days.

Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying four times on Epstein's private plane, nicknamed "the Lolita Express." He appears in several photographs in the released files, including one showing him and Epstein in a hot tub with a woman whose identity is redacted. He says he cut ties with Epstein in 2006 as the financier's sexual crimes became known.

Bill Clinton has denied any wrongdoing and has called for all files relating to Epstein to be released. Approximately 3 million documents are believed to still be in the Justice Department's possession, in what the Clintons have described as a violation of the terms of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

The Clintons have previously complained they are being singled out unfairly to distract public attention from Trump, who had a long friendship with Epstein before breaking with him.

Prior Congressional Testimony

Both Clintons have prior experience facing congressional inquiries. Hillary Clinton testified for nine hours in 2015 before a House select committee investigating the Benghazi attack.

Bill Clinton provided two sworn testimonies in 1998 as part of a Republican-driven independent counsel investigation. One related to sexual harassment allegations brought by Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee. The other was grand jury testimony over allegations that his testimony in the previous hearing about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, amounted to perjury and obstruction of justice.

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Source

Reported by Robert Tait for the Guardian. Read original article.