Bill Clinton spent hours behind closed doors Friday, fielding questions from lawmakers about his past association with Jeffrey Epstein, pushing back forcefully on suggestions that newly released photos implied wrongdoing.
According to the New York Post, the former president, speaking under oath during a House Oversight Committee deposition, denied having sex with an unidentified woman seen with him in a hot tub image that has drawn intense scrutiny.
A source familiar with the testimony said that he told lawmakers he did not know the woman and had no sexual relationship with her.
“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton said in a prepared statement presented at the session. “Even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that gave me pause.”
The roughly six-hour interview, held at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, focused heavily on Clinton’s ties to Epstein, his past travel on Epstein’s plane, and conversations he had with President Donald Trump regarding the financier.
Clinton told the panel that nothing Trump ever said led him to believe Trump was close to Epstein, according to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer.
“I know there’s a lot of curiosity about President Trump. I thought that was an interesting thing that President Clinton said,” Comer told reporters afterward.
Democrats on the committee offered a different characterization. Rep. Max Frost said Clinton described Trump telling him he had a falling out with Epstein over a land dispute.
Lawmakers also questioned Clinton about additional photographs, including images showing him in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell and another woman whose face was obscured, as well as a separate photo in which a woman sat on his lap.
Clinton maintained that his contact with Epstein ended before the financier was charged with sex crimes and insisted he never witnessed illegal activity.
“I never witnessed” any crimes, he told lawmakers, adding he would not have flown on Epstein’s plane if he had known what was happening. “I would have turned him in myself.”
Republicans said Clinton answered every question, even when advised by attorneys to stop.
“He did respond to every single question even as his attorneys told him to shut up, he kept going,” Rep. Nancy Mace said.
The deposition followed a contentious session a day earlier with Hillary Clinton, who later accused Republicans of staging “partisan political theater.”
Bill Clinton made no public remarks after his testimony, departing quietly in an SUV as Comer pledged to release video of both interviews.
