Clintons to face questions from lawmakers this week over Epstein ties

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(The Center Square) – After six months of stalling, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, will appear before lawmakers for their depositions.

The former first lady will appear before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, while the former president will do so Friday.

The committee had subpoenaed the couple last August to testify about their connections with convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his close associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Bill Clinton had flown on Epstein’s private plane four separate times in 2002 and 2003, on one flight pictured receiving a massage from one of Epstein’s victims. 

He also attended a dinner with Maxwell – whom he allegedly was close with – in 2014, three years after reports surfaced of her involvement in Epstein’s child abuse activities, according to the subpoenas.

The committee subpoenaed Hillary Clinton in part due to her hiring Maxwell’s nephew to work for her 2008 presidential campaign and later hiring him to work in her department when she served as secretary of State.

Though originally scheduled to appear in October, their depositions were postponed to December, and then January, after urging by the Clintons’ lawyer. Both Clintons failed to show up to their depositions and only agreed to the February depositions after the committee voted to hold them in contempt of Congress.

The couple has not been formally accused or charged with wrongdoing and are some of the many high-profile figures who had associated with the now-deceased Epstein. President Donald Trump, billionaire Bill Gates, ex-Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, former CEO of Victoria’s Secret Lex Wexner, and dozens of others

Epstein was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019, while Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence. 

The Clinton’s depositions are part of an ongoing investigation by the committee into Epstein’s connections. Maxwell appeared before lawmakers in a virtual deposition Feb. 9, but refused to answer any questions, indicating that she would continue to plead the Fifth unless granted clemency by Trump.

Wexner faced the committee Feb. 18, where lawmakers learned little except receiving Wexner’s confirmation that he authored the letter signed in his name within Epstein’s "birthday book". 

Wexner denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes throughout their entire relationship that spanned nearly two decades, saying his financial advisor – whom he had given full power of attorney to and had called previously “a loyal friend” – had duped him.

Epstein’s accountant Richard Kahn, and then Epstein’s legal advisor Darren Indyke, will also be deposed sometime in March. The committee has not announced yet whether it will subpoena anyone else, though Democrats have called for Trump to answer questions as well.