Former President Bill Clinton testified before Congress on Friday, stating he ‘did nothing wrong’ in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and saw no signs of the financier’s sexual abuse as he faced hours of questioning over their connections from over two decades ago. The closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, New York, marks the first time a former U.S. president has been compelled to testify to Congress.

Testimony and Accountability

Clinton, in an opening statement he shared on social media, said he saw nothing and did nothing wrong in his relationship with Epstein. The deposition occurred a day after his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, underwent her own questioning by lawmakers.

While Clinton has not been accused of any wrongdoing, lawmakers are examining what accountability looks like in the United States at a time when men of power and wealth have faced scrutiny for their connections to Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Republican Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said before the deposition that men and women of power and wealth have not been held accountable for heinous crimes and have not had to answer questions. ‘Men and women of great power and great wealth from all across the world have been able to get away with a lot of heinous crimes and they haven’t been held accountable,’ Comer said.

Clinton’s Relationship with Epstein

Bill Clinton will have to answer questions on a well-documented relationship with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, even if it dates back to the late 1990s and early 2000s. Clinton said in his opening statement that he would likely tell the committee he did not recall the specifics of events from more than 20 years ago but was certain he had not witnessed signs of Epstein’s abuse.

Republicans were eager to scrutinize the former Democratic president under oath. ‘No one’s accusing anyone of any wrongdoing, but I think the American people have a lot of questions,’ Comer said.

Republican lawmakers have wanted to question Bill Clinton about Epstein for years, especially after Epstein’s 2019 suicide in a New York jail cell while facing sex trafficking charges. The calls for scrutiny intensified last year when photos of the former president surfaced in the Department of Justice’s first release of case files on Epstein and Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021 but maintains her innocence.

Epstein also visited the White House several times during Clinton’s presidency, and the pair later made several international trips together for their humanitarian work. Comer claimed the committee has collected evidence that Epstein visited the White House 17 times and that Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s airplane 27 times.

‘We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long,’ Clinton said in his opening statement. ‘And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him.’

Political Implications

Comer pledged extensive questioning of the former president and claimed that Hillary Clinton had repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband. Bill Clinton criticized Comer for calling his wife before the committee, saying ‘including her was simply not right.’

The committee was working to quickly publish a transcript and video recording of her deposition. Democrats, who have supported the push to get answers from Bill Clinton, are arguing that it sets a precedent that should also apply to President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein.

‘I think that President Trump needs to man up, get in front of this committee and answer the questions and stop calling this investigation a hoax,’ said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, on Friday.

Comer has pushed back on that idea, saying that Trump has answered questions on Epstein from the press. Democrats are also calling for the resignation of Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a longtime neighbor of Epstein in New York City who said on a podcast that he severed ties with Epstein after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

The public release of case files showed that Lutnick actually had two engagements with Epstein years later. He attended a 2011 event at Epstein’s home, and in 2012 his family had lunch with Epstein on his private island.

‘He should be removed from office and at a minimum should come before the committee,’ Garcia said of Lutnick. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace questioned Hillary Clinton about Lutnick’s relationship to Epstein during the deposition on Thursday. On Friday morning, Mace joined in calling for the commerce secretary to come before the committee.

‘I believe we will have the votes to subpoena him,’ Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said.