Bill Clinton gets bipartisan praise for cooperating in historic deposition on Epstein

Both Republicans and Democrats said former President Clinton was “very cooperative” in a historic deposition with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday that set a new precedent for how congressional investigators treat former presidents.

“He did attempt to respond to every single question asked, even when his attorney told him to shut up,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said after the deposition.

“This was historical,” Comer said. “I believe that in the history of Congress, the two highest ranked officials to ever be deposed by Congress would be President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

Comer said the panel “picked up some new facts” and that lawmakers asked the Clintons where they should go from here in their Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

“We’re going to bring more people in. We’re not finished,” Comer said.

Comer has previously said it is “very possible” that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will be asked to testify on Epstein. And he alluded to calls from some Republican members of the committee to scrutinize women who were both victims of Epstein and helped funnel young women to him.

“I think one of the issues we have can you be a victim and a victimizer?” Comer said.

Bill Clinton, who had spent time with Epstein and flew on his plane in the 1990s and early 2000s, said in his opening statement that he “did nothing wrong” and had “no idea of the crimes” Epstein was committing. He noted he was no longer associated with Epstein by the time he was convicted of sex crimes in 2008. 

“As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing — I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals,” Clinton said.

Comer said that going forward, the panel will be most interested in individuals who spent time with Epstein after his first conviction.

Some Republicans on the panel dismissed Clinton’s denials.

“Riiight. This gaslighting is top shelf. Slick Willie is at it again,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) posted on social platform X.

The former president and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was deposed on Thursday, sat for depositions about seven months after being subpoenaed by the committee in its investigation into matters surrounding Epstein. They first resisted, saying they had no knowledge of his criminal activities and arguing the subpoenas were invalid, before relenting this month as they faced being held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena.

Hillary Clinton testified before the committee Thursday, telling lawmakers she did not recall ever meeting Epstein and had no information about Epstein’s criminal activities.

Both Republicans and Democrats said Friday that Bill Clinton answered lawmakers’ questions in good faith, even as the former president had warned he would often say he did not recall: “That might be unsatisfying. But I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of. This was all a long time ago.”

There was some praise across the aisle from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) to Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.): “Representative Stansbury had a lot of courageous questions. She showed bravery today.”

But Rep. Wesley Bell (D-Mo.) said Republicans were “unprofessional.”

“When we hear members from other side coming into a deposition with conclusions, get no evidence to support those conclusions, and then announce to the world that these conclusions must be true. That is unprofessional. It’s unethical,” Bell said.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) told reporters that she believes Epstein was an “intelligence asset and running some form of a honey pot operation” and that she believes “President Clinton as well as the secretary were potentially targets of that operation.” Other members did not echo those assertions.

A full transcript and video of the deposition is expected to be released, which Democrats are urging to happen quickly. Comer said the panel has just one employee who does the videography and is working to prepare the video, and both sides have to approve a transcript before it is publicly released.

Democrats are saying that by compelling Clinton’s testimony, the deposition has changed the dynamic between Congress and the president; and they are calling for the same standard for President Trump.

“Before this, we had the Trump rule. Trump defied, as all of you know, a congressional subpoena with the Jan. 6 Committee. He said, ‘presidents don’t have to testify,’” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said in a press conference before the deposition. “Now we have the Clinton rule, which is that presidents and their families have to testify when Congress issues a subpoena, and that means that Donald Trump needs to come before our committee and explain what he knew about Epstein and explain why we have not had a full release of the documents.”

Back in Washington, Trump acknowledged the precedent set by the deposition taking place — and how that could affect him in the future.

“I don’t like seeing him deposed, but they certainly went after me a lot more than that,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House for Texas.

Comer addressed Democrats’ calls for Trump to testify, defending the president by giving reporters a readout of a line of questioning by Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel.

“Ranking member Garcia asked President Clinton, quote, ‘Should President Trump be called to answer questions from this committee?’ And President Clinton said, ‘That’s for you to decide.’ And the president went on to say that the President Trump has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved,” Comer said during a break in the questioning.

Asked about that, Garcia said: “I think the best response is for you to view the complete record of what actually he said.”

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