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By STEPHEN GROVES
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is testifying earlier than Home lawmakers in New York on Thursday as a part of a congressional investigation into convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, beginning off two days of depositions that may also embrace former President Invoice Clinton.
The closed-door depositions within the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, a usually quiet hamlet north of New York Metropolis, come after months of tense back-and-forth between the previous high-powered Democratic couple and the Republican-controlled Home Oversight Committee. It will likely be the primary time {that a} former president has been compelled to testify earlier than Congress.
But the demand for a reckoning over Epstein’s abuse of underage ladies has turn into a near-unstoppable drive on Capitol Hill and past.
President Donald Trump, a Republican who has expressed remorse that the Clintons are being compelled to testify, bowed final yr to stress to launch case information on Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 whereas awaiting trial. The Clintons, too, agreed to testify after their provides of sworn statements have been rebuffed by the Oversight panel and its chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., threatened prison contempt of Congress prices in opposition to them.
“Now we have a really clear file that we’ve been prepared to speak about,” Hillary Clinton stated in an interview with the BBC earlier this month. She added that her husband had flown with Epstein for charitable journeys and that she didn’t recall assembly Epstein however had interacted with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, at conferences hosted by the Clinton Basis.
“We’re more than pleased to say what we all know, which may be very restricted and completely unrelated to their conduct or their crimes, and we need to do it in public,” Hillary Clinton stated.
Invoice Clinton, nonetheless, has emerged as a prime goal for Republicans amid the political wrestle over who receives probably the most scrutiny for his or her ties to Epstein. A number of images of the previous president have been included within the first tranche of Epstein information launched by the Division of Justice in January, together with a lot of him with ladies whose faces have been redacted. Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein.
Comer has additionally pointed to Hillary Clinton’s work as secretary of state to handle intercourse trafficking as another excuse to insist on her deposition. The committee’s investigation has sought to grasp why the Division of Justice below earlier presidential administrations didn’t search additional prices in opposition to Epstein following a 2008 association during which he pleaded responsible to state prices in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage woman however averted federal prices.
But conspiracy theories, particularly on the best, have swirled for years across the Clintons and their connections to Epstein and Maxwell, who argues she was wrongfully convicted. Republicans have lengthy wished to press the Clintons for solutions.
“I imply if you happen to’re the spouse of Invoice Clinton, aren’t you going to have some questions on your husband’s actions?” stated Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the Home Oversight Committee. “We solely go the place the information take us. We didn’t put the president and the secretary on this place. They put themselves in it.”
Democrats, now being led by a brand new era of politicians, have prioritized transparency round Epstein over defending the previous leaders of their occasion. A number of Democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans on the Oversight panel to advance the contempt of Congress prices in opposition to the Clintons final month. A number of stated that they had no relationship with the Clintons and owed no loyalty to them.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the highest Democrat on the Oversight panel, stated that each Republican and Democratic administrations “have failed survivors in not getting extra data out to the general public.” He additionally stated he wished to ask about Epstein’s potential ties to overseas governments.
Democrats are additionally coming off an effort this week to confront Trump about his administration’s dealing with of the Epstein information by taking ladies who survived Epstein’s abuse as their friends to Trump’s State of the Union handle. Even senior Democrats, resembling former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, stated it was acceptable for the committee to interview anybody, together with the previous president, who was related to Epstein.
“We need to hear from everybody,” Pelosi stated, including that she didn’t see why Hillary Clinton was being interviewed and that it was essential to “imagine survivors.”
Comply with the AP’s protection of Jeffrey Epstein at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein.
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