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Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to testify behind closed doors Thursday before a congressional committee investigating the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to appear the following day before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee to answer questions about his ties to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The Clintons initially resisted subpoenas from the committee but eventually agreed to testify after House Republicans threatened contempt of Congress. Democrats argue the investigation is being politicized to target opponents of Republican President Donald Trump—a former Epstein associate who has not been called to testify—rather than serve legitimate oversight purposes.
Both Trump and Bill Clinton, now 79, are mentioned in recently released government documents related to Epstein. Each has stated they severed ties with the financier prior to his 2008 conviction in Florida as a sex offender. Mere mention in the files does not indicate criminal wrongdoing.
The Clintons had requested their depositions be public, but the committee insisted on closed-door questioning. Bill Clinton criticized the decision as “pure politics” and likened it to a “kangaroo court.”
“If they want answers, let’s stop the games and do this the right way: in a public hearing, where the American people can see for themselves what this is really about,” he wrote on X.
Hillary Clinton, 78, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, told the BBC last week that she and her husband “have nothing to hide.” She acknowledged meeting Maxwell on a few occasions but denied having any meaningful interactions with Epstein.
Republicans, she said, are attempting to divert attention from Trump by focusing on the Clintons’ testimonies.
