‘I noticed nothing, and I did nothing flawed,’ says Invoice Clinton in opening assertion on Epstein ties
Former president Invoice Clinton has delivered his opening assertion to lawmakers on the Home oversight committee’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
“I noticed nothing, and I did nothing flawed,” Clinton stated. Right here’s the extract:
First, I had no thought of the crimes Epstein was committing. Irrespective of what number of pictures you present me, I’ve two issues that on the finish of the day matter greater than your interpretation of these 20-year-old pictures.
I do know what I noticed, and extra importantly, what I didn’t see.
I do know what I did, and extra importantly, what I didn’t do.
I noticed nothing, and I did nothing flawed.
A reminder that Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Key occasions
Democrats say Clinton’s cooperation and transparency units precedent for summoning presidents
Democrats on the committee praised former president Invoice Clinton for attending the deposition, saying he has been clear and is answering robust questions on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Updating the media simply now exterior the listening to in Chappaqua, they stated that the previous president made extra sense to query than Hillary Clinton, given he had documented interactions with Epstein over time. Bill Clinton has been cooperative and thorough in his responses, they stated.
“We’re grateful that President Clinton got here in and answered robust questions from each the minority occasion and the bulk occasion,” rating member Robert Garcia stated. “We additionally assume it’s vital to notice … that he doesn’t perceive nor can we why we spent a lot time yesterday grilling Secretary Clinton.”
However, they are saying, now {that a} former president has come to the committee, it reveals that Donald Trump ought to are available in as properly.
“We’ve a brand new precedent on this nation,” Garcia stated. “We are able to now demand presidents and former presidents to testify in entrance of the oversight committee. So we’re as soon as once more demanding that now President Trump, who was within the Epstein recordsdata virtually greater than anybody else apart from Ghislaine Maxwell, reply our questions.”
Garcia additionally pushed again on James Comer’s remark earlier that Invoice Clinton stated it was as much as the committee whether or not to carry Trump in for questioning, saying he didn’t assume Comer’s accounting was a whole and correct summation of what Clinton stated.
Comer: Clinton defers to Home committee when requested about summoning Trump
James Comer, the chair of the Home oversight committee, simply up to date the media on a response from former president Invoice Clinton relating to Donald Trump.
He stated Democratic rating member Robert Garcia requested Clinton whether or not Trump needs to be referred to as to reply questions from the committee.
“And President Clinton stated, that’s so that you can resolve,” Comer stated. “And the President went on to say, President Trump has by no means stated something to me to make me assume he was concerned.”
Trump on Invoice Clinton: ‘I don’t like seeing him deposed’
Donald Trump weighed in on Invoice Clinton showing earlier than the committee, in accordance with a White Home pool report.
“I don’t like seeing him deposed. However they actually went after me greater than that,” Trump stated.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes said Trump advised her that commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, who has ties with Epstein, was a “very harmless man” who’s “doing an awesome job”. He “would go in and do no matter he has to say”, Trump stated.
Sitting and former presidents solely not often have appeared earlier than members of Congress, making Invoice Clinton’s testimony at present a novelty – and offering Democrats one other avenue to push for Donald Trump to speak to the committee, given his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Gerald Ford is the final former president to seem earlier than a congressional committee, an accounting of presidential congressional hearings compiled by the US Senate reveals.
Ford, in 1983, talked to a Senate subcommittee on the US structure, across the time of the bicentennial of the US structure. Earlier than that, in 1955, Harry Truman, then a former president, talked to a Senate committee on overseas relations in regards to the United Nations constitution.
Ford was additionally the final sitting US president to seem earlier than Congress. In 1974, he voluntarily appeared earlier than a Home subcommittee to debate his reasoning for pardoning former president Richard Nixon.
With Invoice Clinton’s deposition underneath method, right here’s a quick recap of among the pictures he seems in from the tranche of thousands and thousands of paperwork associated to Jeffrey Epstein launched by the US justice division final 12 months.
The previous president has maintained that he was an acquaintance of Epstein’s however stopped speaking with him at the very least a decade earlier than his arrest in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking expenses. He flew on Epstein’s aircraft a number of instances within the early 2000s after he left workplace and says he severed ties within the mid-2000s, a number of years earlier than Epstein’s 2008 conviction of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
A reminder that Clinton will not be accused of any wrongdoing associated to Epstein, and showing within the recordsdata will not be in itself proof of any wrongdoing.
Extra from Invoice Clinton’s opening remarks.
The previous president stated he solely had a “transient acquaintance with Epstein” that ended “years earlier than his crimes got here to gentle” and that he by no means noticed “what was actually happening”. Right here’s the extract:
The women and girls whose lives Jeffrey Epstein destroyed deserve not solely justice, however therapeutic. They’ve been ready too lengthy for each. Although my transient acquaintance with Epstein ended years earlier than his crimes got here to gentle, and although I by no means witnessed throughout our restricted interactions any indication of what was actually happening, I’m right here to supply what little I do know in order that it would stop something like this from ever taking place once more.
He added that he would “usually” say “I don’t recall”, as his interactions with Epstein had been such a very long time in the past, and stated this may be “unsatisfying” to lawmakers.
Invoice Clinton additionally made reference to his spouse Hillary Clinton’s six-hour-plus grilling from the committee yesterday, saying it was “merely not proper” that she was introduced in.
Earlier than we begin, I’ve to get private. You made Hillary are available in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing. She has no reminiscence of even assembly him. She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties. Whether or not you subpoenaed 10 folks or 10,000, together with her was merely not proper.
Invoice Clinton says he had no thought of Epstein’s crimes
In his opening assertion, former president Invoice Clinton additionally stated he noticed no indicators of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.
As somebody who grew up in a house with home abuse, not solely would I’ve not flown on his aircraft if I had any inkling of what he was doing – I might have turned him in myself and led the decision for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart offers.
However even with 20/20 hindsight, I noticed nothing that ever gave me pause. We’re solely right here as a result of he hid it from everybody so properly for therefore lengthy. And by the point it got here to gentle together with his 2008 responsible plea, I had lengthy stopped associating with him.
‘I noticed nothing, and I did nothing flawed,’ says Invoice Clinton in opening assertion on Epstein ties
Former president Invoice Clinton has delivered his opening assertion to lawmakers on the Home oversight committee’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
“I noticed nothing, and I did nothing flawed,” Clinton stated. Right here’s the extract:
First, I had no thought of the crimes Epstein was committing. Irrespective of what number of pictures you present me, I’ve two issues that on the finish of the day matter greater than your interpretation of these 20-year-old pictures.
I do know what I noticed, and extra importantly, what I didn’t see.
I do know what I did, and extra importantly, what I didn’t do.
I noticed nothing, and I did nothing flawed.
A reminder that Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Democrats demand Trump testify over Epstein ties, saying GOP set a brand new precedent with Invoice Clinton’s deposition
Robert Garcia additionally stated that Democrats are demanding that Donald Trump testify earlier than the Home oversight committee about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, as “Republicans have now set a brand new precedent, which is to usher in presidents and former presidents to testify”.
Trump seems within the Epstein recordsdata “virtually greater than anyone else”, Garcia stated.
It’s time for the president to reply why there are recordsdata lacking from the DoJ, why there’s been a White Home cover-up, and why they proceed in that administration to name this investigation a hoax.
A reminder that Invoice Clinton’s closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, New York, at present marks the primary time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress. It got here a day after his spouse, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, appeared before lawmakers for her personal deposition.
Trump has persistently denied wrongdoing associated to Epstein, and said final week: “I did nothing.”
‘We don’t need a sideshow at present, says prime Democrat
For the Democrats on the Home oversight committee, rating member Robert Garcia advised reporters forward of Invoice Clinton’s deposition:
What we’re curious about at present is a critical deposition. We’ve actual questions that deserve critical solutions from former president Clinton.
We’ve stated from day one which Democrats need to speak to anybody, whether or not they’re a Republican or a Democrat, regardless of how highly effective they’re, no matter place that they’ve been in.
He stated that they don’t need to see one other “sideshow” at present, referring to questions from Republicans about UFOs and conspiracy theories throughout Hillary Clinton’s deposition yesterday.
Invoice Clinton arrives to testify earlier than Home committee investigating Epstein hyperlinks
The motorcade carrying Invoice Clinton seems to have arrived on the Chappaqua Performing Arts Heart in New York.
