By Richard Cowan
Feb 27 (Reuters) – Former President Bill Clinton was testifying on Friday behind closed doors to a congressional panel about his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in what could be a tense confrontation between the former Democratic leader and President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans.
Clinton’s testimony follows that of his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told the House of Representatives Oversight Committee on Thursday that she did not remember ever meeting Epstein and had nothing to share about his sex crimes.
She said she was also asked about UFOs and a 2016-era conspiracy theory during the seven-hour session.
Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane several times in the early 2000s after he left office, and a tranche of millions of documents released by the Justice Department includes photos of him with women whose faces are redacted. He has denied wrongdoing and expressed regret for his association.
Before the sessions, the panel’s Republican chairman, Representative James Comer of Kentucky, said he would ask the former president about those photos. The committee is also expected to quiz Clinton about Epstein’s involvement with the couple’s charitable foundation.
Comer said video of Hillary Clinton’s testimony could be released as soon as Friday.
Comer repeatedly has said the Clintons are not accused of wrongdoing.
They agreed to testify near their main residence of Chappaqua, New York, after the House threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate. Some Democrats supported the move.
Both Clintons accuse Republicans of conducting a partisan exercise designed to protect Trump from scrutiny, noting that others in the inquiry were allowed to submit written statements rather than testify in person.
Democrats say the panel should also subpoena Trump, whose name appears frequently in the Epstein-related files. Trump socialized extensively with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s, before Epstein’s 2008 conviction of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Democrats are also accusing Trump’s Justice Department of withholding records of a woman who accused Trump of sexually abusing her when she was a minor. The Justice Department has said it is looking at the material in question and will publish it if appropriate.
The department has previously cautioned that the material it has released includes unfounded accusations and sensationalist claims about Trump, and authorities have not accused him of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
“President Clinton’s presence here today under oath highlights the Donald Trump-sized gaping hole in Chairman Comer’s investigation,” said Democratic Representative James Walkinshaw of Virginia, in remarks to reporters before the start of Friday’s proceedings.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 while facing federal sex-trafficking crimes. His death was ruled a suicide.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Sergio Non and Alistair Bell)
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