For the first time in American history, a former First Lady sat under oath before a congressional committee investigating the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking network. After more than four and a half hours, Hillary Clinton emerged having denied virtually everything — she says she never encountered Epstein, never flew on his plane, never visited his properties — while simultaneously delivering one of the most politically devastating opening statements the Oversight Committee has heard. She accused the committee of running a protection operation for Donald Trump, noted that zero public hearings have been held, and pointed out that not a single Republican member even showed up for Les Wexner’s deposition.
The most explosive exchange came when Rep. Nancy Mace pressed Clinton on whether the State Department received any intelligence cables mentioning Epstein’s foreign travel or trafficking network during her tenure as Secretary. Clinton said she was not aware of any. Mace fired back asking how the nation’s top diplomat could have missed one of the most prolific sex traffickers in the world. Clinton deflected, saying it was a Justice Department matter — then turned the question around, asking why Secretary Rubio and Attorney General Bondi haven’t been called to explain why the Trump administration gutted the State Department’s trafficking office, cutting more than 70 percent of its staff.
Things nearly went off the rails when Lauren Boebert was caught photographing Clinton inside the closed hearing room and sharing the image with right-wing media personality Benny Johnson. Clinton’s counsel, Cheryl Mills, demanded an explanation. Clinton herself threatened to walk out, saying she was “done” and that the committee could hold her in contempt. Chairman Comer intervened, advising members that no photos or videos could be released. Clinton stayed and continued testifying for hours more.
On the question of her husband’s relationship with Epstein, Clinton offered perhaps her only concession of the day. Asked how she felt about Bill Clinton being named in the Epstein files, she called it “unfortunate” and said she was sure her husband wished he had not flown on Epstein’s plane. She refused to engage with Mace’s questions about photos showing Bill Clinton being massaged by young women on trips connected to Epstein, repeatedly saying she had no context for those questions and would not speculate.
When Rep. Anna Paulina Luna asked whether Clinton believed Epstein was running a honeypot intelligence operation targeting high-profile individuals to sway U.S. foreign policy, Clinton acknowledged it was “certainly possible” and called it “a tried-and-true technique of certain intelligence agencies.” She said the committee should investigate it. But she denied having any direct knowledge or believing she was personally targeted, except by Russia during the 2016 campaign.
Clinton’s most pointed attack on Trump came when she described what she called his “behavioral tell” — that whenever Trump is worried about being found out, he accuses someone else of doing what he has done. She noted that Trump promised during his campaign to release all the Epstein files, but once his people began reviewing them and saw how potentially incriminating they were, the focus shifted to blaming Democrats and calling it a hoax. “He clearly knows what he did,” Clinton said. “He knows what others did.”
The deposition raises as many questions as it answers. Epstein visited the Clinton White House 17 times. The idea that neither Bill nor Hillary Clinton has any memory of interacting with him strains credulity, even if it doesn’t prove wrongdoing. What matters now is whether the committee will apply the same standard to everyone — including the current president — or whether this investigation continues as what Clinton called “partisan political theater designed to protect one political party and one public official.”
Narativ aired the full unedited deposition followed by this live analysis. The deposition has not been widely broadcast elsewhere.
Narativ is available on Substack, YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Visit narativ.org for more.Thank you Stephanie G Wilson, PhD, Fran, Skutt Hope, PJ Schuster, LeftieProf, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.
