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By Hollie Silverman and Dan Gooding
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Video of the deposition of former President Bill Clinton in relation to the case of Jeffrey Epstein was released by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Monday.
The deposition took place on February 27, behind closed doors.
Bill Clinton and wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were both deposed in connection with the Epstein files case, with Hillary's deposition occurring one day prior.
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Why It Matters
This is the first time a former president has been compelled to testify before Congress. Neither Clinton has been accused of any wrongdoing, and appearing in the Epstein files does not imply wrongdoing or criminal behavior.
The depositions come amid continued scrutiny of high-profile figures named in files associated with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender after more than 3 million pages of documents related to Epstein were released by the Justice Department, following President Donald Trump's signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025.
What Did Bill Clinton Say in His Testimony?
In his opening statement to the committee, the former president said he had appeared before them because no one was above the law, not even a president. He also admonished them for calling his wife to testify the previous day.
“Before we start, I have to get personal,” Clinton said in his opening statement. “You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing. She has no memory of even meeting him. She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties.”
He repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, telling lawmakers, “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” and said he would not speculate or guess under oath, even if his answers were unsatisfying.
The full hearing lasted a little over four-and-a-half hours, while the video shared by the House Oversight Committee focused only on the former president, rather than showing a full room view.
Committee members asked Clinton about his links to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, who was recently arrested by U.K. police in connection with Epstein, as well as Lord Peter Mandelson, the former U.K. ambassador to the U.S.
Clinton said he had met the former prince once, but unrelated to Epstein, and that he had not met Mandelson.
Lawmakers also asked Clinton about other names linked to Epstein and whether he had met individuals at events with the late financier. One of those was Larry Summers, who recently resigned from his Harvard teaching position.
"He called me on the phone, he knew what I was trying to do with this AIDs work, and how important it was to me, and he said he had just talked to Jeffrey Epstein, who he described as a successful investment adviser, who made a lot of money and had made a large commitment to Harvard to brain research," Clinton said.
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Summers told him Epstein wanted to talk about politics and economics, and that flying on Epstein's jet could be a place for those conversations, alongside Clinton's staff at the U.S. Secret Service.
Clinton did say that he was glad the committee had called him to testify, saying, "I do think you should be talking to me. I think you should have called me. I DID take those plane trips with him."
Clinton said he had not spoken to any law enforcement regarding Epstein or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell over the years. He added he did not believe either of them had links with any intelligence agencies.
Lawmakers asked whether the former president knew about Epstein's multiple visits to the White House during his term in office. Clinton said, "I didn't know he was coming, so I certainly didn't know what he was coming about."
Later, lawmakers asked whether Clinton and Epstein were friends, with the former president saying they were friendly but did not know Epstein well enough to consider him a friend. He also said they only spoke while on the aforementioned plane trips.
"Outside of the trips, I believe he came to the office once in Harlem," Clinton said. "I think he paid a brief visit to the office, and I paid a brief visit to his house." He added that he did not believe Epstein was home when he visited New York City.
He was clear that he did not know about any of Epstein's sexual abuse, and that he himself had not engaged in any such abuse.
The former president was asked about photos of himself in the Epstein files, including a picture of him in a hot tub. He said the photo was taken in Brunei as part of a trip talking about HIV and AIDs, which he had referred to earlier in the hearing.
"I don't think there was anyone in the hot tub," Clinton said, adding, "I don't know who that is," when asked who the young woman was in the photo.
When asked if he had a message for Epstein's victims, Clinton said he hoped the depositions would present a sense of finality, adding, "I don't think that will happen 'til the government stops holding on to all the records." He also said it was important to put guardrails in place to prevent such abuse from happening again.
Why Did the Clintons Testify?
Clinton appeared Friday for the hearing as part of the investigation into Epstein and the network of powerful figures who maintained ties to him before his crimes became public. Lawmakers say the inquiry is focused on accountability and transparency rather than alleging criminal wrongdoing by Clinton.
Clinton has not been accused of criminal conduct and has repeatedly said he was unaware of Epstein’s sexual abuse at the time they knew each other. Still, his relationship with Epstein and Maxwell, including documented travel in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has made him a central figure in the committee’s review. The deposition marks the first time a former U.S. president has been compelled to testify before Congress, according to committee officials.
Democrats on the panel supported questioning both Clintons, but argued the investigation should be applied consistently. Representative Robert Garcia of California, the committee’s top Democrat, said the precedent set by the depositions should extend to other public figures with documented ties to Epstein, including Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
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Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein's Relationship Explained
Clinton acknowledges he and Epstein had a yearslong relationship but maintains he did not have any contact with Epstein after he was accused of sex crimes and never visited his now infamous private island of Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Epstein donated $20,000 to the Democratic National Committee in October 1996, about a month before Clinton's reelection. He also visited the White House multiple times in the '90s, according to visitor logs.
In a statement released in 2019, and since reiterated to Newsweek, a spokesperson for the former president said Clinton had "not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade" and "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" the financier pleaded guilty to in Florida and was later charged with in New York.
Clinton took several trips on Epstein's private plane. “Traveling on Epstein’s plane was not worth the years of questioning afterward,” Clinton wrote in his 2024 memoir. “I wish I had never met him.”
Flight logs kept by one of the plane's pilots and used in court proceedings show Clinton flew from New York to Britain and back in March 2002, and from Atsugi, Japan, to two locations in China, as well as to Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei between May 22 and May 25 that year.
Update 3/2/26, 5:38 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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