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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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Hillary Clinton called out President Donald Trump's "prior conduct" while testifying about Jeffrey Epstein.
The former secretary of state and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, testified behind closed doors before the House Oversight Committee in two separate depositions last week over their ties to Epstein, the late convicted sex offender. Video of depositions were released by the committee on Monday.
During her deposition, Clinton was asked whether Trump should be deposed by the committee. "Absolutely," she replied.
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"I'm not saying you're going to get a lot of information, but given what's in the files and given past and prior conduct he would be on my witness list," she later added.
Hillary Clinton referenced a civil action for which, in May 2023, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump denies wrongdoing and in November petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the verdict. Clinton also referenced Trump's criminal convictions, having been found guilty in May 2024 of 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.
Hillary and Bill Clinton's and Donald Trump's names appear throughout the Epstein files. Appearing in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing.
Newsweek contacted the White House and representatives for the Clintons, who deny any wrongdoing related to Epstein. via email outside of normal office hours on Monday.
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Why It Matters
Clinton's testimony came amid continued scrutiny of high-profile figures named in files associated with Epstein after more than 3 million pages of documents related to the disgraced financier were released by the Justice Department, following President Trump's signing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November 2025.
What To Know
Speaking to the committee, Hillary Clinton said she looked for "pattern and practice" to inform a case in her previous career as a lawyer, during which she specialized in intellectual property and regulatory law.
"Donald Trump has been held civilly liable for sexual assault by a jury of his peers," she said. "Nine members of a jury found him liable in the sexual assault of E Jean Carroll. That is behavior that fits a pattern if one were looking for a pattern."
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host, accused Trump of assaulting her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in 1996 and defaming her when he denied her allegations decades later. In 2023, a Manhattan jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages after concluding that Trump was legally responsible for abuse and subsequent defamatory comments made in October 2022. An appellate court upheld the verdict in December 2024, leading Trump's legal team to seek Supreme Court intervention in November 2025.
Clinton continued: "He has also been convicted on 34 felony counts for attempting to hide his relationship with an escort and then to commit business fraud to prevent it from becoming public in the 2016 campaign which was ultimately election interference."
She was referring to a case regarding allegations of falsifying business records regarding hush-money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep an alleged affair secret in the weeks before Trump's 2016 election victory. Trump denied all wrongdoing in this case but a jury convicted Trump on 34 felony convictions in May 2024.
Judge Juan M. Merchan later imposed an unconditional discharge—leaving the conviction intact while imposing no punishment. Trump is appealing the conviction.
"So if I were running the committee or I were involved in this investigation, I would be looking for people who maybe had some prior conduct that might be relevant to either money or crimes. And yes I think that it would be in keeping with the scope of the investigation of this committee to set up a deposition with President Trump," Clinton continued.
"I'm not saying you're going to get a lot of information, but given what's in the files and given past and prior conduct he would be on my witness list."
Elsewhere during her testimony, Hillary Clinton nearly stormed out after learning Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert leaked photos from her deposition.
"I'm done with this. If you guys are doing that, I am done. You can hold me in contempt from now until the cows come home. This is just typical behavior," Clinton said.
A voice could be heard in the background saying, "It was before the hearing was started." To that, Clinton said, "It doesn't matter. We all are abiding by the same rules."
What People Are Saying
Hillary Clinton shared her opening statement of the deposition on X: "The Committee justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Let me be as clear as I can. I do not.
"As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein."
She continued: "I never flew on his plane or visited his island. I have nothing to add to that."
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