Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a blistering response during her deposition in the House Oversight Committee's Epstein investigation when asked about whether or not she thinks President Donald Trump should also be deposed.
Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, testified separately behind closed doors last week before the House Oversight Committee regarding their connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier, pedophile, and sex trafficker. Video recordings of the depositions were released by the committee on Monday.
When asked whether Trump should also be deposed, she said “Absolutely,” adding that she was "not saying you’re going to get a lot of information, but given what’s in the files and his past conduct, he would be on my witness list."
Clinton pointed to a civil case in which, in May 2023, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump has denied wrongdoing and, in November, petitioned the Supreme Court to review that verdict.
Clinton also referenced his criminal convictions in May 2024 on 34 counts related to a scheme to influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, who alleged the two had a sexual encounter.
She said:
"I was a lawyer and as a lawyer, you would be looking for pattern in practice. If you were deposing a witness in a case you'd been trying, if you were in court, what did you know about this person? What you knew could influence how you question that person and how you tried the case."
"Donald Trump has been held civilly liable for sexual assault by a jury of his peers. 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."
"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."
"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."
"I know he's been deposed many, many, many times. He's taken the Fifth Amendment many, many hundreds of times, so 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."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Many concurred with her remarks.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer previously signaled that the committee would not seek to force testimony from Trump, a fellow Republican, noting that Congress lacks the authority to compel a sitting president to appear.
The Clintons previously rebuked Comer, who had warned that the panel would pursue contempt of Congress proceedings if they failed to comply with the subpoena.
The Clintons argued that Comer’s handling of the committee’s work on the Epstein investigation has “prevented progress in discovering the facts about the government’s role,” and said Comer has “done nothing” to compel the Justice Department to meet its disclosure obligations under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was passed late last year.
In his testimony on Friday, Bill Clinton said that it’s “for you to decide” whether to call up Trump to testify in the panel’s probe. He recalled being told by Trump that he and Epstein had “a falling out over a land-deal, property deal.” Clinton stressed that Trump "knew him well," a well-documented fact that Trump has pushed back against.
