Hillary Clinton delivered a withering rebuke to a congressional committee investigating her alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, accusing its Republican members of a “fishing expedition” intended to deflect attention from Donald Trump’s actions.
In a furious opening statement to the House oversight committee, the former secretary of state described the hearing as “partisan political theatre” and “an insult to the American people”, repeating her insistence that she never met the disgraced financier. “You have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions,” she said.
The closed-door session, held at an arts centre near the Clintons’ home in Chappaqua, New York, was temporarily suspended after a photo of Clinton giving testimony was posted on social media by a Republican committee member, Lauren Boebert. Democrats condemned the breach as “unacceptable”, but Boebert defended herself, saying “no US ambassadors were harmed” in a reference to the 2012 Benghazi attack.
Clinton told reporters after the hearing that the questions “got quite unusual”, including inquiries about UFOs and the discredited Pizzagate conspiracy theory. She expressed frustration that no Republican members had asked any questions about Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell to others deposed.
Clinton said she would have preferred the testimony be public, but was distressed that agreed-upon rules were disregarded. “They had a chance to do it in public and I wish they had done it in public,” she said, adding that she repeatedly stated she did not know Epstein.
