A Republican-led panel is grilling Hillary Clinton over her links to Jeffrey Epstein, but she called for Donald Trump to testify about the president's own connections to the convicted paedophile.
Clinton told the congressional committee she had no information about Epstein's crimes, never recalled encountering him, and had never visited his island or flown on his plane, accusing the panel of trying to "protect one public official" — Trump.
James Comer, who chairs the committee that will also grill former president Bill Clinton on Friday, said "the purpose of the whole investigations to try to understand many things about Epstein" — the deceased convicted sex offender.
Clinton challenged the panel saying "if this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes... it would ask (Trump) directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files."
The top Democrat on the committee, Robert Garcia, also called on Trump to testify "to answer the questions that are being asked across this country from survivors."
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing those who were linked to sex offender Epstein, who was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The Clintons had initially rejected subpoenas ordering them to testify in the panel's probe, but the Democratic power couple eventually agreed to do so after House Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.
Bill Clinton, 79, feature prominently in the recently released trove of government documents related to Epstein, but he has said he broke ties with the disgraced financier before his 2008 conviction in Florida as a sex offender.
Mere mention in the files is not proof of having committed a crime.
The Clintons called for their depositions to be public but the committee insisted on questioning them behind closed doors, a move Bill Clinton denounced as akin to a "kangaroo court."
Hillary Clinton, 78, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, said in an interview with the BBC last week that she and her husband "have nothing to hide."
She met Maxwell "on a few occasions," she said, but never had any meaningful interactions with Epstein.
The depositions are being held in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons reside. Dozens of journalists have converged on the wealthy hamlet to cover the unprecedented hearing.
The Secret Service had erected metal barricades around the arts center where the deposition will take place, with the Clintons expected to enter through a side door shielded by a white tent.
The Republican chair of the committee that will grill Bill and Hillary Clinton said on Thursday they "have a lot of questions" to answer.
"They're going to have due process, but we have a lot of questions, and the purpose of the whole investigations to try to understand many things about Epstein. It is a bipartisan investigation. The American people have a lot of questions," said House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer.
Sex trafficking
Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying on Epstein's plane several times in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but said he never visited Epstein's private Caribbean island.
Several photos of the former president were included in the first tranche of Epstein files released by the Department of Justice in January, including a number of him with women whose faces were redacted. Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein.
Maxwell, 64, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
She appeared via video-link before the House Oversight Committee earlier this month but refused to answer questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself.
Her attorney, David Markus, said Maxwell would be prepared to speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump.
Epstein cultivated a network of powerful business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics.
The release of the Epstein case files has had repercussions around the globe, including the arrests in Britain of former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson, the ex-ambassador to the United States.
A number of prominent Americans have had their reputations damaged by their friendships with Epstein and have resigned their positions, but so far Maxwell is the only person who has been convicted of a crime in connection with late financier.
