Hillary Clinton Under Oath: 'I Never Met Jeffrey Epstein'

On February 26, 2026, Hillary Clinton sat in a conference room in Chappaqua, New York, raised her right hand, and swore to tell the truth. Over the next six and a half hours, the former Secretary of State, former U.S. Senator, and former First Lady answered questions from the Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about the Jeffrey Epstein case. It was the first time she had been compelled to testify under oath about the convicted sex trafficker and his network of powerful associates.

Her central claim was direct and repeated: she never met Jeffrey Epstein.

"I had no idea about their criminal activities," Clinton said in a prepared opening statement she later posted publicly. "I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices."

By the time she walked out of the room, Clinton told reporters she had lost count of how many times she had given that same answer. "I don't know how many times I had to say I didn't know Jeffrey Epstein," she said.

The Scope of Questioning

The Clintons' legal team and the committee had negotiated five topics in advance, according to CNN. The agreed-upon areas were: alleged mismanagement of the federal government's investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell; the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Epstein's death in federal custody in August 2019; federal strategies to combat sex-trafficking networks; how Epstein and Maxwell sought to use powerful people to shield their illegal activities; and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials.

The committee had subpoenaed both Clintons in July 2025. They agreed to comply to avoid a vote in the full House to hold them in contempt. Hillary Clinton went first; Bill Clinton was scheduled for the following day.

Chairman James Comer said after the session that the deposition was "productive" and that "I think we learned a lot." But he also noted a pattern he found telling. Clinton said "I don't know, you'll have to ask my husband" more than a dozen times, according to Comer, particularly when questions turned to the Clinton Global Initiative and its connections to Epstein's circle.

What Clinton Said About Ghislaine Maxwell

Clinton acknowledged knowing Ghislaine Maxwell, but only in the most limited terms. She told the committee she knew Maxwell "casually, as an acquaintance" and that she had met her "on a few occasions."

The most specific exchange concerned Chelsea Clinton's 2010 wedding. Maxwell attended the event, a fact documented in court filings (kaggle-ho-019468) and referenced in a sworn deposition in which Maxwell allegedly avoided testimony by claiming a family emergency, yet was photographed at the wedding (d-19943). Clinton told reporters that Maxwell had come "as a guest of someone else" and was not personally invited by the family.

That characterization sits alongside a broader paper trail. Maxwell was served a subpoena in September 2011 while attending a Clinton Global Initiative conference, according to records reviewed by Epstein Exposed (d-16788). A 2007 letter co-authored by Alan Dershowitz and Gerald Lefcourt, submitted in defense of Epstein during his original sentencing, claimed that Epstein "was part of the original group that conceived of the Clinton Global Initiative" (d-26973). Clinton directed all CGI-related questions to her husband.

The Opening Salvo

Clinton made clear from her first words that she considered the proceeding a political exercise.

"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 and cover them up," she said.

She went further: "As a former Senator, I have respect for legislative oversight and I expect its exercise to be principled and fearless in pursuit of truth and accountability. As we all know, however, too often Congressional investigations are partisan political theater, which is an abdication of duty and an insult to the American people."

Clinton then turned the committee's premise back on itself, demanding that President Trump be called to testify under the same conditions: "If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files."

She closed her opening with three questions she said the committee should be answering: "What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up?"

The Boebert Disruption

About halfway through the session, the deposition was abruptly paused. Rep. Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, had photographed Clinton during the closed-door proceedings and sent the image to Benny Johnson, a conservative commentator, who posted it on social media. The leak violated House rules governing the conduct of depositions.

Clinton said she found the breach "very upsetting" and that it deepened her concerns about the committee's willingness to follow its own rules. She renewed her call for the full testimony to be made public: "They had a chance to do it in public, and I wish they had done it in public."

Democrats on the committee demanded consequences for Boebert. Republicans largely defended the commentator. The pause lasted roughly twenty minutes before testimony resumed.

What the Epstein Files Actually Show

Clinton's name appears in 1,381 documents across the Epstein Exposed database, spanning DOJ releases under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, court filings from the Giuffre v. Maxwell litigation, and House Oversight Committee records.

The vast majority of those references are not direct connections. They include news clippings found in Epstein's files, political campaign coverage, and documents that reference the broader Clinton orbit. There are no flight logs placing Hillary Clinton on any of Epstein's aircraft. There are no financial records linking her to Epstein. There is no direct correspondence between the two in the database.

The picture is different for Bill Clinton, whose name appears in 3,514 documents. Flight logs released through the Giuffre v. Maxwell civil case show Bill Clinton on at least 26 individual flight legs aboard Epstein's Boeing 727 and Gulfstream jets between 2002 and 2003 (d-clinton-flight-logs). A September 2002 multi-stop Africa trip included Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Clinton aide Doug Band. A BuzzFeed review of over 2,000 pages of court filings confirmed that Clinton appeared on 13 separate flight manifests for Epstein's private 727 during that period (d-31050).

Epstein Correspondence with Bill Clinton Foundation records (d-108), released by the House Oversight Committee in November 2025, included scheduling communications for charitable events and travel arrangements. A January 2026 DOJ release under the Epstein Files Transparency Act included photographs of Bill Clinton with Epstein, including one described by a DOJ official as showing a shirtless Clinton in a hot tub (d-clinton-efta-photos). An internal Epstein email references meetings with Bill Clinton and follow-ups with other high-profile contacts on the same day (d-24285).

These distinctions matter. Hillary Clinton's testimony dealt with her own relationship to Epstein, not her husband's. But the committee's questions kept circling back to the Clinton Global Initiative, the foundation, and the social circles where Bill Clinton and Epstein overlapped, which is why Clinton kept directing lawmakers to "ask my husband."

The UFOs and Pizzagate Detour

Toward the end of the six-hour session, the questioning took what Clinton described as an unusual turn. She told reporters afterward that Republican members asked her about UFOs and the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which she called "vile, bogus conspiracy theories."

"At the end, the deposition got quite unusual," Clinton said. The tangent drew criticism from observers on both sides who questioned whether the committee was using its limited time with a subpoenaed witness to pursue matters unrelated to the Epstein investigation.

The Political Backdrop

The deposition unfolded against a highly charged political environment. Chairman Comer had subpoenaed not just the Clintons but also former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller, and former Attorneys General Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzales. Several of those depositions took place in the summer and fall of 2025.

Comer said part of the committee's mission was to determine how Epstein accumulated his wealth, how he surrounded himself with powerful people, and whether he operated as a government asset. Those questions remain unanswered after Clinton's testimony. She told the committee she had no knowledge that would help resolve any of them.

Clinton framed the investigation as a one-sided effort designed to protect the current president while putting political opponents on display: "This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official."

Unanswered Questions

Several threads remain unresolved after Clinton's six hours of testimony.

First, the Maxwell relationship. Clinton described Maxwell as a casual acquaintance she encountered a handful of times. But Maxwell's presence at Chelsea Clinton's wedding, her attendance at CGI conferences, and the Dershowitz-Lefcourt letter placing Epstein at the founding of CGI suggest a social proximity that "casual acquaintance" may not fully capture. Whether Bill Clinton's deposition addressed this gap is a question for his transcript.

Second, the question of what Hillary Clinton knew, and when, about her husband's interactions with Epstein. She deferred those questions more than a dozen times. That is not evidence of knowledge. But neither is it a denial.

Third, Comer's stated interest in whether Epstein was a government asset. No witness in the committee's long string of depositions has shed light on this question. Clinton's testimony did not change that.

What Comes Next

Bill Clinton sat for his own deposition on February 27, 2026, also in Chappaqua. His testimony carried significantly higher stakes. Beyond the 3,514 document references and the documented flights, the January 2026 DOJ release of photographs put physical proximity between the former president and Epstein beyond dispute.

Chairman Comer said the committee planned to release video of both depositions "as quickly as possible," pending transcript review by the Clintons' legal team. Until that footage is public, the only account of what happened in the room comes from the participants themselves.

Hillary Clinton's six hours under oath produced no new factual revelations about the Epstein network. She maintained she never met Epstein, never communicated with him, and had no knowledge of his crimes. Whether the committee obtained anything of value from the session will depend on the transcript and video, which the public has not yet seen.

The questions Clinton posed in her opening statement remain open. Both sides claim to want answers. Neither side, so far, has fully delivered them.

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Sources: NBC News, CBS News, PBS News, NPR, The Hill, Al Jazeera, House Oversight Committee