 [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Bill Clinton has issued a blistering statement claiming that he 'did nothing wrong' with Jeffrey Epstein as he slammed Republicans for forcing Hillary to testify.
'I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,' Clinton told lawmakers at a historic closed-door deposition on Friday near his home in Chappaqua, New York.
The former president fumed at Republicans for dragging his wife to testify after Hillary on Thursday repeatedly told lawmakers she never met Epstein.
'Before we start, I have to get personal. You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing,' Clinton said. 'She has no memory of even meeting him. She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties. Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her was simply not right.'
Clinton signaled that his answers regarding Epstein would echo a phrase synonymous with his scandal-filled presidency: 'I don't recall.'
'You'll often hear me say that I don't recall. That might be unsatisfying. But I'm not going to say something I'm not sure of,' he continued.
'This was all a long time ago. And I am bound by my oath not to speculate, or to guess. This is not merely for my benefit, but because it doesn't help you for me to play detective 24 years later.'
Lawmakers are grilling Clinton after evidence from the Epstein files revealed new depths of his friendship with the pedophile.
Photos released by Congress and the Department of Justice over the last few months show the former president on a private jet with his arm around a young woman, swimming with Maxwell and relaxing in a hot tub with another unidentified woman.
During his opening statement on Friday, the former president opened up about growing up in a family plagued with domestic abuse.
'As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing—I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals,' Clinton said.
Clinton's stepfather, Roger Clinton, was an alcoholic who was physically abusive to Clinton's mother, Virginia Kelley. The former president has previously recalled intervening to defend his mother against his stepfather's abuse.
Epstein visited the Clinton White House at least 17 times between 1993 and 1995 and flew at least 27 times on the pedophile's private jet.
'But even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause. We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long,' Clinton added. 'And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him.'
Clinton is the first ever former president compelled to testify before Congress against his will. The 79-year-old finally agreed to testify after being threatened with contempt charges.
The deposition is being held in private, but it is recorded by cameras and the testimony is expected to be released after it is viewed by the Clintons' legal team.
Republicans have sought to question Clinton about Epstein for years, especially as conspiracy theories arose following Epstein's 2019 suicide in a New York jail cell while he faced sex trafficking charges.
Those calls reached a fever pitch late last year, when the new DOJ photos revealed the president's relationship with Epstein ran deeper than previously reported.
In a declaration to lawmakers last month, Clinton admitted flying on Epstein's plane in 2002 and 2003 while he was traveling internationally for the Clinton Foundation.
Clinton said Epstein 'offered a plane that was big enough to accommodate me, my staff and my US Secret Service detail, in support of visiting the Foundation's philanthropic work.'
The former president said he never visited Epstein's private Caribbean island, Little St James, where many of the pedophile's accusers say they were trafficked for abuse.
Maxwell said in an interview with the Justice Department last year that Clinton was never there.
'I do not recall speaking to Mr Epstein for more than a decade prior to his 2019 arrest' Clinton's declaration said.
Hillary said after her deposition: 'I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended several years before anything about Epstein's criminal activities came to light.'
James Comer has pledged extensive questioning of the former president. He claimed that Hillary had repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.
Epstein was found hanged in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence as his only co-conspirator ever convicted.
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