Former President Bill Clinton appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday for a closed-door deposition near his home in Chappaqua, New York, becoming the first former president ever compelled to testify before Congress under a congressional subpoena. The session ran for more than six hours, ending just after 5 p.m. Committee Chairman James Comer said Clinton "answered every question."

Clinton began with a prepared opening statement that he released publicly on social media shortly after the proceedings got underway. In it, he denied any knowledge of the crimes committed by the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he had a documented relationship spanning roughly a decade.

"I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing," Clinton said in the statement. "Though my brief acquaintance with Epstein ended years before his crimes came to light, and though I never witnessed during our limited interactions any indication of what was truly going on, I am here to offer what little I know so that it might prevent anything like this from ever happening again."

He closed the statement with a direct denial: "I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong."

The Documented Relationship and Clinton's Defense

The former president's connection to Epstein is a matter of established record. Epstein visited the White House 17 times during Clinton's presidency. After Clinton left office, the two maintained a relationship — Clinton flew on Epstein's private jet approximately half a dozen times between 2002 and 2003, flights that appear in published flight logs. Epstein also wired $1 million, through his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, to a publicity firm for the launch of the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005. Maxwell herself has taken credit for having been "very central" to establishing the initiative.

Clinton addressed the photographs circulated from the Epstein files directly: "No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that at the end of the day matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos. I know what I saw, and more importantly, what I didn't see. I know what I did, and more importantly, what I didn't do."

He said he cut ties with Epstein by 2006, well before Epstein's 2008 guilty plea to two charges of soliciting prostitution — one involving a minor. "We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long. And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him," Clinton said.

Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing by law enforcement or by any of Epstein's identified victims.

He also made a point of defending his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had testified before the same panel the day prior. "You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing. 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."

How the Depositions Came About

The Clintons had spent months resisting the committee's subpoenas, arguing the subpoenas were legally unenforceable and that they had already provided sworn statements covering everything they knew. They initially sought to have Hillary Clinton submit a written statement in lieu of testimony and pushed to limit the former president's session to four hours. When the House Oversight Committee voted in January — with nine Democrats joining Republicans — to hold the former president in contempt of Congress for refusing to appear, and a separate vote found three Democrats willing to hold Hillary Clinton in contempt, the couple changed course.

They then asked to testify publicly rather than in closed-door proceedings. The committee declined, insisting on private depositions. Transcripts are to be released after review by the Clintons' legal team, and Comer said video of Hillary Clinton's testimony could be released as early as Friday.

Hillary Clinton, who testified Thursday, told the committee she had no memory of ever meeting Epstein and knew Maxwell only as a casual acquaintance. She described the questioning afterward as "repetitive," telling reporters outside: "I don't know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein. I never went to his island, I never went to his home, I never went to his offices."

What Lawmakers Said After the Session

Members of both parties emerged from the deposition at various points to speak with reporters, offering a mixed picture of what had transpired inside.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said Clinton was "being very cooperative" and "answering all of our questions" early in the session. Rep. Nancy Mace said both Clintons had offered "advice on where this investigation should go based on information" from their experiences, describing Republican and Democratic members as working within a bipartisan framework. Comer said the committee "learned some things" and indicated investigators would now begin looking into potential Epstein victims who may have also been "victimizers."

On the question of whether Clinton said anything that implicated Trump, the two sides gave sharply different accounts. Comer said that when Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia asked Clinton whether Trump should be called to testify, Clinton responded: "That's for you to decide," and added that Trump "has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved, and he met with Epstein." Garcia disputed Comer's account, saying it was "not a complete, accurate description of what was actually said," and accused Comer of violating committee rules by discussing closed-session testimony publicly.

The Question of Precedent and Trump

Democrats on the Oversight Committee used Friday's session to press for Trump's own testimony, arguing that the committee had now established a precedent that current and former presidents cannot defy congressional subpoenas.

"Before this, we had the Trump rule — Trump defied a congressional subpoena with the January 6 Committee," said Rep. Ro Khanna. "Now we have the Clinton rule, which is that presidents and their families have to testify when Congress issues a subpoena, and that means that Donald Trump needs to come before our committee."

Trump's name appears extensively in the Epstein-related documents released by the Justice Department, though not in correspondence with Epstein or in ways that directly contradict his stated account. Trump has said he socialized with Epstein in Palm Beach during the 1990s and early 2000s and broke off the relationship before Epstein's 2008 conviction. He has maintained he had no knowledge of Epstein's criminal behavior.

Asked about Clinton's deposition as he departed the White House on Friday, Trump said he was not pleased with the proceedings. "I like Bill Clinton, and I don't like seeing him deposed," Trump told reporters. "But they certainly went after me a lot more than that."

Democrats also renewed calls for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to appear before the committee. Lutnick has acknowledged visiting Epstein's private island in 2012, contradicting an earlier claim that he had distanced himself from Epstein around 2005. Members from both parties signaled they may have enough support to issue a subpoena.