Serious investigation or ‘clown show’? Clintons’ closed testimonies on Epstein leave room for disagreement

CHAPPAQUA, New York — As House Republicans and Democrats embarked on two days of depositions with Bill and Hillary Clinton, both sides professed a seriousness of purpose to find answers that could aid their investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

They left with completely different versions of what transpired behind closed doors.

Republicans said President Donald Trump was now "exonerated." Democrats said Trump was no such thing and called the event an “unserious clown show.” And amid dueling news conferences and social media posts throughout Thursday and Friday, the public is now left with starkly divergent narratives in a congressional probe that shows few signs of ending anytime soon.

The split screen underscores the politically fraught nature of the House investigation, which is unfolding as the electorate clamors for someone to be held accountable for the years that the sex trafficking operation of Epstein and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, went unchecked.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee spent hours grilling both Clintons — the former secretary of State on Thursday and the former president on Friday — about Epstein and Maxwell, in compliance with a pair of subpoenas issued by the panel as part of its long-running Epstein investigation.

Republican and Democratic committee members took turns chiding each other for their characterizations of the Clintons’ testimonies, while also selectively leaking comments from inside the room to support their respective party lines.

Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said that Bill Clinton told the committee that Trump “never said anything to me to make me think he was involved” with Epstein and left Republicans confident there was no reason now to depose the president.

“From all the evidence I’ve seen, he’s been exonerated for a long time,” Comer said of Trump during a news conference Friday.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said repeatedly the former president’s deposition Friday sets a precedent for Trump to testify under oath, and that Comer’s remarks were not an “accurate description” of Bill Clinton’s testimony.

Democrats said Bill Clinton’s deposition raised additional questions about Trump and Epstein’s falling out. Trump has long said he kicked Epstein out of his club, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges, because he “stole people that worked for me,” while the White House has said Epstein was banned “for being a creep.”

Neither of the Clintons have been accused of misconduct in connection with Epstein, nor has Trump.

Bill Clinton has maintained he was an acquaintance of Epstein’s and traveled on his plane several times internationally, while Secret Service details were present, but stopped communicating with him at least a decade before his arrest in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges.

Behind closed doors, Bill Clinton testified that Trump told him he and Epstein had “great times together," according to a person in the room who was granted anonymity to describe the private deposition.

Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost said Bill Clinton testified that Trump told him the falling out with Epstein was over a land dispute.

“He’s been caught in multiple lies as it relates to his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Frost said, referring to Trump.

Bill Clinton’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. The White House referred back to an earlier statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said, “the President has always remained consistent in that he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club at Mar-a-Lago because frankly, Jeffrey Epstein was a creep.”

The Republican-led committee is expected to release videos of the proceedings as soon as this weekend. Democrats on the committee requested full, unedited versions to be made public, with each side promising their version of events will then be vindicated.

Republicans are under increasing public pressure to have something to show for their investigation and are eager to find a win in the Clintons’ testimony.

Comer said Friday his panel would call in additional witnesses as part of the ongoing probe, saying lawmakers had refrained from naming any of these individuals before the Clintons’ depositions. He suggested names could be announced before the depositions of the co-executors of Epstein’s estate, which will take place in the coming weeks.

"I didn't want to do anything that jeopardized losing them,” he told reporters Friday, referring to the Clintons.

As lawmakers left the deposition site in Chappaqua, it also appeared likely the panel would soon subpoena Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who has faced calls to resign over revelations in the Justice Department’s materials about the extent of his relationship with Epstein. Rep Nancy Mace of South Carolina, a Republican on the Oversight panel, said she was on board.

Lutnick recently acknowledged that he visited Epstein’s island in 2012 with his family, after he previously claimed their relationship ended before Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a prostitute. Lutnick has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s crimes.

“We have a lot of questions about anyone who spent time with Epstein post-conviction,” Comer told reporters when asked about calling in Lutnick to testify.