Bill Clinton was directly asked under oath whether he believes Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in prison amid rampant speculation about the late pedophile’s death.
The former president was being grilled during a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Friday.
‘I’d like to ask you personally and directly do you believe Jeffrey Epstein killed himself?’ Clinton was asked in newly released video.
What followed was a halting, tense exchange, interrupted by Clinton’s lawyer that laid bare the political and emotional weight still surrounding Epstein’s 2019 jailhouse death.
‘Are you asking him to speculate on how Mr Epstein died?’ his attorney immediately intervened.
‘I’m asking what the president thinks…’ the questioner began again.
‘So you’re asking his opinion?’ the lawyer cut in once more.
The questioner pushed forward: ‘Mr Clinton, was your friend Jeffrey Epstein suicidal? Mr Clinton do you believe that Mr Epstein was suicidal?’
Clinton answered carefully.
Video of Bill Clinton testifying under oath before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door deposition last week has been released
Clinton told Friday’s hearing stated that he had long stopped associating with Epstein by the time of Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea. The pair are pictured together wearing silk shirts
Clinton said in his testimony that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes
‘I don’t know. I wouldn’t know what the medical finding was. I think maybe he finally got caught. I don’t know. I’ve accepted it in my own mind. I don’t know what happened.’
When pressed to clarify – ‘Mr. President what did you accept, that he killed himself or that he did not?’ – Clinton replied: ‘That he did. But I don’t know. Neither do you. None of us know.’
The exchange occurred during hours of sworn testimony conducted last week in Chappaqua, New York where Clinton lives with his wife.
It was released on Monday by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting sex from girls as young as 14, but died in a New York jail cell in 2019 before he could be tried on sex trafficking charges.
His death was ruled a suicide but, like much else around Epstein, is the subject of lurid conspiracy theories.
The depositions come amid renewed congressional efforts to examine Epstein’s network of powerful associates.
Clinton told lawmakers he had no knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes.
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Epstein visited the White House numerous times during Clinton’s presidency and there are photos of them shaking hands. Clinton told lawmakers he did not recall those interactions. PIctured, Epstein and Maxwell are seen speaking with then-President Clinton in 1993
Images from the Epstein files show Clinton onboard a private jet in the company of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein
Former president Bill Clinton and an unidentified woman are seen in this image from the Epstein files
Epstein visited the White House on 14 separate days and stopped by twice in one day on three occasions during Bill Clinton’s first term
‘There’s nothing that I saw when I was around him that made me realize he was trafficking women,’ Clinton testified.
The former Democratic president said he first remembered meeting Epstein when he flew aboard the financier’s private jet in 2002 for the Clintons’ humanitarian work, and they parted ways the year after – well before Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea.
‘We were friendly, but I didn’t know him well enough to say we were friends,’ Clinton said, describing the relationship as ‘cordial.’
Clinton also said he had visited Epstein’s New York townhouse once but repeatedly denied ever visiting Epstein’s private Caribbean island.
Asked directly whether he had sexual contact with any young women or girls introduced to him by Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, Clinton responded emphatically: ‘No.’
He added in a separate exchange that he had done ‘nothing wrong.’
Epstein visited the White House numerous times during Clinton’s presidency and there are photos of them shaking hands. Clinton told lawmakers he did not recall those interactions.
Clinton faced searching questions about photos of the former president that have been released as part of the case files on Epstein.
Flights logs show that Clinton flew on the Boeing 727 tri-jet on 26 occasions, traveling to an array of exotic locations including Brunei, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Africa. He is pictured traveling on the infamous jet while playing cards with a cigar in his mouth
Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous ‘Lolita Express’ – a private Boeing 727 airliner that carried prominent passengers and allegedly underage girls – will be torn apart and scrapped
In 2019, Daily Mail revealed Epstein had a bizarre portrait depicting the former Commander in Chief lounging on a chair in the Oval Office in blood red heels and a figure-hugging blue dress
In response to a Democratic lawmakers’ questions about a photo that showed him in a pool with a woman whose face was redacted, the former president said he did not know the woman and did not engage in sexual activity with her.
He said the photo was from a trip to Brunei for charitable work and a number of people in their travel party were swimming.
He also said that he was not aware that one young woman who was ostensibly working as a masseuse and gave him a neck massage on one flight was in fact a victim of sexual abuse.
Clinton acknowledged he maintained a closer relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant.
But he maintained that was largely because of close mutual connections. He also said ‘she has to be punished’ for her conviction on sex trafficking charges.
The deposition also touched on President Donald Trump, who had his own past association with Epstein.
Clinton testified that Trump ‘never said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein either.’ He added, ‘He just didn’t.’
Recalling a conversation at a charity golf tournament roughly two decades ago, Clinton quoted Trump as saying of Epstein: ‘You know, we had some great times together over the years, but we fell out all because of a real estate deal.’
Trump has offered various explanations over the years for the end of his relationship with Epstein.
Republican lawmakers emerged from the deposition arguing that Clinton’s testimony showed there is no evidence Trump engaged in wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Democrats, meanwhile, have accused Republicans of weaponizing the investigation to attack political opponents rather than conduct legitimate oversight.
A photograph released in December by the Department of Justice shows Bill Clinton reclining in a hot tub beside a woman whose face was redacted
The photograph in which Ghislaine Maxwell can be seen, left, and Bill Clinton, center, was taken at the Empire Hotel in Brunei, where Clinton stayed in the Emperor Suite
Epstein’s procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, was one of the guests at Chelsea Clinton’s 2010 wedding to Marc Mezvinsky, at least a year after the former president says he last spoke to the financier
Hillary Clinton told the House Oversight Committee she did not know Jeffrey Epstein and at one point threatened to end her deposition after a photo was publicly released
A day earlier, Hillary Clinton, in her own deposition, told the committee she did not recall knowing Epstein.
At one point, after a photo taken by a Republican lawmaker was released publicly, she angrily threatened to end her testimony.
‘I’m done with this. If you guys are doing that, I am done. You can hold me in contempt from now until the cows come home,’ she said, pounding the table.
She also urged lawmakers to question Trump directly under oath about his ties to Epstein, saying they should ask him ‘directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.’
Being named in documents released by the Department of Justice does not in itself imply wrongdoing, and neither Bill Clinton nor Donald Trump has been formally accused of crimes in connection with Epstein.
High-status men around the world have been forced into resignations because of revelations about their relationships with Epstein, but so far there are few signs in the US of serious legal consequences coming.
