Topline
Former President Bill Clinton will testify to House lawmakers on Friday about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, marking the first time a former president has been compelled to testify before Congress and the first time Clinton has had to answer questions under oath about the late financier, after the former president has long said he did not have any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Former President Bill Clinton speaks onstage during the Clinton Global Initiative 2025 Annual Meeting on September 24, 2025 in New York City.
Getty Images for Clinton Global Initiative
Key Facts
Clinton will testify before the House Oversight Committee in Chappaqua, New York, where he lives, after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to lawmakers Thursday.
The former president will testify as part of the committee’s broader probe into Epstein and his alleged sex trafficking.
Clinton has long been tied to Epstein and flew multiple times on the financier’s private plane, but has never been accused of wrongdoing, and has maintained he did not know about Epstein’s alleged abuse and cut ties with the financier in 2005, three years before Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution.
Friday’s testimony will take place behind closed doors and will not be broadcast to the public, but the video and transcript are expected to be released to the public in the coming days.
What To Watch For
It’s unclear how long Clinton’s deposition will take, though Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the House Oversight Committee, told reporters Thursday he predicted it will be an “even longer deposition” than Hillary Clinton’s on Thursday. It remains to be seen when the transcript and video will be released to the public, with Comer previously saying on Thursday that all transcripts have to be reviewed first by the Clintons’ attorneys to make sure there are no errors.
What Was Bill Clinton’s Relationship With Epstein?
Clinton was known to have associated with Epstein in the early 2000s, which the former president has maintained was for his work with the Clinton Foundation and did not involve any wrongdoing. The former president has appeared in a number of undated photos in the Epstein files and has been confirmed to have flown multiple times on Epstein’s private jet in 2002 and 2003, and publicly praised the financier in 2002, telling New York Magazine Epstein was “both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science.” Clinton has maintained he never visited the financier’s private island, but Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre previously testified she was on the island with Clinton, though she said the former president did not commit any wrongdoing. Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell has also said under oath that Clinton did not visit the island, saying in a DOJ interview last year the former president “never, absolutely never went.” Epstein also denied in emails before his death that Clinton was ever on the island, saying in 2015, “Clinton was NEVER EVER there, never.” Maxwell has been reported to have been the link between Epstein and Clinton, and the Clintons appeared to associate with the British socialite after the former president broke ties with Epstein in 2005. “President Clinton was my friend, not Epstein’s friend,” Maxwell testified to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “President Clinton liked me, and we got along terribly well. But I never saw that warmth with Mr. Epstein.” Epstein also displayed a painting of Clinton wearing a blue dress in his New York home.
What Has Clinton Said About His Relationship With Epstein?
The former president has long maintained he did nothing wrong in connection with Epstein and was not aware of the financier’s alleged crimes. His office issued a statement in July 2019 after Epstein was arrested for alleged sex-trafficking, in which spokesperson Angel Urena said Clinton “knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.” The statement went on to explain Clinton’s meetings with Epstein, saying the former president flew on Epstein’s plane four times, along with foundation staff and Secret Service detail, and had two meetings with Epstein in New York City, one of which was at the financier’s home. Clinton has “not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade,” the statement added, “and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida.” The former president and his office have maintained Clinton “knew nothing” about Epstein’s alleged abuse, and he and Hillary Clinton have characterized Republicans’ focus on them in calling them to testify as a way to distract the public from President Donald Trump’s Epstein ties. Urena described the former president as a “scapegoat” for Republicans after a tranche of photos from the Epstein files included a number of photos of Clinton, saying in a statement, “There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first.”