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0 Hillary Clinton will on Thursday appear before a panel of the US House of Representatives that is investigating the crimes of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The former Democratic secretary of state and presidential candidate recently agreed, along with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to testify to the House Oversight Committee.
Both had previously resisted demands to appear, describing them as politically motivated. Their agreement to testify warded off potential contempt-of-Congress proceedings against them.
Hillary Clinton has said she does not recall meeting or speaking to Epstein. Her husband, who did know Epstein, has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of the other man’s crimes.
Bill Clinton has also said that he cut off ties with Epstein two decades ago, and has voiced regret that he was ever associated with the financier, who died in 2019.
He is expected to provide testimony of his own on Friday.
The couple’s announcement in recent weeks that they would provide testimony after all marked a reversal of their defiant position, and came as a potential contempt vote loomed in the House of Representatives.
Some Democratic members of the committee voted in favour of initiating contempt proceedings.
The Clintons have previously accused the panel’s Republican leader, James Comer, of “partisan politics” in his handling of the investigation. They described the legal summonses as “nothing more than a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals, as President Trump has directed”.
They insisted that they had already submitted sworn statements that covered the “limited information” they had on Epstein.
Nonetheless, they would appear, said a spokesperson for Bill Clinton, and “they look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone”.
For his part, Comer said the effort to secure a deposition from both of the Clintons was a bipartisan move to show that “no one is above the law”.
Bill Clinton appears in text and photos that have recently been released in stages by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in its disclosure of material that was uncovered during federal investigations into Epstein’s crimes.
The files more broadly reveal the extent of Epstein’s connections with multiple high-profile individuals, including after he was convicted of sex crimes.
As with others who appear in the files – including the current president Donald Trump, who previously had his own friendship with Epstein – appearing in the documents does not imply any wrongdoing.
The Clintons’ hearings will take place in Chappaqua, New York, near their home. Such depositions normally occur behind closed doors, though the Clintons reportedly fought for their own testimony to be public so that selective portions of their evidence could not be leaked to the media.
Both Democratic and Republican members of the committee are expected to address reporters after Hillary Clinton’s deposition, which is scheduled for 11:00 EST (16:00 GMT).
The highly anticipated appearance by Bill Clinton on Friday will represent the first time a former US president has testified to a congressional panel since Gerald Ford did so in 1983.
