<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Former US President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/hillary-clinton-deposition-jeffrey-epstein-investigation/82edb9b0-fa41-4f7c-8073-7aa5e8a43f44" rel="" target="" title="Bill Clinton"><span>Bill Clinton</span></a><span> told members of Congress on Friday that he "did nothing wrong" in his relationship with </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/jeffrey-epstein" rel="" target="" title="Jeffrey Epstein"><span>Jeffrey Epstein</span></a><span> and saw no signs of his abuse, yet he faced hours of grilling from lawmakers over his connections to the disgraced financier from more than two decades ago.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong," the former Democratic president said in an opening statement he shared on social media at the outside of the deposition.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, New York, marks the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/un-nuclear-watchdog-says-its-unable-to-verify-whether-iran-has-suspended-all-uranium-enrichment/d34e93bd-f7fe-4307-9506-5c027e1c74eb"><strong><span>UN nuclear watchdog unable to verify Iran's suspended uranium enrichment</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It came a day after Clinton's wife, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat with lawmakers for her own deposition.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bill Clinton has also not been accused of any wrongdoing. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Yet lawmakers are grappling with what accountability in the United States looks like at a time when men around the world have been toppled from their high-powered posts for maintaining their connections with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/bill-clinton-deposition-jeffrey-epstein-us-house-oversight-committee/d5eab151-166e-425a-b59a-e310d41cb45b" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Men — and women for that matter — of great power and great wealth from all across the world have been able to get away with a lot of heinous crimes and they haven't been held accountable and they have not even had to answer questions," said Republican Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, before the deposition began Friday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hillary Clinton told lawmakers on Thursday that she had no knowledge of how Epstein had sexually abused underage girls and had no recollection of even meeting him. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Bill Clinton will have to answer questions on a well-documented relationship with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, even if it was from the late 1990s and early 2000s.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long," Bill Clinton said in his opening statement. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him."</span></div></div><div class="tweet" data-tweet-id="2027424128559452573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" data-user="9NewsAUS"></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Still, Republicans were relishing the opportunity to scrutinise the former Democratic president under oath.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"No one's accusing anyone of any wrongdoing, but I think the American people have a lot of questions," Comer said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Republicans finally get a chance to question Bill Clinton</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Republicans have wanted to question Bill Clinton about Epstein for years, especially as conspiracy theories arose following Epstein's 2019 suicide in a New York jail cell while he faced sex trafficking charges.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Those calls reached a fever pitch late last year when several photos of the former president surfaced in the Department of Justice's first release of case files on Epstein and Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021 but maintains she's innocent. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bill Clinton was photographed on a plane seated alongside a woman, whose face is redacted, with his arm around her. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Another photo showed Clinton and Maxwell in a pool with another person whose face was redacted.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Epstein also visited the White House several times during Clinton's presidency, and the pair later made several international trips together for their humanitarian work. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Comer claimed the committee has collected evidence that Epstein visited the White House 17 times and that Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's airplane 27 times.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the lead-up to the deposition, Bill Clinton has insisted he had limited knowledge about Epstein and was unaware of any sexual abuse he committed.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended several years before anything about Epstein's criminal activities came to light," Hillary Clinton said at the conclusion of her deposition on Thursday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Comer has pledged extensive questioning of the former president. He claimed that Hillary Clinton had repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The committee was working to publish a transcript and video recording of her deposition.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Has a precedent been set?</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Democrats, who have supported the push to get answers from Bill Clinton, are arguing that it sets a precedent that should also apply to US President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I think that President Trump needs to man up, get in front of this committee and answer the questions and stop calling this investigation a hoax," said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, on Friday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Comer has pushed back on that idea, saying that Trump has answered questions on Epstein from the press.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Democrats are also calling for the resignation of Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lutnick was a long-time neighbour of Epstein in New York City but said on a podcast that he severed ties with Epstein following a 2005 tour of Epstein's home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The public release of case files showed that Lutnick actually had two engagements with Epstein years later. He attended a 2011 event at Epstein's home, and in 2012 his family had lunch with Epstein on his private island.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"He should be removed from office and at a minimum should come before the committee," Garcia said of Lutnick.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Republican Rep. Nancy Mace questioned Hillary Clinton about Lutnick's relationship to Epstein during the deposition on Thursday. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On Friday morning, Mace joined in calling for the commerce secretary to come before the committee.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I believe we will have the votes to subpoena him," Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><em><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><strong><em><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>ticking this box here</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Sign up to</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></em></strong></a></li></ul></div></div>