Hillary Clinton testifies she never met Epstein, slams Republican efforts to combat sex trafficking

Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton told a congressional committee on Thursday that she did not remember ever meeting the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and had no information to share about his criminal activities.

"I do not recall ever ‌encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that," Clinton said in a statement, which she released as she delivered a closed-door deposition to the House of Representatives Oversight Committee in Chappaqua, N.Y.

Following a seven-hour appearance before the panel, Clinton told reporters she repeatedly was asked the same questions throughout the day, but said she also offered some suggestions on conducting the investigation. She did not detail those ideas.

Clinton, 78, said that late into the deposition "it got quite unusual because ​I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate, one of the ​most vile bogus conspiracy theories."

She was referring to false, widely disseminated conspiracy theories in 2016 that a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., was a front for a child sex ring run by her and that New York City police had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to Democrats.

In her prepared testimony, Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee who ran against Donald Trump in 2016, also accused the Republican-led ​panel of trying to shift focus away from Trump's ties to Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. ⁠She noted Trump's administration has "gutted" a State Department office focused on international sex trafficking.

Speaking to ‌reporters after Clinton's testimony, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer dismissed the idea of having Trump appear before the panel.

"President Trump has answered hundreds if not thousands of questions from you all about Epstein and I think he's been very transparent in releasing the documents," said Comer, a Kentucky Republican.

Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, initially refused to ⁠testify before the committee, but relented when lawmakers moved to ‌hold them in contempt of Congress.

Bill Clinton is scheduled to testify to the committee on Friday.

Hillary Clinton told reporters that the former president will tell the committee that the "vast majority" of people who had contact with Epstein before his criminal pleas in 2008 "did not know" about the sex trafficking.

"That is exactly what my husband will testify to tomorrow," she said.

Before the hearing, Comer denied that the probe was a partisan effort, noting that several Democrats had pushed for the Clintons ‌to testify.

"No one is accusing at this moment the Clintons of any wrongdoing," Comer said.