Hillary Clinton abruptly walked out of her closed-door congressional deposition last Thursday after learning that a Republican congresswoman had taken an unauthorized photograph of her inside the hearing room.
Clinton’s attorney notified the House Oversight Committee that the image had already been circulating online. Clinton then rose from her seat and exited the room.
“I’m done with this,” Clinton said before leaving. “If you guys are doing that, I am done. You can hold me in contempt from now until the cows come home. This is just typical behavior.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) acknowledged taking the photograph and said she would remove it. “I will take that down,” Boebert said.
Clinton pointed at Boebert and banged her fist on the table before walking out. “It doesn’t matter, we all are abiding by the same rules,” Clinton said.
Congressional rules strictly prohibit lawmakers and witnesses from taking photographs inside closed-door depositions.
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) acknowledged that Boebert had violated committee rules. “I’ve advised my members that no photos or videos during the deposition can be released,” Comer told the hearing.
Comer argued the photograph had been taken before proceedings formally began. Clinton’s legal team rejected that explanation, noting that she had already taken her seat inside the closed room when the photo was captured.
The hearing resumed within an hour of Clinton’s departure. The House Oversight Committee released the full deposition video on Monday.
Comer also stated that he was “disappointed that the secretary’s opening statement was leaked to the press before she even gave her opening statement.” Clinton’s attorneys denied the claim, stating the statement “was not leaked to the press” and had been distributed in advance using the same process applied to other witnesses, including financier Lex Wexner, the founder of Victoria’s Secret and a longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, were deposed at a performing arts center near their Chappaqua, New York home. The depositions marked the first time in American history that Congress formally deposed a former or sitting president.
Bill Clinton, 79, testified on Friday. When asked about former President Donald Trump’s connection to Epstein, Clinton said: “That’s for you to decide, but [Trump] did know him well, and I once had a brief discussion with him about it.”
Clinton added a clarification following a pause in questioning. “I hate this,” he said. “But since there was no follow-up question, he’s never, the president, never, this is 20-something years ago, never said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper.”
Lawmakers questioned Bill Clinton about photographs from the newly released Epstein files that showed him swimming with Ghislaine Maxwell and in a hot tub with an unidentified woman. Asked about others in the image, Clinton said: “I don’t think there’s anybody in the hot tub. I don’t even — I had forgotten that there was anybody in the hot tub, but it was big.”
Clinton said the photo was taken at a hotel during a charitable foundation work trip and that a Secret Service agent was present. He stated: “There’s nothing that I saw when I was around him that made me realize he was trafficking women.”
When asked whether Epstein and Maxwell had deceived powerful people, Clinton responded: “I really don’t know. I’ve thought about it a lot, but if you can figure it out I’d like to know.”
Hillary Clinton testified that she had no personal relationship with Epstein. “I do not recall ever meeting Jeffrey Epstein,” she stated under oath.
She said she was informed during hearing preparation that Epstein had attended a White House Historical Association event. “That’s the only time that I’m aware of that I might have possibly been in the same room with him,” she said.
A photograph exists showing Epstein and Maxwell at a White House Historical Association event with Bill Clinton in 1993. “We had hundreds and thousands of people who came to the White House,” Hillary Clinton said. “I was not informed of what people did or didn’t do for work, especially someone that I never even uh had a conversation with.”
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