NAIROBI, Kenya- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has addressed questions about his past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying that had he known of Epstein’s crimes, he would have reported them and not maintained any contact.
Clinton’s remarks came in a written opening statement released ahead of his closed‑door testimony before the U.S. House Oversight Committee, making history as the first former president compelled to testify in such a probe.
In the statement shared on social media, Clinton referred to his own childhood experience of growing up in a home with domestic abuse, saying that this background shaped his perspective on responsibility and justice.
He wrote that if he had any indication of Epstein’s criminal conduct, “I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals.”
As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing—I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals.
Clinton has previously acknowledged that he flew on Epstein’s private jet multiple times, but has maintained that he had “no idea” of any abuse or criminal activity by Epstein at the time of their interactions in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In his statement, he said he “saw nothing” that gave him pause and that his contacts with Epstein ended years before evidence of abuse became public.
The testimony is part of a broader congressional inquiry into Epstein’s decades‑long pattern of alleged sex trafficking and how his crimes went undetected for so long.
Clinton’s appearance before the committee follows testimony from his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also denied any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal actions and said she never met him, in an opening statement released ahead of her deposition.
The Oversight Committee’s investigation has drawn national attention as lawmakers seek to understand the full scope of Epstein’s network and the decisions that allowed him to evade accountability for many years.
