By Roots Global Desk | 27-February-2026

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasts the probe as a “partisan fishing expedition,” while Bill Clinton prepares to become the first former U.S. president compelled to testify under subpoena.

In a remarkable and legally historic sequence of events, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have been called to testify behind closed doors before a congressional committee investigating the heinous sex crimes of the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his convicted associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The depositions, held in the Clintons’ hometown of Chappaqua, New York, mark a dramatic escalation in the Republican-led House Oversight Committee’s probe into Epstein’s sprawling network of powerful elites.

Hillary Clinton faced the committee on Thursday for a grueling six-hour session, where she categorically denied any knowledge of or connection to Epstein’s illicit activities. Released statements and reports from lawmakers present indicate that she repeatedly rebuffed the premise of the inquiry, asserting that she had never met the convicted sex offender, never visited his infamous private island, and never set foot on his aircraft.

“I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes, or offices,” the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee stated emphatically.

Clinton did not mince words regarding the motivations behind the deposition. She delivered a withering rebuke to the committee’s Republican majority, led by Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), characterizing the proceedings as a “fishing expedition” and “partisan political theater.” She argued that the hearing was a calculated insult to the American people, deliberately designed to shift public scrutiny away from President Donald Trump’s own well-documented historical ties to Epstein.

The political theater escalated during Thursday’s session when proceedings were briefly halted. A Republican lawmaker reportedly violated committee rules by leaking a photograph of Clinton testifying to a conservative social media influencer, prompting Clinton to reiterate her previous demands that the hearings be held in public rather than behind closed doors.

Following his wife’s testimony, former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to face the same committee on Friday. His appearance will set a profound legal and political precedent: it will be the first time in modern history that a former U.S. president has been compelled to testify in a congressional investigation under subpoena.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton’s past associations with Epstein are a matter of public record. The former president has previously acknowledged flying on Epstein’s private Boeing 727—dubbed the “Lolita Express” by the media—on multiple occasions in the early 2000s for philanthropic trips related to the Clinton Foundation. He also appears in recently released unsealed files, including a photograph showing him and Epstein in a hot tub with a woman whose identity was redacted by the courts.

However, Bill Clinton has vehemently denied any knowledge of the sex trafficking ring operated by Epstein and Maxwell. His representatives have maintained that he severed all ties with the financier around 2005, well before Epstein’s initial 2008 guilty plea in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor. The former president is expected to testify that the vast majority of high-profile individuals who associated with Epstein prior to his criminal exposure were completely unaware of his predatory behavior.

The Clintons’ appearance this week comes at the end of a bitter, months-long standoff with the House Oversight Committee. Both initially refused to comply with subpoenas issued last August, dismissing them as invalid and politically motivated. They ultimately relented earlier this month only after the committee voted on a bipartisan basis to advance resolutions recommending they be held in criminal contempt of Congress.

Chairman James Comer has defended the integrity of the investigation, firmly denying that the probe is a partisan weapon aimed at the Clintons. Ahead of the depositions, Comer told reporters, “No one is accusing at this moment the Clintons of any wrongdoing.” He stated that the committee’s primary objective is to understand how Epstein amassed his vast wealth, how he managed to evade federal law enforcement for so long, and whether he leveraged his relationships with powerful global figures to operate his trafficking empire with impunity.

Democrats on the committee, however, remain deeply skeptical of the GOP’s true intentions. Representative Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel, dismissed the hearings as a “fever dream” meant to harass the Clintons. Garcia and other Democrats have aggressively pivoted the spotlight back to Donald Trump, demanding that he, too, be subpoenaed to testify under oath about his extensive social history with Epstein during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, leaving behind a web of unanswered questions and a long list of high-society associates. His accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for her role in procuring and grooming underage girls for Epstein.

As the political dust settles in Chappaqua this week, the House Oversight Committee has promised to eventually release the full transcripts and video recordings of both depositions. Until then, the American public remains captivated by the enduring, dark shadow Epstein casts over the highest echelons of global political power.