NEW YORK, Feb 26 — Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is to testify behind closed doors today before a congressional committee investigating the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Former president Bill Clinton is scheduled to answer questions the following day from the Republican-led House Oversight Committee about his relations with Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.

The Clintons had initially rejected subpoenas ordering them to testify in the panel’s probe, but the Democratic power couple eventually agreed to do so after House Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.

Democrats say the investigation is being weaponised to attack political opponents of Republican President Donald Trump — himself a former Epstein associate who has not been called to testify — rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.

Trump and Bill Clinton, both 79, feature prominently in the recently released trove of government documents related to Epstein, but have each said they broke ties with the financier before his 2008 conviction in Florida as a sex offender. Mere mention in the files is not proof of having committed a crime.

The Clintons called for their depositions to be public but the committee insisted on questioning them behind closed doors, a move Bill Clinton denounced as “pure politics” and akin to a “kangaroo court.”

“If they want answers, let’s stop the games & do this the right way: in a public hearing, where the American people can see for themselves what this is really about,” the former Democratic president said on X.

Hillary Clinton, 78, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, said in an interview with the BBC last week that she and her husband “have nothing to hide.”

She met Maxwell “on a few occasions,” she said, but never had any meaningful interactions with Epstein.

Republicans are trying to deflect attention away from Trump by having them testify, she said.

“Look at this shiny object. We’re going to have the Clintons, even Hillary Clinton, who never met the guy,” she said.

The depositions are being held in Chappaqua, New York, where the Clintons reside.

Clemency 

Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying on Epstein’s plane several times in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but said he never visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island.

Ghislaine Maxwell, 64, is the only person who has been convicted of a crime in connection with late financier.

The former socialite is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.

She appeared via video-link before the House Oversight Committee earlier this month but refused to answer any questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself.

Her attorney, David Markus, said Maxwell would be prepared to speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump.

Markus also said that Trump and Bill Clinton are “innocent of any wrongdoing.”

“Ms Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation,” he said.

Epstein cultivated a network of powerful business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics and the release of the Epstein files has had repercussions around the globe including the arrests in Britain of former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson, the ex-ambassador to the United States.

A number of prominent Americans have had their reputations damaged by their friendships with Epstein and have resigned their positions, but no one other than Maxwell has faced legal consequences. — AFP