The House Oversight Committee released a never-before-seen video Monday afternoon of former President Bill Clinton's hours-long deposition regarding his connections to and knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein. Clinton, 79, sat for the questioning last week alongside Hillary Clinton, marking what the source described as the first time in U.S. history that Congress had deposed a former president.
The footage is remarkable, not for what it reveals, but for how little Clinton claims to know about a man whose private aircraft he famously rode.
Democrats on the panel, led by Congressman Robert Garcia of California, used the proceeding to push for President Trump to testify, the Daily Mail reported. That effort tells you everything about the left's priorities: a former president is sitting in front of them answering questions about a convicted sex offender, and their primary concern is political redirection.
Clinton acknowledged that Trump and Epstein had a relationship, but was careful to exonerate the current president in the same breath. He described a conversation from the early 2000s at a celebrity golf tournament connected through Joe Torre, the former general manager of the New York Yankees. Clinton recalled that Trump approached him on the course after learning Clinton had flown on Epstein's aircraft:
"And he said, you know, we had some great times together over the years, but we fell out all because of a real estate deal. And he said, I'm sorry, it happened. That's all."
Clinton then added, unprompted:
"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."
When pressed on whether Trump should be subpoenaed, Clinton offered a deferential answer: "That's for you to decide." He reiterated that the golf course conversation was his "only conversation" with Trump about Epstein and that he had "no information" suggesting Trump did anything wrong.
So the man Democrats hoped would implicate Trump did the opposite. Under oath.
The more striking portions of the deposition involve Clinton's own entanglements. When questioned about photos with Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell and about scenes at a hotel where their group stayed during a work trip, Clinton's memory turned conveniently hazy.
On a hot tub referenced in the questioning:
"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."
On Epstein's criminal enterprise:
"There's nothing that I saw when I was around him that made me realize he was trafficking women."
And when asked how Epstein managed to operate his network undetected for so long, Clinton offered this:
"I really don't know. I've thought about it a lot, but if you can figure it out I'd like to know."
The former president of the United States, a man who flew on Epstein's plane and stayed in proximity to his inner circle, says he's just as confused as the rest of us. He also delivered a line that felt less like testimony and more like a confession of discomfort: "I hate this."
Nobody doubts that.
Garcia, the top Democrat on the panel, thanked Clinton and used the proceeding to amplify demands that Trump testify as well. Democrats have said they want to bring in Trump, but they have yet to take formal action beyond public statements.
This is the familiar pattern. When the investigation touches a Democrat, the left's reflex is to expand the scope until the original subject is diluted. Clinton is the one who was deposed. Clinton is the one answering questions about his proximity to a convicted sex offender. Clinton is the one who can't quite remember the hot tub. But for Garcia and the Democratic minority, the real story is supposedly somewhere else.
It's worth noting that Trump has not resisted scrutiny on this front. He told NBC News in early February: "It bothers me that somebody is going after Bill Clinton."
And last week, when asked about the deposition: "I don't like seeing him deposed, but they certainly went after me a lot more than that."
That's not the posture of a man trying to hide. Trump expressed sympathy for Clinton even as he faces political pressure to do the opposite.
The broader investigation predates these depositions. On November 14, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would direct the full weight of federal law enforcement toward the Epstein case:
"I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him."
Trump then ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Clinton's ties to Epstein in November. The newly released Epstein files, including a painting released by the DOJ on December 19, 2025, have added fuel to public interest in the case.
The congressional and DOJ tracks are now running in parallel. The Oversight Committee has the depositions. The Justice Department has the investigative mandate. The public has the video.
Bill Clinton spent hours in front of Congress insisting he saw nothing, knew nothing, and understood nothing about the predatory machinery operating around a man whose plane he boarded and whose circle he inhabited. He managed to clear Trump while offering the committee little substance about his own experience.
The depositions are public now. Voters can watch a former president squirm through questions about hot tubs and hotel stays and trafficking networks he claims were invisible to him. They can watch Democrats try to redirect the entire proceeding toward a man who, under no compulsion, said he felt bad for Clinton.
Clinton said he's thought about how Epstein pulled it off. A lot, apparently. Twenty-something years, and the best he can offer Congress is a shrug.
The cameras were rolling this time.