Bill Clinton to give closed-door deposition in House Epstein probe Friday

Former President Bill Clinton will give a closed-door deposition to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee in Chappaqua, New York, on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, as part of the panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. The appearance follows a lengthy deposition by Hillary Clinton on Thursday and comes after months of standoff over subpoenas that the committee issued in August.

Republican chairman Rep. James Comer framed the sessions as a step toward accountability. “We look forward to questioning the Clintons as part of our investigation into the horrific crimes of Epstein and (Ghislaine) Maxwell, to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and for survivors,” Comer said. The Clintons initially resisted the subpoenas and agreed to appear only after the committee moved toward contempt votes and a bipartisan recommendation to hold them in criminal contempt for refusing to testify.

Hillary Clinton spent hours with the committee on Thursday, a deposition described by some outlets as lasting six hours. She characterized the proceedings as “partisan political theatre” and “an insult to the American people,” and told reporters afterward she was “disappointed” the session was not public. Asked whether she was confident her husband also had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, she answered, “I am.” The committee briefly halted her deposition after Representative Lauren Boebert leaked an image of her testifying.

Bill Clinton has dismissed the proceedings as “pure politics” and accused the committee of operating like a “kangaroo court,” while also denying wrongdoing and pointing to a timeline in which he says he cut ties with Epstein around 2005, before Epstein’s guilty plea in Florida. Records reported in news accounts show Epstein visited the White House at least 17 times during the early years of Clinton’s presidency, and photos of Clinton with Epstein were included in the files seized in investigations.

The depositions are being held under oath, will be transcribed and filmed, and are taking place behind closed doors with the committee indicating video or transcripts may be released later. Republicans argue the filmed record will ensure full accountability; Democrats on the panel pushed back during Hillary Clinton’s session, with Rep. Robert Garcia saying she was “answering all the questions” as the deposition proceeded.

Beyond the political theater, the hearings carry public health and social implications. The Epstein case centers on sexual abuse and exploitation, issues that shape survivor services, reporting rates, and public trust in institutions tasked with protecting vulnerable people. How lawmakers conduct and publicize testimony in high-profile cases can affect survivors’ willingness to engage with the justice system and with health and social services, and can shape policy debates about resources for trauma-informed care and victims’ rights.

Legal stakes remain. The committee’s prior bipartisan recommendation to pursue criminal contempt illustrated that the threat of prosecution helped secure the Clintons’ appearances; media outlets have noted contempt proceedings can, in some circumstances, lead to criminal charges. Historical framings of Friday’s deposition differ in news accounts: some describe this as the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress under subpoena, while others note it is the first appearance by a former president before a congressional panel since Gerald Ford testified in 1983.

The committee’s handling of the filmed record and any subsequent release of transcripts will dictate how the testimony is assessed publicly and how survivors and advocates perceive the pursuit of accountability. For now, the focus remains on the closed-door question-and-answer session itself and on whether the record the committee creates will yield new facts about Epstein’s network and institutional failures that allowed abuse to continue.