Hillary Clinton has accused Donald Trump of an Epstein files ‘cover-up’ – and attempted to downplay her husband Bill’s friendship with the pedophile.
‘Get the files out. They are slow-walking it,’ she told the BBC in an interview in Berlin on Monday.
Hillary, who is due to testify before a Congressional committee on the issue, insisted she and her husband were not associated with the billionaire financier in any way.
But seconds later, the 78-year-old added: ‘We have a very clear record we’re willing to talk about. My husband has said he took some rides on [Epstein’s] airplane for his charitable work.’
The Justice Department last month released more than three million documents, photos and videos related to its investigation into Epstein, who killed himself in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The release has been condemned by lawmakers on both sides, however, after the names of powerful figures were redacted while victims were left exposed. The DOJ insists it has nothing more to hand over, but critics say only a fraction of the material is now public.
Bill Clinton, 79, features frequently in the files, but no evidence has emerged implicating either him or Hillary in criminal wrongdoing.
The couple has been ordered to give closed-door depositions before the House Oversight Committee, which is probing the deceased financier’s connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled.
Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump Administration of a ‘cover-up’ over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. She and her husband, Bill, will testify before Congress this month
Hillary said the Republicans probing her are trying to deflect attention away from Donald Trump, whose name is also mentioned in the files
‘We will show up but we think it would be better to have it in public,’ Hillary told the BBC.
‘I just want it to be fair,’ she said. ‘I want everybody treated the same way.’
The former secretary of state said she and her husband ‘have nothing to hide. We have called for the full release of these files repeatedly.’
Hillary said the Republicans probing her are trying to deflect attention away from Trump, whose name is also mentioned in the files many times.
‘Look at this shiny object. We’re going to have the Clintons, even Hillary Clinton, who never met the guy,’ she said.
Trump denies any wrongdoing, and appearance in the files does not constitute evidence of criminal conduct.
Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying on Epstein’s plane in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation humanitarian work, but said he never visited the financier’s private island.
Hillary, who ran against Trump for president in 2016, has said she had no meaningful interactions with Epstein, never flew on his plane and never visited his island.
Clinton has featured heavily in the files, released by the Department of Justice since December
He frolicks in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell and a woman in a photo from the December 19 drop
Epstein also cozies up to the former president in some of the thousands of files from the DoJ
In the interview with the BBC, she said she had met Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein associate who was convicted of conspiring with him to sexually abuse minors, ‘on a few occasions.’
Maxwell attended the wedding of the Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, in New York in 2010.
Responding to Hillary’s comment that the congressional testimony was a bid to create a distraction, Trump denied it, telling reporters Monday evening he had been ‘totally exonerated.’
Hillary will appear for her deposition on February 26, while her husband will appear the following day.
