Return to Transcripts main page
The Lead with Jake Tapper
Bill Clinton Testifies In House Epstein Investigation; Jewish Parents And Community Member Raise Concerns About Antisemitism In Philly Public Schools; Reporter Says She Was Thrown Out Of Rep. Crockett Rally; Oversight Republicans Speak After Questioning Bill Clinton. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired February 27, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:00:09]
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. Thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate all of you being there. You can at home, of course, watch much more of The Arena tomorrow. The Arena Saturday airs at noon Eastern right here on CNN. Please do join us.
You can also stream The Arena live. You can catch up whenever you want in the CNN app. The QR code for that is on your screen. Meanwhile, Jake Tapper is standing by for The Lead tonight, coming to you from the great city of brotherly love. Hi, Jake.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Sorry, I was trying to get your QR code. OK. We'll get you next time. Thank you so much.
HUNT: Well, we'll leave it up there longer. Thanks, Jake. Have a good show.
TAPPER: OK. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper and I am in Philadelphia. We're going to start with breaking news and our Law and Justice Lead, former President Bill Clinton today sat for a closed door deposition with the House Oversight Committee. It's all in regard to the panel's investigation into dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his child rape trafficking unit.
The former president today said he only had a brief acquaintance with Epstein that ended, quote, years before his crimes came to light. They came to light in 2006 we should note. The former president also saying, quote, I know what I saw and more importantly, what I didn't see. I know what I did and more importantly, what I didn't do. I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong. That's according to his opening statement to lawmakers, which the president's former president posted on X.
President Clinton also said that the women and girls whose lives were destroyed by Epstein deserve justice and they deserve healing. A CNN review of Justice Department documents show that Clinton had flown on Epstein's plane at least 16 times. And those documents also included pictures of Clinton in a hot tub with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's accomplice, and with other women. During a break in the hearing, members of the Oversight Committee
spoke about the questioning so far. And the committee chairman, James Comer and the ranking Democrat, Robert Garcia appear to have rather conflicting accounts about how former President Clinton answered the question of whether President Trump should be called for a deposition. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES COMER (R) OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Reagan member Garcia asked President Clinton, quote, should President Trump be called to answer questions from this committee? And President Clinton said, that's for you to decide. And the president went on to say that the President Trump has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved.
REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D) RANKING MEMBER, OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: I don't think it's a complete accurate description of what actually was said. So let's release the full transcript so you can get all get a full record of what actually was said, which brings up some very important new questions about comments that President Trump has actually said in the past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: There's a similar dispute, partisan dispute, when it comes to yesterday's Epstein related deposition with former President Clinton's wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Now her spokesperson Nick Merrill told CNN that Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace is, quote, full of shit, unquote, for claiming that Hillary Clinton had started screaming and was unhinged during parts of her deposition.
If only there were an easy way to resolve these conflicting accounts with, for instance, video or transcripts or transparency. Well, maybe we'll get there soon. CNN's MJ Lee is in Chappaqua, New York. MJ we know former President Clinton was asked about the photos of him in a hot tub. Tell us more.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: And Jake, sources are telling me and Annie Gregor (ph) about some of the questions that the former president was asked about. And in fact, he was asked about that photo that I think all of us are familiar with of him in a jacuzzi with a woman whose face is redacted. And we are told that he said he didn't know who that person is. He was also asked directly whether he had sex with that woman and he said that he did not.
Now, just for a little bit of context, when Hillary Clinton was recently asked about this trip where this photo was apparently taken, she had described this as a philanthropic and charitable work trip.
Now, lawmakers have been asking the former president other kinds of specific questions of references of Bill Clinton that were found throughout the Epstein files, including photographs like the one we just talked about, as well as flight logs where Clinton's name appears on the plane information, as well as the Clinton White House's visitors logs where Epstein's name appears some 16, 17 times, according to CNN's analysis.
Now all of this, I think, is serving as a big reminder of just how different today's deposition has been compared to Hillary Clinton's deposition yesterday where she apparently repeatedly told lawmakers, as I've already said, I didn't know Jeffrey Epstein didn't remember meeting him and don't have any information to provide about his criminal activities.
[17:05:11]
And certainly based on some of the questions that we're now aware of that Bill Clinton had to field from these lawmakers, you can get a sense of why the Clintons were generally not so keen on being deposed in this manner. We knew that he was going to get asked some very personal questions.
Now, in terms of the deposition today and the rest of it and the rest of the afternoon, we don't know how many hours are left, but we can clearly tell that the lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee are thinking ahead to who else they can bring in for more questions about Jeffrey Epstein.
This was the ranking member, Robert Garcia, a little bit earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARCIA: Republicans have now set a new precedent, which is to bring in presidents and former presidents to testify. So once again, going to make that call that we did yesterday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: And there are others that the lawmakers have made clear they are interested in potentially bringing in as well. Top of that list is probably Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who of course, had said that he cut off all contact with Jeffrey Epstein going back to 2005. But as was revealed in the files, he actually ended up visiting his private island with his entire family. Jake.
TAPPER: MJ Lee in Chappaqua, New York. Thanks so much. Joining us now to discuss Republican Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas. He is a member of the House Oversight Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.
So we know you're not at the hearing, but many of your colleagues are. What are you hearing from them? Are they satisfied with how former President Clinton has been answering questions so far?
REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): Jake, let's be very fair about this. I think today it was more of a partisan battle between the two sides. I think that evidently yesterday the former secretary of state probably handled herself very appropriately balanced from what I hear. And there was not real disagreement with her.
Today, from what I understand, it is more combative. There are more personal questions. There are more things that are trying to, number one, dig for more information and two, trying to satisfy that nothing happened. And in fact, it kind of got into a defensive mode on both sides, I think.
TAPPER: So, as you note, I mean, Chairman Comer, who's a Republican from Kentucky, and the ranking Democrat, Garcia, a Democrat from a California, they have different interpretations of how President Clinton answered the question when asked about President Trump's relationship with Epstein.
Are you urging the committee to get the transcripts and video out as soon as possible so we don't have to rely on he said, he said we can just actually see what was said and how it was said.
SESSIONS: Jake, thank you. I think that there was agreement, at least I knew this yesterday, that there was an agreement, not knowing what would be said to probably the videotapes would be out well before any transcription.
But I think that this is the point that you and others would make, and that is we'll let the public see for themselves not only about the way that answers were posed, but also answers were made. And I think if we go to the point that you're trying to make, or perhaps Chairman Comer in that there was a direct question to President Clinton about Donald Trump and he -- from everything I've heard, he seems indicate he has no reason to assume President Trump was involved or had any involvement or did, quote, did anything wrong. Perhaps that's the biggest news out of today. I don't think so.
I think that the investigation is being done because we want and need to ask questions. It was fair that the president, the first lady or the Secretary of State showed up and answered questions. It was -- there was no trick about this. It was straight up. And the American people view that for what it is.
You see, we're still being held accountable for getting answers, Jake, and I know you recognize that and appreciate that both sides are being held accountable.
TAPPER: I heard a comment from your Republican House colleague Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, who he took to the floor of the House, and he noted that there have been arrests in the U.K. and there have been any number of resignations or accountability on corporate boardrooms and in universities and the like in the United States, but no actual investigations, as far as we know, by the FBI, by law enforcement in the United States.
[17:10:04]
Do you know of any investigatory result of the release of the Epstein files or the work that your committee's doing? I mean, it does seem as though there should be at least some investigations. But we saw when the attorney general was testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, a Democrat asked the survivors who were there if any of them had been in contact with -- if any of them had heard from the current Justice Department. And they hadn't. And this isn't about Pam Bondi or Trump because as you know, this
problem goes back decades. The survivors not being heard, not being taken seriously enough. I'm not blaming Bondi per se, but it does seem like, OK, now the files are out. Now there's a real cry for justice. Get on the case, don't you think?
SESSIONS: I certainly believe that is a reasonable assumption. That's why we're trying to go through and ask the questions. This has been going on for a long time. There are questions that need to be asked and answered. And I think that what lies ahead, my sense is that you will see more financial information pretty quickly.
The financial end of this is what is next? The financial end of where did money come from? Who authorized that money? How much money was spent? How did Jeffrey Epstein pay for these matters? How -- what did he do in return for those favors?
I think it's a terribly difficult subject to get at. But did these girls, were they reimbursed? I think they were clearly taken advantage of. What was the advantage for them? We know that we have several large CEOs from big companies that were there where they promised contracts to be a model in those areas. What followed up?
And Jake, this is still part of that difficult public viewpoint about all this. And while you'd say, well, we don't have visibility today, you will very quickly. But the next phase of this will be directly related to money decision making, money back and forth, who is responsible for it, who signed for it, which bankers were there.
And I think you've seen some of the people fall that may have been close enough to have been responsible for authorizing some of those expenditures.
TAPPER: All right. Republican Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas, thank you so much for your time today, sir. We really appreciate it.
We're going to have much more in our breaking news in moments as former President Bill Clinton is sitting for a deposition right now as part of Congress's Jeffrey Epstein investigation. That's next.
Plus, with just a few days left until the crucial Texas primaries, I'm going to talk to a journalist who was trying to cover the race when she says she got kicked out of a Democratic event for being a, quote, top notch hater. What does that even mean? How does one become a top notch hater? Is there some sort of test or examination required? That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:17:12]
TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, we are continuing to follow historic testimony from former president Bill Clinton over his ties to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The closed door deposition with lawmakers now in its sixth hour. Right now comes just one day after his wife, the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, spent six hours answering questions on Thursday.
It's important to note that the Clintons have not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in this case. Joining us now to discuss is Matt Bennett. He previously served in the Clinton White House as a deputy assistant to President Clinton. Thanks for joining us.
So, Matt, it's unprecedented for a former president to be forced to testify before a congressional committee. Bill Clinton sitting for testimony, though we have seen it before, the January 1998 deposition into the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit and the August 1998 testimony regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
How do you think the former president Bill Clinton prepared for this deposition this time around?
MATT BENNETT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY ASSISTANT UNDER PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I think here, unlike those previous depositions where obviously he'd done something wrong and that came out and the stakes were enormously high, I mean, he was president at the time.
This is quite different. This is conduct that happened a long time ago. As he said in his opening statement, he at least says that he did absolutely nothing wrong and saw nothing wrong. He had broken off ties with Epstein long before anyone knew that Epstein was the horrendous criminal that he is.
Obviously some of those pictures have been cringe inducing for those of us who are big fans of the Clintons and for him, I'm sure. But they are not evidence of any wrongdoing. And I'm guessing that he went in there prepared to do battle with Republicans over the question of whether he had done something that he really does need to be ashamed of.
TAPPER: Here's how Congressman Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, here's how he described the former president's response to questions so questioning so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARCIA: I think everybody would agree that he's been very cooperative and he's actually answering the questions fairly. I mean, to the best of his ability. There's -- he has not taken a pass on pleading the Fifth for any questions. He's been very thorough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: We're standing by obviously, for transcripts and videos of both Clinton's depositions to drop it. But knowing what you know about the former president and the former first lady, how do you suspect they handled questioning, especially from some hostile folks?
BENNETT: Well, we know a lot about how the first lady of the former secretary of state handles such questions. She battled with Republicans for 11 hours after Benghazi and I think came out ahead in that particular encounter.
[17:20:03]
And I think what we know of yesterday, she basically kept saying, I don't know anything about Jeffrey Epstein. Why am I even here? And I think when we see the video and the transcript from that testimony, it'll be pretty clear that she was right.
With President Clinton, he has more to answer for. I mean, he did fly in the guy's plane a bunch of times. As you noted at the top, he has those pictures. But I think the fundamental questions are going to be, did he know of any of Epstein's horrible crimes and was he involved in any way? And all of the evidence so far is pointing to the answer being no.
There's, you know, Chairman Comer is not a Bill Clinton fan. If there was evidence that Bill Clinton was doing something that implicated him in Epstein's crimes, we would know about it. And by the way, Pam Bondi's Justice Department would have made it clear as well. There isn't, and she hasn't.
TAPPER: So you mentioned your reaction is cringe or your take on the photo is cringe. The former president was also asked about the photo that the DOJ released in the Epstein files where we see him and Ghislaine Maxwell in a Jacuzzi with a woman.
Now, according to sources, Bill Clinton told lawmakers he did not have sex with that woman in the Jacuzzi and he doesn't know who she is. Hillary Clinton told the BBC that the photo was taken during, quote, one of the stops they made to look at philanthropic and charitable work, unquote.
What do you make of that? Why would such a stop and a visit on a Jacuzzi be on a former president's itinerary?
BENNETT: Well, look, these -- look, I don't want to excuse the photo. Bill Clinton should not have been there with Blaine Maxwell, obviously. However, the kinds of trips they took together, I think went -- they were pretty far. They went to Africa and other places. Those trips include some R and R. I mean, he does. There's no question that the Clinton Global Initiative involves a lot of charity work. I'm sure he did a bunch of meetings that were perfectly appropriate for a former president.
But, you know, there's going to be some relaxation as well. And unfortunately, there's this photo of them relaxing. If you could have it back. Obviously, President Clinton would not have flown on that plane. He would not have had anything to do with either Epstein or Maxwell.
But again, there's no evidence that anything untoward happened in that moment or that he knew of anything happening elsewhere.
TAPPER: Matt Bennett, thanks so much. Appreciate your time and your insights today. Parents here in Philadelphia say they've been raising concerns for a while about the rise of antisemitism in the public schools. Is it getting any better? CNN's Danny Freeman investigates next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:26:55]
TAPPER: In our National Lead, I'm here in Philadelphia and one story we're covering is that Jewish parents and community members here tell CNN that after years of raising concerns about antisemitism in the Philadelphia Public School District, the problem has not improved. And this comes after the 8th largest school district in the country told the federal government that it would do better.
But one watchdog argues that it's not just Philadelphia's fault. CNN's Danny Freeman is here with me in Philadelphia and he filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON HOLTZMAN, JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: It's been really tough. I feel it in my bones as a third generation Holocaust survivor when antisemitism is rising this way.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, Jason Holtzman says he's felt the rise in antisemitism across the country. But the Jewish community leader says perhaps most alarming were some of the stories heard from Jewish parents with children in the school district of Philadelphia.
HOLTZMAN: We began to get reports of students being bullied, students being harassed, swastikas popping up on desks and on the side of buildings. And we've heard about assaults, both verbal and physical. And we've heard families pulling their kids out of Philadelphia schools because they don't feel safe.
FREEMAN (voice-over): In 2024, the Biden administration also took notice. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights looked into the school district and several of these complaints of antisemitic harassment, bullying, graffiti, language of teachers and more. By the end of the year, the DOE entered into a resolution agreement with the district to address these issues with a promise to revise policies and provide training to faculty and staff.
HOLTZMAN: We were really thrilled that, you know, the federal government was going to be holding them accountable.
FREEMAN: We're more than a year since that settlement, since that resolution. Do you feel the school district has improved?
HOLTZMAN: Unfortunately, I do not. I think that we still continue to see issues. We continue to get reports from families.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Some of those families who did not wish to go on camera for fear of retribution tell CNN they feel the district did not take the concerns seriously and that the antisemitism has gotten worse.
BETH GELLMAN-BEER, FORMER PHILADELPHIA REGIONAL DIRECTOR, DOE OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS: It doesn't surprise me in the least bit. I don't think that all of the blame falls on the district. I think some of the blame falls on the lack of federal enforcement.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Beth Gellman-Beer was with the Philadelphia Office for Civil rights at the DOE for 18 years and led the office for the past three years. She conducted the investigation into the school district and was in charge of making sure Philadelphia schools followed their agree.
That is, until the Department of Education under the new Trump administration eliminated both her position and the entire Philadelphia office.
GELLMAN-BEER: I was in the middle of reviewing the school district of Philadelphia's revisions to their policies and procedures when I got eliminated. That was left hanging as far as I understand.
FREEMAN (voice-over): The problem not limited to Philly. Late last year, the House Committee on Education and Workforce opened an investigation into three school districts, including Philadelphia's, alleging in Philly, quote, antisemitic incidents have continued to proliferate since the resolution agreement.
[17:30:05]
GELLMAN-BEER: It breaks my heart because it feels to me like a broken promise that, you know, we went in and we did that investigation, we made findings, and we secured this really robust comprehensive agreement. And had we been able to follow through on it, we would have seen change.
FREEMAN (voice-over): In response to an interview request with the district superintendent, a spokesperson responded saying, "The school district of Philadelphia wants to unequivocally reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that every student, family, and staff member feels safe, respected, and welcome in our schools." The statement continued in part saying "Anti-Semitism, like all forms of hatred or discrimination, has no place in our schools. The district has been actively implementing the terms of the voluntary resolution agreement with the Department of Education and is cooperating with the House committee's inquiry."
RABBI JILL MADERER, RODEPH SHALOM: This building's from 1928.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Rabbi Jill Maderer leads the largest Jewish congregation in Philadelphia and knows the concerns of the community. Regardless of the lack of federal enforcement, she feels the district should proactively do more.
MADERER: I would like to see institutions respond to this reality of anti-Semitism with an acknowledgment that they need to expand their capacity in their work. I've heard Jewish families who want to believe our school district and our society can do better and I've heard families who are committed to staying present and being a part of the community.
FREEMAN: Why is that important?
MADERER: I think it's important that Jews are not hiding. I think it's important that no identity feels that it needs to hide.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREEMAN: Now we reached out to the Department of Education to ask them if shutting down the Philly Office of Civil Rights basically impacted the progress of holding the district accountable when it comes to anti-Semitism. They did not have any comment on this story, but they did note that workflows continue in other regional offices, but as you can see there, Jake, a lot of parents and community members still feel like the anti-Semitism problem has not improved.
Plus that former head of the Philly Office of Civil Rights, she said that a lot of these offices were already overworked before their office was eliminated.
TAPPER: Danny, thank you so much for your great reporting here. Really appreciate it.
It is down to the wire in Texas with Senate primaries that are proving to be a major test for both parties. Could we see some upsets come Tuesday night? That story's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:36:36]
TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, cue the election music, please, por favor. There it is. We are four days -- there it is. OK. We're four days away from the Texas primaries, which could shake up the political direction for both Democrats and Republicans.
And naturally, journalists have come to Texas, in addition to the Texas journalists, to report on all the candidates. That includes Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who is running for the U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary. One journalist, however, Elaine Godfrey of the Atlantic magazine, says that she was thrown out of one of Congresswoman Crockett's rallies.
And Godfrey published this article yesterday. "Why I got thrown out of a Jasmine Crockett rally." Now, a day before that, Crockett told "CBS News" that no journalist had been thrown out of her rally. Oh, really?
Well, Godfrey just released the audio. And here is the moment after a woman with a badge told Godfrey that Crockett's team wanted her to leave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELAINE GODFREY, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Why are you asking me to leave?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just said, Elaine from Atlantic, white girl with a hat and notepad. She's interviewing people in the crowd. She's a top-notch hater and will spin. She needs to leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Top-notch hater. Elaine Godfrey from "The Atlantic" joins us now. Elaine, Crockett also told "CBS News" that there's no evidence a journalist was thrown out of her event. That there is a specific history with a history of being less than truthful, she says. Now, when it comes to being less than truthful, your article is evidence. Your claim is evidence. The audio is evidence. Did anyone else see what happened? And how can Congresswoman Crockett continue to say that there's no evidence when there's quite a bunch?
GODFREY: I don't know, Jake. It's a very weird situation that I have never found myself in. A lot of people saw it. There were a bunch of guests or a bunch of attendees at the rally waiting to take pictures with her, a bunch of staff, obviously all the security guards who walked me out. So, I mean, I think no reporters actually saw it because they were in a scrum with her at the time that I had not been allowed to join. So, yes, lots of witnesses. It's very strange that she's denying this happened. But I've got receipts, so.
TAPPER: So I remember, I'm old enough to remember, in 2000, a hot mic caught then-governor, soon-to-be-president, George W. Bush, pointing out a "New York Times" reporter in the crowd and turning over to -- turning to Dick Cheney and saying, there's so-and-so from "The New York Times," Major League asshole. I'm quoting, so don't get mad at me, folks.
But they didn't kick him out of the rally. They didn't kick him out. So do you have any idea what Crockett's team was objecting to? Your coverage has been, of all politicians, analytical, critical, edgy at times. But what's with top-notch hater? Do you have any idea?
GODFREY: Yes, I mean, I think it's pretty clear she is referring to me, referring to a story that I wrote of her back in summer of last year. I wrote a profile of her that she didn't really -- she didn't like how it was going. She called me a few days before it was published, and she said, she said, I'm upset that you've reached out to members of Congress to do this profile. You haven't asked for permission to do that.
[17:40:11]
She said, I'm revoking permissions for this story, and I'm shutting it down. That is obviously not how journalism works. So, we published the story anyway. You can read it at theatlantic.com under my byline. But, yes, I think she's still upset about that story, even though I think it was a pretty fair story. I think it was good. I'm biased, of course.
But, yes, I think she's still upset about that. But, you know, she can call me a hater. It's the being kicked out that doesn't work for me.
TAPPER: Right. No, exactly. Elaine Godfrey, keep doing the great journalism. I read that profile last summer. I mean, you're a journalist. We're not supposed to be writing fluffy stories about people who are pursuing power. Thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
GODFREY: Thanks for having me.
TAPPER: Moments ago, Oversight Republicans came out to speak about their questioning of former President Bill Clinton. Today, let's listen.
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: The deposition of former President Clinton has concluded. I want to thank everyone for braving the cold and staying out here. I know it's been a very long day. We believe this was a very productive deposition.
I will have to say that President Clinton answered every question or attempted to answer every question. We can talk about some of his answers in more detail. And I'm sure once the video is released and the transcripts are released, not only will you, but a lot of people in America will have more questions about some of the answers that were given and where we go from here.
But with respect to today, this was a long process. And I want to say this is historical. I believe that in the history of Congress, the two highest-ranked officials to ever be deposed by Congress would be President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This is a serious investigation. We will continue to try to get the truth to the American people and justice for the victims.
But I think a consistent theme continues to persist throughout all the people that we bring in. Obviously, the government failed the victims. There was -- justice was not served in Palm Beach when Epstein was first arrested. We're very concerned about that. We still have lots of questions about how Epstein accumulated so much wealth. And we will continue to bring some more people in and try to get answers.
I'm going to yield to the other committee members, but every member of the committee participated both days and asked very good, very good questions. Ms. Mace?
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Yes, I want to thank President Clinton for being here today. He was here for a very long day. He did attempt to respond to every single question asked even when his attorneys told him to shut up. He kept, you know, going. I think there's agreement, too, on everybody who is here on both sides of the aisle that we want to get to the bottom of this.
Whether Jeffrey Epstein was an intel asset or a honeypot operation, sex trafficker, prostitution ringleader, you know, financier of Ponzi schemes, financial crimes, et cetera. There is an effort, I believe, and a belief that we need to get to the bottom of this because justice was not served in the Southern District of New York. It was not served in Palm Beach.
And it certainly hasn't been served for many victims around the world who are victims of this operation. I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their questions today. Representative Stansbury had a lot of courageous questions. She showed bravery today. She and I never get along. Sometimes, in fact, we see an arguing and oversight.
But I say that because this is a place that is not partisan. This is a place where the country is seeing Republicans and Democrats work together to figure this out, find the truth, and try to come up with solutions so that when this happens, women are believed, men are prosecuted, their abuses are prosecuted, and justice can be seen and can be done. And I want to thank everyone for their hard work.
I think I can't say anything about the questions and answers today or yesterday, but I will comment that I believe you'll see some inconsistencies in some of the responses. I brought that to the forefront this afternoon. Thank you.
REP. ANNA PAULINA LUNA (R-FL): I'd like to close by saying that we do intend to follow up and bring in, and I know that that's up to the chairman's discretion, some of the co-conspirators that were given lesser sentences that were known to have trafficked young girls. Unacceptable. There's a difference between a victim and someone who engaged in prostitution and the trafficking of minors, and that needs to be clarified.
I will, again, hold to the same thing that I said earlier and that I do believe, and I'm sure some people on this committee also believe, that Jeffrey Epstein was an intelligence asset and running some form of a honeypot operation. I do believe that President Clinton, as well as the Secretary, were potentially targets of that operation, and we will leave it at that. And I look forward to seeing you all react to the depositions as I think that this is information that's important and belongs to the American people.
[17:45:21]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to reiterate what some of my colleagues have said. I want to salute our chairman, James Comer, for putting together an extremely professional deposition these last two days. Factual, this was not a highly partisan event like most of our hearings are when we're in Washington. We were there to ask direct questions.
I think President Clinton today was quite candid, probably more candid than his attorneys were comfortable. But I think that this will, obviously, when we release the video of this, I mean, you'll have the opportunity to digest it. But we do have to get justice for the victims because in all of the political food fight in Washington, D.C., what is getting lost is the fact that there are victims that deserve justice.
REP. JOHN MCGUIRE (R-VA): Depositions like this are important because we need to get answers, need justice for the victims. Epstein and his associates committed unspeakable evil. And I'm glad that President Clinton and Hillary came out here. What I believe I saw the last two days was selective memory, very good details back into the 90s. And in other times, I don't know, I don't recall. So, we'll ask. We have more questions to answer. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you definitely say that as a result of the former president's deposition, you now have more information that you didn't have before about his sex trafficking ring? And secondly, also as a result of the deposition, will you be opening any new investigations or new inquiries into specific individuals or institutions?
COMER: Well, we're going to bring more people in. We're not finished. We didn't want to announce names before today. It was so hard to get the Clintons in. I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize losing them. I think we learned some things.
We were hoping to get more, but there were many questions, as you will see, hopefully in the next 24 hours when the videos were released, that there were a lot of very specific questions about very specific documents and correspondence that were subpoenaed that we got from the Department of Justice as well as the Epstein estate. Many times, the Clintons couldn't recall or didn't know or denied that they were pertaining to them, so.
But I do think that we picked up some new facts. We asked both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton where we should go from here as a committee because we're sincere about trying to get the truth to the American people and hold some bad actors accountable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
CORMER: Yes. We've got one employee that does the videography, and he had to do the videography today, too. So we're going to try to release those. Yes, well, the transcript has to be approved by the attorney. So the video could very likely come out before the transcripts. Once the transcribers were in here, we had a whole team of transcribers. They're going to, you know, put it on paper. Then both sides will get to approve the transcript. Then we'll release it.
That's standard rules of deposition. We always do that. We will do that. With the videos, as quick as we can get them all uploaded and cleaned up, any background noise or anything like that, then we will release them, hopefully, in the next 24 hours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Chairman, I know there's been -- you've been asked repeatedly about Secretary Lutnick as well. While this deposition was playing out, President Trump said that Secretary Lutnick would testify. Have you made a decision yet on whether you're going to call him in?
COMER: Well, we have a lot of questions about anyone who spent time with Epstein post-conviction, the first conviction. I think that's where -- and if anyone disagrees, feel free to speak up. But I think that's where most of our concerns are. Once you knew Jeffrey Epstein was a sex offender, why did you continue the relationship? So, stay tuned on that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, why do you think today was more respectful than yesterday? Was President Clinton more cooperative than sluggish?
COMER: Well --
LUNA: We were respectful. I think --
COMER: I mean, you can watch the video and say, you know, everybody knows President Clinton. He's got Southern people skills. He's a charming individual, obviously.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, you have said in the past that Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton were not accused of any wrongdoing connected to Jeffrey Epstein. After two days of asking them very tough questions in that regard, do you still feel the same way that there's no reason to think that they're connected to any wrongdoing to that --
[17:50:08]
COMER: Well, they said they weren't, I guess, innocent until proven guilty. We're going to go back and look at. There were a lot of -- there were -- the reason Ms. Clinton complained about being asked the same question over and over because we presented different e-mails, different documents that would suggest that she was close with Epstein and Maxwell. And obviously she denied that. Now we're going to go back and verify that to see if any type of perjury was committed. Chad?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. President Trump said today that he knew nothing about the Epstein files and he was exonerated. Do you agree that he is exonerated of this matter?
COMER: From all the evidence I've seen, he's been exonerated for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And would that preclude your committee if that's your position from your committee calling?
COMER: We'll discuss that as we move forward. Obviously, we've got more people to bring in and we'll see if any new evidence arises. But right now, I haven't seen anything.
MACE: Can I just say this? The Epstein victims have exonerated President Trump. This is a trope that you guys are a rabbit hole. You guys are going down. But he's been exonerated over and over again by Epstein victims. We need to get all the information on co- conspirators. We still even have the names of all the co-conspirators because the Southern District of New York is hiding that information by redacting those names.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I just follow up? Here's my question. Here's my question. Let me just follow up. If that's the case, though, you make the case, the chairman makes the case about why it's so important to hear in great detail from both Clintons, but why it's not --
LUNA: If I can just elaborate really quickly.
MACE: Bill Clinton was on Epstein's plane 26 flights. I mean, he had information with him for hours and hours.
LUNA: Real quick, if I can just add in, President Clinton, and you guys will all be able to hear specifically what he said, referenced a 2003, 2002-2003 conversation of which he did not feel that President Trump had any wrongdoing in regards to Jeffrey Epstein. It's incredibly important that you guys see through the partisan nature of what has become this entire investigation.
It's also important that you guys are reporting the fact that everything that we are seeing in these documents, to include what I presented to both the Secretary and President Clinton, show that Epstein was running an intelligence operation. He was targeting people specifically, and he was intentionally bringing in and using women to traffic in minors and then exposing vulnerabilities for different people.
What I will also say is that, like Nancy has said and the chairman, there is nothing that we are seeing where there's criminal involvement or reason to believe that the President has any wrongdoing, and that is why we are not supporting this crazy theory in bringing him into all of this. We appreciate that President Clinton said what he did, and I will say that has probably been, I guess, the silver lining in all of this.
MACE: And I will say Secretary Clinton and President Clinton both offered, I think, suggestions, advice on where this investigation should go based on information they have, things that they've seen, experiences in their positions, and that's helpful to this entire committee. Again, this has been not partisan.
We saw really great questions from the Democrat side of the Oversight Committee and the Republican side today. I was very impressed with where this went today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy, can I ask you, when have survivors said to you that they want Trump to resign?
MACE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they will never tell you that they want to see him terminated.
MACE: No, I've never heard that from a single victim.
COMER: When we met in the committee, the Republicans and Democrats met with, what were there, five or six survivors that they met with --
LUNA: And their attorneys. COMER: -- and their attorney. Of course, the Democrats asked that question numerous times to the victims, and they all said they never saw anything or heard anything that Donald Trump did wrong, never saw him on the island or anything else.
LUNA: And if I can just add in real quickly also, there was false allegations made against President Clinton, OK? We are not going to bring in people that were making false allegations against either president. That's not what you do in this, OK? We're looking for justice, and that's why we're going to be bringing in some of the known co-conspirators that were given plea deals, OK? That's justice.
MACE: Congresswoman, you did a great job on that.
LUNA: Thank you.
COMER: Last question, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
MACE: I have raised my concern for redaction to the Southern District of New York. They have a letter, the DOJ and the CIA.
COMER: My advice to the Department of Justice is release the documents and unredact the names of anyone who wasn't a victim. And I think one of the issues we have, can you be a victim and a victimizer? That's a question that we're going to talk about as we move forward.
Now, we look forward to seeing you next week in Washington. We will have further announcements of where we're going with the investigation, but we have two more depositions already booked, one with Jeffrey Epstein's accountant and one with Jeffrey Epstein's lawyer.
[17:55:05]
So those are forthcoming. We'll probably announce some more people. We're going to bring in prior to those depositions. But I think we had a good two days in New York City. I appreciate the Clintons being here. Wish it wasn't so hard to get them here. But as often is the case, it was more difficult than it should have been.
But thank you all for being here. And we look forward to releasing the video and the transcript as soon as possible. Thank you all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congresswoman Mace, can we ask a follow-up question?
TAPPER: You've been listening to Republican members of the House Oversight Committee. They obviously were discussing today's deposition of former President Bill Clinton. Let's bring in our political panel.
Ashley Davis, to you first. What stands out to you about how the Republicans are characterizing the former president's testimony and also how eager they were to say that there is nothing relating to President Trump, that -- so that it -- presumably so they shouldn't even investigate it?
ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL, G. W. BUSH ADMIN: Well, I actually kind of feel, Jake, that what they're saying about President Trump and what they're saying about the Clintons are the exact same thing. I'm still not a believer that this was a good use of taxpayer money to bring the Clintons in.
I mean, both Republicans and Democrats on the committee did vote to bring them in, but especially Secretary Clinton. I don't know anything that she's ever been accused of. And if Bill Clinton, if President Clinton is doing what he said he did, he stopped this relationship in 2008. He's never been accused of anything. So I think there's a fine line of just going down these rabbit holes of people being friends with Epstein before he was arrested the first time, but also actually doing something. And obviously it was a big coup for the committee to get the former president and the first lady.
But I just don't -- I don't, listen, unless there was some perjury thing that happened or something like that, I just don't know why we're doing this. Let's go after the people that actually did really bad stuff.
TAPPER: Sabrina Singh, is that how you see it? Do you agree?
SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I actually completely agree with Ashley. I think particularly when it comes to Secretary Clinton, what a waste of time, what a waste of taxpayer dollars to bring her in. She'd had never met Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, again, unless there's something we don't know about that came up in the committee, she released that opening statement that she'd never had any interaction with him.
And so I think that this is just so performative and just becoming so politicized. And the reality is, I mean, and to Ashley's point, I mean, Democrats and Republicans did vote to bring the Clintons in, but I think they really should have focused more of their investigation. But the reality is, is that and I think Rep. Comer spoke to this, is that the DOJ still has not released the redacted names of some individuals that have been listed in Epstein files.
And that's really where the accountability needs to be on those people who either trafficked or were abusers. We need to kind of redirect our taxpayer dollars at finding the people who are responsible for covering up some really heinous crimes rather than focusing on the Clintons.
TAPPER: Chairman Comer addressed whether video of Bill and Hillary Clinton's depositions will be released and how soon. Ashley, do you think there is enough transparency in this process?
DAVIS: Well, I thought it was interesting that, I mean, the Clintons obviously wanted it public. They didn't care at all. But I said, I guess negotiations between the attorneys that this is what's going to happen. But yes, I mean, there's going to be a video and there's going to be a transcript. So I don't know how you can really hide from that. So there is transparency. But again, I think we're losing the focus of what we should be focusing on, which are the people that did bad things, not were friends with him pre his first arrest.
TAPPER: Sabrina, we know that the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had claimed that he cut off all contact with Jeffrey Epstein in like 2005, 2006, somewhere in there. And we know that the Epstein files proved that that was not true, that he actually had lunch on Epstein Island with his wife and kids and Jeffrey Epstein. Do you think that they need to -- the committee needs to call Howard Lutnick to testify?
SINGH: Yes, I think absolutely. I mean, I think one of the members of Congress that was at the podium said we're looking at everyone that, you know, knew about his crimes after he was arrested. Well, I mean, clearly Howard Lutnick is someone that you need to speak to about this, and yet he's not being called in. And that's obviously, you know, the President defended him today.
I think they frankly also should probably be looking at President Trump and his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein, not saying again that there's a crime here. But I think if you're going to apply the same type of scrutiny to the Democrats, then you also have to apply it to the Republicans. And I think Ashley's point is very valid, is that we need to actually get back to the victims here. That's what's important, finding the truth, holding those people accountable. And we're not doing that with this sideshow that's happening right now.
TAPPER: All right. Sabrina Singh and Ashley Davis, thanks so much for joining us today. Appreciate it.
DAVIS: Thank you.
SINGH: Thank you.
[17:59:58]
TAPPER: Welcome to the second hour of The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper in Philadelphia. We are following breaking news tonight.
