Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Clinton testifies he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes 'I would have turned him in'

Transcript

Clinton testifies he had no knowledge of Epstein's crimes 'I would have turned him in' · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Bill Clinton became the first former president compelled to testify
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: to members of Congress. Today at a closed door session
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: in Chapaquad, New York, the House Oversight Committee heard from
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Clinton about his connections to the late convicted sex offender
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein. Mister Clinton said he did nothing wrong, adding quote,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I saw nothing that ever gave me pause. Republican Chairman
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: James Comer spoke late this afternoon.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: I will have to say that President Clinton answered every question,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: or timpted to answer every question. We can talk about
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: some of his answers in more detail, and I'm sure
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: once the videos release to the transcripts released, not only
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: will you, but a lot of people in America will
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: have more questions about some of the answers that were given.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: The former president's testimony comes a day after the committee
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: questioned his wife, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: for more than six hours. She said she had no
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: new information about Epstein and had never met him. Joining
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: us now as our congrestional correspondent Lisa dejar Dan, So, Lisa,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: what did President Clinton say today behind closed doors?
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: This was extraordinary. The former president testified for nearly seven hours.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: He did say, as you indicated that he knew of
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: no wrongdoing, and specifically in his opening statement, I want
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: to read another quote that he had. He wrote, not
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: only would I have not flown on Epstein's plane, if
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: I had known any inkling of what he was doing,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I would have turned him in myself. Now, photos in
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: the Epstein files, though, show some of the relationship between
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: the two men. Clinton flew on Epstein's plane roughly two
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: dozen times. That was part of the work for the
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: Clinton Foundation that he was doing after leaving office. Now,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Democrats on the committee both defended the former president, but
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: also sharply questioned him.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: President Clinton, as of today, has not been accused.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Of a crime.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: There are not public files available that accuse him of
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: a crime, whereas there are publicly available documents that do
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: allege a crime of President Trump. But it is very
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: well established that President Clinton had a relationship with Jeffrey
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: Epstein and Ghalaine Maxwell.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: We'll return to the Trump question in a minute. But
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: one other thing that Republicans said today was that they're
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: investigating whether Epstein was part of some foreign intelligence operation
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: targeting some public officials in America.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: So what is known about Clinton's relationship with Epstein right now.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: This is something that's important because Clinton said in his
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: opening statement that he had a brief acquaintance with Epstein,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: but we know that they knew each other at least
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: ten years, going back to when President Clinton was in
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: office in nineteen ninety three, and Gilaine Maxwell said she
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: introduced them. There was something transactional. President Clinton with his
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: foundation needed wealthy donors. He also needed a way to
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: travel around the world. Epstein and his plane provided some
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: of those things, but it wasn't all business. There were
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: photos in the Epstein files that show, for example, President
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Clinton in a hot tub with a woman whose face
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: has been blacked out to keep her anonymous. Clinton did
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: also write a note in that infamous two thousand and
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: three birthday book for Epstein talking about friendship in that
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: and to this idea that Clinton never had any inkling
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: that there was anything wrong. The actor Kevin Spacey was
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: on one of those flights, on several flights in Africa
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: with Epstein and Clinton, and he said in an interview
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: a few years ago that he saw young girls on
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: those planes with Clinton and Epstein and he was worried
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: about the public risk for Clinton. Clinton says he never
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: saw that.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: On the politics of this, you have the Republicans who
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: lead this committee trying to in some way make the
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Clinton's the face of this. You also have Democrats now
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: trying to subpoena President Trump, which would be unprecedented.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Right, there are civil court examples where Clinton and Trump
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: have both been in civil court, either as president or
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: a former presidents. But the subpoena aspect of this is interesting.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: If President Trump is subpoena, really it could be a
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: constitutional question. But there's more to it now because Republicans
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: are not even asking President Trump to testify. We know
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: that he had a long association with Epstein and whether
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: he did wrongdoing or not. The Republicans say no, they're
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: not saying Clinton had any accusations of wrongdoing. They just
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: want to answer questions. There are questions about why Republicans
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: still refuse to call President Trump.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Any other officials who could be forced to testify.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Yes, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik. He is a billionaire who
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: had a law association with Epstein, and in fact he
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: told Congress that he was mistaken and at one point
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: saying he didn't speak to Epstein after his arrest, and
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: in fact we know that he saw him in twenty
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: twelve on his island, so there are questions from Congress
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: about him, and it does look like he could be subpoena.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Lots of questions, lots to track. Lisa dejar Dan always
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: on top of all of it. Thanks so much.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: You're welcome.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Support journalism you trust, Support PBS News.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Donate now, or even better, start a monthly contribution today