Latest / The Vault: The Epstein Files / Bill Clinton And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Interview With Congress (Part 9) (8/28/26)

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Bill Clinton And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Interview With Congress (Part 9) (8/28/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're getting back to the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Bill Clinton transcript from his trip to Congress. And after
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: we wrap this bad boy up, we'll be diving into
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  Speaker 1: the Jess Staley transcript. Now we have Nick Langworthy doing
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the questioning. Question. You are widely regarded across party lines
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  Speaker 1: as one of the most politically perceptive leaders of modern time.
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  Speaker 1: Your political instincts are very well documented and your successes
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  Speaker 1: of your political career are well documented. How would you
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  Speaker 1: describe the substance of your conversation with Jeffrey Epstein during
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  Speaker 1: the many hours that you spent together on the aircraft? Clinton, well,
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  Speaker 1: at first, he really seemed like he to be like
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  Speaker 1: a vacuum cleaner, like he really wanted information. And there
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  Speaker 1: was no to go back to the business with what
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  Speaker 1: do you call it in the passport? There was nothing
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  Speaker 1: overtly manipulative about it. He just wanted to know what
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  Speaker 1: did I think of derivative trading? Did I think that
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  Speaker 1: the stock market was properly regulated or did it need more?
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  Speaker 1: How did we have the most broadly shared prosperity in
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  Speaker 1: 50 years? Was it just an accident? Was it just technology?
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  Speaker 1: Or do we have specific policies? He wanted to know
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  Speaker 1: stuff like that. And it was great for the first two, three,
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  Speaker 1: four or five conversations. But I could tell that it
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  Speaker 1: was like, I mean, you guys are in politics. Don't
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  Speaker 1: you ever feel like sometimes somebody's talking to you and
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  Speaker 1: then they're just checking the box that they just go
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  Speaker 1: and do something else and be somebody else? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: that's the way I felt. Question. Interesting. The international travel
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  Speaker 1: you took with Mr. Epstein, it represented a significant investment
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  Speaker 1: of time and money on his behalf. And I did
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  Speaker 1: miss the first portion of this. So if any of
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  Speaker 1: this is repetitive, I apologize. Your arrangement was that you
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  Speaker 1: would spend an hour of conversation with him on topics
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  Speaker 1: that of his choosing. Cheryl Mills jumps in. No, he testified,
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  Speaker 1: just so that you know, on economics and politics. Langworthy,
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  Speaker 1: on economics and politics. Okay, and that was the arrangement,
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  Speaker 1: and the rest was in-kind donation, the flights. Bill Clinton
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  Speaker 1: jumps in. For all the long-haul flights, yeah. If we
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  Speaker 1: were gone four hours or more, I'd give him an hour. Question, okay.
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  Speaker 1: Did you ever ask him directly why he was willing
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  Speaker 1: to finance these trips and provide you with access to
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  Speaker 1: the plane? And what was his reaction to the question? Clinton,
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  Speaker 1: I did. He said, I think you did a good
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  Speaker 1: job as president and you managed to get reelected and
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  Speaker 1: you're the first Democrat in 60 years that got reelected.
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  Speaker 1: I want to know what happened and I want to
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  Speaker 1: understand it. And that was it. And it was like
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  Speaker 1: he was trying to suck up to me or anything.
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  Speaker 1: It was very straightforward. But after a while, it was
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  Speaker 1: obvious that he had done what he intended to do
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  Speaker 1: and he was kind of going through the motions and
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  Speaker 1: he didn't really care about what we, What I really
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  Speaker 1: cared about, this AIDS thing. I thought we had a
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  Speaker 1: chance to build something that would revolutionize the treatment of
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  Speaker 1: all these illnesses. The same thing with tuberculosis and malaria.
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  Speaker 1: And sure enough, we did. But I thought we were
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  Speaker 1: on the verge of something big. And he didn't much
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  Speaker 1: care about it. And I had a bunch of people
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  Speaker 1: that did, so we went in different ways. Question, and
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  Speaker 1: as you pointed out, I mean, we're all in the
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  Speaker 1: political process, certainly not playing at the levels that you
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  Speaker 1: have in your career. But do you believe that this was,
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  Speaker 1: in essence, Epstein being a political junkie or looking for
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  Speaker 1: that association? Answer, yeah. I didn't know what else. All
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  Speaker 1: I knew that after we started, when I got this
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  Speaker 1: thing going and people could see it like a tugging engine,
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  Speaker 1: then we had more and more people interested in helping.
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  Speaker 1: And I wanted to have people there that I knew
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  Speaker 1: were just genuinely caring. I know it sounds funny, but
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  Speaker 1: it matters because when you start something like this, you're
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  Speaker 1: going to have rough times, spots, things are not going
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  Speaker 1: to go right. you're going to have to solve new problems.
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  Speaker 1: Far better to have people who are passionate about this. Question,
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  Speaker 1: so on these overseas visits, did Mr. Epstein accompany you
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  Speaker 1: to any of the meetings or the private dinners or
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  Speaker 1: the official engagements? And if he did, what capacity was
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  Speaker 1: he introduced? Answer, he went to some of the meetings
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  Speaker 1: and some of the dinners, but the big public dinner
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  Speaker 1: we did in South Africa, he did, for example, but
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  Speaker 1: some he didn't. When it wasn't appropriate, When I had
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  Speaker 1: to talk to somebody about whether I thought they were
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  Speaker 1: following a proper legal path and trying to let us
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  Speaker 1: sell generic drugs, and how we're going to get them,
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  Speaker 1: there were a lot of complicated things. Cheryl Mills, can
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  Speaker 1: I get a check? We have like a minute left,
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  Speaker 1: is the answer. Langworthy. And did he ever seek introductions
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  Speaker 1: to foreign? Dignitaries or leaders from you? Bill Clinton, not
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  Speaker 1: that I remember. Question, okay. Did he ever ask you
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  Speaker 1: to make phone calls on his behalf? Answer, no, he
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  Speaker 1: never did. I remember that he didn't. I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: would remember. Question, and you said that he was not
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  Speaker 1: a friend, but with that amount of travel and proximity,
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  Speaker 1: why wasn't he a friend? And he was an acquaintance? Clinton, well, no.
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  Speaker 1: It wasn't just an acquaintance either. I felt friendly towards him,
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  Speaker 1: but he was, as I said in my book, odd.
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  Speaker 1: There was always something a little holding back, and I
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  Speaker 1: could tell it was pretty strange the way it happened.
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  Speaker 1: Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, calls you out of
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  Speaker 1: the blue and says this guy wants to do it.
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  Speaker 1: You do it. And then, I like to spend as
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  Speaker 1: much time as I can with people I know that
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  Speaker 1: I can count on. And I didn't have, honestly. I
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  Speaker 1: never saw anything that I knew was illegal, but I
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  Speaker 1: just felt I should move on, and we did. Question,
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  Speaker 1: did you ever have any arguments or disagreements with Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Epstein or Ms. Maxwell in the course of your travels? Answer,
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  Speaker 1: not to my knowledge. Question, and is there anything that
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  Speaker 1: you thought that he was looking to monetize the relationship
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  Speaker 1: that he had with you? Clinton, no. Question, okay. Cheryl Mills,
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  Speaker 1: can we get a time check? Bill Clinton, my lawyers
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  Speaker 1: are going to kill me on this, but I have
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  Speaker 1: to say, I want to be honest. I'm not trying
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  Speaker 1: to be a goody two shoes here. I did feel
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  Speaker 1: closer to Glenn Maxwell because of Ted Wade. So I
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  Speaker 1: wasn't against the whole deal until I knew what they
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  Speaker 1: were doing. Question, okay, Bill Clinton, but then it was
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  Speaker 1: too late for me to do anything about it. His
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  Speaker 1: lawyer jumps in. I think your response is to the,
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  Speaker 1: was he trying to ever monetize the relation to your knowledge?
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  Speaker 1: Was that clear? Bill Clinton, to the best of my knowledge,
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  Speaker 1: he never did. Question, thank you for the opportunity, Mr. President.
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  Speaker 1: So they go off record, now they're back on. New speaker. Mr. President,
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  Speaker 1: I just have a few more questions. I'll try to
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  Speaker 1: be as efficient as possible as we move through them. One,
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  Speaker 1: it's moving back in time just a little bit. In 1996,
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  Speaker 1: Maria Farmer, who was a confirmed Epstein victim, submitted information
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  Speaker 1: to the FBI that Jeffrey Epstein was sexually abusing minors.
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  Speaker 1: During your presidency, were you ever made aware of the
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  Speaker 1: information that Maria Farmer provided to the FBI in 1996?
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  Speaker 1: Bill Clinton, no and no. Question good. Thank you. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to move back ahead to the year 2003. There's
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  Speaker 1: just one international trip that I don't think we've specifically
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  Speaker 1: discussed yet. And that was in November of 2003. A
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  Speaker 1: trip to, I think, Russia. And China on Mr. Epstein's plane.
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  Speaker 1: Bill Clinton, is that the last one I took? Answer, great,
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  Speaker 1: so I'm going to give you, I think for us,
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  Speaker 1: the last piece of paper for the day, which is
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  Speaker 1: the flight log for that trip. Well, mark it Minority
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  Speaker 1: Exhibit L, and I'll give you a moment to receive that.
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  Speaker 1: So he gets the paper, looks at it, and the
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  Speaker 1: conversation moves on. Question, and for your counsel, that's a
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  Speaker 1: total of five trips distributed between the fourth, fifth, sixth,
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  Speaker 1: and ninth year on this log. Clinton, yeah, this was
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  Speaker 1: another one of our AIDS trips because I was on it.
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  Speaker 1: question yeah so if you could just describe what you
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  Speaker 1: recall about the circumstances of this trip bill clinton can
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  Speaker 1: you refresh my memory about what stops were actually taken
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  Speaker 1: yeah the countries in question are russia and china i
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  Speaker 1: think the final stop was beijing i don't off the
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  Speaker 1: top of my head know what the airport codes are
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  Speaker 1: for each one it was brussels to oslo to talma
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  Speaker 1: chevo russia to hong kong chengdu beijing bill clinton okay
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  Speaker 1: let's do it again Question, Brussels to Oslo, to the
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  Speaker 1: middle of Russia, Tamachevo, to Hong Kong, to Chengdu, to Beijing. Clinton,
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  Speaker 1: got it. We stopped in Europe. And as I remember,
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  Speaker 1: we did something with Brussels as the parliamentary capital of Europe.
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  Speaker 1: And I think we did something with the EU. And
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  Speaker 1: then Oslo was important because the Norwegians had funded a
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  Speaker 1: project that we did for them, for the Clinton Foundation
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  Speaker 1: for Russia. And they asked us to try to develop
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  Speaker 1: a plan for Leningrad. And we did. Question, what kind
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  Speaker 1: of plan, Mr. President? Answer, an AIDS plan because Leningrad
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  Speaker 1: had a very high AIDS rate because it was near
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  Speaker 1: the ocean and people were coming in and out. And
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  Speaker 1: I think that's what happened then. And then we went
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  Speaker 1: to China and I had been doing a lot of
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  Speaker 1: work on China and it was very interesting because the
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  Speaker 1: Chinese were eager to get into this and yet scared.
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  Speaker 1: It was very interesting. If you were in Russia and China,
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  Speaker 1: you could have been in rural America on AIDS at
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  Speaker 1: the time. They were very reluctant to discuss this and
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  Speaker 1: all hung up about it. And the Chinese, with whom
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  Speaker 1: I had a good relation with at the time, the
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  Speaker 1: national government asked me, they said, they like you out
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  Speaker 1: in the country here. Because I had been there in
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  Speaker 1: 1998 and I had a big trip. And he said,
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  Speaker 1: we want you to go out there and be photographed
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  Speaker 1: on state television playing with children and talking to their
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  Speaker 1: families about AIDS. And that's what the whole trip was about.
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  Speaker 1: So I was doing that. And I'm almost sure that's it.
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  Speaker 1: And then we stopped in Hong Kong on our way out. Question, yep,
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  Speaker 1: Hong Kong and Beijing. Thank you very much. I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: that context. Is it correct that while you were on
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  Speaker 1: that trip... you did not witness or become aware of
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  Speaker 1: sexual abuse of any kind? Answer, no. We were all busy,
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  Speaker 1: as crazy, and I never saw anything like that. We
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  Speaker 1: have a few events of which we don't have exact dates.
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  Speaker 1: I'll ask about them one at a time. CNN has
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  Speaker 1: reported in July of 2003... Ms. Maxwell co-hosted a fundraiser
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  Speaker 1: for your presidential library, and Mr. Epstein may have attended.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know whether or not you attended that event.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have any recollection of attending that event? Answer,
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  Speaker 1: I don't. I wouldn't be surprised. I don't remember anything
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  Speaker 1: about it. Question, thank you. An investigative journalist named Vicki
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  Speaker 1: Ward has claimed that Ms. Maxwell accompanied you on a
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  Speaker 1: trip to India sometime in 2003, including to the Taj Mahal,
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  Speaker 1: and that you traveled for that trip on a private
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  Speaker 1: jet owned by billionaire Ron Burkle. Do you have any
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  Speaker 1: recollection of the trip I just described? Clinton, no, but
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  Speaker 1: I want to be forthright here. The first thing I
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  Speaker 1: did in the way of public service after I left
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: office was try to help India deal with the aftermath
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  Speaker 1: of the Gujarat earthquake, which happened literally four days after
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  Speaker 1: I gave up the White House. And so I called
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister of India, who was a friend of mine,
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  Speaker 1: and he said I need help. I've got to build
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  Speaker 1: schools and hospitals, and I can't do anything in the
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  Speaker 1: small towns and the middle-sized towns and rural areas. I
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  Speaker 1: only have money to do something in the big cities.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm not saying I did or didn't do this.
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  Speaker 1: I have no memory. But I don't want to mislead anybody.
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  Speaker 1: We were doing tons of stuff, and we needed to
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  Speaker 1: finance it. So I can't say that I did or
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  Speaker 1: didn't do it. Question, thank you. In your 2024 memoir,
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  Speaker 1: you said that by the time Epstein was arrested in 2005,
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  Speaker 1: that you had stopped contact with him. When do you
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  Speaker 1: recall being the last time that you had any kind
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  Speaker 1: of communication with Mr. Epstein? Clinton. The last time I
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  Speaker 1: remember with him was sometime in 2003. Question Attorney Brad Edwards.
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  Speaker 1: That's an attorney who represented many of the Epstein survivors.
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  Speaker 1: Excuse me, counsel. Clinton's lawyer jumps in. I believe there
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: was a misstatement there. The book says who in 2008
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: had been convicted and jailed in Florida, not 2005. The
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  Speaker 1: person doing the questioning. I appreciate that. Attorney Brad Edwards
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  Speaker 1: has represented many of Mr. Epstein's survivors. He claimed in
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: a 2011 filing that he believed the Justice Department possessed
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: some kind of correspondence from you from 2007 or 2008
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  Speaker 1: on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein. At any of the various
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: points when Mr. Epstein was under investigation, did you or
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  Speaker 1: any of your representatives ever submit any correspondence to the
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  Speaker 1: Department of Justice on his behalf? Clinton, I have no
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  Speaker 1: memory of that. Question, CNN has reported that in 2007, Ms.
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  Speaker 1: Maxwell co-hosted a fundraiser for Secretary Clinton's presidential campaign in
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  Speaker 1: New York City. We believe that Christina Aguilera may have
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  Speaker 1: performed at the event. Do you have any knowledge or
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  Speaker 1: recollection of attending that event? Answer, I don't. Question, there
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: was an email released as part of the DOJ files
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  Speaker 1: recently that suggested that you may have attended a party
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  Speaker 1: at Ghislaine Maxwell's home in October of 2009. and the
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  Speaker 1: publicist Peggy Siegel, as well as Jeff Bezos may have attended.
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  Speaker 1: My only question to you is whether you have any
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  Speaker 1: recollection of attending the party that I just described. Answer, Clinton,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: is her home in New York City? Answer, uh, question,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: it would be at Ms. Maxwell's home in New York City.
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  Speaker 1: Bill Clinton? No, I have no memory of that. Question,
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  Speaker 1: thank you, it's been widely reported that in July of 2010, Ms.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Maxwell attended your daughter Chelsea's wedding in Rhinebeck, New York.
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  Speaker 1: and that she accompanied billionaire Ted Wade, who was at
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  Speaker 1: least at the time a family friend of yours. And
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: you've described a little bit today. You, of course, were
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: at that wedding as well. Do you have any specific
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  Speaker 1: recollection of interacting with Miss Maxwell at the wedding? Answer, no.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I was an emotional wreck. I was just trying not
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: to fall off the little, what do you call the pallets? No,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the wooden. He gets cut off. Oh, right, right. That
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: we walked on the grass with. I knew that she
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: was there, and that she and Ted were there. Question,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and what was your understanding of her relationship with Mr.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Waite at the time? Answer, well, I thought they were together,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: and I think Chelsea and Mark did too. And they
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: were there. All right, folks, we're going to wrap up
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: right here. And in the next episode dealing with the topic,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: we're going to pick up where we left off. All
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: the information that goes with this episode can be found
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: in the description box.