Hillary Clinton used her forced appearance before a Republican-led panel probing the case of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to go on the offensive on Thursday, February 26, demanding that President Donald Trump testify about his own links to Epstein.

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing those who were linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. James Comer, who chairs the committee that will also grill former president Bill Clinton on Friday, said “the purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein.” An individual mentioned in the files linked to Epstein is not proof that they have committed any crime.

After several hours, the closed-door hearing was paused after a photo of Clinton, taken during the deposition, was posted online, an apparent breach of the rules. The photo appeared on the X account of right-wing commentator Ben Johnson, who credited the image to Republican committee member Lauren Boebert, prompting lawyers to discuss how to proceed.

“Benny did nothing wrong. Proceeding with deposition,” Boebert wrote on X, after an advisor to Clinton, Nick Merrill, told journalists that the hearing was paused while lawyers established “why possibly members of Congress are violating House rules.”

While closed to the public, the hearing is being recorded, and images and video may be released later.

Ask Trump ‘directly under oath’ about Epstein

Clinton told the congressional committee that she had no information about Epstein’s crimes, never recalled encountering him and had never visited his island or flown on his plane, accusing the panel of trying to “protect one public official”: Trump.

Clinton challenged the panel, saying, “if this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes (…) it would ask [Trump] directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.”

The top Democrat on the committee, Robert Garcia, also called on Trump to testify “to answer the questions that are being asked across this country from survivors.” Democrats have said the investigation is being weaponized to attack Trump’s political opponents, rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.

‘Let me be as clear as I can’

The Clintons had initially rejected subpoenas ordering them to testify in the panel’s probe, but the Democratic power couple agreed to do so after House Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress.

Clinton said, in her opening statement to the panel, that it “justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.” “Let me be as clear as I can. I do not,” she added

Trump and Bill Clinton, both 79, feature prominently in the recently released trove of government documents related to Epstein, but said they broke any ties with the financier before his 2008 conviction in Florida as a sex offender.

Bill Clinton has acknowledged flying on Epstein’s plane several times in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but said he never visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island.

The Clintons called for their depositions to be public, but the committee insisted on questioning them behind closed doors, a move Bill Clinton denounced as akin to a “kangaroo court.”

Maxwell prepared to speak publicly if given clemency

Meanwhile, Maxwell, 64, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking. She appeared via video-link before the House Oversight Committee earlier this month but refused to answer questions, invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself.

Her attorney, David Markus, said Maxwell would be prepared to speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump.

A number of prominent Americans have had their reputations damaged by their friendships with Epstein and have resigned their positions, but, so far, Maxwell is the only person who has been convicted of a crime in connection with the deceased financier.

Epstein cultivated a network of powerful business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics. The release of the Epstein case files has had repercussions around the globe, including the arrests in Britain of former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson, the ex-ambassador to the United States.