Bill and Hillary Clinton demand public questioning over their relationship with Epstein

Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, are demanding a public hearing before Congress over their relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a bid to prevent Republicans from politicizing the case.

Both were ordered to testify in a closed-door hearing before the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating Epstein’s links to influential figures and how information about his crimes was handled.

Democrats say the investigation is being used to attack political opponents of President Donald Trump, while he himself was a close associate of Epstein and wasn’t called to testify.

House Republicans have threatened to go ahead with a vote to convict the influential Democratic couple of contempt of Congress if they fail to testify, prompting them to agree to attend.

However, Clinton said Friday that holding the hearing behind closed doors would amount to a show trial.

“Let’s put an end to this procrastination and deal with it the right way, in a public hearing,” the former Democratic president said in a post on X.

From her part, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, said they had told the Republican-led oversight committee of what we know.

“If you want this match… Let’s fight it publicly,” she said.

Last week, the Justice Department released a new batch of Epstein’s files, which include more than three million documents, photos and videos related to her investigation into the case of the convicted sex financier who was found hanged in his New York cell in 2019.

Bill Clinton’s name is repeated in these files, but no evidence has emerged that he or his wife is guilty of criminal activity.

The former president acknowledged that he flew on Epstein’s plane in the early 2000s for humanitarian purposes related to the Clinton Foundation, but denied having ever visited Epstein Island.

Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump in 2016, said she had little contact with Epstein, never flew on his plane or visited his island.