We’re in the Seven Circles of Release-the-Epstein-Files Hell
Hillary and Bill Clinton both agreed to a public deposition. So... where are the transcripts?
Photo: Getty Images Politics
It’s not enough that the Justice Department is reportedly withholding dozens of files about Jeffrey Epstein—many of which mention Trump—the American public is now being redlined from even more evidence relating to the disgraced financier.
On Thursday and Friday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton (respectively) spent hours at the Center for Performing Arts in Chappaqua, New York, testifying to lawmakers about their alleged connections to Epstein. And despite them both asking for a public hearing, the depositions happened behind closed doors.
“We’re demanding right now that [Oversight Committee Chairman] James Comer [(R-Kentucky)] and the Republicans release the full transcript where all the questions that were asked [were] fully answered by Secretary Clinton,” Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.), the top Dem in the House Oversight Committee, told reporters outside Thursday’s hearing. On BlueSky, he announced an informal, 24-hour deadline. It’s since passed.
The Clintons initially agreed to a deposition in early February, days after the DOJ uploaded more than three million files of the Epstein files. Hillary, addressing Comer, tweeted, “If you want this fight…let’s have it—in public. You love to talk about transparency. There’s nothing more transparent than a public hearing, cameras on.”
Robert Garcia demands the immediate release of the Hillary Clinton deposition video (again.)
— Craig R. Brittain (@craigbrittain.com) February 27, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Comer agreed to a public hearing, but only if the closed-door deposition happened first. Speaking to Newsmax, he said, “Hearings are more for entertainment than substance…My job isn’t to entertain people. My job is to get the truth to the American people.”
Hillary’s deposition was initially paused on Thursday after Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) broke the party’s own rules and leaked a photo to social media from inside the room. According to MS Now, after the hiatus, Clinton asked Comer if the press could be allowed in afterwards, but he rejected the request.
Speaking to reporters outside, Hillary called the questions she was asked “repetitive” and, in some ways, weird. “It…got, at the end, quite unusual because I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate—one of the most vile bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the internet—that was serving as the basis of a member’s questions to me,” she said. “I thought that they literally asked the same questions over and over again, which didn’t seem to me to be very productive,” she added.
During his deposition on Friday, which lasted over six hours, Bill said in his opening statement: “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong.” During a break, Dems also told reporters that they were really pressing him, and that if anyone has any questions about them being partisan, then the transcripts should be released. Unfortunately, we all know how bad the GOP is with meeting deadlines—or releasing files.
Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes.