Home Republicans are planning to rattle smooth-talking ex-President Invoice Clinton throughout a deposition about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein subsequent week by blitzing him with questions on his notorious picture within the disgraced financier’s scorching tub, insiders advised The Publish.
“Even one thing so simple as that may solicit reactions,” one GOP aide advised The Publish of lawmakers’ plan for the closed-door, taped interviews with the previous president and spouse Hillary Clinton in Chappaqua that kick off Thursday.
“They’re going to carry up a few of the photos within the scorching tub.”
The blockbuster Clinton depositions with the Home Oversight Committee comply with cascading revelations from the Epstein recordsdata together with the beautiful arrest Thursday of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over allegations that surfaced within the latest Division of Justice doc dump.
It’s a part of an effort to “get some layups early” to attempt to “knock him off his ft. He can’t say no. Everybody is aware of it’s him,” the supply mentioned.
It’s a technique the GOP hopes will immediate Clinton to say one thing both revelatory or politically damaging because the Epstein scandal continues to unfold.
The damning images additionally embody bubba lounging along with his arms behind his head close to an unidentified lady whose face is blacked out.
One other snap reveals a ruddy-faced Clinton along with his arm round an unidentified blonde lady perched in his lap. And different photos present him sporting a purple hoodie alongside a girl whose face is blacked out, or grinning with Epstein whereas each put on wildly pattered silk shirts.
“The Clintons’ testimony is important to understanding Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell’s intercourse trafficking community and the methods they sought to curry favor and affect to protect themselves from scrutiny,” Oversight panel Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) advised The Publish.
The political energy couple — who haven’t been formally accused of wrongdoing in reference to Epstein — have lengthy tried to downplay their ties to the disgraced financier.
The committee additionally goals to grill the couple on Ghislaine Maxwell’s position within the early origins of their Clinton International Initiative – connecting the Clintons’ signature world do-gooder campaign with Epstein money.
Maxwell, convicted in 2021 of sexual abuse of minors, was concerned within the group’s 2004 launch, in response to the DOJ doc dump. She was additionally an “honored visitor” at a September 2013 CGI occasion.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who’s slated to testify Feb. 26 whereas Invoice is scheduled for the next day, will likely be pressured to defend her latest feedback to the BBC that the couple “haven’t any hyperlinks” to Epstein.
“Their testimony might also inform how Congress can strengthen legal guidelines to raised fight human trafficking. Our aim for this investigation is simple: we search to ship transparency and accountability for the American individuals and for survivors.”
Panel member Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), who has crusaded towards sexual predators, plans to drill down on Hillary’s Feb. 17 interview with the BBC. Questioning will likely be led by committee employees, however lawmakers are entitled to attend and ask questions.
Mace telegraphed one other one among her questions on-line in February in response to a Clinton put up: “Had been you ever alone with any of the ladies you had been seen photographed with?”
Each depositions will happen within the Clintons’ adopted dwelling city of Chappaqua in Westchester County “as an lodging for his or her schedules,” in response to a committee spokeswoman.
That comes regardless of Hillary’s declare that, “I simply need it to be honest – I need everyone handled the identical approach.” Whereas it isn’t remarkable for committee depositions to happen out of DC – Epstein patron billionaire Les Wexner, 88, did his at dwelling in Ohio – witnesses sometimes should courageous the media and the general public to look in a congressional workplace constructing.
Invoice can’t depend on the committee’s Democrats to throw him a life raft.
9 of them voted to carry him in contempt in January when his attorneys had been resisting a subpoena. Three voted to do the identical in Hillary Clinton’s case.
However the former president, who had no fewer than six attorneys listed on correspondence to the committee, can have his personal secret weapon.
His lead lawyer is Ashley Callen, former counsel for Home Speaker Mike Johnson, now with Jenner & Block LLC. She is aware of key committee members and employees from her time within the Home of Representatives
Longtime Clinton lawyer David Kendall, of Williams & Connolly LLC, can be representing him.
Clinton’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. He posted on X this month throughout a standoff over the phrases of the deposition, saying he refused to be “a prop in a closed-door kangaroo courtroom.”
“I’ve known as for the complete launch of the Epstein recordsdata. I’ve supplied a sworn assertion of what I do know. And simply this week, I’ve agreed to look in individual earlier than the committee. However it’s nonetheless not sufficient for Republicans on the Home Oversight Committee.”
The Clintons’ solutions will likely be intently watched in DC. The couple have their very own reputations to guard, and revelations from the recordsdata have taken down a number of figures within the US and overseas.
The committee is predicted to rapidly launch the complete video deposition to the general public, permitting individuals to evaluate for themselves how one of many nation’s strongest {couples} holds up below scrutiny.
