Hillary Clinton speaks after Epstein testimony

We're going to take you now to Chappaqua, New York, where Hillary Clinton is speaking about her deposition with lawmakers earlier today. Let's take a listen. As fully as I could, based on what I knew, and what I knew is what I said in my statement this morning. I never met Jeffrey Epstein, never had any connection or communication with him. I knew Ghislaine Maxwell casually, as an acquaintance. But whatever they asked me, I did my very best to respond. It was disappointing that they refused to hold a public hearing, so I wouldn't have to be out here characterizing it for you. You could have seen it for yourself. We had asked for that. We think it would have been better for the committee and its efforts to gather whatever information they are seeking. We had a bit of a challenge in the beginning because we had agreed upon rules based on the fact it was going to be a closed hearing at their demand. And one of the members violated that rule, which was very upsetting because it suggested that they might violate other of our agreements. So we had to cease the hearing for a period of time until we could get assurances that no rules would be broken going forward. And we returned to answer questions repetitively, literally, over and over again. I don't know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein. I never went to his island. I never went to his homes. I never went to his offices. So it's on the record numerous times. It then 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. So I can only say that the best exchange that I had came at the very end, when contrary to every other deposition they have taken, no Republican member asked any questions about Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell to anyone else they have deposed. And in fact, the Republican members didn't even show up for the deposition of Les Wexner. And when I said that, I had to point out that the only questions that any Republican member asked of any of the people they deposed was of former Attorney General Bill Barr when Chairman Comer asked him about the allegations, in his view, about Russia's involvement in my election in 2016. So at the very end of this hearing, after I made that point, I want to commend Chairman Comer for raising a series of significant questions that I responded to about the nature of the investigation and the areas that I thought should be explored. So I appreciated that. I want to see the truth come out. So that was a reassuring way to end a very long, repetitive deposition. Madam Secretary, you spoke in your opening remarks about how heartbroken you have been for the Epstein survivors as these files have come out. Can you talk to us a little bit about how you have processed and reacted to the fact that your former president, your husband, Bill Clinton, is referenced in the Epstein files numerous times, including in some photos featuring women? And how have you been personally preparing for the deposition that is coming tomorrow? Are you 100 percent confident that there isn't anything that the former president knows about Epstein's crimes? I am. And I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended several years before anything about Epstein's criminal activities came to light and that he was charged and sadly given a sweetheart deal, which, as I said in my statement, had that not happened, perhaps his predatory behavior could have been stopped earlier. But I think it is fair to say that the vast majority of people who had contact with him before his criminal pleas in 08 were like most people. They did not know what he was doing. And I think that that is exactly what my husband will testify to tomorrow. Do you believe this was a fair hearing? And do you still want to testify publicly, even though you gave the deposition? Oh, I'm not going to do it again. They had a chance to do it in public, and I wish they had done it in public. And I think they're making the wrong decision, avoiding doing it in public. I thought it was very repetitive. I thought that they asked literally the same questions over and over again, which didn't seem to me to be very productive. And then, as I said, toward the end, you know, there were other questions that were totally off subject. So if they are going to fulfill their responsibilities to literally investigate the investigations, which is what they originally said was the scope of their work, I think they could have spent the day more productively. James Matthews from Sky News. Can I ask, why was Colleen Maxwell invited to your daughter Chelsea Clinton's wedding in 2010? She'd already been mentioned in a civil lawsuit by Virginia Giuffre before that. Jeffrey Epstein had already been convicted before. She came as the plus one, the guest of someone who was invited. Thank you all. I don't know when the video will be out. I don't know when the transcript will be out. We've asked that they be out as quickly as possible, and then you can see you can see everything. Thank you. All right. You were just all right. You were just listening to former Secretary of State and former First Lady Hillary Clinton addressing reporters there in Chappaqua, New York, following a days-long closed-door deposition by the House Oversight Committee there in New York. The former Secretary of State saying flatly that Republicans, in her estimation, are making the wrong decision by not doing this in public. She said this deposition, which lasted the course of the day, was often repetitive. She says that, at times, it veered into different questions that were unrelated to, in her opinion, the Epstein investigation, including UFOs and the debunked conspiracy theory about Pizzagate. But the former secretary also saying that tomorrow she believes that her husband, who is set to testify before this same body, will have a similar day, and that his story will link up with hers, and that this committee will ultimately realize that they had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein or Glenn Maxwell's crimes. That's something that she's reiterated throughout the day and through a statement before this. But I want to bring in ABC's Perry Russom, who's been listening to this along with me here. And Perry, it's pretty striking that Clinton came to address the cameras today. We saw lawmakers address the cameras today on her behalf when there was that pause midday. I mean, this is something that they really wanted to play out in front of the public. Yeah, I think it's safe to say that it's shocking that we just heard from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after hours of being deposed by the House Oversight Committee. I want to get to some headlines that she just said at a news conference right there. She says she never met Jeffrey Epstein, never went to his home, never went to his offices, never went to the island. She says she knew Ghislaine Maxwell casually. She says that she was disappointed that the House Oversight Committee refused to have this hearing publicly. She says she wants the American people to see this for themselves. She also talked about the rules that were violated by Congressman Lauren Boebert. Clinton said that she was upset that this happened. She says that she was worried at the time that other rules were going to be broken. She says ultimately that she wants the truth to come out. And then she said at the end, the questioning started to spiral a little bit where she was asked about UFOs. She was asked about Pizzagate. I also want to highlight two questions that reporters were able to ask her. The first one was, do you believe this was a fair hearing? Her response was this was a repetitive process, not productive. The second question she was asked, why was Ghislaine Maxwell invited to Chelsea Clinton's wedding? Her response was Maxwell was the plus one of somebody else who was invited. She was also asked about the hearing tomorrow when her husband, former President Bill Clinton, will be deposed by the same committee that just deposed her just now. She highlighted that her husband's relationship with Epstein ended years before Epstein was accused of any wrongdoing. Clinton adding at the end there that she does not know when this video will be released, but she wants that video released so the public can see what she had to say today, Alex. Yeah, she was asking for the video and the transcripts there. But Perry, you know, looking ahead to tomorrow, you know, certainly the former President going before this committee is setting a precedent in a number of ways. But what are we expecting? Yeah, so Congressman James Comer, who's the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, he said before the deposition today that today was going to be a long day and then he said tomorrow is going to be even longer. It seems like a lot of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, really want to hear from former President Bill Clinton to see what he knows about all of this. There's a series of questions, series of inquiries that this committee wants to know about. They want to know who did Epstein know? Where did he get all this money? Was he an informant for any government, whether it's the U.S. or a different country? So it seems like the bulk of the information that the committee is hoping to learn will come tomorrow, because as we just heard from Hillary Clinton there, she never met Epstein, never went to the offices, the island, his home. She just casually knew Ghislaine Maxwell, Alex. Well, and so, Perry, tomorrow, at second deposition, presumably in the can, what happens next for this House Oversight Committee? It's a great question. I think Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the aisle, we heard from today, they want to hear from other people. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was somebody that Comer said that he would be interested in talking to. Lutnick has been brought back into the Epstein fold, if you will, after more files were released in the past week or so about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. So it seems like Comer might be entertaining the idea of reaching out to Lutnick. We know that there are some other high-profile people that the committee is eyeing as well. So we have to see where this is going to go, because it's one thing to say, hey, look, we're interested in talking to this person. It's another thing to issue a subpoena. Yeah, certainly. Okay. Perry Russell for us. Thank you so much.