Politics
Bill Clinton to lawmakers investigating Epstein: ‘I saw nothing’
- Clinton says he would have turned Epstein in.
- Democrats accuse Justice Department of cover-up.
- Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane several times.
Bill Clinton told lawmakers on Friday that he “saw nothing that gave me pause” when he spent time with Jeffrey Epstein, as the former president gave closed-door testimony about his relationship with the late sex offender.
Clinton’s closed-door appearance before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee marked the first time a current or former president has been compelled to testify before Congress.
Democrats on the panel said President Donald Trump should be subpoenaed as well, but the committee’s Republican chairman, James Comer said that was not going to happen.
Both men socialised with Epstein before his 2008 conviction of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Both have repeatedly said they did not see any evidence of sex trafficking, and neither have been accused by authorities of criminal activity related to the late financier, who entertained a long list of business and financial leaders at his lavish residences in New York, Florida and the Caribbean.
In his testimony, Clinton told the committee that he would not have flown on the late financier’s plane if he had known about his alleged sex trafficking of underage girls, and would have reported him if he did.
“We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long,” Clinton said, speaking near his main residence in Chappaqua, New York.
Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane several times in the early 2000s after he left office, and a tranche of millions of documents released by the Justice Department includes photos of Clinton with women whose faces are redacted.
“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton said.
Comer described the hearing as cordial and said Clinton was cooperative. “He’s a charming individual, obviously,” he said.
Clinton said the committee should not have subpoenaed his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who told the panel on Thursday that she did not remember ever meeting Epstein and had nothing to share about his sex crimes.
She said she was also asked about UFOs and a 2016-era conspiracy theory during the seven-hour session.
Comer said some of Hillary Clinton’s answers had been inconsistent and would be examined for possible perjury.
He did not rule out the possibility of subpoenaing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who visited Epstein’s Caribbean island after his 2008 conviction. “Stay tuned on that,” he said.
Democrats said the investigation would not be credible if it does not examine Trump’s role.
“President Clinton’s presence here today under oath highlights the Donald Trump-sized gaping hole in Chairman Comer’s investigation,” said Democratic Representative James Walkinshaw of Virginia.
Democrats are also accusing Trump’s Justice Department of withholding records of a woman who accused Trump of sexually abusing her when she was a minor. The Justice Department has said it is looking at the material and will publish it if appropriate, and has also warned that the material includes unfounded accusations about Trump.
Trump’s name appears frequently in the Epstein files. He socialised extensively with Epstein in the 1990s and 2000s and says he broke off ties before Epstein’s 2008 conviction. Authorities have not accused him of criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, but the association has dogged him for decades.
At the White House, Trump expressed sympathy for Clinton, a Democrat.
“I don’t like seeing him deposed,” Trump said. “But they certainly went after me more than that.”
The Clintons agreed to testify near their home in Chappaqua after the House threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate. Some Democrats supported the move.
Both Clintons accuse Republicans of conducting a partisan exercise designed to protect Trump from scrutiny, noting that others in the inquiry were allowed to submit written statements rather than testify in person.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 while facing federal sex-trafficking crimes. His death was ruled a suicide.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that “regime change” in the Islamic Republic of Iran is an “impossible mission.”
He made the remarks in an interview with American satellite broadcaster NBC News, hours after the Israeli regime and the United States launched another unprovoked war of aggression against the country.
The aggression came in the middle of indirect nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, mediated by the Omani government, with Araghchi leading the Iranian side.
Iran’s top diplomat said the Islamic Republic is a “great nation with a magnificent civilization” that has endured for thousands of years.
“We know how to defend ourselves and we will survive,” he told the US news channel, adding that the moment the aggression stops, Iran will also stop defending itself.
The Israeli regime and the United States carried out fresh aggression against Iran early on Saturday, targeting multiple cities, including the capital, Tehran.
Many casualties are feared, most of them civilians, including children.
Iranian armed forces responded with coordinated retaliatory operations, targeting multiple military and intelligence sites in the occupied territories as well as US military bases scattered across the Persian Gulf region.
Iran had previously warned the Persian Gulf countries against allowing their soil to be used in any act of aggression against the country.
Araghchi said he had been in contact with his counterparts from the Persian Gulf countries and explained that Iran does not intend to attack them, rather, the attacks on US bases in the region are a “defensive measure.”
“We could not simply sit back and watch,” Iran’s foreign minister asserted.
He dismissed the rumors about the assassination of top Iranian government officials or military commanders, saying they are all “safe and alive.”
Araghchi also questioned the US rationale of engaging in diplomacy and then attacking in the middle of talks, especially when they had made “big progress” in the recent round of talks held in Geneva on Thursday.
The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic route for seaborne oil that has long been used by Iran as a geopolitical bargaining chip, with Tehran repeatedly threatening to close it during times of crisis.
A senior naval commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in late January again threatened its closure in the event of an attack, as US President Donald Trump warned of military action should the Islamic republic fail to cut a deal to curb its nuclear programme.
Despite its frequent warnings of a blockade, Tehran has never acted on them, though it closed part of the strait briefly for “safety” reasons during recent military drills.
Here are the key points to know about the waterway.
Gateway to the Gulf
The Strait of Hormuz links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is situated between Iran and Oman’s Musandam exclave, situated at the tip of a peninsula.
Its narrowness, at around 50 kilometres (30 miles), and shallow waters, at no more than 60 metres (200 feet) deep, make it vulnerable to being sealed off militarily.
The strait is dotted with sparsely inhabited or desert islands, which are strategically important, notably the Iranian islands of Hormuz, Qeshm and Larak.
Also among them are the disputed islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Mussa, which lie between the UAE and Iran and provide a vantage point over the Gulf, and have been under Iranian control since 1971.
Oil transit hotspot
The strait is a vital corridor connecting the oil-rich Gulf with markets in Asia, Europe, North America and elsewhere.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Strait of Hormuz is “one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints”.
About one-fifth of global oil and petroleum product consumption flows through the strait, averaging 20 million barrels per day in 2024, according to the EIA.
Around one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas trade also transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2024, primarily from Qatar, it said.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have infrastructure to bypass the strait, potentially mitigating disruption, but their transit capacity remains very limited — around 2.6 million barrels a day.
“Large volumes of oil flow through the strait, and very few alternative options exist to move oil out of the strait if it is closed,” the EIA warned.
More than 80% of the oil and gas moving through the strait is destined for markets in Asia, according to the EIA.
China, a key backer of Tehran, buys more than 90% of Iran’s oil exports, according to the analysis firm Kpler.
Military presence
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic’s military, controls naval operations in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran has repeatedly criticised the presence of foreign powers in the region — home to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and the Middle East’s largest US base in Qatar.
In 2023, Western naval forces operating in the Gulf warned ships sailing in the strait against approaching Iranian waters to avoid the risk of seizure.
There have been a series of such incidents since 2018, when US president Donald Trump pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic, sending tensions soaring.
Oil transit was disrupted in 1984 during the Iran-Iraq War when both sides attacked each other’s shipping, damaging or destroying more than 500 vessels in the so-called “Tanker War”.
And after Tehran laid mines in the strait, the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck one in April of 1988 and nearly sank.
In July of that year, an Iran Air Airbus A300 flying the Bandar Abbas-Dubai route was shot down by two missiles fired from a US frigate, killing 290 people.
The crew of the USS Vincennes said it had mistaken the airliner for an Iranian fighter jet with hostile intent.
Maritime incidents
The Strait of Hormuz is frequently the scene of ship seizures and attacks.
Incidents multiplied after the United States withdrew in 2018 from the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.
In 2019, unclaimed attacks on ships in the Gulf region, a downed drone and seized tankers raised fears of an escalation between Tehran and Washington.
On July 29, 2021, an attack in the Gulf of Oman on a tanker operated by a company owned by an Israeli billionaire killed two people. Israel, the United States, Britain and Romania accused Tehran, which denied any involvement.
In April 2024, the Revolutionary Guards seized the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Aries, accusing its owner of being “linked to Israel”.
In early February, a US-flagged tanker was approached and challenged by Iranian gunboats in the strait, before continuing on its way, US Central Command said.
Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, plunging the Middle East into a renewed military confrontation as President Donald Trump vowed to destroy Tehran’s missile arsenal and prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Below is international reaction to the attacks:
Deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council
“The peacemaker once again showed his face,” Medvedev, a former Russian president, said. “All negotiations with Iran are a cover operation. No one doubted it. No one really wanted to negotiate anything.”
“The question is who has more patience to wait for the inglorious end of their enemy. The USA is only 249 years old. The Persian Empire was founded more than 2,500 years ago. Let’s see in 100 years…”
Labanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam
“I reiterate that we will not accept anyone dragging the country into adventures that threaten its security and unity.”
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide
“The attack is described by Israel as a preventive strike, but it is not in line with international law. Preventive attacks require an immediately imminent threat.”
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Saturday that “the latest developments across the Middle East are perilous” and that the bloc was coordinating with Arab partners to explore diplomatic paths.
Kallas also said she has spoken with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and that Europe’s consular network is engaged in facilitating departures for EU citizens.
“Non-essential EU personnel are being withdrawn from the region”, she said.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry
“The cause of the current events is precisely the violence and impunity of the Iranian regime, in particular the killings and repression of peaceful protesters, which have become particularly widespread in recent months,” the foreign ministry said.
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