Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton grew “unhinged” on Thursday when she sat for a deposition as part of the congressional investigation into the Epstein files, Rep. Nancy Mace claims.
“I asked her very pointed questions and you’ll see that in the transcript and the video that comes out and you’ll see how she responded as well, screaming,” the South Carolina Republican told reporters Friday, ahead of the House Oversight Committee’s questioning of Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton.
“She was unhinged, and I hope that President Clinton is less unhinged today than his wife was yesterday,” Mace added.
Representatives for Clinton disputed this account of the deposition, which also made headlines when a right-wing influencer leaked a photo of the closed-door proceedings, leading investigators to temporarily pause their questioning.
“She is full of s***,” Hillary Clinton’s spokesperson Nick Merrill told CNN. “Was she appalled that Congresswoman Mace wouldn’t let her answer a question about her work as a senator after the murder of 3,000 Americans on 9/11? Absolutely.”
In a series of statements on X, Mace claimed Clinton was “scared” about her line of questioning.
“Hillary Clinton shamefully used the terrorist attack of 9/11 as a scapegoat to cover for her and her family’s close relationship with Howard Lutnick, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell,” Mace wrote. “In fact, Lutnick appeared to be key to Hillary trying to fundraise off Epstein for her failed presidential campaign LONG after Epstein was a well-known convicted pedophile (2015). Keep spinning Hillary, cause that’s what you have to do your part in one of the greatest cover ups in American history.”
A 2015 email from Lutnick, who is now the Trump administration’s commerce secretary, invited Epstein to a Hillary Clinton fundraiser. It’s unclear if Epstein attended, and Epstein did not donate to Clinton’s campaign.
Clinton has maintained she did not know Epstein and was not aware of any of his criminal activities before the public. She said Republicans asked her repetitive and unusual questions during the roughly six-hour deposition on Thursday.
“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 home, I never went to his offices,” she told reporters on Thursday.
“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,” Clinton added.
Video of the interview could be released as soon as today.
Bill Clinton, whose testimony was underway Friday, chastised Republicans for how they questioned his wife, and he maintained his own distance from Epstein and his crimes.
“You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing. She has no memory of even meeting him. She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties. Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her, was simply not right,” Clinton told committee members in his opening statement.
The former president added in opening remarks that he “saw nothing” and “did nothing wrong” in regards to Epstein, a former friend.
Democrats have accused Republicans of turning the investigation into a political circus.
“I just think it’s unfortunate that we began asking her questions about UFOs and aliens. I mean, let’s be serious at this moment. We have survivors that need answers and the truth. That’s where the focus should be,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, told CNN.
He added that Republicans were not nearly as enthusiastic about attending the testimony of Lex Wexner, the billionaire businessman with close financial ties to Epstein.
“It’s just so interesting that Republicans were so obsessed with being there today, not making it public, yet not a single Republican, not a single one, would join us last week at the deposition of Les Wexner, who was the largest financier, the person that provided Jeffrey Epstein with almost all of his wealth. Not one could attend that deposition,” Garcia added.
The Clintons, Lutnick, nor Wexner have been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Source: independent.co.uk