(AFP) – Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has accused President Donald Trump of orchestrating a “cover-up” over files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to an interview with the BBC published Monday.
“Get the files out. They are slow-walking it,” Clinton, who is due to testify before a Congressional committee on the issue, told the British broadcaster in an interview in Berlin. The Justice Department last month released the latest cache of so-called Epstein files — more than three million documents, photos, and videos related to its investigation into sex criminal Epstein, who died from what was determined to be suicide while in custody in 2019.
Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, features regularly in the files, but no evidence has come to light implicating either Clinton in criminal activity. The couple has been ordered to give closed-door depositions before the House Oversight Committee, which is probing the deceased financier’s connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled.
“We will show up but we think it would be better to have it in public,” Hillary Clinton told the BBC. “I just want it to be fair,” she said. “I want everybody treated the same way.” The former secretary of state said she and her husband “have nothing to hide. We have called for the full release of these files repeatedly.”
The Department of Justice has said it has no more files to release, though lawmakers have criticized it for not publishing internal government memos, notes, and emails on Epstein. Clinton said the Republicans probing her are trying to deflect attention away from Trump, whose name is also mentioned in the files many times.
“Look at this shiny object. We’re going to have the Clintons, even Hillary Clinton, who never met the guy,” she said. Trump denies any wrongdoing. Mere mention in the files is not proof of having committed a crime. Former president Clinton has acknowledged flying on Epstein’s plane in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but said he never visited Epstein’s private island.
Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump for president in 2016, has said she had no meaningful interactions with Epstein, never flew on his plane, and never visited his island. In the interview with the BBC, she said she had met Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein associate who was convicted of conspiring with him to sexually abuse minors, “on a few occasions.”
Responding to Clinton’s comment that the congressional testimony was a bid to create a distraction, Trump denied it, telling reporters Monday evening he had been “totally exonerated.” Hillary Clinton will appear for her deposition on February 26, while Bill Clinton will appear on February 27.
© 2024 AFP
