Clintons subpoenaed in probe of Epstein connections
The former US president and ex-secretary of state have been subpoenaed to testify on their knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes.
Source: The White House
American power couple Bill and Hillary Clinton have been subpoenaed to testify on their knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes.
The former US president and ex-secretary of state are among a group of high-profile people — including ex-FBI director James Comey — issued deposition subpoenas by a Republican-controlled US House Committee on Wednesday (AEST).
The committee also subpoenaed the Department of Justice for records related to Epstein.
It comes amid heightened interest in the conspiracies surrounding Epstein’s connections and who knew what, including growing uproar surrounding US President Donald Trump’s links.
Bill Clinton admitted in 2019 he had been on Epstein’s plane jet four times and had met Epstein in his Manhattan mansion in 2002. He said the pair had not been in touch for decades.
Clinton’s spokesman said at the time the former president had no knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes.
Recent media reports have suggested a warmer friendship between Epstein and Clinton than admitted, including a New York Times article that featured a framed photo of the pair in Epstein’s townhouse.
In another development on Wednesday (AEST), Epstein’s jailed former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell formally opposed the Trump administration’s bid to release jury transcripts from her trial.
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Maxwell’s lawyer David Markus lodged a nine-page court filing, saying she had “no choice but to respectfully oppose” the release, reports CBS.
“Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,” wrote Markus.
“Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.”
Markus said Maxwell was made a “scapegoat” for Epstein when he died and she became “the only person the government could put on trial”.
“She was convicted in a media firestorm of false reporting and mischaracterisation of evidence,” he wrote.
“With her case pending before the Supreme Court, the government seeks to unseal untested, hearsay-laden grand jury transcripts, which contain statements presented in secret and never challenged by the adversarial process.
“Maxwell has never been allowed to review those transcripts, even though the government did not oppose her recent request to do so.”
Ghislaine Maxwell is opposing the release of jury transcripts. Photo: AAP
Trump’s administration last week urged two judges to release testimony to a grand jury that indicted Epstein and Ghislaine on sex-trafficking charges.
US federal prosecutors said unsealing the materials would be appropriate given the “abundant public interest” in the case.
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Democrats are also pushing for the release of Epstein files, saying Trump should be held accountable for breaking his election promise to release them.
It is unclear whether the Justice Department will aim to respond by the Democrats’ August 15 deadline.
Trump has faced pressure to make public documents from the federal investigations into Epstein, who took his own life in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, and his long-time girlfriend Maxwell, who was convicted of sex-trafficking in 2021.
Even if one or both of the judges allow the transcripts to be made public, it is unclear whether the public would learn anything new or noteworthy.
In the filings, prosecutors said the only witness at Epstein’s grand jury was an FBI agent. That same agent and a New York City Police Department detective were the only witnesses at Maxwell’s grand jury, prosecutors said.
Maxwell’s four-week trial in 2021 included public testimony from alleged sex-trafficking victims, associates of Epstein and Maxwell, and law enforcement officers.
She is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Florida and is asking the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. She had pleaded not guilty.
The unsealing requests came after Trump earlier in July asked US Attorney-General Pam Bondi to seek the release of grand jury transcripts. He did so after the Justice Department said it concluded that Epstein died by suicide and that there was no incriminating list of his clients.
The announcement angered some of Trump’s conservative supporters who believe the government is covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful and that the financier was murdered in jail.
The transcripts would not represent all previously unreleased material held by the US government. Investigators and prosecutors may pursue leads that they cannot substantiate or interview potential witnesses whom they do not ultimately call to testify before a grand jury.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to a prostitution charge brought under Florida law. He was given a 13-month sentence in a deal with prosecutors now widely regarded as too lenient.
Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, last week met Maxwell to see if she had any information about others who had committed crimes. Markus and Blanche ha provided no detailed accounts of their discussions.
-with AAP
