Former President Bill Clinton invoked a personal childhood story from his childhood ahead of a congressional deposition for the probe into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Clinton recounted experiencing domestic abuse in his childhood home in an opening statement submitted to the House Oversight Committee on Friday later posted to X. He framed the account as part of his broader response to questions about alleged ties to Epstein.
“As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing—I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals.” (RELATED: Clintons Offer To Testify In Epstein Probe)
As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing—I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals. pic.twitter.com/0rX8cat5Pu
— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) February 27, 2026
Clinton has publicly recalled growing up in a home marked by domestic abuse primarily due to his stepfather, Roger Clinton Sr., who reportedly struggled with alcoholism and exhibited violent behavior toward Clinton’s mother, Virginia, and occasionally the family.
In his 2004 memoir My Life, Clinton described intervening in a violent incident as a youth, according to The New York Review.
Clinton similarly reflected on how those experiences shaped him, saying in past interviews that growing up in an alcoholic and abusive household made him more conflict-averse, more skilled at reconciliation, and more empathetic to victims.
During a 2014 interview with CNN amid the Ray Rice NFL scandal, he said he knew “a lot about this subject” because he “grew up in a home with domestic violence.”
Regarding Epstein, Clinton added that he “saw nothing and “did nothing wrong,” writing that even with “20/20 hindsight” he never saw anything and reiterating that Epstein’s alleged crimes remained hidden for years.
He alleged that by the time Epstein’s guilty plea came to light he had already stopped associating with the convicted sex offender.
Clinton maintained a well-documented relationship with Epstein from the 1990s until roughly 2003, The Hill reported. Epstein visited the White House while Clinton was in office, the former president took several flights on Epstein’s private jet and photographs later surfaced showing the two together, according to the outlet. (RELATED: REPORT: Bill Clinton Took Epstein And Maxwell To King’s Wedding)
Clinton laid out his two reasons for being at the deposition, He said the first was his love of country. “America was built upon the idea that no person is above the law, even Presidents — especially Presidents,” he wrote.
🚨 BREAKING: Despite flying on Epstein’s plane 27 TIMES and appearing in COUNTLESS photos with him, Bill Clinton in his opening statement says he had NO IDEA what Epstein was doing
“Even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause.”
Yeah, NOBODY believes that. pic.twitter.com/MDb4wiZPEi
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 27, 2026
He said his second reason was that the girls and women allegedly victimized by Epstein “deserve not only justice, but healing.” Clinton added that he would “offer what little I know so that it might prevent anything like this from ever happening again.”
The depositions came after the committee approved a bipartisan amendment in January to hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress for their previous refusal to comply with subpoenas.
Here is my opening statement to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today. pic.twitter.com/NZSF2epcI5
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 26, 2026
The former president issued his statement the day after his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, swore she knew nothing about Epstein at her deposition in Chappaqua, New York. (RELATED: Leaked Photo Brought Hillary Clinton’s Closed-Door Epstein Testimony To Abrupt Halt)
“I never went to his island. I never went to his homes. I never went to his offices,” Hillary said.
Former President Clinton has also said he never went to Epstein’s island, according to The Hill.
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