Former U.S. Secretary of State (2009-2013), U.S. Senator from New York (2001-2009), and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.
Hillary Clinton appears in over 1,500 documents in the Epstein case files, though the vast majority reference her in a political context rather than establishing direct personal ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Clinton has consistently stated she never met Epstein. After missing subpoena dates in October 2025, December 2025, and January 2026 following a bipartisan contempt of Congress vote on January 21, 2026, she agreed to testify and appeared for roughly six hours in a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on February 26, 2026.
In her opening statement she said: "I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein.
I never flew on his plane or visited his island home or offices." She told reporters she knew Ghislaine Maxwell casually as an acquaintance and that Maxwell attended Chelsea Clinton's July 2010 wedding as a guest of another invited guest, a claim consistent with Maxwell having attended alongside then-boyfriend Ted Waitt. Clinton described Maxwell's attendance at a 2013 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting by saying "thousands of people go to the Clinton Global Initiative." The House Oversight Committee released video of the deposition on March 2, 2026. Clinton accused the committee of conducting a partisan investigation and demanded the full transcript be made public.
Released DOJ documents revealed that Maxwell played a "very central" role in establishing the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005, arranging a $1 million wire transfer to Publicis Groupe for the inaugural conference (doc d-16261). A July 2011 Epstein email to Jes Staley referenced a meeting involving Biden, Clinton, Panetta, and Ban Ki-moon (doc d-33518). A February 2015 Google Alert aggregated within Epstein's network flagged reporting on Clinton-Epstein ties (doc d-33562).
Her husband, Bill Clinton, flew on Epstein's private aircraft at least 26 times between 2002 and 2003, and himself testified before the House Oversight Committee on February 26, 2026, denying knowledge of Epstein's crimes. Congressional observers described Hillary Clinton's deposition as more animated and confrontational than her husband's.