See below for video and highlights of Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) on MSNOW this afternoon, discussing Hillary Clinton’s deposition earlier today:
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “I can’t get into the specifics of the deposition. I can say this. We spent hours here this morning. I don’t think it’s been a great use of the committee’s time. We’ve confirmed what I think we already knew, which is that Secretary Clinton had no relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, no relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, no knowledge of their crimes. And we’ve spent a lot of time today asking the same questions, using different words, all confirming the same thing. She’s not someone who has information that’s valuable to our investigation…It’s been a similar pattern of asking the same questions in different ways again and again related to does she have a relationship with Epstein? She does not. Did she have a relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell? She does not. Does she have knowledge of the crime? She does not. She laid all that out in her opening statement. I’m not sharing anything that wasn’t included in that opening statement. Nothing that I’ve heard today has changed my perspective on that.”
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “I don’t want to get into specific questions that have been asked. I will say this – from my perspective, the only person who should answer for President Clinton’s actions or behavior is President Clinton. And to ask a spouse, any spouse, to answer for their spouse’s actions or behavior, I just think is is inappropriate. So there will be questions about that asked tomorrow, I’m sure, when we depose President Clinton.”
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “Well, look, it was really disappointing to see the the rules and the agreement broken in that way [referencing Rep. Boebert’s behavior]. I think it unfortunately confirms the suspicion that a lot of us had that this deposition today of Secretary Clinton was more about embarrassing her or perhaps scoring political points than it was advancing what should be a bipartisan investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes to get transparency and accountability for the survivors. So, Chairman Comer will have to decide what if any repercussions there are from that violation of the rules. But I think the damage is once again the credibility of the majority in this committee. That credibility has been damaged…I think, understandably, the Secretary was extraordinarily frustrated. You know, there was a painstaking agreement made in good faith around the rules. She had repeatedly and has repeatedly called for this conversation to take place in public in the open so the media and the world can see it and there isn’t selective leaking of information or of images. So, she was extraordinarily frustrated, understandably.”
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “I certainly hope that [Republicans want to get to the bottom of this]. Look, I think they feel constrained. They don’t want to cross Donald Trump. And I think the question for all of us who are members of Congress here is, are we going to prioritize the survivors and victims that are calling for us to push for transparency and accountability, whether individuals happen to be Democrats or Republicans? Are you going to prioritize that? Or are you going to prioritize Donald Trump not wanting to be incriminated or embarrassed. Given what we know about Howard Lutnick lying to the country, lying to his boss Donald Trump about his relationship with Epstein, he should be coming before the committee. Howard Lutnick should be coming before the committee. Donald Trump is in the files tens of thousands of times, including very serious allegations with files that we now know have been removed or covered up. He should be coming before the committee to answer questions under oath. Democrats, Republicans, independents, it shouldn’t matter.”
- Rep. Walkinshaw: “I think Chairman Comer has set a precedent here that not only do we subpoena former presidents, but if those former presidents don’t show up at the time, date, place, and under the circumstances that we dictate, not only will we bring them in and ask them to testify under oath, that we’ll threaten to put them in jail. That’s the precedent that Chairman Comer set. But I hope if Democrats are in the majority, we’ll be less focused on putting folks in jail and more focused on getting the truth, getting the answers….I think that’s very likely [that Trump comes and testifies about Epstein]. I hope that it happens now. There’s no reason that President Trump couldn’t come in and testify under oath voluntarily to the Oversight Committee. He doesn’t have to be a former president to do it. Sitting presidents have testified before Congress and answered questions before Congress before. There’s no reason he couldn’t do it now. I don’t think he will, but there’s no reason that he couldn’t.”
UPDATE 2/27: See below for more from Rep. Walkinshaw, this time speaking with ABC News.
- “It was a long uh tense day and… a frustrating day for me because I don’t think we learned a lot. Not because Secretary Clinton wasn’t open and honest. She answered every question that was asked, but she just doesn’t know anything about Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell and the crimes they committed. She had sworn to that in a written statement uh in advance of the deposition. We knew that going in and it was confirmed today. Why did it take so long if she clearly didn’t have or suggested she didn’t have any information? Well, there were months of good-faith negotiation and back and forth between Secretary Clinton, the Clinton’s lawyers and and the committee about, you know, the terms of their participation. It’s important to note that a number of other prominent individuals who quite frankly had a lot more information about Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes were not asked by Chairman Comer to answer questions in person. And they were allowed to provide written responses to the questions that the committee had for them. So there’s been a different standard for Secretary Clinton here. But I think she acquitted herself well today…I don’t want to uh violate the rules of the deposition myself and describe what happened in the room in detail, but it’s been reported that a Republican member of the committee took a photo of Secretary Clinton and then shared that photo with a right-wing MAGA influencer. I think it highlighted the fact that there was unfortunately a political and partisan element to the proceedings today. We knew in advance that Secretary Clinton had no relationship with Epstein, had no significant relationship with Maxwell, never flew on the plane, never went to the island, wasn’t involved in any of the crimes. And yet, we brought her in today in front of all the cameras to answer questions, and then in violation of the rules, a photo was released from the deposition. So, it was unfortunate. I give credit to Secretary Clinton for continuing with the deposition regardless of that incident. She would have been well within her rights to step back from the deposition at that point given that the rules have been violated, but she she carried on… I don’t quite understand why Chairman Comer continues to qualify it and say that it might happen or it may happen or maybe it’s on his list. He should just say we’re going to do it. Democrats have called on Secretary Lutnick to come before the committee and testify. Chairman Comer has the power to make that happen. There’s no reason that he shouldn’t do it other than Donald Trump won’t like it. And the important thing to know about Howard Lutnick, he lied about the depth and breadth and length of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. So did his boss Donald Trump. We know that there are many inconsistencies in the story Donald Trump has told publicly about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and the facts we now know from the files and other sources. So Trump and Lutnick are in similar circumstances. They lied to the American people, claim to have a limited or no relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the files have revealed that they both have very, very significant relationships with Jeffrey Epstein. They should both come before our committee and answer questions about that…President Clinton has been clear about the timeline of his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, the fact that through the Clinton Global Initiative, they used Jeffrey Epstein’s plane to move from place to place. Clearly, there are pictures demonstrating that relationship between Clinton and Epstein. And I think President Clinton is in the same category as a lot of folks who had a relationship at some point with Jeffrey Epstein. And the key questions for all of those folks are, were you involved in any of the crimes that were committed or did you have knowledge of any of the crimes that were being committed? And I’m glad that President Clinton is coming before our committee tomorrow to answer questions and I hope we can get to serious resolution of those key questions.”
