Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11), who was “in the room” for the depositions of both Hillary Clinton (yesterday) and Bill Clinton (today), discussed what he observed with CNN. See below for highlights and video.
- “President Clinton testified for six hours today. As both Democrats and Republicans who were in the room have confirmed, he answered every question openly and transparently. I would say that to date, everything President Clinton has said publicly, has been consistent with information that’s in the files and other information that’s public. So, there are no inconsistencies in President Clinton’s statements. And I’m going to sit down and go through the transcript again with everyone else over the next couple days when it’s released. But my perspective is that he’s been consistent.”
- “I think that’s a legitimate line of inquiry [that Jeffrey Epstein was an “intelligence asset” running a “honeypot operation”] for our committee and for the investigation. I don’t share the Congresswoman [Luna]’s certainty about that. I know that’s a topic of of great interest, especially in some corners of the internet. I think we should pursue it. I don’t think we learned anything today that lends additional evidence to that theory, but it’s certainly worth considering and continuing to pursue.”
- “I do believe we will [hear directly from President Trump]. Whether it will be in this Congress or a future Congress, I don’t know. But I do believe that at some point in time, President Trump will have to answer questions under oath about Jeffrey Epstein. And you know, I mentioned President Clinton being consistent with the public record in terms of the statements he’s made. Donald Trump has been inconsistent with the public record with statements that he has made. There are documents in the files that have been released, some of which are still illegally redacted, that contradict parts of Donald Trump’s story with respect to Jeffrey Epstein. Chairman Comer revealed a piece of conversation in today’s deposition where President Clinton was asked about President Trump and Epstein. And I think when the transcript and video is revealed, there will be a lot of interest in the rest of that line of question and conversation that will shed some more light on inconsistencies in President Trump’s story.”
- “The story that President Trump has told about his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein is that Epstein was quote stealing Mar a Lago employees, right? Including Virginia Giuffre, who who was a child at the time. President Trump has said repeatedly that’s why he kicked Epstein out of Mar a Lago. I read a document that’s illegally redacted by the Department of Justice that gives a different version with respect to Trump kicking Epstein out, or actually never kicking Epstein out of Mar a Lago…I think, again, when you review the transcript and compare that to what President Trump has said about Mar a Lago and Epstein, there are some inconsistencies there that I think the committee will have to pursue. And I think ultimately President Trump needs to explain that and other pieces of this story under oath. He’s claiming to be exonerated. Some of my Republican colleagues today have said President Trump is exonerated. The only way for him to exonerate himself is to sit down under oath and answer every single question truthfully and fully.”
- “Absolutely. Secretary Lutnick should have been in talking to our committee when the files revealed that he had been lying about the extent of his relationship with Epstein. It’s clear now that we have the votes on the committee to subpoena Lutnick. It’s only because that became clear that Chairman Comer is now saying he’ll bring him in. Chairman Comer has resisted bringing Lutnick in. But now that it’s clear there’s Republican support on the committee to bring him in and we have the votes, I do think it will happen. And look, the challenge with Lutnick is he’s in the same position as Trump. He said he had no relationship or a very limited relationship with Epstein. The files and other public documents reveal that’s a lie. Donald Trump is in the exact same situation. So, if Lutnick’s going to testify and Republicans on on our committee support Lutnick coming in, they should support Trump coming in.”Â
- “The question that I’ve had for everybody who had a a significant relationship or relationship with Epstein is what, if anything, did you know about the crimes and when did you know it? And President Clinton answered tough questions about that today. Quite frankly, I think the questions from us Democrats were tougher than the questions from our Republican colleagues, but he answered them all openly and in great detail.”
- “Look, these crimes that were committed by Epstein at least, and perhaps others, are so heinous that I would never say the cover up is worse than the crime. But the cover up is a crime here. And President Trump and others in the Trump administration are going to need to testify under oath about this cover up.”
