C-SPAN’s Washington Journal (02/27/2026) aired live depositions of Hillary and Bill Clinton amid the Epstein files investigation, where both denied ties to Epstein despite DOJ scrutiny linking him to Trump. House Oversight Chair James Comer cited past Democratic errors like Jasmine Crockett’s false claims, while Rep. Robert Garcia demanded unredacted FBI records. Callers clashed over motives—Republicans accused partisan bias, Independents called for bipartisan review, and Democrats insisted on accountability for alleged crimes spanning the 2000s. The debate underscored deep distrust in investigations targeting powerful figures, revealing how Epstein’s case exposes systemic failures to hold elites responsible regardless of party. [Automatically generated summary]
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Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, along with your calls and comments live, Will Freeman from the Council on Foreign Relations on the killing of Mexican drug lord El Mencho and Mexico's war on drugs.
And then investigative journalist Vicki Ward will talk about her reporting on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and efforts to release the Epstein files and the deposition of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the investigation.
And Real Clear Politics Tom Bevin on Campaign 2026 and other political news of the week.
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I don't know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Hepstein.
I never went to his island.
I never went to his homes.
I never went to his offices.
So it's on the record numerous times.
Hillary Clinton yesterday talking to the media following hours of deposition by the House Oversight Committee in their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Today, former President Bill Clinton will also testify behind closed doors in his deposition of what he knew in his relationship to Jeffrey Epstein.
This morning on the Washington Journal, do the Epstein files matter to you?
Republicans dial in at 202-748-8001.
Democrats 202-748-8000.
And Independents 202-748-8002.
You can text if you don't want to call at 202-748-8003.
Include your first name, city, and state.
Post on facebook.com slash C-SPAN and on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ.
Good morning, everyone.
Welcome to the Washington Journal on this Friday morning.
We'll get to our conversation about the Epstein files.
But first, breaking news out of Israel this morning from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, a security alert issued around 4 a.m. this morning.
The Department of State authorized the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of U.S. government personnel from Mission Israel due to safety risks.
In response to security incidents and without advance notices, the U.S. Embassy may further restrict or prohibit U.S. government employees and their family members from traveling to certain areas of Israel, the old city of Jerusalem, and the West Bank.
Persons may wish to consider leaving Israel while commercial flights are available.
In other reports, the ambassador to Israel, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, has told staff they should leave today.
We'll follow that story throughout today's Washington Journal.
This morning, though, we are focusing on that testimony by the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
She sat behind closed doors in Chappaqua, New York at the Performance Arts Center with Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee asking her questions about what she knew in her relationship to Jeffrey Epstein.
Here's more of what she told reporters after her testimony.
Well, I have just finished testifying.
I answered every one of their questions as fully as I could based on what I knew.
And what I knew is what I said in my statement this morning.
I never met Jeffrey Epstein, never had any connection or communication with him.
I knew Ghelaine Maxwell casually as an acquaintance.
But whatever they asked me, I did my very best to respond.
It was disappointing that they refused to hold a public hearing, so I wouldn't have to be out here characterizing it for you.
You could have seen it for yourself.
We had asked for that.
We think it would have been better for the committee and its efforts to gather whatever information they are seeking.
We had a bit of a challenge in the beginning because we had agreed upon rules based on the fact it was going to be a closed hearing at their demand.
And one of the members violated that rule, which was very upsetting because it suggested that they might violate other of our agreements.
So we had to cease the hearing for a period of time until we could get assurances that no rules would be broken going forward.
And we returned to answer questions repetitively, literally over and over again.
I don't know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein.
I never went to his island.
I never went to his homes.
I never went to his offices.
So it's on the record numerous times.
Hillary Clinton talking to the media after sitting for hours in that deposition on Jeffrey Epstein.
You heard her reference how the committee took a break when a photo was released of her in her testimony.
That photo put out on X by conservative Benny Johnson.
The first image of Hillary Clinton testifying under oath about Jeffrey Epstein to the Republican Oversight Committee.
This is the first time Hillary has had to answer real questions about Epstein.
Clinton does not look happy.
That's Benny Johnson's commentary.
And he notes at the bottom, photo provided by Representative Lauren Boebert.
Now, Congresswoman Lauren Bobert, who was in the room, a member of the committee asking questions, she put out on X, no U.S. ambassadors were harmed in the taking of today's photo, a reference to the 2012 attack in Benghazi that killed one U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
She was also asked by reporters about the photo yesterday after the deposition.
Here's what she had to say.
So I guess in regards to the photos, I can't recall.
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert telling the media, I do not recall in regards to the photo, what she said before that.
She references the FBI's investigation into a private email server Clinton used while she was Secretary of State, BleachBit software, which dominated the final stretch of her 2016 presidential campaign.
BleachBit is a computer software that is used to permanently delete files.
It was allegedly used by Clinton's team to remove thousands of emails from her personal server.
Again, President Bill Clinton, the former president, will testify today following his wife's testimony yesterday before the House Oversight Committee.
This taking place in Chopco, New York, by the House Oversight Committee, Republicans and Democrats, asking the Clintons questions.
Front page this morning of the Washington Times, their angle on Hillary Clinton's testimony yesterday.
Clinton on Epstein, ask my husband.
Darrell in Columbus, Georgia, Democratic caller.
Darrell, good morning.
Do the Epstein files matter to you?
Yes.
Yes, it does matter to me.
The reason why I say that is because you got so many people involved, especially over here in the United States, that are not being held accountable.
And of course, Donald Trump, he kind of ran on this Epstein thing.
You got Steve Bannon, you got Howard Lutnick, you got Elon Musk, and of course, Donald Trump.
They're all involved with this.
And especially with the NPR news that came out this week that Donald Trump raped a 13-year-old girl, our president of the United States, involved in rape of a 13-year-old.
Can you imagine?
Those are allegations, Darryl.
Front page of the Washington Post.
DOJ probing if Epstein Tranch hid Trump claims.
This is from Perry Stein's reporting.
The Justice Department said Thursday that it is examining whether it wrongly withheld FBI files that contained allegations against President Donald Trump in its release of millions of pages from the investigatory files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The three summaries of interviews the FBI conducted in 2019 with a woman who had accused Trump of sexually assaulting her are missing from the files.
Multiple news outlets have reported this.
The woman had accused Trump of sexually assaulting her decades earlier when she was a minor.
No evidence has emerged publicly to corroborate that accusation.
Front page of the Washington Post this morning, if all of you want to read more.
Paul in England, Republican.
Paul, good morning.
Good morning.
How are you today?
Yes, we've got to know this.
We need to find out the facts, the real facts, who's been involved in it.
That's all we need to know.
That's very important to the world and important to America as well, politics and whatever.
And why?
So what needs to happen, Paul, to find out all the facts?
Investigations of what was said and all that kind of thing.
That needs to be investigated authority, I think, and just to make sure, you know, just get the facts right, I think.
What do you make of the Justice Department releasing 3 million pages of the Epstein files?
Well, obviously it's important to get the facts right.
And also just get people on trial.
If they've done wrong, Governor Matt has really to get justice for those victims of the crimes which have been taken to leave place and that.
So let me ask you, do you think it was appropriate for this former Secretary of State, presidential candidate, former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, to sit yesterday for hours in that testimony?
Well, yes, of course it does.
Yeah, because obviously we need to know the facts, I think.
That's the important part of it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Paul in England, Republican caller with his thoughts there.
Let's listen to the oversight chair, James Comer, who's leading this investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and called for the deposition of the Clintons.
And you'll recall, three Democrats on the committee also voted with Republicans to have to possibly hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress for not testifying.
That did not go before the full House because a deal was brokered to get the Clintons to testify before the committee.
Here's James Comer, the oversight chair, yesterday.
It's a shame that it took seven months to get Ms. Clinton in.
She answered most of our questions.
I'm going to let some of my colleagues lament on that, but we're going to not release too many details of what happened today.
We're going to try to get the video out as quickly as possible, hopefully within the next 24 hours.
That's a very long deposition.
So, as quick as we can get that video produced, we will get that out.
The transcript will be released as soon as her attorneys approve it.
That's the standard rules of a deposition.
And I think that this was a productive deposition today.
I think we learned a lot.
There were a lot of questions that we asked that we weren't satisfied with the answers that we got, but we will continue to move forward.
The oversight chair, James Comer, they're talking about their plans, the committee's plans, for the deposition by Hillary Clinton, releasing the video.
They have done so for others who they have deposed.
When that video is released, we will hear on the C-SPAN Networks air it in its entirety, both the Hillary Clinton and the Bill Clinton testimony when if the committee releases that video.
You heard the chair there talk about releasing the transcript.
That sounds like that will come out before we see the video of Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton testifying.
The Wall Street Journal this morning says, Files released by the Justice Department beginning in December included photographs of Bill Clinton and references to his past interactions with Epstein.
Being mentioned in the files isn't an indication of wrongdoing.
A review of the files by the Wall Street Journal didn't find any correspondence with Hillary Clinton, though her name appears in news clippings in Epstein's email box.
Review of Epstein Files00:15:38
Wall Street Journal reporting this morning.
Let's hear from Ruth in McDonald, Pennsylvania, an independent.
Ruth, do these Epstein files matter to you?
Yeah, I'm a woman, and I was one of the first women ever hired in a steel mill in Ohio.
At that time, we had to put up with a lot of things.
And of course, years later, being hired in the underground for electric company, we had to put up with a lot of things too.
I didn't even have a locker room.
You know, with all men, I was the only woman truck driver at that time.
So what do you mean?
What is this?
What are these?
What are these accusations?
We need to find out about why women are always second to men.
And, you know, it's the blacks or it's the Mexicans or it's the women.
Anything to put the bullseye off of the men.
And, you know, I love men, believe me.
But this is just too much that you can't even come forward when you're raping children.
Ruth.
I have.
Ruth there in Pennsylvania.
Ron in Round Lake, Illinois, Republican.
Ron.
Yeah, I just wanted to come on.
You know, the ignorance of your Democratic callers, for four years, Biden was in office.
They had all those files.
If there was anything that they had on Donald Trump, it would have came out before the election.
The fact that nothing came out, they didn't do it, they had all these pages, nothing was rejected, everything was there for them for four years.
If they had anything, they hate Trump so much that if they had anything on him, it would have came out already.
This is terrible.
The FC files are terrible.
They need to come out.
The truth needs to come out.
I think some really people that are targeted, not into the government, but are important people in the world are part of this, and that's probably what they're trying to hide.
But if there's anything on Trump, it would have been out and they would, because they didn't want him back in office.
Ron, let me get your reaction to this reporting from the Palm Beach Post in USA Today's national paper this morning and get your reaction to this headline.
Epstein hid computers and storage units in Palm Beach County.
By the time Palm Beach, Florida, police raided Jeffrey Epstein's mansion, the evidence they sought was gone.
Three computers were missing from the home, leaving only loose wires and keyboards behind.
Newly surfaced documents indicate that Epstein had private investigators remove the computers and lock them in storage units across Palm Beach County and beyond.
Epstein continued making monthly payments to one such Royal Palm Beach storage facility until 2019, the year he died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on federal sex charges, trafficking charges.
When asked on February 24th whether it had searched any of Epstein's storage units or recovered the computers hidden in 2005, the FBI referenced all inquiries to the Department of Justice, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Story goes on to say this: that by 2007, a federal grand jury had issued subpoenas ordering the private investigators to appear before the grand jury and produce all computer equipment removed from Epstein's Palm Beach residence, any computers ever owned by Epstein, and records documenting the relationship between Epstein and the investigators.
Although the subpoenas were directed at the private investigators, Epstein's attorneys moved quickly to intervene.
They asked a federal judge to quash the subpoenas, arguing that forcing investigators to turn over the computers would violate Epstein's constitutional rights and pierce the confidentiality of his legal defense.
Ron, what do you make of this story this morning?
Well, I mean, everything that needs to come out for this Epstein, this is disgusting.
What he did and the people that were involved, I don't think anybody should have any, you know, it should be justice for all, equal justice for all.
I think this does need to come out, but to believe that there's anything in there that's going to be a winner against Trump is just ridiculous because they went through every million, all of 35.5 million pages were gone through with a fine-tooth comb to see if there's something to keep Trump from getting it off scale.
But Ron, we just reported, according to news reports, and now the Justice Department is looking into it, that there's missing pages.
There's missing files.
Those dates, those dates you were talking about were 2007, 2019.
No, I'm talking about the front page of the Washington Post, the story I read.
The Justice Department Thursday said that it is examining whether it wrongly withheld FBI files that contained allegations against President Donald Trump.
Oh, listen.
If there's something in there that in these new files that are coming up, if there's anything in there against anybody, we all know that there's a two-tier justice.
I mean, Hillary Clinton should be behind bars with what she did with her computers back 10 years ago, 20 years ago, whatever that was.
You know, there's a whole two-tier justice for politicians and for American citizens.
That said, Ron, and if Trump's involved, I think he should be strong to a tree, too.
That's disgusting.
All right, Ron, your thoughts there.
Ron Lake, Illinois, I'm going to leave it at that.
Hillary Clinton testifying yesterday, as we said, the former President Bill Clinton, he's going to testify today.
He'll go behind closed doors with the House Oversight Committee, Republicans and Democrats, and give his testimony about his alleged relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Coming up here on the Washington Journal, we're going to talk with Vicki Ward, an investigative journalist and one who looked into Jeffrey Epstein many, many years ago for Vanity Fair.
She's featured in the Netflix documentary about Jeffrey Epstein, and she'll be here to take your questions and your comments about the investigation.
USA Today, Bart Jensen reporting this morning, follow-up from Epstein Files widens to include Lawrence Summers.
The list of names continues to grow from the Justice Department's release of 3 million pages of documents from the criminal investigations of Epstein.
They note in this story by USA Today, Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, discussed the Epstein records on February 24th this week during a Gates Foundation town hall.
In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions, the foundation said.
So that took place this week on February 24th, State of the Union Night.
The revelations came on the eve of the former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, giving their depositions.
A law provided, approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department to release all Epstein documents by late December with redactions for women who accused him of abuse or records that could hurt a prosecution.
But the department has halted its review with millions more pages remaining sealed, in part by arguing the paperwork deals with internal legal deliberations.
So there are still more pages and more files that the Justice Department has not released.
This morning we're asking you, do these Epstein files matter to you?
Should the Justice Department release everything?
Jeanette in Washington, D.C., Democratic Caller.
Good morning.
Hi, good morning.
Good morning.
Thanks for taking my call.
I feel that files really do matter.
I think these women or the young girls and now they're women that were part of this case were denied justice purposely.
People went out of their way to protect this man and I think we need to know why.
And I don't think they need to be cheated out of justice yet again.
And this Epstein had relationships with so many powerful and wealthy people that ran, you know, kind of ran the world in a way.
And I think we need to know why and what was going on.
And also, I mean, I think interviewing Hillary was just a mistake because you only make her stronger.
She is just too smart for people.
And I just think these Republicans yesterday just kind of came off looking like idiots.
And the next person they probably should interview if they're interviewing Hillary is probably Melania.
She's in pictures with Epstein and Donald Trump.
Jeanette, what about Bill Clinton, the former president?
Do you agree that he should be testifying today as he is?
I mean, I'm not sure.
I feel uncertain about it because what are they looking for?
And I mean, if they think that.
The files had pictures.
The files, there's a picture right there.
Courtesy of the Justice Department.
There's the former president.
Yes.
But did he do anything inappropriate?
And did he see anything inappropriate?
And I think if he did, then if he did do something, I think we should know about it for everyone, Republican, Democrat, or anything in between.
We should know what people did to exploit these young women at the time.
So you agree then, you agree then that he should sit today for questioning by the Republicans and Democrats on this committee.
You know, I'm not bothered by it.
I think, sure, you know, find out what he has to say.
But, you know, I just, and if he did do anything inappropriate, we should know about it.
And he should face justice, just like, you know, in the U.K., they're able to make Prince Andrew a regular person right now.
I mean, he's no longer a prince.
Why not, you know, why don't we have that same drive for justice here in the United States?
Okay.
Let's listen to the former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, last night commenting on her husband's ties to Jeffrey Epstein and what to expect from his deposition today.
I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended several years before anything about Epstein's criminal activities came to light and that he was charged and sadly given a sweetheart deal, which, as I said in my statement, had that not happened, perhaps his predatory behavior could have been stopped earlier.
But I think it is fair to say that the vast majority of people who had contact with him before his criminal pleas in 08 were like most people.
They did not know what he was doing.
And I think that that is exactly what my husband will testify to tomorrow.
Hillary Clinton giving a preview of what to expect from the former president's testimony today in New York before the House Oversight Committee.
He will sit for hours, and we've heard from the committee that they will release the testimony of the former Secretary of State and her husband, Bill Clinton, when he testifies today.
When they release that, the C-SPAN networks will air them in their entirety.
So go to C-SPAN.org for details on that.
The New York Times this morning has a piece about how they are using AI to analyze the 3 million pages released by the Justice Department for the Epstein files.
And they note this.
Last week we published the first part of our conversation with Times journalists who are sifting through the Epstein files.
Their work continues to prove vital, especially this week when a review of the documents revealed missing materials related to a woman who made an accusation against former President Trump.
They go on to note this, that there are curveballs, they noted, when they were first given access to the Epstein files by the Justice Department.
The way they showed up online required the New York Times to do a lot of improvising.
We never imagined, for example, that we'd release these, they'd release these, the Justice Department, in a way that you have to click through more than 25,000 pages on justice.gov just to find them all, or that there'd be broken links to sift through and files constantly disappearing and reappearing.
This is from the New York Times, behind the scenes of how they're investigating the Epstein files.
Senate Democrats yesterday, led by Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, said that they would hold the Trump administration officials accountable for improperly redacting and withholding material in the Epstein files.
Listen to what Mr. Schumer had to say.
We know the administration's withholding some documents unlawfully.
Yesterday, news outlets reported that several memos detailing a woman's accusation against the president from when she was a minor have been withheld from the public.
We know they are abusing redactions to hide the truth.
Hundreds of pages are completely blacked out.
Co-conspirator identities remain hidden while survivors have been exposed.
We're here today to put a shot across the bow of the Department of Justice and the Trump administration that we are going to reveal this massive cover-up.
We will not rest.
It's an all-out oversight effort.
We're going to pull on every thread.
We're going to chase every lead.
We'll talk with whistleblowers.
We will get to the truth.
Our working group, Senate Democrats, will go review the unredacted files in the coming days.
Let me repeat that.
Our working group, Senate Democrats, will go review the unredacted files in the coming days.
Pam Bondi should listen carefully.
The truth will come out.
The whole ugly truth about what she's doing to protect people in the files will come out.
The whole world is going to know exactly what she knew, when she knew it, and what she did to cover it up.
Democrats are going to hold Pam Bondi and everyone involved at the DOJ accountable for this cover-up.
Today we are demanding that the Department of Justice and the FBI preserve records on what transpired behind the scenes.
We want to know who was involved in the decision to hide the truth.
And a warning to the Trump cronies working on this, we will know if you are destroying documents and evidence, you will not outrun the law.
You will not outrun the truth.
Stop Hiding the Truth00:15:11
This isn't political.
The survivors deserve the truth, and the American people are demanding it.
Democrats and Republicans agree the American people deserve the truth.
So Donald Trump, stop hiding, stop delaying, come clean with the American people.
And if you don't, Democrats will make sure that the truth comes out.
Senate Democratic leader accusing the Justice Department, the Trump administration, of a cover-up, promising to pull on every thread and saying that Senate Democrats will be reviewing unredacted documents that are missing in the coming days.
We're asking all of you this morning, do the Epstein files matter to you?
And do you agree with Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, that these files should be reviewed, more should come out?
Do you want the Trump administration held accountable as he says he accuses them of a cover-up?
Let's go to Frank in New York and Independent.
Frank, good morning.
Good morning.
I wonder if anybody noticed Hillary Clinton's testimony yesterday where she said that she's never met Jeffrey Epstein.
And yet this morning, I forget what news agency it was, I noticed a photo of her with Miss Maxwell, Bill, and Jeffrey Epstein.
So I just can't believe her.
She moved her office from the East Wing to the West Wing.
It's well known for documentation that Epstein visited the White House 16 times.
I just, I find that really hard to believe.
And I wish we would do one thing and put that photo of the four of them standing there together.
Well, Frank, according to the reports today, Maxwell was a guest of a guest at the wedding.
I don't believe that.
She said that, yes, you know, and that's plausible deniability.
But that is not what I said.
What I said was there's a photo of them together.
She testified yesterday that she has never met Jeffrey Epstein.
I would wish that you would put the photo of the four of them standing there together.
And if any other callers want to expand on this, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Okay, Frank.
Frank, I think we all know what photo you're referencing.
We'll try to find that and show that as well.
Pete in Jupiter, Florida, Republican.
Hi, Pete.
Good morning.
Morning.
As far as the Epstein case goes, I live in Palm Beach County, so I remember when this all transpired back in 2005.
For the Democrat, they have to realize that they would not have these files to scour through if it wasn't for Trump giving the okay to do it.
If he did not want anything that he did to be known, he would not have signed the bill to release the files.
That's number one.
Number two is I don't agree with bringing in Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton.
This is a waste of time, a waste of taxpayer money because they're going to deny, deny, deny.
Just like everybody else who's in there, Bill Gates is denying it.
Larry Summers is denying it.
I mean, everybody's going to deny it.
Well, Larry.
Well, Larry Summers apologized and stepped down from Harvard.
We're talking guilt by association.
So if you took a picture with Jeffrey Epstein or you shook his hand, are you a child molester?
I mean, it's ridiculous.
And anytime Chuck Schumer is moving his lips, he's lying.
So, Pete, do you disagree with looking into this entirely?
You don't think that this, even the work by the House Oversight Committee by James Comer, Republican, you think that's a waste of taxpayer dollars?
Okay, look, when you fish and you cast the net, you're going to get fish.
You're going to throw back.
Okay?
I agree that you should go after the people that there's hard evidence.
And what we need now is hard evidence, not hearsay, not what the Washington Post says, not what USA Today says, not what the Palm Beach Post says.
We need hard evidence.
Where's the hard evidence?
They say it's missing.
Oh, it's missing now.
Well, who was the FBI director when it was missing?
Christopher Wray was the FBI director.
Merritt Garland was the FBI director.
The AG, the Attorney General.
He was the DOG, the Attorney General, whatever.
Trump was not in office when all this transpired.
All right.
Pete with his arguments there in Jupiter, Florida.
Let's listen to Congressman Robert Garcia, Democrat of California, the ranking member that's the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, speaking about Clinton's testimony and calling for President Trump to be deposed.
I just want to begin by just clarifying and putting emphasis on something that's very important, and it's something the Secretary herself has said.
Secretary Clinton never met Jeffrey Epstein.
She never visited the island.
She never flew on his plane.
She also had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crime.
So zero knowledge of any wrongdoing.
And you've also all heard that directly from her.
Secretary Clinton is also completely cooperating with the deposition and the committee and is answering questions in full faith and in good faith.
What is not acceptable is oversight Republicans breaking their own committee rules that they established with the Secretary and her team, which you've all reported, you've seen by releasing photos.
Not acceptable, and it was gracious of the Secretary and her team to continue the deposition.
What we also want to say at this very moment is it's becoming more clear every single day is the questions continue to build around this DOJ and the White House and the focus of the majority.
We want to understand right now where the missing FBI files are.
These are files that accuse the President of the United States about serious, serious accusations around sexual abuse.
And the fact that they're not in the files that have been apparently either removed or discarded is incredibly concerning.
And so we're calling on Attorney General Pan Bonnie to immediately release those files.
And lastly, I want to also add that this committee has now set a new precedent about talking to presidents and former presidents.
And we're demanding immediately that we ask President Trump to testify in front of our committee and be deposed in front of oversight Republicans and Democrats.
And that should happen immediately.
He is the person that appears almost more than anyone else in the committee, and it needs to happen right now.
Democrat Congressman Garcia, they're calling on the Oversight Committee to depose President Trump.
Now, the House Oversight Chair, James Comer, the Republican who's leading this investigation, was asked about reporting by NPR that the Justice Department has sought to obscure information in the Epstein files damaging President Trump.
Here's his response.
Are you concerned that there has been a cover of sexual abuse of a minor by President Trump that are missing FBI records?
It appears to be.
No, we're looking into the accusation by the NPR.
We don't know the answer to that.
We know what the administration says.
We're still looking to get a definitive answer on that.
But let's just be realistic here.
If you go by a lot of what the Democrats have said, you had Jasmine Crockett accuse Lee's Elden of taking donations from Jeffrey Epstein.
It was the wrong Jeffrey Epstein.
We've had Roe Cotta sit on the floor and name names of people that he thought were involved in Epstein that weren't even involved.
So, you know, sometimes the Democrats on the committee are developing the Commission.
James Colemore, the Republican leading the House Oversight Committee's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein outside of the Poor Performance Arts Center in Chapaca, New York yesterday, when Hillary Clinton sat for hours behind closed doors with Democrats and Republicans from the committee answering their questions about what she knew of Jeffrey Epstein.
She denied knowing him, meeting him, and today, the same committee in the same location will hear from the former president Bill Clinton when they release video, the committee's video, of this testimony by the Clintons.
C-SPAN Networks will air them in their entirety.
Steve in Indiana, Democratic caller, do the Epstein files matter to you?
Well, I certainly do, Greta.
I'd like to comment on your lovely demeanor today with all the hyper callers, but yeah, I think we need to look at the full timeline of when things happened.
And, you know, Jeffrey Epstein was first accused back in the early 2000s, I think, 05 or 06.
And she took trial and got the sweetheart deal.
I'm really concerned with how long this goes back.
I mean, this story to kill that, to kill that, for Acosta to kill that story back then.
I think we just need to look at everybody that was involved at the time.
I mean, you had George W.
Yeah, go ahead and finish your thought.
I have a question for you when you're done.
Sure.
We had George W. Bush in power, Jeb Bush, whose brother was the governor of Florida.
We have Bill Clinton the president before.
I mean, my goodness, Greta, I look at this and they've been covering this since 2005.
And the investigation, we know FBI investigations take years.
Did they start?
When did the FBI originally start this investigation?
That's something we need to know.
All right, Steve.
The reason why I wanted to jump in is because coming up in the Washington Journal, we have Vicki Ward, who's an investigative journalist and first wrote about Jeffrey Epstein for the Vanity Fair way back in the 2000s.
So we're going to ask her today about her investigation when she first looked into Jeffrey Epstein and why.
If she was sitting here right now, what would you ask her?
Is it that question?
Well, yeah, because it would be along those lines because we're not looking at everybody involved.
And we know our country can cover things up.
They've covered up numerous things over the years, and we won't dive down that rabbit hole.
But on this, I really think that, and I hate to say this because I voted for the man twice.
I think Bill Clinton's involved.
And you base that on the pictures you've seen?
Yeah, because, you know, I'm not afraid to state.
I'm a 40-year-old man.
My oldest niece is 42.
And at any time in their upbringing, me as an adult, say when they were around 13 to 16 years old, if I would have seen anybody letting that wasn't their father let them sit on her lap, it's not happening.
I've always went down on one knee and bent my shoulder over to hug my nieces from the time they were little girls to still today as grown educated women.
Steve's in a hot tub with a girl that's got her face redacted because she's a minor.
She's a victim.
And Steve, what is your message to your party on this issue in general?
My message to my party and the Republican Party: stop the lies.
Just stop the lies.
I mean, they've been covering this for decades, covering it up.
And everybody knows the cover-up is worse than the crime.
All right, Steve, I have to leave it there.
We'll go to Anne-Marie, who's in Audubon, New Jersey, an independent.
Anne-Marie, it's your turn.
Thank you.
How are you doing today?
Morning.
Yeah, first of all, I'd just like to say that I don't care about the files because they've been manipulated so much since they've been released.
What I think should happen, and what would be the smartest thing to happen, is that let's just pick a party of five Democrats, five Republicans, and if there's independents out there, five independents.
And that should be the morning committee for the Epstein files.
Nobody should be questioned prior to this group getting together and all them going together and looking through all the files until they reach the end of the files.
Once they reach the end of the files, then the questioning should take place.
I think it's premature for questioning to be taking place.
Ms. Clinton did a great job.
Pat On Texas Primary Race00:05:32
It was premature to have her on there, but guess what?
The Republicans want to show chaos and show point the fingers at other people instead of pointing the fingers and directly where the files were located at Mar-a-Lago.
We know where they were located at, right?
We know how they were stored.
We have pictures of that.
So that says it all right there.
All right, Anne-Marie.
I'm going to go to Pat, who's next in Jackson, Tennessee, Republican.
Hi, Pat.
Go ahead.
Share your thoughts with us on this on the Epstein files.
Well, I'm an old woman.
I'm past 75.
I have got Epstein fever.
Can't turn on the TV that I don't hear about it.
I don't see it.
Yes, I'm concerned with them, but my Republican friends, Democratic friends, my independent friends, they all know we are never going to know who's involved in these things.
We know our president's involved in it up to his eyeballs, and get over it.
Let's talk about what's important to the American people.
This is all just trying to get us all concentrating on something besides I'm concerned about how I'm going to buy my medicine this week.
I'm concerned about how I'm going to buy groceries month.
I'm concerned about tariffs.
I'm concerned about things of reality.
All of the Epstein things, they're never going to come to light.
We know it.
And it's just mind-boggling that only that's all that's that's ever talked about is Epstein.
Epstein, the man's dead Clinton's, I'm sure, had something to do with.
We know the president had something to do with it and his wife was even in the it's, even in the pictures.
It's never.
We're never gonna know.
Just get over it Pat.
The president's headed to Texas today to talk about the economy.
He'll be in Corpus Christi to deliver remarks and tout what he believes are his economic accomplishments.
Is that the conversation that you want to be hearing about from this White House?
I'd like to hear the president talk about the economy and I want him to quit saying that it's wonderful.
Maybe it's wonderful in his house, but it's not wonderful in my house or my neighbor's house or my church group's house.
I mean, I go every week at my age and gather food to give to the hungry in our, our neighborhood, our community, because that's what we're concerned with.
And he's standing up there saying, I voted for him, all right, because he said he was going to fix the economy.
He's going to do do this and do that.
He done nothing but start wars and make a mess of everything.
And Pat, you heard of it Pat, you voted for him all three times.
Yes unfortunately, I'm an idiot, just say it.
I'm 70, I'll be 79 in two weeks and I'm just over the lies Epstein.
The man's dead.
You're never gonna find out that.
What happened?
All right, and I wish the survivors could come forward and name these men, but I don't know why they don't.
Most of them have been shown already in the Epstein files, so why not just come on and tell them.
All right Pat, There in Tennessee, a Republican voted for President Trump three times.
The president will head to Corpus Christi Texas, today where he will deliver remarks on the economy and energy.
He will be joined in Corpus Christi by the three candidates vying for the Senate nomination for the Republican Party in the 2026 midterms.
The incumbent, Senator John Cornyn, is being challenged by the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, along with Congressman Wesley Hunt.
The president has not endorsed in this race.
It is a marquee race and the the primary for the Republicans and the Democrats is this Tuesday, coming up March 3rd.
The president has not endorsed, but he'll have all three candidates on the stage with him today.
According to news reports, we've covered the campaign stops by these Republican candidates, as well as the Democratic candidates James Tellerico and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
We've covered their campaign rallies and stops leading up to Tuesday, March 3rd, part of our 2026 campaign coverage, and on Tuesday night we will begin our coverage of the primary night at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
We'll be focusing on Texas.
There are also primary races in North Carolina, in Arkansas as well.
Alex in Brooklyn, New York Democratic caller.
Epstein Files Unveiled00:05:58
We're talking about the Epstein files.
Do they matter to you?
Yes, good morning.
Thank you for taking my call.
And yes, they matter.
I have a bit to say.
I'll try to be quick about it.
First, I just want to reply to the last caller.
And that is exactly what this administration wants.
That is exactly what these people want.
They want all of us to be so tired of it that we just want to move on.
That they purposely, by design, dumped all of these files in order that you could no longer tell what is the reality from the falsehood.
All through social media, all kinds of information from cannibalism to all kinds of depraved things about these files have come out, and it's all out there.
And the way that these people in this administration redacted the names of the powerful and yet exposed the victims, this is all coded language that these people use in this administration and people in power, meaning we have the power, you do not.
And we can do whatever we want.
And as a person of faith, they just called to say that we should just get over this, that none of these people are going to be accountable.
Well, these were young girls.
They were teenagers.
They were abused.
They were raped.
They were used as objects.
They basically said, Epstein, in this depraved email vault that they unleashed on people, said that women are just, what was it?
It was just a vehicle for a vagina.
What Trump is accused of is forcing a minor to have oral sex with him.
And she bit him.
And his security said that if she said anything, she would end up as fertilizer in his golf courses.
All of these people were Democrats before, and now they are Republicans.
We should know about everything that these people did because these are the people that are running the world.
They run our tech companies.
They run our media.
They run our politics.
They run our academia.
These people control everything.
We need to expose who these people are, what they did, and if it's Democrat or Republican, let it come out.
Clinton was impeached because he had relations with somebody when he was president, Lewinsky, Monica Lewinsky.
Why would you not think that he has something to do with this?
Trump has been alleged over and over and over again of abusing women, raping women, treating women as objects.
Why should we expect less?
Let it all come out.
And the last thing that I've done.
I have to leave.
Alex, go ahead, finish quickly because I got two more calls to get to.
The president, when he called the men's hockey team, used women as second-rate citizens and saying that he would basically have to invite them to the White House because if not, he would be impeached.
This is what he thinks of women.
I have to leave it there.
Ed, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Independent, your turn.
Yeah, good morning.
Good morning.
Thank you for getting my call.
This whole situation doesn't sound right.
Why didn't these women get together and file a lawsuit?
A judge would make all of these documents ready for their attorneys.
First of all, Epstein was not an idiot if he was breaking the law and filming it.
I don't believe that Trump is not stupid.
If he was breaking the law, I'm certain he didn't film it.
Well, Ed, we'll ask Vicki Ward, who's an investigative journalist, about the women and the actions that they have taken, the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein over the years.
We'll ask those questions when we talk to Vicki Ward.
She looked at Jeffrey Epstein many, many years ago, and she's coming up on the Washington Journal close to 8:30 a.m. this morning, around 8:25.
So we hope you continue to stay with us this morning.
Dave, in Virginia, Republican.
Dave.
Yeah, hello.
Dave, the Epstein files, do they matter to you?
Not to the extent you think it does.
Did you ever devote an entire show to the Epstein files when Joe Biden was in office?
I'm not sure off the top of my head.
Your point is, though, what?
Well, I think there's more serious problems like a $38 trillion national debt.
I mean, we're headed in the direction of hyperinflation like they had at the Weimar Republic.
And Congress is spending all their time on this, and they can't even pass a budget.
They've been passing continuing resolutions for decades.
And why that's caught, you know, that's just them agreeing to spend what they spent the previous year.
And they've been doing it for, you know, like I said, decades.
And we got a $38 trillion debt, a trillion-dollar interest payments on the debt.
That's more than what the entire budget was when Carter left office.
You look, how we got this debt is because Congress can't pass a budget.
They're too busy with Epstein files and nonsense like that.
All right, Dave.
Dave's thoughts there, a Republican.
We're going to open up the phone lines here in our next hour for about 25 minutes.
Congress's Debt Crisis00:00:35
Get your thoughts on news of the day, including the Epstein testimony by Hillary Clinton.
Bill Clinton will testify today in a closed-door deposition.
You can continue talking about that, as well as other news of the day.
To get us going, we'll start with the vice president's visit in Wisconsin yesterday, criticizing Democrats and asking voters not to let them win in November.
The one thing that got at least some of the Democrats to stand up and cheer was the Olympic hockey team, which we're, of course, very proud of.