Former President Bill Clinton appeared before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Friday to speak about what they knew about trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the committee chairman, came outside to relay one of Clinton's comments to the lawmakers, saying it is for the members to decide whether they want to subpoena President Donald Trump. Comer also said that Clinton claimed he never heard anything about Trump and Epstein.
The committee set rules that they would not comment on the hearing or say anything about the hearing until the video and transcripts were released.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) spoke after Comer's comments, saying that his characterization of what Clinton said was inaccurate.
Speaking about the back-and-forth on Friday, MS NOW legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted that in 2002, when Clinton flew to Africa for a Clinton Global Initiative event, Epstein lent his plane for the trip. It was Clinton and a slew of other people affiliated with the mission, including an emergency room doctor.
Rubin said that the doctor was interviewed by the FBI at one point and said that every person on the plane made sense. They were all there for a very specific reason, for part of the work they aimed to accomplish with HIV/AIDS. That was not true, however, of four women in their early 20s whom he said he couldn't explain.
"That ER doctor honed in on something that I think is legitimate to ask Bill Clinton about," said Rubin. "What did you think those four girls were doing on the plane? And should you have asked more questions or disassociated from Jeffrey Epstein as a result of that?" Rubin asked.
Host Katy Tur noted that there was already talk about Epstein around this time. Rubin specifically noted the "infamous New York Magazine profile." The Africa trip took place a few months before that profile was released, however.
"I mean, again, if you want to draw some connective tissue about Clinton and Trump, both of them were aware of that reputation," continued Rubin. "How do we know? Because in 2002, when New York magazine wrote one of the first sort of now infamous profiles of Jeffrey Epstein, there's that quote from Trump where he says, 'It's been said that Epstein likes beautiful women as much as I do.' And then he flags that he likes them on the younger side. So, that was part of Epstein's reputation that was trailing him around Palm Beach and certainly New York society at the time."
She went on to say that after Epstein was convicted in Florida, however, there were no further appearances of the Clintons in the files that she's been able to find.
Journalist Tara Palmeri spoke about her recent reporting on First Lady Melania Trump's connection to Epstein through photographer Antoine Verglas, whom Palmeri said is responsible for propelling Trump's career. The Epstein files show that he and Verglas worked together a lot taking photos of women, including some of Epstein's women. They exchanged photos frequently and at one point had a discussion about "Scopolamine," a drug that supposedly takes away free will and can turn someone into a zombie.
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