CNN panel says it’s ‘ridiculous’ Hillary Clinton keeps ‘having to answer for her husband’s behavior’
CHAPPAQUA, NEW YORK: During her closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Jeffrey Epstein, Hillary Clinton faced scrutiny for actions linked to her husband, Bill Clinton. A panel expressed regret that she was being questioned despite never having met Epstein.
On Thursday, February 26, CNN anchor Dana Bash highlighted this point, while columnist Nia-Malika Henderson noted that Republicans have long been focused on Clinton. The panel observed that, in the Epstein case, most Democrats were notably involved.
Henderson also called it “ridiculous” to drag Clinton into the testimony, given her lack of personal connection to Epstein.
Hillary Clinton's testimony sparks debate
On Thursday’s panel, CNN anchor Dana Bash discussed Clinton’s Epstein testimony and turned to Bloomberg columnist Nia-Malika Henderson for analysis.
“Republicans have long focused on Hillary Clinton,” Henderson said, calling her testimony “just the latest chapter” in Republican and QAnon “Epstein conspiracy theories” that claimed “Democrats had the most involvement with Epstein.”
Henderson called it “quite ridiculous” that Clinton was called to testify, stating she had “never met Epstein." Then she says that instead of Clinton, the House should have testified more powerful men linked to Epstein, like Howard Lutnick.
She added that Clinton had requested her testimony be public so Americans could see “the ridiculousness of this,” and that it “certainly feels like an attempt to humiliate and embarrass her.”
Bash noted that Clinton said the committee should “ask (Trump) directly, under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files,” instead of relying on the press for answers.
CNN correspondent Lauren Fox said the hearing was “in some ways wasted time,” since Clinton was answering questions “she really doesn’t have any answers to.”
Fox said, “Obviously, Republicans want to talk to Hillary Clinton. This is their opportunity, but it is on an issue she has nothing to do with. Her name appears in the files only because she was running for president.”
Bash summarized, “Look, she is somebody who has so many titles, and has done so much on the national stage, on the international stage, being elected and Senate-confirmed.” Being forced to testify, she said, shows how Clinton continues to get “sucked back into Bill Clinton” and his actions, rather than being judged on her own record.
Hillary Clinton says she ‘did not know Jeffrey Epstein'
After six and a half hours with the House Oversight Committee, Clinton said she had “answered every one of their questions as fully as I could based on what I knew,” stressing she had never met or communicated with Epstein. “I don’t know how many times I had to say, ‘I did not know Jeffrey Epstein,’” she told reporters.
She added she knew Ghislaine Maxwell only “casually as an acquaintance,” noting Maxwell “came as the plus one... of someone who was invited” to her daughter Chelsea Clinton’s 2010 wedding.
