Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused President Donald Trump of orchestrating a “cover-up” over the files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Get the files out. They are slow-walking it,” Clinton told the BBC in an interview on Monday, as she attended the annual World Forum in Berlin.
“They are redacting the names of men who are in it. They are stonewalling legitimate requests from members of Congress.”
“If they’re going to have me testify, I would prefer to do it in public, because I want everybody to see it at the same time. If I have to do it behind closed doors, they’re not going to like what I have to say, because I have very strong opinions about what it is they’re hiding and who they are protecting.
Earlier this month, millions of files relating to Epstein were released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), with the Trump administration arguing they’ve “done more for the victims than Democrats ever had”.
At the time, the deputy attorney general said three million pages were not released.
In a Congressional hearing last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi came under intense scrutiny after repeatedly refusing to answer questions about the release of the files, instead resorting to attacks on lawmakers who challenged her.
Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, features regularly in the files, but no evidence has come to light implicating either Clinton in criminal activity.
Both Clinton’s are due to testify before a Congressional committee on the issue, with Hillary saying: “If they’re going to have me testify, I would prefer to do it in public, because I want everybody to see it at the same time.”
When asked whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, another high-profile figure in the files, should go before the congressional committee, she said: “I think everybody should testify who is asked to testify. I just want it to be fair. I want everybody treated the same way.”
“Other witnesses were asked to testify. They gave written statements under oath. We offered that. They want to pull us into this. Why do they want to pull us into this? To divert attention away from President Trump. This is not complicated.”
Addressing whether she regrets having associations with Epstein, Clinton denied having any “links” to the sex trafficker.
“We have a very clear record that we’ve been willing to talk about. My husband has said he took some rides on the airplane for his charitable work. I don’t recall ever meeting [Epstein]. I did on a few occasions, and thousands of people go to the Clinton Global Initiative, so to me, it’s not something that is really at the heart of what this matter is about.”
Clinton goes on to say that Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, “were convicted of horrific crimes against girls and women. That should be the focus.”
“We are more than happy to say what we know, which is very limited and totally unrelated to their behavior or their crimes, and we want to do it in public because let’s make this transparent. The survivors deserve that. The public deserves that.”