House Epstein deposition of Hillary Clinton halted after Boebert photo flap

WASHINGTON (CN) — Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert appeared to derail a much-anticipated House deposition with Hillary Clinton on Thursday afternoon, after a right-wing influencer shared photos of the former secretary of state apparently taken by the Republican congresswoman inside the room.

Aides for Clinton told press gathered outside the closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, New York, that her meeting with House Oversight Committee lawmakers as part of their Jeffrey Epstein investigation had been paused while members worked to determine whether Boebert’s conduct violated congressional rules.

As part of its probe into the late Epstein and his connections with wealthy and powerful people, the Oversight Committee’s Republican majority has for months sought to interview Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, who had relationships with the convicted sex trafficker and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

Neither have been accused of any wrongdoing, but both were initially resistant to the congressional probe — refusing at first to comply with Oversight Committee subpoenas demanding they appear for a deposition behind closed doors. The Clintons, however, ultimately hammered out terms with lawmakers, scheduling Hillary Clinton’s deposition for Thursday morning at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center.

But proceedings ground to a halt just hours later, after right-wing media personality Benny Johnson shared photos of Clinton from inside the room which he said were provided to him by Boebert.

The former secretary of state is visible in both images shared by Johnson on his X account, including one in which the Colorado Republican’s placard sits plainly in the foreground. Boebert is a member of the House Oversight Committee and was present at the deposition.

“This is the first time Hillary has had to answer real questions about Epstein,” Johnson wrote in his post. “Clinton does not look happy.”

Closed-door depositions such as the one Clinton sat for Thursday are, by definition, not open to the public or members of the media. The Oversight Committee will publish videos and a transcript of her interview with lawmakers, but only after the material has been reviewed by attorneys. Depositions frequently go off-record to discuss sensitive matters — meaning those statements are not written into the public transcript.

Moments after photos of Clinton at the deposition circulated online, her advisers informed reporters that the interview had been halted.

“The hearing just went off record for a moment because … there were some photographs shared on social media, which is against chamber rules that were read at the top of the meeting,” said Nick Merrill, one of Clinton’s senior advisers.

Merrill did not name Boebert in his statement, saying instead that members were trying to “figure out where the photo came from,” adding that it was “possible members of Congress are violating House rules.”

Angel Ureña, an adviser to former President Clinton, named Boebert as the source of the photo.

On social media, Johnson denied that the Colorado congresswoman had done anything wrong by sharing images from inside a closed-door deposition, arguing that Clinton was “trying to get out of answering questions about Epstein.”

“This is insane,” the right-wing influencer wrote in a post on X. “The deposition is being filmed. Hillary wanted it to be done LIVE on TV. The entire deposition will be released soon.”

Johnson added Boebert had given him “permission to post photo with credit.”

A spokesperson for Boebert did not immediately return a request for comment. But in a post on X, Boebert said Johnson had done “nothing wrong,” though her post did not acknowledge whether she herself had violated House rules by sharing content from a closed-door meeting with the media.

“Proceeding with deposition,” Boebert wrote.

Ahead of Thursday’s deposition, House Oversight Committee chairman Representative James Comer said that while nobody had accused Bill or Hillary Clinton of any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes, lawmakers hoped to use their interviews to expand knowledge about how the late financier accumulated his vast fortune and built out a web of contacts and associates which included heads of state and at least one member of the British royal family.

“These are the questions we’re going to ask over the next two days, and hopefully we’re going to get some answers,” said Comer during a news conference.

The Kentucky Republican noted the bipartisan nature of the Epstein probe, pointing out that when GOP members of the Oversight Committee moved to hold the Clintons in contempt for refusing to comply with an earlier subpoena, Democrats largely refused to stand in the way.

“That’s a statement that this investigation is serious, it is a bipartisan investigation,” said Comer. “The American people have a lot of questions — to my knowledge, the Clintons haven’t answered very many, if any, questions about their knowledge or involvement with Epstein and Maxwell.”

The Oversight Committee chairman, standing next to Boebert, added that lawmakers would follow the “normal process” for releasing the content of Thursday’s deposition with Clinton, saying that attorneys would need to review the interview transcript and video “to make sure that there are no errors.”

Lawmakers are expected to depose former President Clinton on Friday.

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