Chaos erupted inside Hillary Clinton’s Jeffrey Epstein deposition on Thursday after a Republican lawmaker took a photograph of her during the private session.
Representative Lauren Boebert snapped a photo of Hillary and her attorneys as she addressed lawmakers about her relationship with Epstein, then purportedly leaked it to MAGA influencer Benny Johnson.
Hillary’s lawyers asked that the proceedings be halted after the picture began circulating on social media. It is strictly prohibited for lawmakers or witnesses to take photographs inside a closed-door congressional testimony.
The former secretary of state is being deposed at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center near the Clintons’ home in Westchester County, New York, while Bill Clinton will testify on Friday.
The closed-door session is being filmed, though any footage will be reviewed by Hillary’s lawyers before release. The deposition resumed within an hour.
Clinton later asked James Comer, the top Republican overseeing the deposition, if the press could be allowed in the hearing after Boebert’s shocking leak. Comer reportedly replied, “No.”
A Clinton spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s against chamber rules that were read at the top of the meeting. So the hearing has been paused briefly while they figure out where the photo came from and why, possibly members of Congress are violating House rules.’
Prior to the chaos, Hillary blasted Republicans for targeting her while failing to investigate Donald Trump in a fiery opening statement where she provided no defense for her husband.
The former secretary of state said she has ‘no information on Epstein’s criminal activities and never recalls meetings’, then accused lawmakers of covering up for Trump’s relationship with Epstein, where he faces ‘heinous’ accusations from survivors.
‘You have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers,’ Hillary said.
‘If this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files,’ she added.
Trump’s name appears more than 38,000 times in the millions of Epstein documents released by the Department of Justice in January.
Hillary said: ‘If the majority were serious, it would not waste time on fishing expeditions. There is too much that needs to be done. What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up?’
Despite her denials of any Epstein relationship, Hillary received a $20,000 donation from the disgraced pedophile in 1999 when she was fundraising for the DNC.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s infamous madam, attended Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010, years after Epstein had been convicted of sexual abuse.
Hillary previously admitted to meeting Maxwell on several occasions.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking – the only Epstein co-conspirator
Meanwhile, Clinton is expected to face a grilling on Friday as the first former president compelled to testify in a congressional investigation.