Grace Eliza Goodwin
US reporter

Image source, Getty Images

While President Trump's name came up many times when lawmakers spoke with the press over the past two days in Chappaqua, House Democrats have also made it clear that another person they want to bring in for testimony is US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Lutnick has come under fire after Epstein files revealed that he planned a visit to Epstein's island with his family - years after he claimed to have cut ties with the convicted paedophile.

The billionaire businessman, his wife, their four children and another family planned to travel to Little Saint James in 2012, according to emails included in Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in January.

Lutnick has since admitted that he and his family did visit the island.

The emails contradict statements Lutnick made in October in an interview with The New York Post, in which he said he had cut ties with Epstein in 2005 when the pair were neighbours in New York.

Lutnick told the outlet that, after visiting Epstein's townhouse once in 2005, "my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again".

A Commerce Department spokesperson previously told the BBC that Lutnick had never been accused of any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein.

After her deposition on Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with the press outside the Chappaqua Arts Center. We were hoping for a similar appearance by former President Bill Clinton on Friday but unfortunately this has not happened.

Here's an excerpt of Mrs Clinton's remarks:

Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from Chappaqua, New York

In his opening statement today, Bill Clinton called out the Oversight Committee over the deposition of his wife, Hillary Clinton, yesterday and said that it was wrong of them to do so.

In a strong defence of the former Secretary of State, he said he needed to get personal.

"You made Hillary come in," he said. "She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing."

He went on to add that she never travelled with Epstein or visited any of his properties.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Mrs Clinton told reporters after her deposition that she believes her husband knew nothing about Epstein's crimes.

"I think the chronology of the connection that he had with Epstein ended several years before anything about Epstein's criminal activities came to light,” she said.

The couple have been married for more than 50 years.

Image source, Getty Images

Bill Clinton says in his opening statement to the committee that there are two reasons why he agreed to testify today.

The first, he says, is that no person is above the law.

"Democracy requires every person to play their part, and I hope that by being here today, we can bring ourselves a little further from the brink and back to being a country where we can disagree with one another civilly - where the search for truth and justice outweighs the partisan urge to score points and create spectacle," his statement reads.

The second reason, he says, is that he wants justice and healing for the victims. He says he hopes sharing the little information he has about Epstein will help "prevent anything like this from ever happening again".

Now that the deposition has concluded, we're now watching if the former president has anything to say about how it went.

Comer wraps up his remarks by saying the committee has two more depositions scheduled in the near future.

One is with Epstein's accountant and the other with his lawyer.

Comer again thanked the Clintons for their testimony.

Image source, Getty Images

Trump has repeatedly said that he has been "exonerated" in the Epstein investigation.

Republican committee chair James Comer is asked by a reporter if that is really true. The chairman says yes, based on the evidence he's seen, Trump has been exonerated.

Nancy Mace, also a Republican, adds that the victims have exonerated Trump.

She also adds that both former President Clinton and former Secretary Hillary Clinton offered the Committee advice on where the investigation should go next.

Comer says there are a lot of remaining questions about anyone who spent time with Epstein after his first conviction."That's where most of our concerns are," Comer said, once people knew he was a sex offender. "Why did you remain friends with him?"

Answering questions from reporters, Republican committee chair James Comer says that they plan to "bring more people in" to give depositions: "We're not finished".

Comer says before the transcript of the hearing can be released, it has to be approved by attorneys from "both sides", as per the "standard rules" of depositions.

But he adds that, once the video is uploaded and audio is cleaned, it will be released publicly, "hopefully in the next 24 hours".

Image source, Getty Images

More people will be called in to discuss the Epstein files, the Republicans say.

Depositions like this are important because we need to get justice for the victims, Congressman John McGuire, a Republican of Virginia, said.

He thanked the Clintons but said there was selective memory at play in some responses from the former president.

Republican Nancy Mace thanks former President Clinton for giving the deposition today, saying he gave thorough answers even when his lawyers wanted him to stop talking.

But she says she believes we will see inconsistencies in his answers. We expect a video and transcript of the deposition to be released in coming days.

Image source, Getty Images

The Republican chair of the US House Oversight Committee, James Comer, has just walked out and announced that Bill Clinton's deposition hearing has now finished.

"We believe this was a very productive deposition," he says.

"President Clinton answered every question, or attempted to answer every question," he says, adding that once the video and transcript of the hearing are released there may be more questions.

He describes the depositions of the former president and the former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, as "historic", saying he believes they are the two highest-ranking officials to ever be deposed by Congress.

"This is a serious investigation. We will continue to try and get the truth to the American people and justice to the victims," says Comer.

Earlier today, Republican James Comer told reporters that Bill Clinton testified: "President Trump has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved" with Epstein's criminal activities.

Democrats on the committee did not agree that was how the conversation played out.

"Claims that President Clinton fully exonerated Trump are wrong and a mischaracterization," they said in a post on X.

"President Clinton raised more questions about the relationship between President Trump and Epstein - specifically with regards to the reason their relationship ended," the post wen on.

"In fact, President Clinton confirmed that he knew Trump and Epstein had a close relationship and said Trump reported having "great times" with Epstein."

Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat on the committee, says Clinton testified that Trump once told him the reason he no longer speaks to Epstein is because the two had a falling out over a land dispute.

"This directly refutes Trump’s claims about why he fell out with Epstein," Frost says.

The White House has previously said that Trump kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club "for being a creep".

Trump was a friend of Epstein's for years, but the president has said they fell out in the early 2000s, two years before Epstein was first arrested. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Sakshi Venkatraman
US reporter

It's now been more than six hours since former President Bill Clinton started giving a deposition to the House Oversight Committee for its Epstein investigation.

Here's what's happened so far:

• Lawmakers on both the Democratic and Republican sides say Clinton has been cooperating with questions, even giving lengthy answers
• A source tells the BBC that Clinton was asked about a photograph from the Epstein files showing him in a hottub with a person whose face is redacted
• Clinton said he did not know who the woman was and did not have sex with her, the source says
• The former president said he "saw nothing, I did nothing wrong" in an opening statement released on social media before the hearing began today
• Republicans and Democrats both shared that Clinton has been asked about President Donald Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein - but the two parties shared different interpretations of his answers

• House Democrats say Clinton shared details of a conversation he had with Trump that raises more questions for the current president, who they say should testify
• Republicans say they have plans to release footage from the deposition of Hillary Clinton, who testified for six hours yesterday
• Bill Clinton's unedited deposition video and transcript should also be released, Democrats say

The hearing is closed-door, and we will keep you posted as we learn more.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from Chappaqua, New York

Image source, US Department of Justice

A source confirms to the BBC that Bill Clinton was asked about a photograph from the Epstein files, showing him and an unidentified person in a hot tub.

Clinton told lawmakers in his deposition that he did not know who the woman in the photograph is. When asked if he had sex with the woman, he said he did not, the source said.

The exchange was first reported by CNN.

Another image in the files, taken at the same location, shows him swimming in a pool with Ghislaine Maxwell and an unidentified person.

Appearing in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing, and Clinton has denied any knowledge of in Epstein's crimes. He has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein survivors who have come forward so far.

Image source, Getty Images

Democratic lawmakers have been calling throughout the day for Donald Trump to testify about Jeffrey Epstein.

The US president is mentioned thousands of times in the files released by the Department of Justice, including in correspondence sent by Epstein to others.

The pair had a well-established relationship in the 1990s and early 2000s, and were pictured at various events and parties together in this time. Trump has said they had a falling out around 2004 - before Epstein was under investigation - and that their relationship ended.

One of the files released by the justice department, however, raised questions about what Trump knew and when. The file is a written record of an FBI interview with the former Palm Beach police chief, who alleges Trump called him in 2006 after the department launched an investigation into Epstein and said "everyone has known he's been doing this" and "people in New York knew he was disgusting".

US media have reported that multiple witness interviews are missing from the released files, including some relating to a woman who accused Trump of sexual assault. Democrats who have viewed the unredacted files allege three witness interviews with the accuser have been withheld.

In a statement, the justice department denied wrongdoing and said it was reviewing the withheld documents. It said it would publish any that are found to have been improperly removed.

Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, and recently said he has been "totally exonerated". The president has not been accused of any crimes by the Epstein survivors who have come forward publicly so far.

Image source, Getty Images

The depositions of Bill and Hillary Clinton have been taking place in a small performing arts centre in Chappaqua, New York. It's a town just outside of New York City where the Clintons have lived since Bill left office in 2001.

Political testimony from two of the most well-known politicians in the country is not the typical programming normally seen at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center.

The 425-seat space has previously hosted school arts and music shows, movie screenings, and stand-up comedy.

Tomorrow, after the deposition crowds clear out, the theatre will host a celebration for Lunar New Year.

Next month on 20 March, it hosts a Fleetwood Mac cover band (funnily enough, Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign song was Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac).

No more depositions of former presidents are on the calendar - at least for the foreseeable future.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from Chappaqua, New York

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

I’ve just spoken with Representative Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat, who has described the atmosphere inside the deposition room as "respectful", with the former president answering all of the questions in a thoughtful and deliberate manner.

He says yesterday felt like the committee was going in circles, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but a lot more territory has been covered today.

While Bill Clinton hasn’t been able to recall every single thing they’ve asked him from 20+ years ago, Representative Suhas believes Clinton is doing his best to be helpful and cooperative with the committee’s investigation.

Democrats, he said, aren’t letting him off the hook and are asking the tough questions.

A deposition is a legal term used in US proceedings where one party is gathering information from a source. It is a witness or party's sworn testimony, given under oath.

In this case, the House Oversight Committee - a small and powerful group of US lawmakers, is administering and supervising.

In today's session, there will be alternating one-hour rounds of questions. The Republicans started, because they have the majority in the committee. Then the Democrats take their turn. And it alternates until the session wraps up.

We're not sure how long today's deposition will last, but one committee member indicated it could go on until 18:00 (23:00 GMT) or later.

Image source, REUTERS

Garcia says Bill Clinton "did bring up some additional information about some discussions with President Trump".

He pushes back on earlier comments from James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, who said Clinton testified that he has no knowledge of Trump being involved in Epstein's crimes.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

"I don't think it's a complete, accurate description of what actually was said. So let's release the full transcript," Garcia says.

He ends the briefing by repeating his demand for Trump to testify before the committee.

Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat Representative from Virginia, says Bill Clinton has not pleaded the fifth - invoking the Fifth Amendment right for protection against self-incrimination - and has answered their questions at length.

His comments are echoed by Wesley Bell of Missouri who says they are trying to get to the bottom of what happened to hold people accountable.

He says there is a difference between posting things on Truth Social or X, and answering questions under oath.