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Hillary Clinton's Deposition Paused After Photo From Closed- Door Interview Posted Online; U.S. Military Buildup Off Iran the Largest Region Has Seen Since Run-up to 2003 Iraq Invasion; Captain of USA Women's Hockey Team Says Trump's Joke Distasteful. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 26, 2026 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:33:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Happening now. Former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton's deposition in the House Oversight Committee's Jeffrey Epstein probe has resumed after a brief pause. Earlier, one of Clinton's advisers came out of the deposition and told reporters that it had halted because a photo of Clinton from the closed-door interview was posted on X.

A conservative podcaster posted two photos and said they were provided by Republican Congresswoman, Lauren Boebert. The top Democrat on the panel is now asking that reporters be allowed in the room after the photos surfaced online. Before the pause, Clinton released her opening statement on social media reiterating she has no information on the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.

She also called on Congress to question President Donald Trump, saying quote, "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." President Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.

And joining us now is Democratic Congressman, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts. He's on the Oversight Committee, but is not attending the Clinton deposition in Chappaqua, New York. Congressman, thank you for being with us. Can you give us any update on what your colleagues have heard, have asked inside this deposition from former Secretary of State, Clinton? Anything on her meetings with Ghislaine Maxwell?

REP. STEPHEN LYNCH, (D-MA) OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: So far, her testimony has been and we've been back and forth with staff -- her testimony has been consistent with the record though. There was really no evidence in the record that she had ever met Jeffrey Epstein. Ghislaine Maxwell had been working on the Clinton Foundation, that was a charity, and there were I think three occasions where she might have been in the presence of Ghislaine Maxwell.

[13:35:00]

I voted against contempt for Hillary Clinton. I did not believe that based on the record that there was any evidence that would indicate that she might be able to offer help to the Committee in its investigation.

KEILAR: Has she said she doesn't recall anything as opposed to saying she doesn't know something?

LYNCH: Well, she doesn't -- she said she has no memory or no opportunity, and there's nothing in the record. Remember, we talked to the survivors, the victims in this case, and no one had any --

KEILAR: Sorry, let me clarify Congressman. Has she been -- has she sort of couched it, as in she doesn't recall or has she been definitive in what she's saying?

LYNCH: No, she's been definitive --

KEILAR: OK.

LYNCH: -- in terms of her connection with Jeffrey Epstein. And she did -- she was aware that Ghislaine Maxwell was working on behalf of President Clinton on the Clinton Foundation, a charity established by the president.

KEILAR: The Clinton Global Initiative. And tomorrow, the Committee is going to be deposing the former president. And according to Chairman Comer, Epstein visited the Clinton White House 17 times and it was during the Clinton administration, we've now learned, when Epstein victim, Maria Farmer, first reported Epstein to the FBI for child pornography related concerns, but nothing came of it.

What do you want to learn from Bill Clinton about that?

LYNCH: Well, based on the evidence, there were several occasions for President Clinton on -- actually, on flights with Jeffrey Epstein, and so he had an opportunity to observe Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein while they were doing some of this activity. And so, he may have observed other people. Most of his contacts were in official proceedings at the White House or with the security detail with him.

But he may have had opportunities to observe others when they were conducting some of this activity.

KEILAR: Bill Clinton has said he has not been to Epstein's Island. But Steve Scully, who worked on the island and Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim, both said that they saw him there. Giuffre had stated that she never saw him do anything untoward, but she didn't understand, essentially, why he wasn't, from her perspective, forthcoming about being there.

Former top Clinton Adviser, Doug Band told Vanity Fair that Bill Clinton visited the island in 2003. What do you want the Committee to ask him about that? LYNCH: Well, ask him about the inconsistencies here, in his statement earlier that he wasn't there and then the conflicting evidence and testimony of others. So, we want to get to the bottom of this.

KEILAR: Does that kind of inconsistency makes sense for why you would have a deposition as opposed to a written statement in this case, to you?

LYNCH: Well, in my mind, we did offer Republican witnesses the opportunity to submit written responses. I do think some of the desire to have Clinton appear -- both Clintons appear was to embarrass them and also to deflect attention from the current president who has thousands of references in the Epstein Files to his longtime friendship and contact, sometimes in his own words and his own remarks and that relationship, close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

KEILAR: Can't multiple things be true though, here, because you have victims who are very curious about what Bill Clinton is saying and what he may say tomorrow? And Arick Fudali, who we just spoke with, he -- Jim Sciutto, my co-anchor here, just did an interview with him, and he has represented a number of victims and he wants to know who Clinton saw around Jeffrey Epstein. So, I mean, even if there is merit to what you were alleging, may it also be important to have those questions answered in person?

LYNCH: Absolutely. Remember, I voted to require President Clinton's appearance here. There were nine Democrats that we committed to get to the bottom of this. All I'm saying is that after having spoken to at least six or eight of the survivors, there was no indications from them that there was any wrongdoing by the president.

[13:40:00]

So -- but let's be thorough. Let's do due diligence and let's do our jobs. And at some point, we desperately want to talk to President Trump because he's all over this and there's some intimate connections between him. We've seen writings. We've seen remarks on the part of the president. There's photographs galore.

And there's also the fact that he has taken the only key witness to all of this, Ghislaine Maxwell, taken her out of a prison and put her into a detention facility with much greater freedoms and benefits. He did that. And without any deal to have her testify as to what went on, she was side by side with Epstein during all of this.

She is the one person that can tell that whole story. And because President Trump's counsel extracted her from the prison, put her in a nice, comfortable detention center, she has no inducement to talk. She has no inducement and no willingness to provide that information, which is unfortunate.

In my opinion, that is witness tampering. But unfortunately, the attorney general does not agree.

KEILAR: Yeah, Congressman, a lot of questions about that arrangement that put her in that Texas sort of prison camp. Congressman Stephen Lynch, we appreciate your time. Thank you.

LYNCH: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: While nuclear talks are underway in Switzerland, thousands of miles away in the Middle East, the U.S. has assembled a force of American warships and planes not seen since the invasion of Iraq. Next, we're going to take a look at President Trump's options if diplomacy fails.

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[13:46:15]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The U.S. is maintaining maximum military pressure on Iran, even as the talks between the two countries are underway again in Geneva. The U.S. military buildup in the Middle East is now the largest since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

With us now, CNN Military Analyst, retired Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton. There's a lot there, no question. I mean, the least of which, these two aircraft carrier groups. But tell us about the array of forces involved. And given there are questions swirling as to whether this is sufficient for a sustained attack, what's your assessment?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, so Jim, this is actually quite an interesting situation because we have all these forces arrayed not only throughout the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region right here, but also in the Mediterranean and even in Jordan, Israel, and in the Red Sea. So you have all these assets, destroyers of various types, and what they can do is, for example, you have the USS Tulsa, the USS Canberra, they have the capability of providing support to any U.S. forces that go into the region, but they are also designed to send missiles into Iran.

So when you look at the map right here, with them being arrayed in this area, they have a range that can basically extend missiles into at least this part of Iran, if not even further. So they can do this, and one of the other things that they can do is, when you look at the other parts of this area, you can see some of the other missile destroyers -- missile-carrying destroyers like the Mitscher, the Michael Murphy, all of these have the capability to really make a big difference when it comes to going into this part of Iran.

SCIUTTO: Well, you have strike capability, you also have defensive capabilities deployed deliberately.

LEIGHTON: Right.

SCIUTTO: Can you give us a sense of what targets would then be within range? Because this is partly about nuclear facilities, but it's also about missile production and missile sites.

LEIGHTON: Right, that's exactly right. So when you look at the wider map right here, within Iran, you have different sites that have obviously the nuclear sites, then you also have missile production sites, you have some of their operations here, and you have some of the civilian infrastructure, including the Persian Gulf oil region right here.

So all of these -- for an offensive operation, all of these are potential targets, and that also should include the political side of things, Jim. You're looking at the leadership of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards or even the supreme leader himself.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. If that's the intention because, of course, the administration has not been clear, is this about the nuclear sites, is it about missile production, is it about regime change? Now tell me about vulnerabilities because, of course, there's great concern about Iranian retaliation.

Tell us what is in, well, first of all, the range of Iranian weapons, but what does that put at risk then?

LEIGHTON: So yeah, that's a great question, because what you have here, so let's take the different types of missiles here. For example, you have the Soumar missile, this one right here. It's a long-range cruise missile, range of up to 3,000 kilometers, about 1,800 miles. That can really cover everything.

SCIUTTO: There are a lot of U.S. troops based in that region as you look at this. Yeah --

(CROSSTALK)

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, so within that range, you've got 40,000 troops in the Middle East itself and that's been added to by the deployments that you have, things like the F-22 coming in.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: You've got F-35s coming in with their associated air crews, the intelligence assets that are coming in like the RC-135. All of this is within range of not only this missile, but you also have the Sejjil, which is a medium-range ballistic missile. That's about a 2,000-kilometer or 1,200-mile missile, and that can cover everything here. So everything in the Persian Gulf is at risk, and with the longer-range missiles, things in Europe are also at risk.

SCIUTTO: And listen, ask the Ukrainians about the effectiveness of Shahed drones which, of course, Iran has been supplying to Russia for its ongoing attacks there.

[13:50:00]

Cedric Leighton, always good to have you on. Thanks so much.

LEIGHTON: Thanks so much, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, the captain of Team USA women's Olympic hockey has weighed in on President Trump's now viral and fairly offensive locker room joke. Her reaction right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The captain of Team USA women's hockey is now reacting to the viral joke that President Trump made about the women's team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILARY KNIGHT, CAPTAIN, U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL ICE HOCKEY TEAM: The joke was distasteful. Women should be championed for their amazing feats, and now, I have to sort of sit -- and anybody has to sit in front of you and explain someone else's behavior.

[13:55:00]

It's not my responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: She's referring to this video that was recorded in the locker room of Team USA men's hockey after they won gold against Canada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I must tell you, we're going to have to bring the women's team. You do know that?

(LAUGH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two for two, two for two.

TRUMP: I do believe, I probably would be impeached, OK?

(LAUGH)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Team USA goaltender, Jeremy Swayman has since weighed in on the controversial moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY SWAYMAN, GOALIE, U.S. MEN'S NATIONAL ICE HOCKEY TEAM: Yeah, we should have reacted differently. We know that we are so excited for the women's team. We have so much respect for the women's team, and to share that gold medal with them is something that we're forever grateful for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're joined now by CNN Sports Analyst and USA Today Sports Columnist, Christine Brennan. Christine, I wonder how you're looking at all of this. I even have questions too about how the men might be handling this privately given how much pressure is on this situation. How are you seeing this, though, at this moment as the women are handling this moment?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST AND USA TODAY SPORTS COLUMNIST: Well, what a class act the Hilary Knight is, right, Brianna? I mean, five-time Olympic medalist, two-time gold medalist, team captain, flag bearer at the closing ceremonies. I mean, she is everything a parent would want a child to be and here she is, all grown up, obviously, a great role model for so many millions of girls and boys in hockey and in other sports. And look how she handled it, just beautifully.

I actually think, Brianna, as difficult as this has been and strange, starting, of course, with the president's behavior, not calling the women, but calling the men, that was the huge mistake right there. Women won the gold on Thursday. The men, of course, won it on Sunday. That three days that Trump did not call, I think, really set the stage for all of this.

But it's also a great reflection of what our country thinks of girls and women's sports, that here we are, 96 hours later, still talking about it. The nation cares about women's sports. We're seeing that. 10, 15, 20 years ago, you know well, as an athlete, people would have laughed it off. They wouldn't have even cared.

Now, people are riveted to this issue and supporting the women and here we have, Swayman talking as a player that they should have reacted differently. Fascinating snapshot of where women's sports are in our culture in 2026.

KEILAR: Yeah, and the two for two, you did hear one person yelling that in the video. That two for two element of this, just the domination of American hockey, I think is so important to focus on from this women's Olympics. It's such a part of the story. The president has said the women's team will visit soon. The women, of course, declined their invite to the State of the Union due to some prior academic and professional commitments.

Do you think that there's actually going to be a visit? And how do you think that could go? Should it go? Is that an opportunity? What do you think?

BRENNAN: The president should absolutely invite all Olympians, everyone who competed in Milan, to the White House. That is tradition. We've seen it from Democrats, Republicans. There's a lot of presidents out there that have shown up at the Olympics or called in to teams who knew, Brianna, that the entire team did not love them. They, of course, did the job as a president.

Donald Trump, of course, did not do that. So they should invite everyone. My sense would be there will be a lot of athletes from all different sports. We saw the figure skaters speaking out, obviously, who may want to attend, may not want to attend. That's their right. That's their call.

People always miss. Athletes always miss the White House ceremony for some reason. They have other commitments, what have you. So, I think the invitation should be given to all. Then we'll see what happens. But we do know this, that the U.S. women's hockey team is about as classy a class act as you can ever find in this country.

And I think they're winning fans left and right by the thousands every day that this goes on. And the men, obviously, understandably, do support the women. They got kind of just roped into and trapped into a real chaotic mess in that locker room.

It's good to hear some of the men speaking out now and obviously, clarifying the situation.

KEILAR: Yeah, and also, as you mentioned, I think it's so interesting to see what Hilary Knight said. We played part of it. But she also goes on to talk about how she is proud of the men's gold medal victory. And I think the bummer of this whole thing is that it took just this moment that was so unifying and it punctured it.

And it is so interesting to watch her, I think, standing for her team while also maybe trying to restore some of that.

BRENNAN: Yeah, without a doubt. The women supported the men. The men supported the women. Something, again, when -- I will tell you this, Brianna, when I was -- I've covered the Olympics, as you know, for a long time. 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics is when the International Olympic Committee voted to bring women's hockey into the Olympics six years later in Nagano in 1998 --