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Hillary Clinton to be Deposed in Jeffrey Epstein Case; James Comer Speaks Before Hillary Clinton Deposition; DOJ in Court to Defend its Prosecution of Kilmar Abgrego Garcia. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 26, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

REP. YASSAMIN ANSARI (D-AZ), DEM WHO WILL BE PRESENT AT HILLARY CLINTON'S DEPOSITION: We've seen it in other countries and it is very embarrassing that the United States has not operated in the same way when it comes to accountability for people who were involved or enabled or perpetrated crimes themselves.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: You had mentioned those missing files. The Justice Department says it is reviewing whether Epstein-related documents mentioning Trump were improperly withheld from public releases. Among the missing records were these three interviews related to a woman who accused President Trump of sexually assaulting her decades ago, something that President Trump denies. Does it give you any comfort that the DOJ says it's going to look into this?

ANSARI: This is the most egregious cover-up in American history and I am not surprised that the Department of Justice has covered this up. That's why I've been calling for Pam Bondi to be held in contempt or impeached because she has been complicit in this and has a direct hand in this cover-up.

But I also want to point out the fact that Kash Patel and the FBI are also complicit in this. The files that are missing are FBI interviews with the individual who came forward with these allegations of abuse when she was a minor. Kash Patel went in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath and said that there is no credible evidence that anybody else was involved in Epstein's crimes or that he trafficked anyone underage to anybody else.

So, I have serious reservations and questions for Kash Patel in addition to Pam Bondi because of the recent reporting by the Times.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Congresswoman, if these records were in fact withheld for some pernicious reason, which the Trump administration obviously denies, what sort of consequences should there be?

ANSARI: I think that Pam Bondi needs to be impeached for the cover- up. This would be a massive, massive breach of trust with the American people. The Epstein Files Transparency Act is abundantly clear. Every single Epstein file needs to be released unredacted. They have already violated that over and over and over again, and it's unacceptable. I also think that the fact that Pam Bondi came before the House Judiciary Committee and made clear, based on what photographs showed of her binder, that they were effectively spying on members of Congress who are going to look at these unredacted files. So, there need to be consequences in the form of firing or impeaching Pam Bondi. We need to look at Kash Patel and the FBI.

And this administration has many questions to answer, but I think it's very clear that the American people are not going to let this go, neither are we.

BLITZER: Democratic Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, thanks very much for joining us. Good luck today in this deposition. We'll be anxious to hear how it unfolds. Thank you.

BROWN: Thank you so much.

ANSARI: Thank you so much.

BROWN: And just ahead here in the Situation Room, unfairly targeted. That's what attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia are arguing in front of federal judge as they work to get the charges against him dropped. The latest in the legal saga, next.

BLITZER: Hold on one second, Pamela. We're now about to hear directly from the chairman of this committee that's about to do this deposition with Hillary Clinton, Representative James Comer. The chairman is speaking. Let's listen.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY), CHAIRMAN, OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: -- to include subpoenas for various -- I think there were eight names originally, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. Everyone that was included in that subpoena has already either been interviewed by the Oversight Committee or sent in a statement that they had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of the investigation, except the Clintons.

We worked for six months to get the Clintons to come in. And then they acted like they were going to come in and then they didn't show up. And obviously, we moved to hold the Clintons in contempt. And I think one thing that surprised the Clintons, they assumed the Democrats on the committee would vote in a partisan manner and not vote to hold the Clintons in contempt. And what they learned was a majority of the Democrats on the committee either voted to hold the Clintons in contempt or voted present. And I think that's a statement that this investigation is serious.

It is a bipartisan investigation. 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. Again, no one's accusing at this moment the Clintons of any wrongdoing. They're going to have due process. But we have a lot of questions.

And the purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein. How did he accumulate so much wealth? How was he able to surround himself with some of the most powerful men in the world? Was he an asset for our government or any other government? These are the questions that we're going to ask over the next two days. And hopefully, we'll be able to get some answers.

[10:35:00]

And as always, we're going to release the transcripts. We're going to release the video as soon as everyone has approved it. The normal process in a deposition is the attorneys would have the opportunity to review the transcript and review the video to make sure that there are no errors. And this is going to be a long video because this is going to be a long deposition.

Today will be a long deposition, I would assume. And tomorrow will be an even longer deposition. Every member of the Oversight Committee is going to have questions for the Clintons, as well as our trained staff that do nothing but deposition. So, after our hour of questioning, we're going to send a couple of members of the Oversight Committee out to be able to give you an update of what's going on and answer some questions. So, with that, we'll answer a question or two, and then we'll go back in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Comer, are you concerned that there has been a cover-up of sexual abuse of a minor by President Trump that are missing FBI records that appear to be?

COMER: No, we're looking into the accusation by the NPR. We don't know the answer to that. We know what the administration says. We're still looking to get a definitive answer on that. But look, let's just be realistic here. If you go by a lot of what the Democrats have said, you had Jasmine Crockett accuse Lee Zeldin of taking donations from Jeffrey Epstein. It was the wrong Jeffrey Epstein. We've had Ro Khanna sit on the floor and name names of people that were -- he thought were involved in Epstein that weren't even involved. So, you know, sometimes the Democrats on the committee aren't the best investigators. Go ahead, Chad. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the idea, though, that I understand you say that this is different with some of the members or some of the people who were subpoenaed who didn't have this direct contact. But some folks have said it seems like the Clintons are basically on trial here versus people who know more about the -- you know, what was going on with Maxwell, what was going on with Epstein, and that this is really kind of dragging them through the mud when there are other witnesses.

COMER: Well, let's address that, Chad. The Democrats voted to subpoena the Clintons. The Democrats voted with the Republicans to hold the Clintons in contempt. So, the Democrats have just as many questions for the Clintons as the Republicans. So, this isn't a partisan witch hunt. This was a motion -- a bipartisan motion supported by the Democrats to bring the Clintons in. So, I don't think it's any type of being unfair in any way to the Clintons.

They've never answered questions, unlike President Trump, who gets questioned every day by just about every one of you about his knowledge or involvement with Epstein. To my knowledge, the Clintons haven't answered very many questions about Epstein. We'll do one more question. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the spirit of bipartisanship, would you then ask the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to come testify? It seems like he has some information.

COMER: That's very possible, and I think there -- you know, I think it's a good possibility that his name will arise in some questioning today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will be on my list, and I have an email I printed off for Hillary to ask about Howard Lutnick today. So --

COMER: We're asking -- again -- and I want to remind everyone, we've already brought in Alex Acosta and Bill Barr for depositions. That's two Republicans in the Trump administration. So, this isn't just about Democrats. This is about anyone that has any knowledge of Epstein, the investigation. I think we all agree the government failed. The government failed the victims. And what our role is, we can't prosecute anyone. But what we have been doing is getting transparency with the American people.

We subpoenaed the estate. That had nothing to do with the discharge petition. We subpoenaed the documents for the estate. That's what the victims asked us to do. And what you're seeing is there is accountability finally happening. You've seen at least a dozen very powerful people, men and women, who have already resigned, many in disgrace from their board positions.

So, we're seeing accountability, but we have a desire to see a we want to get the answers. And hopefully the next two days will be a step in the right direction on our investigation. Go ahead. One more. And then that's it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE). I mean, Hillary Clinton has said she has no links to Jeffrey Epstein. She doesn't recall meeting him. So, what specific information do you believe she has that warrants her testimony?

COMER: Well, we you'll see. I mean, we're going to ask a lot of questions. But with respect to -- when you look at all the co- conspirators and we've all seen the unredacted documents, Maxwell is the main co-conspirator. No one brought more women in and lied to more women about what was going to happen with their involvement with Jeffrey Epstein than Ghislaine Maxwell. We know that obviously Maxwell was a guest at Chelsea Clinton's wedding. There weren't many people that went to that wedding.

[10:40:00]

So, again, we're not accusing Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing. We know that Jeffrey Epstein said many times in emails that he was the first person to raise money for the Clinton initiative, the Clinton Foundation, that he solicited money at some of his properties for the Clinton Foundation. Again, that's not saying anything's illegal, but there are a lot of questions pertaining to Secretary Clinton with respect to Epstein and his involvement in the Clinton initiative and her relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell.

So, we'll come out every hour when we get finished and different members will update you and answer any questions. Thank you all.

BLITZER: All right. So there you have the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, briefly speaking about what he anticipates will unfold over the next few hours as they begin this deposition of Hillary Clinton today and then tomorrow follow up by a much more important deposition, the former president, Bill Clinton.

BROWN: Yes, and of course, we'll be tracking all of this closely. We'll be right back.

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[10:45:00]

BROWN: Happening now, Trump administration officials are in court defending their prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. They're trying to convince a federal judge in Tennessee that they are not unfairly targeting Garcia with criminal charges, and the case could get thrown out if they don't succeed. You'll remember Garcia was illegally deported to El Salvador last year by the administration's own admission and was ultimately brought back.

So, let's talk more about this. I want to go to our CNN crime and justice correspondent, Katelyn Polantz. Katelyn, what are we expecting out of today's hearing?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a hearing where the tables have turned, and this is not where the Justice Department ever wanted to be. This case, when it was first brought, when Kilmar Abrego Garcia, this Maryland man who had mistakenly been sent to El Salvador in the prison there as a deportation action, the administration wanted this to be emblematic of how tough they were being on illegal immigrants and potentially people who could have connections to gangs in the United States.

What's happening here today is the Justice Department has to defend their decision-making for bringing this case. Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his lawyers in the Middle District of Tennessee, what he's facing is charges for transporting illegal immigrants in a Chevy Suburban on I- 40 in Tennessee back in 2022. There were top officials at the Justice Department, including the deputy attorney general, who at the time he was brought back from El Salvador, they went out and said he's coming back to face justice for this traffic stop situation in 2022.

So, the question now is, did they do that just to bring him back to the U.S., or would they have prosecuted him for no reason, for a reason that anyone would face? What his attorneys have argued so far to the judge is that he's being vindictively prosecuted. And so, now the person who was the acting U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee, Robert McGuire, he's expected to take the stand today. The third top attorney at the Justice Department, Stanley Woodward, is arguing in court, and they have to defend that he was prosecuted for an objective, on-the-record reason, and not because of some broader singling out.

BROWN: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much, as always. Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, new CNN reporting, the nation's top military officers' concerns about a war with Iran, what we're learning. We're getting new information from inside the Pentagon.

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[10:50:00]

BLITZER: The House Oversight Committee's ranking member, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia, is speaking just outside the Hillary Clinton deposition that's about to begin in Chappaqua, New York. Let's listen in to hear what he's saying.

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA), RANKING MEMBER, OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Well, good morning, everyone. My name is Robert Garcia. I'm the ranking member for the Oversight Democrats.

We're here today, of course, for two days of depositions of both Secretary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton. So, I'm going to have some general comments. We will actually be back out here to answer any questions once we've actually started the depositions, but we wanted to make some brief comments right now, and then we'll go ahead and go in and start.

Let me just begin by saying that Oversight Democrats, from day one, we have said that we want to talk to anyone, any person that has information about Jeffrey Epstein, about his crimes, about how he was able to get so much wealth. We will talk to any single person, whether that is a Democrat, a Republican, how much wealth they have, how powerful their position is. We want to talk to anyone.

So, we're happy to be here and we're glad that both Secretary Clinton and former President Clinton are willing to talk to this committee. I also think it's important to note, I'm glad to see that we have our Republican colleagues here as a big group of them. I wish they would have joined us at the Les Wexner deposition, but I'm glad that they're here now to get questions answered. That is an important part of our investigation.

Let me just add that as it relates to Secretary Clinton, who's here today, she has been very clear. She's never met Jeffrey Epstein. We have no evidence of her having any interactions with Mr. Epstein. And so, I think that's important to note as we walk into this deposition. But I also want to say what I think is very important, that at this very moment, the Department of Justice continues to lead a White House coverup.

And we're going to be demanding, even over these next few days, that the remaining files that have not been released get released to the public. And that includes new files that were just discovered in the last couple of days of a survivor that has made serious accusations and allegations against not just Jeffrey Epstein, but also against President Trump and about abuse that she suffered when she was a minor.

We have seen the DOJ files and the archive manifest that clearly shows that the interviews and information around this survivor have been removed and are missing from the DOJ files. Where are these files? Who removed them? Those questions have to be answered. What we have is a survivor that we have verified, that others have verified, and those files are missing.

It's not just those. It's an additional 50 percent of files that are missing. It is unconscionable. It is illegal. And Pam Bondi and the president need to answer to where those files are.

[10:55:00]

And that's going to continue to drive our work, not just today, but every single day until we get justice for the survivors. I'm going to have some of our members here make a few comments as well.

ANSARI: Thank you. It is abundantly clear that this is the most egregious cover-up in American history. The recent reporting by the New York Times, NPR, and other media outlets that have verified this, demonstrating that the Department of Justice, in addition to violating the law over and over again as they refuse to release the full and unredacted files, have withheld 50 pages of allegations against President Trump. This cover-up needs to end immediately. I am glad that we are here today as part of this ongoing investigation, because we will accept any information that anybody can give us about Jeffrey Epstein's vast child sex trafficking operation.

I just want to say that young people in this country are watching right now. If the most powerful people in the United States of America, the elite and rich and powerful men and women, are able to get away with these heinous crimes, then we are sending a horrible message to young people in this country that powerful people will always protect themselves, and the rule of law does not apply to everyone.

So, I look forward to the next two days, and we know that there is so much more to uncover here, and we expect to get answers from the Department of Justice immediately. Thank you.

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): I'm Congressman Suhas Subramanyam. We're here today in New York to talk to Hillary Clinton, and tomorrow to talk to former President Bill Clinton. I want to make clear that there were no Republicans in Ohio to talk to Les Wexler, who bankrolled Epstein's fortune, for the most part, and allowed a lot of his crimes to happen. Hillary Clinton, who maintains that she doesn't recall meeting Jeffrey Epstein, is here today, and we have a lot of Republicans here today. That underscores to me the partisan nature of what some of the Republicans on our committee and in Congress are doing, and the way they're approaching this investigation.

And meanwhile, they're not holding the Department of Justice accountable for breaking the law over and over again. There's 2.5 million files that have not been released, and now we're hearing and seeing evidence of some of those files, including accusations against President Trump. We know that there are other information in those files that clearly is not about protecting victims. It's about protecting people who committed crimes.

And so, we, as Democrats on the Oversight Committee, are going to continue to approach this investigation in a nonpartisan way, because all we want is the truth and we want justice for the survivors. And we want to make sure this never happens again, no matter how rich and powerful the perpetrators are. Thank you.

REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): Thank you. I'm James Walkinshaw from Virginia. We are here today to continue our investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. And it's important to note, and as others have said, there is no indication, zero, zip, zilch, nada, that Secretary Clinton had any knowledge of Epstein's crimes. She submitted a sworn statement that she never met Jeffrey Epstein. And my fear is we're here today as part of a political exercise, part of a long-running fever dream where Republicans want to lock up Secretary Clinton.

We had the State of the Union this week, and President Trump spoke for two hours and refused to even acknowledge the courageous survivors of Epstein's crimes who were in the chamber. He wouldn't even address the issue. His attorney general refuses to even meet refuses to even meet with the survivors. So, we want to conduct a serious bipartisan investigation. I'm glad that President Clinton will sit down with us tomorrow and answer questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. But I wanted to come today to ensure that this is a serious exercise, a serious investigation, and not a political or partisan one. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why weren't the Clintons made to go Washington to testify?

GARCIA: I'll answer that. I'll answer that question. So, let me go ahead and -- we're going to answer two -- one or two questions. Let me just also say I think today also sets a precedent. And so, I want to be very clear that we have set from day one that we want to talk to former President Bill Clinton, and the other person we want to talk to is current President Donald Trump.

And so, we should be very clear that now that we're going to hear from former President Clinton, I hope that Chairman Comer and the Republicans will join us in demanding that the person who actually appears more times in the files than the former president who we want to speak with is President Donald Trump.

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