Democratic leaders have promised to pose challenging inquiries to Bill Clinton regarding his connections with Jeffrey Epstein, while simultaneously renewing their criticism of Donald Trump.

Clinton, aged 79, is set to be questioned this Friday at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Westchester County, New York. This comes after his wife, Hillary Clinton, faced similar scrutiny the previous day.

Prior to the commencement of the hearing, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers addressed the media, exchanging sharp criticisms and preparing for what promises to be a contentious session.

Democrats have insisted that although Clinton must address certain questions, it is Trump who deserves more scrutiny due to his frequent mentions in the Epstein files.

At a press conference on Friday, Democratic Representative James Walkinshaw of Virginia emphasized the party’s commitment to interrogating the former president about his relationship with the notorious financier.

“Anyone who had a significant relationship with Jeffrey Epstein needs to clarify their knowledge and involvement regarding the crimes committed,” Walkinshaw asserted. “Today, we are determined to ask those hard-hitting questions.”

Bill Clinton will make history on Friday as the first ever former president compelled to testify before Congress against his will.

The 79-year-old is being hauled before lawmakers over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after being threatened with contempt charges.

Bill Clinton with his arm around a young woman on a private jet in a photo from the Epstein files

Former President Bill Clinton in a hot tub and a woman whose face has been redacted are seen in another image from the files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell grin with Clinton during a VIP tour of the White House in 1993

Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s infamous madam, attended Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010, years after Epstein had been convicted of sexual abuse

President Clinton and wife Hillary share a tender moment during an East Room ceremony at the White House in Washington, July 17, 1996

Clinton’s deposition is scheduled for 11am at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Westchester County, New York, where Hillary yesterday faced a grilling.

While Hillary told lawmakers she never met Epstein and only Ghislaine Maxwell on a few occasions, Bill has to answer to far more damning evidence.

Photos released by Congress and the Department of Justice over the last few months show the former president on a private jet with his arm around a young woman, swimming with Maxwell and relaxing in a hot tub with another unidentified woman .

Clinton and Epstein were associated from the early 1990s and into the early 2000s.

He says he flew on Epstein’s private plane during Clinton Foundation trips before the financier was charged with any sex crimes but denies wrongdoing and says he cut ties years before Epstein’s 2006 arrest for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

No evidence has emerged implicating either Bill or Hillary Clinton in criminal conduct related to Epstein .

Hillary said Thursday that she expected her husband to testify that he had no knowledge of Epstein’s sexual abuse at the time they knew each other.

Representative James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, predicted Thursday that the ex-president’s deposition will take ‘even longer’.

‘The Clintons haven’t answered very many, if any, questions about their knowledge or involvement with Epstein and Maxwell,’ he added.

‘No one’s accusing, at this moment, the Clintons of any wrongdoing,’ he added.

Republicans have wanted to question Clinton about Epstein for years, especially as conspiracy theories arose following Epstein’s 2019 suicide in a New York jail cell while he faced sex trafficking charges.

Those calls reached a fever pitch late last year, when the new DOJ photos revealed new depths to the well-publicized Epstein relationship.

Epstein visited the Clinton White House at least 17 times between 1993 and 1995 and the pair later made international trips together for their humanitarian work.

In the lead-up to the deposition, Clinton has insisted he had limited knowledge about Epstein and was unaware of any sexual abuse he committed.

In a declaration to lawmakers last month, Clinton admitted flying on Epstein’s plane in 2002 and 2003 while he was traveling internationally for the Clinton Foundation. 

Clinton said Epstein ‘offered a plane that was big enough to accommodate me, my staff and my US Secret Service detail, in support of visiting the Foundation’s philanthropic work.’

The former president said he never visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little St James, where many of the pedophile’s accusers say they were trafficked for abuse.

Maxwell said in an interview with the Justice Department last year that Clinton was never there.

‘I do not recall speaking to Mr. Epstein for more than a decade prior to his 2019 arrest’ Clinton’s declaration said.

Hillary said after her deposition: ‘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.’

Comer has pledged extensive questioning of the former president. He claimed that Hillary had repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.

Epstein was found hanged in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence as his only co-conspirator ever convicted. 

Democrats argue that it sets a precedent that should also apply to Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein. 

Only four ex-presidents – Trump, Harry Truman, John Tyler and John Quincy Adams – and one sitting president, Richard Nixon, have been formally subpoenaed by Congress to testify. Trump, Truman, Nixon, and Quincy Adams all refused to comply, while Tyler agreed to appear.

The Supreme Court has never definitively ruled on whether a president can be compelled to give testimony to Congress, though the DOJ has historically argued that presidents have ‘testimonial immunity’ to protect the separation of powers. 

‘We’re demanding immediately that we ask President Trump to testify in front of our committee and be deposed in front of Oversight Republicans and Democrats,’ Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said Thursday.

Comer has pushed back on that idea, saying that Trump has answered questions on Epstein from the press.

Democrats are also calling for the resignation of Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Lutnick was a longtime neighbor of Epstein in New York City but said on a podcast that he severed ties with Epstein following a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

The public release of case files showed that Lutnick actually had two engagements with Epstein years later.

He attended a 2011 event at Epstein’s home, and in 2012, his family had lunch with Epstein on his private island.

A new photo emerged last night that appeared to have been deleted by the Justice Department, showing Lutnick on Epstein’s private island. 

Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton and an unidentified man in a photo from the Epstein files

Clinton and the pedophile financer were photographed together multiple times in the release

An oil painting of Clinton dressed as a woman that Epstein kept at his home

The apparent removal of the photo sparked renewed calls for Lutnick to testify and deepening concerns over the alleged cover-up by the Trump administration. 

‘He should be removed from office and at a minimum should come before the committee,’ Garcia said of Lutnick.

Comer on Thursday said that it was ‘very possible’ that Lutnick would be called to testify.