Live updates: Bill Clinton testifies in House Epstein investigation

“We have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton. Hi Ken,” the president said.

“And we have a great senator, John Cornyn,” he added, looking at the seated officials from the stage. “You’re in a little bit of a race.”

The primary is Tuesday, and Cornyn is trying to survive a challenge from Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, who was also at the event in Corpus Christi.

Trump \mentioned Hunt, too, after running through the long list of Texas U.S. House members present.

“And another friend of mine who is doing very well, Wesley Hunt. Wesley Hunt, what a good job,” the president said.

In a nod to the competitive primary, Trump noted, “You do have an interesting election.”

Asked by reporters, Trump said he has “pretty much” decided whom to endorse but declined to specify.

Scouting America President and CEO Roger Krone says the organization’s agreement with the Pentagon does not change its existing policies regarding transgender youth and they remain welcome.

“We have transgender people in our program, and we’ll have transgender people in our program going forward,” Krone told The Associated Press.

The Pentagon made the deal with Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America, to maintain their century-old partnership.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the agreement refocuses the organization away from “woke” policies he accused it of embracing and put heavy emphasis on the group’s acceptance of transgender youth.

The embattled House Republican, who is fending off calls to resign after reports of an affair with a former aide who later set herself on fire, made his way to Trump’s Corpus Christi event.

The president made mention of his presence, saying: “Congressman Tony Gonzales is here.”

Corpus Christi is not in Gonzales’ district.

As Trump gave his shoutout to Gonzales, he added, “Tony, congratulations.” It was unclear what Trump was congratulating him for.

Trump has endorsed Gonzales in his primary.

The president again floated the idea of running for a third term during an address at the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Maybe we do one more term, should we do one more?” he asked the crowd, which responded with cheers.

The president added that “we’re entitled to it, because they cheated like hell,” in reference to the 2020 election.

Allegations from Trump of massive voting fraud have previously been refuted by a variety of judges, state election officials and an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department.

The secretary of state declared Iran to be a “state sponsor of wrongful detention,” ramping up pressure on the country as tensions rise over the possibility of U.S. military strikes on the Islamic republic.

In a statement, Rubio said the move was due to Iran’s continued arrests and imprisonment of “innocent Americans” and citizens of other countries for use as political leverage.
“This abhorrent practice must end,” he said.

The move does not automatically carry any penalties, but Rubio said if Iran doesn’t stop, he could make it illegal for a U.S. passport to be used for travel to or from Iran. That restriction currently only applies to North Korea.

Ahead of Trump’s visit, Energy Secretary Chris Wright authorized a 12% expansion in liquefied natural gas exports at Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi terminal.

The order, signed Thursday as Wright toured the site, makes the terminal the second largest LNG export project in the U.S.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the first export cargo of U.S. LNG gas produced from the lower 48 states. The U.S. is now the world’s largest LNG exporter.

Wright said he was proud to be in Corpus Christi, “standing alongside the American workers responsible for unleashing American energy dominance.”

Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental group that opposes LNG exports, said the Trump administration was “doubling down on a harmful energy source at exactly the moment when we should be full speed ahead on safe, clean and reliable renewable energy.”

Aides to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both New York Democrats, confirmed that the lawmakers have received the White House’s latest offer on ending the ongoing DHS shutdown.

Earlier Friday, a White House official said the administration had sent a new proposal to Schumer and Jeffries on Thursday, calling the offer “serious.”

In a joint statement to reporters, aides to Schumer and Jeffries said their offices are reviewing the White House proposal “closely” and that Democrats are continuing to push for “real reforms” on the conduct of federal immigration agents.

California Rep. Ro Khanna, a leading advocate to release all Epstein documents, said Democratic members and their lawyers put “survivors first” by asking “difficult questions” and establishing “basic facts” from Bill Clinton.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-New Mexico, described the former president as an important witness.

“It is very well established that President Clinton had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and we are treating this investigation extraordinarily seriously,” she said.

She emphasized that “there are not public files available that accuse (Clinton) of a crime, whereas there are publicly available documents that do allege a crime of President Trump.”

But she described Clinton as being among the figures who can shed light on “why there was a culture around (Epstein) where the rich and powerful turned a blind eye.”

Comer told reporters that Bill Clinton said Trump “has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved.”

The chairman said that came in response to a question from Garcia, the ranking Democrat, about whether Trump should testify before the committee.

Garcia countered that Comer’s account was not “a complete accurate description of what actually was said.”

He said Clinton “did bring up some additional information about some discussions with President Trump” and argued that raises “some very important new questions about comments that President Trump has actually said in the past.”

That’s another reason to compel Trump to testify, Garcia added.

He declined to go into further details Clinton’s testimony, citing committee rules against disclosure — which he noted with a barb that “Republicans keep breaking the rules.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, says the former president has answered questions willingly so far in his testimony and “has not taken a pass” by pleading the Fifth Amendment that witnesses use to decline answering in a way that could incriminate them.

Republicans in the House Oversight Committee majority asked Clinton questions for about an hour, followed by an hour from the Democratic minority, chairman James Comer told reporters outside.

Comer said Republicans would get another hour before a break. He said the day would be at about “the halfway point” by then, suggesting Clinton will spend at least six hours with lawmakers.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island said Trump has failed to explain the rationale or the risks involved in military action.

“President Trump’s saber-rattling for war with Iran is taking the country down a dangerous path without a clear strategy or endgame and putting U.S. national security at considerable risk,” Reed said in a statement.

As the House and Senate prepare for votes next week on war powers resolutions, he said Congress has received “no real briefings” on the administration’s plans.

“The administration has not presented Congress or the American people with any coherent legal or strategic justification for preemptive strikes,” Reed said. “The president is the Commander-In-Chief, but Congress alone holds the constitutional authority to authorize war.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday a bipartisan coalition is working to force a vote as soon as next week on a war powers resolution that would attempt to prevent any U.S. action against Iran without approval from Congress.

“The American people don’t want another failed forever foreign war, particularly in the Middle East, when we know the outcome is likely to be disastrous,” Jeffries said on MSNow.

“What we’ve got to do right now, of course, is to do everything we can to prevent that from happening,” he said. “It would be reckless. It would be dangerous. It would be harmful to America’s national security interests.”

As the Department of Homeland Security remains shut down, the White House and Democratic leaders are continuing to exchange proposals to end the impasse.

A White House official said Friday that the administration sent another counteroffer to Democrats on Thursday. The official, granted anonymity to discuss private negotiations, called the offer “serious.”

Federal funding for DHS lapsed Jan. 30, with Democrats calling for more restrictions on the behavior of federal immigration agents in the aftermath of the death of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.

But most of DHS provides critical governments, which means that federal employees are working — but not getting paid.

Pam Bondi says federal prosecutors have indicted 30 more people tied to a protest at a Minnesota church over an immigration enforcement crackdown.

Bondi says 25 of those people are already under arrest. The protest on Jan. 18 also led to the arrests of independent journalist Don Lemon and local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong. Both have pleaded not guilty to civil rights charges.

Trump officials have strongly condemned the protest for interrupting a church service. Protesters took the action after learning a pastor there is also an immigration enforcement official.

Trump said on Friday that he is not pleased with the deposition of former President Bill Clinton in the House Epstein investigation.

“I like Bill Clinton and I don’t like seeing him deposed,” the president told reporters as he departed the White House en route to Corpus Christi, Texas.

Bill Clinton says in his prepared statement that “no person is above the law, even presidents.” He agreed to testify, he adds, because, “I love my country.”

Bill and Hillary Clinton initially pushed back against subpoenas they called a partisan stunt by Republicans. They yielded but demanded proceedings be opened. Republicans refused.

“The search for truth and justice,” Clinton planned to tell lawmakers, is more important than “the partisan urge to score points and create spectacle.”

He added a wish that political discourse be ratcheted down.

“Democracy requires every person to play their part, and I hope that by being her today, we can bring ourselves a little further away from the brink and back to being a country where we can disagree with one another civilly,” he says, adding, “I’ll do my part, and I hope you’ll do yours.”

“That might be unsatisfying,” the former president says of his plans to answer some questions by saying he has no recollection. “But I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of. This was all a long time ago.”

Clinton adds that he is “bound by my oath not to speculate, or to guess” — a standard he says “is not merely for my benefit but because it doesn’t help you for me to play detective 24 years later.”

Elsewhere in his prepared opening remarks, Bill Clinton is more emphatic about his own actions.

“I know what I saw, and more importantly, what I didn’t see,” he says. “I know what I did, and more importantly, what I didn’t do.”

“As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing — I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals,” Bill Clinton says in his prepared opening statement.

“We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long.”

The former president is telling the House Oversight Committee that his “brief acquaintance with Jeffrey Epstein ended years before his crimes came to light.”

That’s according to a printed copy of his opening statement as it was prepared and released by Clinton’s office.

“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton says. “I saw nothing that ever gave me pause.”

Clinton’s remarks state that he is testifying “to offer what little I know so that it might prevent anything like this from ever happening again” and because “the girls and women whose lives Jeffrey Epstein destroyed deserve not only justice, but healing.”

“We’re going to ask President Clinton the hard questions today,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va. “What is truth about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein? But let’s be real. We’re talking to the wrong president today.”

Democrats hope to leverage the Clintons’ appearances before House Oversight. They’ve noted that files released so far suggest Trump was more closely involved with Epstein than Clinton. And they want to emphasize that it’s the former president who is submitting to questions while the sitting president denies any involvement.

“President Trump is the one who is blocking our investigation. President Trump is the one who wants us to go away, but it will not go away,” Subramanyam said.

“I think it was telling that Secretary Clinton did not take the Fifth one time,” Garcia told reporters, referring to the constitutional protection defendants and witnesses sometimes cite when declining to answer questions in legal proceedings.

Garcia continued: “I think it’s important the president (Bill Clinton) do the same. I think he will answer questions today.”

Mace described Hillary Clinton “screaming” during her deposition on Thursday.

“I hope that President Clinton is less unhinged than his wife was yesterday,” Mace said Friday outside the building where the House Oversight panel is convening.

Democrats dismissed Mace’s description, which Rep. Robert Garcia said proves the need for Comer to release the “full, unedited” video. The Clintons had wanted to testify publicly but Comer insisted on the private sessions.

Garcia called the Republican questioning Thursday a “disgrace” focused on old “conspiracy theories.” He praised Hillary Clinton for participating.

He reminded reporters Friday that Democrats still want the proceedings to be open “so that you can hear the answer and the questions directly.”

Scouting America says it is waiving registration fees for military families and creating a merit badge that focuses on military services and veterans after months of talks with the Defense Department.

The organization released its statement Friday after Hegseth said it was altering policies about transgender kids, among other changes. But Scouting America’s statement did not mention transgender youth.

“Scouting America held firm on the core commitments that define us. We maintained  our name as ‘Scouting America’ and preserved our service to the more than 200,000 girls who participate in our programs,” the organization said.

Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts, said it has been talking with Defense Department officials for months as the Pentagon takes aim at the military’s partnership with the organization. Hegseth said he wants to root out scouting’s “woke culture.”

The Secretary of State will make a quick trip to Israel early next week as tensions between the United States and Iran soar amid a massive buildup of U.S. forces in the Middle East, the State Department said Friday.

The department said in a statement that Rubio would visit Israel on Monday and Tuesday to “discuss a range of regional priorities including Iran, Lebanon, and ongoing efforts to implement President Trump’s 20-Point Peace Plan for Gaza.” It offered no other details.

The announcement comes just hours after the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem implemented “authorized departure” status for non-essential personnel and family members, which means that eligible staffers can leave the country voluntarily at government expense.

Republican lawmakers have entered the event center in Chappaqua, New York where they have been interviewing Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The former president’s deposition is scheduled to begin in the next hour, and GOP lawmakers have pledged a lengthy day of questioning about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. James Comer, the GOP chair of the House Oversight Committee, said Thursday that Hillary Clinton had repeatedly told lawmakers that her husband knew more about Epstein’s work with the Clinton Global Foundation.

A handful of protesters gathered outside to show their displeasure at Trump, calling for him to face the same kind of grilling for his connections to Epstein.

In 1998, Clinton became the first sitting president to give a grand jury deposition.

The 42nd president spent four hours in the White House Map Room with grand jurors watching him on video, answering questions about his relationship with a White House intern.

Clinton recalled in his memoir admitting to special counsel Ken Starr’s team that “‘on certain occasions in 1996 and once in 1997’ I engaged in wrongful conduct that included inappropriate intimate contact with Monica Lewinsky.”

The president said in a televised address that night that he “answered their questions truthfully, including questions about my private life, questions no American citizen would ever want to answer.”

Months earlier, Clinton was deposed in Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit against him. He said repeatedly then that he didn’t recall being alone with Lewinsky and that “nothing remarkable” occurred if he was. Clinton settled Jones’ suit without admitting wrongdoing.