MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Congressman Wesley Bell, a Democrat from Missouri, is a member of that House panel, the Oversight Committee, which is expected to hear from former President Bill Clinton today. We actually reached him at a diner in New York in advance of the hearing. Good morning, Congressman. Thanks for joining us.
WESLEY BELL: Hey. Good to be here, and I got my coffee at the diner so (laughter)...
MARTIN: Excellent. Good to hear. So former first lady, the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeatedly said she never met Jeffrey Epstein, but the former president obviously had. There are photographs of them together. The president's spokesperson acknowledges that Mr. Clinton took four international trips on Epstein's plane for the Clinton Foundation's charity works. He had a meeting with Epstein in New York, et cetera. So what do you think you might learn from him today?
BELL: You know, I've - he released his declaration, and so I anticipate it will be similar to that, obviously, more detail. But, you know, what I've said is - and I've led these type of depositions before as a former prosecutor, what we're seeing is political theater. This is not a serious investigation by Republicans, and it's disappointing because there are real victims. There are real survivors who deserve justice and deserve us to do a full and transparent investigation, and that's just not what we're seeing.
MARTIN: Is it possible that this sets a precedent that might allow for President Trump to be deposed regarding Mr. Epstein?
BELL: I mean, the precedent has been set at this point. You know, if Republicans feel that it's necessary to depose the former president, which I'm not opposed to hearing information - any information that leads us or gets us closer to uncovering the truth. But then that also includes the current president, that includes the current first lady, that includes Howard Lutnick. It includes Elon Musk and a slew of others. I don't care what the letter is in front of your name, if there is information that will help an investigation so that we can bring justice to the survivors and victims, then that's what we need to do.
MARTIN: It - just one more question on this question of sort of political theater. The fact is the FEC filings do show that Bill and Hillary Clinton both benefited from Epstein's political donations. Now, that was back in the 1990s. There are visitor logs that show that Epstein made 17 trips to the White House. That was in the Clinton administration, and the Clinton Foundation did receive a significant donation from Epstein's nonprofit. Now, that was 2006. Now, that was before he was convicted - that Mr. Epstein was convicted in connection with these sex trafficking charges, but it does indicate a relationship there. Is that not worthy of some discussion or investigation?
BELL: Again, I am - been on the record publicly and privately. Anyone who has information, we want to hear from, and that includes the Clintons. So I don't have any issue with hearing them and deposing them. But what I'm seeing from this administration, from House Republicans, is that they want all the information from Democrats to smear Democrats, but they stop at Republicans. And then when I hear the talking points from Republicans that Donald Trump was exonerated when we have living survivors who are saying the opposite and publicly saying that, and we know that there are at least 50 pages of missing Epstein files that include Donald Trump, so they need to release all the files. They need to do a serious investigation because at the end of the day, Americans want to know, and victims and survivors deserve to know.
MARTIN: So a couple of more questions about the - just the hearings themselves. Hillary Clinton said she wanted her testimony and Mr. Clinton's to be public. Can you offer any insight into why this was denied?
BELL: It was denied because Republican - House Republicans denied it. They don't want to be transparent. They want to say that they're being transparent. They want to use it as a talking point, but the proof isn't right here in the pudding. Democrats have asked for these depositions to be public. The Clintons asked for these depositions to be public. The media was a hundred yards away outside. We could've easily just opened the door and let them in, but Republicans refused and then released pictures, released leaked comments and statements. It's ridiculous. It's not serious, and Republicans need to take this seriously because victims and survivors deserve it.
MARTIN: Before we let you go, just very briefly, you mentioned that a right-wing influencer posted a photo online of Hillary Clinton, apparently taken by your Republican colleague Lauren Boebert during the closed deposition. That's a violation of House rules. Is there going to be a consequence for this?
BELL: I think there should be. You know, I think there should be. I think that the rules were made by the Republicans. They decided to make these depositions closed, and then they violated the - their own rules.
MARTIN: That is Democratic Congressman Wesley Bell of Missouri. He's a member of the House Oversight Committee. Congressman, thank you.
BELL: My pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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