Hillary Clinton’s deposition before the House Oversight Committee quickly went off the rails after a GOP lawmaker violated the rules and leaked a photo of the former secretary of state.
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert took a picture of Clinton and shared it with MAGA influencer Benny Johnson, who quickly posted it on X.
“BREAKING: The first image of Hillary Clinton testifying under oath about Jeffery Epstein to the Republican Oversight Committee. This is the first time Hillary has had to answer real questions about Epstein. Clinton does not look happy. Photo provided by Rep. Lauren Boebert,” Johnson wrote online.
Shortly after his post, an adviser to Clinton stepped out of the deposition room at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in New York to say the deposition had been temporarily halted.
“The hearing just went off the record for a moment because it seems, and some of you may have seen that there were some photographs shared on social media, which is against chamber rules that were read at the top of the meeting,” Nick Merrill said.
He said the grilling had been paused momentarily while they figured out where the photo came from and “why possibly members of Congress are violating House rules.”
But Johnson claimed Clinton had walked out over it and completely melted down on social media.
“I cannot believe this is happening. Hillary Clinton just STORMED out of the Epstein Deposition because I posted a photo of her testifying. Now the Clinton PR team is crying about me to the press. This is insane,” he wrote.
He accused Clinton of trying to get out of answering questions about the pedophile because of the photo. In reality, Clinton’s testimony did resume after a pause.
Boebert, who gave Johnson the photo, also took to social media to insist he “did nothing wrong,” even though it appeared she was the one who violated the rules. She also clarified that the deposition did resume.
The Clintons had been negotiating with House Republicans, who had been demanding that the grilling happen in person for months.
The former secretary and president have both called for their testimony to take place in public, but House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer refused. He has insisted that the transcript and video of Clinton’s deposition be released after.
But Ranking Member Robert Garcia was quick to blast the situation while speaking with reporters outside the building.
He accused Republicans of breaking their own rules by releasing photos and said it was “gracious” of the secretary for continuing with the deposition. Democrats in the room revealed that Clinton was willing to have the press brought into the room to watch in response to the photo leak.
Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari blasted Thursday’s deposition as a “unserious clown show” where Republicans were more concerned about getting their “photo op” than getting the truth.
Democrats also said they were talking to the wrong people on Thursday and should instead by speaking with those named in the files, including Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
