Why are Bill and Hillary Clinton testifying over Epstein?
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In one of the biggest US headlines to emerge from the latest Epstein files, former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State, have agreed to testify in the congressional investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Sarah, Anthony, and Marianna explain why they are testifying, having previously dismissed legal summons issued to them, saying they had already submitted sworn statements covering the "limited information" they had on Epstein.
Bill Clinton denies knowledge of Epstein‘s crimes during his association with him.
We also look at whether this represents a fork in the road for Republicans and how their party responds to the new information in the files. Donald Trump is urging people to move on, but as more documents are released, how are his supporters reacting?
HOSTS: • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent • Marianna Spring, Social Media Investigations Senior Correspondent
GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast
This episode was made by Rufus Gray, Grace Reeve and Kris Jalowiecki. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.
US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155
Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.8 | Okay, I've just sat down in the worldwide headquarters of AmeriCast in London, |
| 0:10.2 | and I was in the newsroom before chatting to people |
| 0:12.5 | because loads of journalists here have been looking at the Epstein files |
| 0:16.5 | and particularly have been discussing the British connections to those files. |
| 0:20.3 | So to do with the Royals and also Peter Mandelson, what are people saying in the US, Anthony? |
| 0:25.1 | Maybe a little less about the British connection, but names like Bill Gates and Elon Musk, for instance, have been coming up because of their ties and evidence within these latest batch that they had connections to Jeffrey |
| 0:38.7 | Epstein. That has been a water cooler chat around here. And we've also learned just in the |
| 0:44.6 | past few days that a former president is going to be in front of a congressional panel for the |
| 0:49.1 | first time since Gerald Ford testified to Congress way back in 1983. That's Bill Clinton and his wife, former |
| 0:56.3 | Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who do have their own |
| 1:01.6 | history with Donald Trump. They will testify under oath at the end of February on the Epstein |
| 1:07.0 | matter before a congressional committee. Three and a half million documents have been released, |
| 1:11.1 | but have thrown up really as many questions as they have answers, and people are still looking |
| 1:16.1 | for more and more information. So could the Clintons shed light on the full extent of Jeffrey |
| 1:20.5 | Epstein's network and his abuse and anybody else who was involved? Welcome to Ameriast. |
| 1:27.9 | Ameriast from BBC News. |
| 1:30.9 | When Donald Trump calls, they say, yes, sir, right away, sir. |
| 1:34.4 | Happy to lick your boot, sir. |
| 1:36.2 | We are the sickest country in the world. |
| 1:38.7 | Oh, dear. |
| 1:39.4 | Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.