A longtime aide to Bill Clinton walked back a prior claim that the former president visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island, according to GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, who questioned him, and two sources familiar with closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill.
Doug Band, the former Clinton aide, is the 17th person to testify behind closed doors as part of the House Oversight Committee’s sprawling probe into Epstein’s orbit and how previous investigations were handled. The panel sought Band’s voluntarytestimony afterClinton testifiedbefore the committee in February. The former president told lawmakers at the time that Band worked for him for years and that the aide knew both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the late sex offender’s accomplice.
In 2020, Band toldVanity Fairthat Clinton visited Epstein’s private island in 2003. In February, however,Clinton testifiedthat he was never on Epstein’s island — and on Tuesday, Band amended his previous assertion during his own interview with the panel, the sources said.
“He turned out to clearly not know the difference between the truth and a lie,” Mace told CNN. “He contradicted his Vanity Fair interview from a couple of years ago. He testified today that he had no knowledge of Clinton going to Epstein island, but he used some very vague language in how he did it. It was all very obtuse and obstructive language when he did answer.”
Band stated he had no evidence that Clinton went to Epstein’s island, and he doesn’t remember why he told Vanity Fair that he did, one of the sources told CNN.
“He was the worst witness we’ve ever had,” Mace told CNN. “He just said, ‘I do not recall’ on damn near every answer and he contradicted himself multiple times.”
Mace said she has asked House Oversight Chair James Comer to subpoena Band.
According to one of the sources, Band told lawmakers that he did not recall ever engaging with Epstein on any of the flights he took with Clinton onEpstein’s private jet, and he did not recall having conversations with Epstein.
Band stated he took steps to distance Clinton from Maxwell as he became aware of allegations, the source said.
“He did say that he took Maxwell and Epstein out of Clinton’s circle, like they weren’t allowed to be communicated with when that information came out and came to light publicly,” Mace said.
CNN has reached out to a lawyer for Band for comment. CNN has also reached out to a Clinton spokesperson.
Ahead of the interview, Comer told reporters that Band’s comments to Vanity Fair would “obviously be a question.”
“We know that Mr. Band set up several meetings between Clinton and Epstein. We know Mr. Band accompanied Mr. Clinton on several flights on Epstein’s jet,” Comer said. “We know that Mr. Band had a lot of communication with Ms. Maxwell. So that’ll be a topic of several questions.”
The Justice Department’s release earlier this year of Epstein case files offered fresh insight into how Band, a top aide to the former president, communicated with Maxwell.
In one email released as part of the files, Band appears to tell Maxwell that hesharedan email account with Clinton.
