Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told US House lawmakers that she had no idea about Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes.

“I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that,” Clinton said in a statement posted on social media on Thursday.

 The statement came before she was due to deliver a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Chappaqua, New York. Her husband, former US

President Bill Clinton, will appear for a similar deposition on Friday, which will be the first time for a former president to testify before Congress since 1983.

In the statement, Clinton accused the committee of trying to shift focus away from US President Donald Trump’s ties to Epstein.

“You have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers,” she wrote.

“If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files,” she said.

James Comer, chairman of the committee, rejected claims that the probe was a partisan effort targeting Hillary Clinton, stating: “No one is accusing at this moment the Clintons of any wrongdoing.”

The Clintons’ interview will be videotaped and transcripts will be made public, according to Comer. The Clintons agreed to testify after their offers of sworn statements were rebuffed, and Comer threatened criminal contempt of Congress charges against them.

The US Department of Justice has released more than three million pages of Epstein-related documents over the past months to comply with a law passed by Congress.

Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008. He was arrested again in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges and died in jail on August 10, 2019, before trial.

• A Tell Media / Xinhua report