The Latest: Hillary Clinton demands public deposition after photo leak forces testimony to pause

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told U.S. House lawmakers on Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s or Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes at the start of two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton.

The deposition was paused after Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert sent a photo of Hillary Clinton in the room to a conservative influencer who posted it on social media, violating the committee’s rules for depositions. The incident prompted the former secretary of state to repeat her longstanding demand that the deposition be made open to reporters.

The closed-door questioning lasted over six hours Thursday.

The Clintons agreed to testify after their offers of sworn statements were rebuffed by the House Oversight panel, whose chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., threatened criminal contempt of Congress charges against them.

Bill Clinton’s testimony will be the first time a former president has been forced to testify before Congress — the latest sign that the demand for a reckoning over Epstein’s abuse of underage girls has become a near-unstoppable force on Capitol Hill and beyond.

Here's the latest:

Trump huddles with GOP senators on midterm-year agenda

Among the other meetings that the president had at the White House on Thursday was a strategy session with Senate GOP leaders and other close allies on the party’s agenda.

Among those who attended the afternoon meeting with Trump were Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso and Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, according to two people with knowledge of the discussion.

The meeting was to discuss the party’s broader agenda, said one of the people, both of whom were granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting.

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— By Seung Min Kim

Hillary Clinton says she told lawmakers repeatedly she did not know Epstein

The former told reporters as she exited after her deposition that she answered the same question again and again from lawmakers about whether she knew Jeffrey Epstein at all.

“I don’t know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein,” Hillary Clinton said.

She also told reporters that her husband Bill Clinton had ended his relationship with Epstein before Epstein’s sexual abuse came to light in 2008.

Anthropic says it can’t agree to Pentagon demands

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday that the artificial intelligence company “cannot in good conscience accede” to the Pentagon’s demands to allow wider use of its technology.

The company said in a statement that it’s not walking away from negotiation but that new contract language received from the Defense Department “made virtually no progress on preventing Claude’s use for mass surveillance of Americans or in fully autonomous weapons.”

Top Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said earlier that the military would use the technology in legal ways and not let Anthropic dictate any limits ahead of a Friday deadline to agree to its demands or face losing its contract.

He said the Pentagon “has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.”

Hillary Clinton’s deposition in House Epstein investigation ends

The closed-door questioning lasted over six hours Thursday.

The former secretary of state told members of Congress she had no knowledge of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s crimes. The depositions continuing Friday will also include former President Bill Clinton.

US official says 1 American killed, another wounded in speedboat shooting near Cuba

A U.S. official says at least one American citizen was killed and another wounded in an incident in which the crew of a Florida-registered speedboat exchanged fire with the Cuban military.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation into Wednesday’s firefight, said another member of the 10-person crew was in the U.S. on a visa and several others may have been green card holders.

The official said the owner of the boat has alleged that it was stolen by one of his employees.