Hillary Clinton Testimony Chaos: Lauren Boebert Defends Leaking Photo of Former Secretary of State

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has spoken out following her disruption of the House Oversight Committee deposition of former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal on Thursday, February 26.

The nearly six-hour testimony was briefly paused after Boebert took what reporters covering the deposition said was an unauthorized photo of Clinton and sent it to MAGA influencer Benny Johnson, who shared the image to his social media account.

When asked about the incident, Boebert later defended her actions while speaking to Chris Cuomo on NewsNation's CUOMO.

“I did ask permission of committee staff, and I was told that I could release a photo during the break. And we missed that break by just a few minutes. It was a few minutes before our break, and then we quickly came together and all agreed no photos will be taken, no photos will be released,” the 39-year-old Colorado grandmother said during her appearance on CUOMO.

She then pointed to Democrats, claiming they were also releasing information. Boebert, however, was under fire for sending out a photo — a violation of House Oversight Committee rules.

Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) confirmed Boebert violated committee protocol but stated she later apologized.

“However, there were Democrats and those at the minority party that were releasing information about the hearing throughout the day, topics that were discussed were being leaked to the media,” Boebert told Cuomo.

“And so, there was a lot of things that were coming out of that room, but regardless, it was a photo. It was taken before the hearing had began, and it wasn’t released at the break time. And now we have come to an agreement that no members or staff will take pictures in the hearing,” she concluded.

Clinton repeatedly demanded that her testimony before the House Oversight Committee be held in a public hearing rather than a closed-door deposition.

Despite her requests for transparency, Comer insisted on private questioning.

Boebert agreed with Clinton and told Cuomo she would have welcomed press inside the deposition, too.

“I would welcome the press to be in there, but this is the agreement that was made, and that’s the way we are going to finish these depositions. I am all for transparency, so you’re not going to hear an argument from me about closed-door anything. I loved it when we had the speakers fight right there in front of the American public,” she said.

During the session, held in her hometown of Chappaqua, N.Y., she maintained that she had no knowledge of the criminal activities of Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, whom she described as a casual acquaintance and noted that she attended her daughter Chelsea's 2010 wedding as a "plus-one" of another guest.

"I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein" said Hillary, who asserted she never visited his "homes, island, or offices."

Hillary's husband, former President Bill Clinton, testified on Friday, February 27, and stated, "I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong," maintaining that he was unaware of Epstein’s criminal activities at the time of their association.