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Bill Clinton faces high-stakes House grilling in Epstein probe after Hillary blasts ‘fishing expedition’

Bill Clinton faces high-stakes House grilling in Epstein probe after Hillary blasts ‘fishing expedition’

Former President Bill Clinton will testify to the House Oversight Committee in a high-stakes deposition for the committee’s probe into Jeffrey Epstein on Friday. The closed-door meeting is expected to take place at 11 a.m. at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Westchester County, N.Y. Chappaqua has been the Clintons’ primary residence since they left the White House at the end of the former president’s tenure. Republicans have been eager to question Bill Clinton about his ties to Epstein for months as the committee has gone back and forth with his lawyers about terms of the interview. DEMOCRATS DODGE QUESTIONS AS HOUSE GOP PREPARES CONTEMPT VOTES AGAINST THE CLINTONS Both Democrats and Republicans are expected to grill Clinton, as well as committee staff on both sides. His sitdown comes a day after his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appeared before the panel for her own lengthy deposition in the Epstein probe. However, House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters on Thursday that he anticipated Bill Clinton’s deposition would be “even longer” than his wife’s. BILL, HILLARY CLINTON TO BE DEPOSED IN NEW YORK FOR HOUSE OVERSIGHT EPSTEIN PROBE He also stressed Thursday that neither of the Clintons are being accused of wrongdoing tied to Epstein. “No one’s accusing, at this moment, the Clintons of any wrongdoing. They’re going to have due process,” Comer said. “But we have a lot of questions, and the purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein.” Both depositions will be released on video sometime later. Hillary Clinton told lawmakers in her opening statement that she could not recall any contact with Epstein, nor did she have any more information for the committee past what she sent in a Jan. 13 statement. She also criticized the probe’s attention on her as a “fishing expedition” and accused Republicans of trying to use her to pull attention from Trump. “A committee endeavoring to stop human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008,” she told the panel, according to her opening remarks. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: CLINTONS CALL FOR OPEN EPSTEIN FILES HEARING AFTER MONTHS OF DEFYING SUBPOENAS “But that’s not happening. Instead, 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.” Unlike his wife, however, Bill Clinton had a well-documented relationship with Epstein before his federal probes related to prostitution of minors and sex trafficking. Bill Clinton’s name and photo appear numerous times in documents released by the federal government on Epstein, and flight records show he did ride Epstein’s plane. But neither he nor Hillary Clinton have been implicated in Epstein’s crimes. The committee has also interviewed two former Trump administration officials, ex-Attorney General Bill Barr and ex-Labor Secretary Alex Acosta. Their testimonies come weeks after the House nearly voted on holding both Clintons in contempt of Congress for defying Comer’s subpoena. House leaders dropped the effort after the Clintons said they would comply.

Report exposes billions in uncovered fraud, waste as watchdog coalition offers support to Trump’s crackdown

Report exposes billions in uncovered fraud, waste as watchdog coalition offers support to Trump’s crackdown

FIRST ON FOX: As the Trump administration appoints Vice President JD Vance to lead a nationwide “War on Fraud,” a coalition of conservative state financial officers says it has already uncovered and stopped billions in taxpayer waste and is pledging to partner with the White House to root out corruption nationwide. In a Thursday letter to the White House, the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) praised President Donald Trump’s focus on what he called fraud scandals that have “resulted in tens of billions of dollars being stolen from American taxpayers,” writing that such corruption “shreds the fabric of a nation”  SFOF CEO OJ Oleka told Vance that the group’s 40 conservative state treasurers, auditors and comptrollers across 28 states stand ready to support the administration’s anti-fraud mission, noting they collectively oversee more than $3 trillion in state funds. The letter accompanied SFOF’s inaugural 2025 Oversight Report, which claims that affiliated state financial officers safeguarded more than $28 billion of waste, fraud, and abuse in 2025 alone. JD VANCE SPEARHEADS ‘WAR ON FRAUD,’ PROMISES TO ROOT OUT TAXPAYER MONEY ‘STOLEN’ BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS The report highlights some of the most egregious examples within that $28 billion, including in Florida, where Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia found just under $2 billion in excessive spending, and in Kentucky, where Auditor Allison Ball found more than $836 million in improper Medicaid payments. Medicaid fraud has been of particular interest to the Trump administration given the massive fraud scandal that has unfolded in Minnesota and Vance said on Wednesday the administration has “decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota in order to ensure that the state of Minnesota takes its obligations seriously to be good stewards of the American people’s tax money.” HEAVILY REDACTED AUDIT FINDS MINNESOTA MEDICAID HAD WIDESPREAD VULNERABILITIES The report also highlights North Carolina, where it says State Auditor Dave Boliek discovered more than $1 billion in lapsed salaries from long-term vacancies in the state. Additionally, Utah auditor Tina Cannon identified more than $518 million in fraud, waste and abuse across agencies and nonprofits receiving state and federal funds. In his letter, Oleka told Vance that SFOF’s members are “allies already on the battlefield” and stand ready to assist the administration in protecting taxpayer dollars. “The American people deserve nothing less,” he wrote. SFOF argues that state-level financial watchdogs, often elected independently of governors and legislatures, are uniquely positioned to expose mismanagement and enforce fiscal discipline. With billions already identified at the state level, the group says a coordinated federal-state approach could dramatically expand the scope of fraud detection nationwide, potentially reshaping how taxpayer dollars are safeguarded across the country. “By working together, we can protect our nation’s treasure to the fullest extent against every foe and every plot to endanger it,” Oleka wrote.

When money is scarce, every choice counts: Bank, cash, or credit?

When money is scarce, every choice counts: Bank, cash, or credit?

Gaza City – Amid the buzz of customers in the Remal neighbourhood in Gaza City, Samar Abu Harbied stops at a small, makeshift roadside stall to buy groceries to prepare an Iftar meal for her family, to break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. With no cash in her purse, the 45-year-old housewife asks the grocer if she could put the bill on credit, until her husband or son could wire the money to him. “I have not touched a paper note for months. I don’t even have money to pay for a taxi. Now we walk a lot, for long distances,” Abu Harbied said. Najlaa Sukkar, 48, was trying to catch her breath at the same stall, which is run by her son Abdallah, after a failed journey on foot to see a doctor for a post-surgery check-up and to buy medication. Najlaa said she did not have enough money to pay the 30 shekel (US$9.5) check-up fees, and the only banknote she had, a 20-shekel bill, was so worn out that the pharmacist turned it down. “I returned without receiving medical care,” she told Al Jazeera. “At the pharmacy, they didn’t accept the banknotes as they were frayed. The taxi driver didn’t accept a banknote, only small change, which I don’t have. It is very difficult to get by. What a mess, we don’t know what to do!” Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are struggling to conduct their daily lives amid a severe cash flow problem imposed by Israel immediately after it embarked on its genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. A US-brokered ceasefire that went into effect in October has brought little reprieve to Palestinians, who are still using worn-out currency they had from before the war, or must rely on a new system of electronic payments conducted through smart telephones amid limited internet coverage. Advertisement Palestinians in Gaza use the Israeli currency, the shekel, in their daily transactions, and depend on Israel to supply banks with new banknotes and coins. A customer pays for groceries using bank account transactions [Ola al-Asi/Al Jazeera] Electronic payments Palestinians were forced to turn to a digital payment system as a way to get around a severe shortage of Israeli shekel banknotes, a problem that has been exacerbated by the destruction of an estimated 90 percent of bank branches and cash machines. The Palestinian Monetary Authority, working with internet service providers, has pushed for mobile-based electronic payments, including PalPay and Jawwal Pay, to help Palestinians overcome the liquidity problem. Abu Harbeid said her son switched to electronic payments after he faced many problems using the 50 shekels per shift he was receiving while working as a night guard. “My son, Shady, was receiving his daily wage in cash, which was worn and torn. We could hardly break it into smaller change or buy anything, as sellers don’t accept overused paper bills,” she told Al Jazeera. “Moreover, the seller doesn’t accept it unless I spend it all, as they don’t have change. Now, as he is paid into his bank account, we buy everything through bank apps,” she added. But digital payments have added another layer of hardship to a large segment of the population. Most Palestinians still do not receive bank-transferred salaries, many lack access to smartphones, and those who have phones struggle to keep them charged in an area where electricity services are in severe crisis. To add to that, there is still the problem of finding a good internet connection for the transfer process. Abu Harbeid said a proper trip to the market requires her to have her husband or son with her to pay for goods. But neither can leave work to join her. “I prefer cash in my hand; I could buy anything on the go,” Abu Harbied said. Abdallah Sukkar, owner of a street grocery stall, recording the details of a customer buying goods on credit [Ola al-Asi/Al Jazeera] Not only a liquidity shortage issue Analysts say Gaza’s current economic reality started as a liquidity crisis, but has become an issue of transition from a regulated financial system to a fragmented survival economy shaped by scarcity, informality, and political constraints. “However, as the months passed, the crisis evolved into something far more structural,” Ahmed Abu Qamar, member of the board of directors of the Palestinian Economists Association, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “The black market now plays a dominant role in determining liquidity conditions. A small group of traders effectively manages cash circulation through high-commission cashing operations.” He said that when money itself becomes a traded commodity, it signals severe distortion in the monetary system. “Cash, like any commodity, becomes subject to supply and demand dynamics. When it becomes scarce, its value increases beyond its nominal worth. From an economic perspective, this represents a structural disruption of the monetary system. “The formal banking sector and the Palestinian Monetary Authority were sidelined. What we are seeing is the neutralisation of the formal monetary system,” he said. Abu Qamar said the deeper issue was confidence – not just in cash, but in the financial system as a whole. “Cash is inherently difficult to track, whereas electronic payments are traceable and can be frozen or restricted. Implementing such a transition abruptly produces severe economic and social distortions,” he warned. “Widespread selling on credit is not a sign of market stability – it is an indicator of declining incomes and weakened purchasing power. When debt expands rapidly without a parallel increase in income, the result is social fragmentation. Approximately 95 percent of households in Gaza depend on aid,” he added. People shopping for goods at a grocery store in az-Zawya market [Ola al-Asi/Al Jazeera] Profiteering from Gaza’s woes  The war has paved the way for middlemen to cash in illegally on the financial woes of Gaza, residents said. Sukkar said that when her husband or sons needed cash, they were often forced to deal with brokers who charge a hefty commission that could reach 50 percent.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,464

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,464

These are the key developments from day 1,464 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 5 mins info Published On 27 Feb 202627 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Here is where things stand on Friday, February 27: Fighting Russian forces launched 720 attacks on 31 settlements in Ukraine’s front line Zaporizhia region, killing one person and injuring eight others, regional governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on the Telegram platform. The attacks included drone strikes, artillery shelling and three missile strikes, Fedorov said. Ten people, including an eight-year-old child, were also injured in an overnight Russian attack on the regional capital, Zaporizhzhia city, the region’s military administration said. Russian strikes damaged about 80 high-rise buildings and private houses in three districts of the city, as well as two shopping centres, the administration added. Russian forces injured 16 people, including two children, in attacks on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a post on Facebook. A Russian first-person-view (FPV) drone reached Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Tuesday, marking the first time Ukraine had detected this type of drone reaching the region, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. The drone hit a tree and no injuries were reported, the office added. Ukrainian missiles struck the Russian border town of Belgorod, inflicting serious damage on energy installations and disrupting power, water and heating, the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said early on Friday. Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov said on Telegram on Thursday that “nearly 10,000 customers in the city are temporarily without power” following “regular shelling of Belgorod’s power facilities by the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. Belgorod’s operational headquarters also said on Thursday that at least 115 Ukrainian drones had been launched towards the region in a 24-hour period. More than 90,000 Ukrainians are considered to be “missing under special circumstances”, the Ukrainska Pravda media outlet reported, citing Ukraine’s commissioner for missing people, Artur Dobroserdov. Those missing include members of the military as well as civilians, including children, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said that Ukraine had received the remains of 1,000 bodies from Russia, “which, according to preliminary information from the Russian side, may belong to Ukrainian defenders”. Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky confirmed in a post on Telegram that Russia had handed over the bodies of 1,000 “fallen Ukrainian soldiers” to Kyiv and received 35 bodies of Russian soldiers. The exchange followed recent trilateral talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine in Geneva, Switzerland. Advertisement Peace negotiations Ukrainian and US officials again met in Geneva on Thursday to discuss post-war reconstruction, even as a deal to end the war remains elusive, the Reuters news agency reported. Putin’s special economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev said Russian officials also held talks with US officials on Thursday, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Politics and diplomacy Russia said on Thursday it would retaliate against a European Union decision to cut Moscow’s diplomatic representation in Brussels, and that the move showed the EU did not deserve to take part in negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the EU decision to limit the size of the Russian mission to 40 people was “discriminatory” and would not go unanswered. Zakharova also said that any deployment of British troops in Ukraine would prolong the war and bring an “increase in the risk of a large-scale military confrontation involving many more states”, following a recent newspaper article by British Defence Minister John Healey. French Ministry of Defence spokesperson Olivia Penichou told reporters that Russia’s accusation that Ukraine was developing a “dirty” nuclear bomb was “baseless”, accusing Russia of using “disinformation to foster a climate of mistrust”. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked the EU to send a “fact-finding mission” to assess damage to the Druzhba oil pipeline in Ukraine, in a letter seen by Reuters. The request follows after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that repairs to the pipeline that supplies Hungary and Slovakia with oil were taking an extended period of time due to ongoing Russian attacks. Regional security Swedish broadcaster SVT reported that a suspected Russian drone approached France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier while it was docked in Sweden’s Malmo. Swedish Minister of Defence Pal Jonson confirmed there had been a violation of Swedish airspace at the same time a Russian military ship was in Swedish waters. Romania scrambled fighter jets on Thursday when a drone breached its national airspace during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure near the border, Romania’s Ministry of National Defence said, the second airspace breach in as many days. Sanctions The US has extended the deadline to April 1 for companies to negotiate with US-sanctioned Russian oil company Lukoil over its international assets, according to a document from the Office of Foreign Assets Control seen by Reuters. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)