Hillary Clinton

Overview

On February 26, 2026, Hillary Clinton gave a closed-door deposition about Jeffrey Epstein to the House Oversight Committee, testifying under subpoena for more than six hours (Associated Press). She told the committee she had no information about Epstein’s crimes and did not recall ever meeting him, saying in her opening statement: “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.” (Associated Press) She said she knew Ghislaine Maxwell only “casually, as an acquaintance,” having interacted with her at Clinton Foundation conferences (Associated Press).

That testimony came in a chapter of Clinton’s life well past electoral politics. In February 2023 she joined the faculty of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs as a professor of international and public affairs, where she chairs the Institute of Global Politics Faculty Advisory Board and co-teaches the course “Inside the Situation Room” with SIPA dean Keren Yarhi-Milo (Columbia University). In 2025 President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, at a January 4 White House ceremony that named her among 19 recipients (Brown University).

Clinton was born Hillary Diane Rodham on October 26, 1947, in Chicago and grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois (Encyclopaedia Britannica). In her youth she was a Republican — she campaigned for Barry Goldwater in 1964 and worked for the Young Republicans — but her views changed while studying political science at Wellesley College, from which she graduated in 1969 as a Democrat (Encyclopaedia Britannica). She earned her law degree from Yale Law School in 1973, developing a strong interest in family law and children’s issues through work with Marian Wright Edelman and the Children’s Defense Fund (Encyclopaedia Britannica). She married Bill Clinton on October 11, 1975; their only child, Chelsea, was born in 1980 (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

The 2016 campaign and the Trump Tower meeting

Clinton announced her candidacy for the 2016 presidential election in April 2015 and quickly became the favorite for the Democratic nomination, though she faced an unexpectedly strong challenge from Senator Bernie Sanders (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Her use of a private email address and server while secretary of state prompted an FBI investigation (Encyclopaedia Britannica). In July 2016 the FBI concluded its probe, with Director James Comey recommending that no charges be brought, though he stated that she had been “extremely careless” in her handling of classified material (Encyclopaedia Britannica). She claimed the nomination on June 7, 2016, following primary wins in states including California, and was formally nominated at the Democratic National Convention on July 26, with Senator Tim Kaine as her running mate (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

On June 9, 2016, Donald Trump Jr., campaign manager Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner met at Trump Tower with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who had been promised as a source of incriminating material about Clinton (The Straits Times). Music publicist Rob Goldstone had written to Trump Jr. that the “Crown prosecutor of Russia” had offered “official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” describing it as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump” (The Straits Times). Trump Jr. replied: “I love it” (The Straits Times). Trump Jr. later said the meeting offered no “meaningful information” and focused on Russian adoptions (The Straits Times). In May 2018 the Senate Judiciary Committee released about 2,000 documents from its probe, with chairman Chuck Grassley saying Americans should be able to review them unfiltered; Democrats on the panel said the meeting “confirms that the Trump campaign was willing to accept Russia’s assistance” (The Straits Times).

The campaign itself was increasingly negative as the candidates exchanged charges in speeches and debates (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Clinton faced Donald Trump in the first general-election debate on September 26, 2016, at Hofstra University, which drew an estimated 84 million television viewers — the most-watched presidential debate ever (Associated Press). On November 8 she lost the election after losing states Barack Obama had won in 2012, including Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (Encyclopaedia Britannica). She became the first woman to top a major U.S. party’s presidential ticket, and the fifth person in American history to win the popular vote but lose the presidency: she received 65,853,514 votes (48.18%) to Trump’s 62,984,828 (46.09%), while the Electoral College went 304–227 for Trump (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

From Senate to “smart power”

Clinton launched her political career in her own right in 1999, when she ran for a U.S. Senate seat from New York after buying a house in Chappaqua (Encyclopaedia Britannica). That fall she became the first first lady to be elected to public office, defeating Republican Rick Lazio (Encyclopaedia Britannica). She was the first woman elected to statewide office in New York, led bipartisan legislation on affordable health care, and advocated for care for first responders after the 9/11 attacks (Brown University). She was easily re-elected in 2006 (Encyclopaedia Britannica). The next year she decided to run for president; she entered the 2008 primaries as the early frontrunner but lost a tight, months-long contest to Barack Obama (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

In December 2008 Obama selected Clinton as his secretary of state, and she was easily confirmed by the Senate in January 2009 (Encyclopaedia Britannica). As the 67th secretary of state she pursued what she called a “smart power” approach, repositioning American diplomacy and development for the 21st century (Brown University). Her tenure included expanding sanctions against Iran over nuclear weapons proliferation, helping negotiate a then-ceasefire in the Middle East, and responding to the pro-democratic protests, revolutions, and civil wars that swept Arab nations in the early 2010s (Brown University). She made hundreds of trips around the world to meet foreign leaders, and her tenure was widely praised for improving U.S. foreign relationships (Encyclopaedia Britannica). She resigned in 2013 and was replaced by former Massachusetts senator John Kerry (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

As first lady from 1993 to 2001, Clinton led successful bipartisan efforts to improve the adoption and foster care systems, reduce teen pregnancy, and create the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Brown University). Her husband’s appointment of her to head a national health-care task force drew mostly favorable comment for her expertise, though Congress ultimately rejected the task force’s recommendations (Encyclopaedia Britannica). She stood by her husband publicly during the Whitewater investigations and the 1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal and subsequent impeachment (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Before national politics, she had been a partner at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and was twice named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal, in 1988 and 1991 (Encyclopaedia Britannica). She won a Grammy Award in 1997 for the audio recording of her book It Takes a Village, and her most recent memoir, Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love and Liberty, was published in September 2024 (Brown University).

What this profile does not claim

• This profile does not assert that Clinton ever met Jeffrey Epstein, flew on his plane, or visited his properties — in her 2026 deposition she denied all of these.
• It does not take a position on whether the June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting constituted collusion; it reports the attendees, the Goldstone email, and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 2018 document release as documented facts.
• It does not assign a winner to the 2016 debates, nor does it repeat polling claims about them.
• It does not cover her legal defense work during the Clinton administration beyond what is stated above, and it does not address claims from sources not listed here, including memoirs and the unread CFR biography.
• The popular-vote and electoral-vote figures are the totals reported by Encyclopaedia Britannica; certified tallies vary slightly by source.