INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts have given quarterback Anthony Richardson permission to find a trade partner, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The person requested anonymity because no formal announcement is expected.
Indy believed Richardson could become its long-time franchise quarterback when it drafted him with the No. 4 overall selection in 2023, but nothing has gone according to plan for the Colts — or the injury-plagued former Florida star.
The news came two days after Colts general manager Chris Ballard told local reporters he still believed Richardson could succeed in Indianapolis.
“I'm not going to say that,” Ballard said when asked if Richardson needed a fresh start with a new team. “Anthony's still young, he's still developing so we'll see what the future holds.”
It's not the first time Ballard has granted a player permission to look for a deal. Pro Bowl running back Jonathan Taylor also was given the designation during a protracted contract battle in August 2023. Less than two months later, Taylor agreed to a three-year extension worth $42 million with Indy.
This time could be different.
Richardson's progression has not gone according to plan since he won the starting job as a rookie in training camp. He appeared in just four games and finished only one in 2023 before undergoing season-ending surgery on his right shoulder.
When Richardson returned in 2024, he continued to deal with injuries and inconsistency.
He started all 11 games in which he appeared that season but missed one game with a strained hip, two more with foot and back injuries and also was benched for two additional games after pulling himself out of a midseason game because he was “tired” after consecutive runs. He also finished that season with the lowest completion rate of any regular NFL starter, 47.7%, while throwing eight TD passes and 12 interceptions.
That prompted the Colts to sign free agent Daniel Jones last March.
Jones, the sixth overall draft pick of the New York Giants in 2019, beat out Richardson for the starting job last August. And as Jones thrived through the first half of the season, Richardson's injury problems continued.
He suffered another right shoulder injury in May and a dislocated finger on his right hand in August before enduring a season-ending fractured orbital bone in a freak pregame accident in October. The combination of Jones' strong play and Richardson's continued injury issues limited him to just two games in which he completed just 1 of 2 passes for 9 yards.
Jones could become a free agent again next month but is recovering from a torn right Achilles tendon that forced him to miss Indy's final four games. Indy lost all four and wound up missing the playoffs following an 8-2 start and is now attempting to sign Jones to a new deal.
“We're expecting him back for training camp, but the way he works and who he is, you know, it wouldn't surprise me if it's sooner,” Ballard said, updating Jones' status Tuesday. “He'll be back and he'll be ready to go, and I think he'll have a good year. We've hard great discussions with both of them (Jones and possible free agent receiver Alec Pierce), we'll continue to work this week and see if we can get something done. It's been very positive.”
But that only makes Richardson's future in Indianapolis more uncertain.
“He's a really good teammate, positive, wants to do the right thing,” Ballard said of Richardson. “So it's trending in the right direction, still got a ways to go but he's cleared to play, and he is getting better, so we'll work from there."
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Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
FILE - Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) throws before the start of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 21, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told members of Congress on Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s or Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes, starting off two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton.
“I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein,” Hillary Clinton said in an opening statement she shared on social media. The closed-door deposition concluded after over six hours of questioning Thursday.
The depositions in the Clintons' hometown of Chappaqua, a typically quiet hamlet north of New York City, come after months of tense back-and-forth between the former high-powered Democratic couple and the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee as it investigates Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. It will be the first time that a former president has been forced to testify before Congress.
Yet the demand for a reckoning over Epstein's abuse of underage girls has become a near-unstoppable force on Capitol Hill and beyond.
President Donald Trump, a Republican who has expressed regret that the Clintons are being forced to testify, bowed last year to pressure to release case files on Epstein. The Clintons, too, agreed to testify after their offers of sworn statements were rebuffed by the Oversight panel and its chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., threatened criminal contempt of Congress charges against them.
“Like every decent person," Hillary Clinton added in her opening statement, “I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes.”
She has previously said that her husband flew with Epstein for charitable trips but that she did not recall ever meeting Epstein. She had also interacted with Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, at conferences hosted by the Clinton Foundation.
Maxwell, a British socialite, also attended the 2010 wedding of their daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said that Hillary Clinton had answered every question posed to her.
Bill Clinton, however, has emerged as a top target for Republicans amid the political struggle over who receives the most scrutiny for their ties to Epstein. Several photos of the former president were included in the first tranche of Epstein files released by the Department of Justice in January, including a number of him with women whose faces were redacted. Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein.
Comer has also pointed to Hillary Clinton's work as secretary of state to address sex trafficking as another reason to insist on her deposition. Clinton defended her work to address sex trafficking around the world, saying that it remained important to help the millions of survivors of sex trafficking.
The committee's investigation has also sought to understand why the Department of Justice under previous presidential administrations did not seek further charges against Epstein following a 2008 arrangement in which he pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl but avoided federal charges.
Hillary Clinton accused Comer of running a one-sided investigation that has failed to hold Trump and other Republican officials to account. “This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official,” she said.
Yet conspiracy theories, especially on the right, have swirled for years around the Clintons and their connections to Epstein and Maxwell, who argues she was wrongfully convicted. Republicans have long wanted to press the Clintons for answers. The deposition was paused after Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., sent a photo of Hillary Clinton in the private proceeding to a conservative influencer who posted it on social media, violating the committee's rules for depositions.
Democrats said that the incident underscored how important it was for there to be a clear public record of the deposition. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, said that Hillary Clinton, after the incident, repeated her longstanding demand that the deposition be made public, and Democrats called for a video and transcript of the complete proceedings to be released quickly.
Comer said that he would work quickly to release a video and transcript of the deposition.
“The purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein,” he told reporters outside the convention center where the depositions were being held. “How did he accumulate so much wealth? How was he able to surround himself with some of the most powerful men in the world?"
Comer described the deposition as a bipartisan effort and said Thursday that it was “very possible” the committee would question Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was Epstein's neighbor and had several interactions with him. Under questioning from Democrats earlier this month, Lutnick acknowledged that he had met with Epstein twice after the late financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child, reversing his previous claim that he had cut ties with him after 2005.
Democrats, now being led by a new generation of politicians, have prioritized transparency around Epstein over defending the former leaders of their party. Several Democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans on the Oversight panel to advance the contempt of Congress charges against the Clintons last month. Several said they had no relationship with the Clintons and owed no loyalty to them.
Garcia also called on Trump to testify in the investigation. He argued that Bill Clinton’s appearance sets a precedent that should apply to Trump as well.
"Let’s get President Trump in front of our committee to answer the questions that are being asked across this country from survivors,” Garcia said.
Comer previously said that the committee can’t depose Trump because he is a sitting president.
Still, Democrats are also coming off an effort this week to confront Trump about his administration's handling of the Epstein files by taking women who survived Epstein's abuse as their guests to Trump's State of the Union address.
Garcia and others are also challenging the Department of Justice's assertion that it has met the requirements of a law passed by Congress last year that mandates the release of many of the case files on Epstein.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his caucus in the coming days would also review unredacted versions of the Epstein case files at a Department of Justice office. Schumer, who demanded that the department release all of the files and preserve all materials, said they will “pull on every thread” until they “reveal this massive cover-up."
Follow the AP's coverage of Jeffrey Epstein at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center before the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center before the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
FILE - Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, Sept. 24, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)
A podium sits outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center before the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A motorcade carrying former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center where Clinton is scheduled to testify before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A motorcade carrying former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center where Clinton is scheduled to testify before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A New Castle police officer sets up barricades outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center as members of the media await the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
FILE - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the inaugural Mumbai Climate Week in Mumbai, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool, File)
