Dates set for Bill and Hillary Clinton testimony in GOP’s Epstein probe to avoid contempt vote
The former president and secretary of state will sit for filmed depositions after bipartisan effort to hold them in contempt of Congress
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are scheduled to testify to members of Congress this month for a Republican-led probe into federal investigations involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
The former president and former secretary of state had previously resisted subpoenas to compel their testimony, labeling efforts from the GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee “invalid and legally unenforceable” in a searing letter that also condemned Donald Trump’s administration and the alleged failures of a Republican-dominated Congress to hold it accountable.
The Clintons, facing a House vote to hold them in contempt of Congress, have now agreed to sit for filmed and transcribed closed-door depositions this month.
Hillary Clinton’s deposition is scheduled for February 26, and the former president’s deposition is set for February 27.
“Republicans and Democrats on the Oversight Committee have been clear: no one is above the law — and that includes the Clintons,” Republican Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement Tuesday.
“Once it became clear that the House of Representatives would hold them in contempt, the Clintons completely caved and will appear for transcribed, filmed depositions this month,” he added. “We look forward to questioning the Clintons as part of our investigation into the horrific crimes of Epstein and Maxwell, to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and for survivors.”
Attorneys for the Clintons initially asked Comer to halt the contempt proceedings, which could carry fines and even jail time if approved by the House and prosecuted by the Department of Justice.
The last-minute negotiating came as Republican leaders were advancing the contempt resolution through the House Rules Committee, a final hurdle before the extraordinary measure headed to the full House for a vote, potentially marking the first time that members of Congress held a former president in contempt with the threat of criminal penalties.
On Monday, Comer rejected an offer from attorneys for the Clintons to have Bill Clinton conduct a transcribed interview and Hillary Clinton submit a sworn declaration.
Comer insisted that the Clintons instead sit for sworn depositions before the committee to fulfill the panel’s subpoenas.
A letter from the committee to attorneys for the Clintons indicates that the former president was asked to sit for a four-hour interview on “matters related to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein” and for Hillary Clinton to submit a sworn declaration.
As chair of the powerful Republican-led committee, Comer has steered focus from an investigation into the sex offender and his alleged connections to a wider trafficking conspiracy implicating powerful figures, including Trump, and instead drawn attention to prominent Democratic figures who had previously associated with Epstein and Maxwell.
Last month, in a blistering eight-page letter to the committee, the Clintons said they anticipated that House Republicans would continue to “release irrelevant, decades-old photos that you hope will embarrass us,” after batches of documents released by the Justice Department included images of the former president with Epstein and others, on which the White House and Trump’s allies immediately pounced.
The former president and secretary of state were initially subpoenaed for testimony in August as the committee opened an investigation into Epstein and his associates, an effort running parallel to the release of the so-called Epstein files by the Department of Justice.
The Clintons accused Comer of working harder to hold them in contempt than pursuing an investigation into Epstein’s crimes and the government’s alleged failures to bring him to justice.
“Despite everything that needs to be done to help our country, you are on the cusp of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment,” they wrote.
The committee ultimately advanced criminal contempt of Congress charges.
Nine of the committee’s 21 Democrats joined Republicans in support of the charges against Bill Clinton, while three Democrats supported advancing the charges against Hillary Clinton.
Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein has reemerged as a focal point for Republicans amid the push for a reckoning over Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 in a New York jail cell as he faced sex trafficking charges.
The Clintons have never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and the inclusion of someone’s name or images in files connected to the cases against him does not imply otherwise.
“They negotiated in good faith. You did not,” a spokesperson for the Clintons, Angel Ureña, said in response to Comer's threats on Monday. “They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday that his caucus would have a discussion on the contempt resolutions later in the week, but remained noncommittal on whipping votes against them.
Jeffries said he was a “hard no” on contempt and accused Comer of focusing on political retribution rather than investigating the delayed release of case files. Democrats also say the Justice Department has not yet released all the material it has on the late financier.
“They don’t want a serious interview, they want a charade,” Jeffries said.
Additional reporting from the Associated Press
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments
Bookmark popover
Removed from bookmarks