Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are declining to testify in the House Oversight Committee’s probe into the convicted sex offender, even though Republicans have threatened to hold the couple in contempt of Congress.
In a letter directly addressed to Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, the Clintons accused him of being “on the verge of bringing Congress to a standstill to pursue a rarely – used process that is literally designed to land us in prison.”
“This isn’t the solution to America’s problems, and we will vigorously defend ourselves,” they stated in the letter, which Bill Clinton [action missing in original text] on X.
The Clintons both got congressional subpoenas to appear for closed – door depositions in the Epstein inquiry. The former President didn’t show up for his deposition on Tuesday, which was the set deadline for his appearance. The deadline for the former Secretary of State’s deposition was Wednesday.
In a separate [item missing in original text] to Comer on Monday, the couple’s lawyers said that the subpoenas “are invalid and legally unenforceable, not related to a valid legislative purpose, unwarranted as they don’t seek relevant information, and an unprecedented violation of the separation of powers.”
The Clintons “have already provided the limited information they have about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the Committee,” and they did so “proactively and voluntarily,” their attorneys said. The letter argued that Comer’s “continued insistence” that he could force the couple to appear for the depositions “leads us towards a long – drawn – out and unnecessary legal confrontation,” but added that the Clintons would be willing to certify draft declarations they had previously provided as an “extraordinary concession” to avoid such a conflict.
Comer indicated on Tuesday that the House Oversight Committee would start proceedings to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress.
“We’ve been in communication with President Clinton’s legal team for months, giving them one opportunity after another to come in and spend a day with us, but they keep delaying, delaying, delaying,” Comer told reporters.
He also said, “No one is accusing Bill Clinton of any wrongdoing; we just have questions.”
In their personal letter to Comer, the Clintons said that “if the Government didn’t do everything it could to investigate and prosecute these crimes, for whatever reason, that should be the focus of your work – to find out why and prevent it from happening again.”
But, they went on, “there is no evidence that you’re doing so. Instead, you’ve made the victims relive their painful experiences while doing little to give them and everyone else what they deserve: truth and justice. There’s no reasonable explanation for what you’re doing other than partisan politics.”
The couple said that they had given Comer statements, just like several other people he’d subpoenaed who he then excused from testifying.
The Clintons also said that Comer has the “enormous power to target anyone and subject them to closed – door interrogation and more,” adding that his priorities in the committee’s Epstein investigation “have hindered progress in uncovering the facts about the government’s role.” And they went on to criticize him for not doing more to make the Department of Justice (DOJ) release all the files in the Epstein case.
The DOJ was given a December deadline to release all the files in the Epstein case under the [act missing in original text] that was [action missing in original text] by Congress and [action missing in original text] into law by President Donald Trump in November. The department [action missing in original text] releasing materials in the case on the day of the deadline, but has yet to release all the files, indicating earlier this month that it is still reviewing [materials missing in original text] beyond the thousands it has so far made public. The incomplete and heavily redacted initial releases have faced widespread backlash from [groups missing in original text], [victims missing in original text] of Epstein’s abuse, and the American public.
Bill Clinton’s name and photos have appeared in [documents missing in original text] previously released in connection with the case, along with those of several other high – profile people linked to Epstein. The former President has denied any knowledge of the late sex offender’s crimes and said he never visited Epstein’s island.
After the DOJ released an initial batch of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act that repeatedly featured Bill Clinton, his deputy chief of staff, Angel Ureña, [accused missing in original text] the Trump Administration of “shielding themselves” from scrutiny and [demanded missing in original text] all materials in the case that included Bill Clinton to be released, saying he doesn’t need any such “protection.”
The Clintons said in their letter that they expected Comer would direct the House Oversight Committee to seek to hold them in contempt, and that “you might even release irrelevant, decades – old photos in hopes of embarrassing us.” But they remained firm in their decision to defy the subpoenas, saying that for Comer to claim he can’t finish the investigation without talking to them “is simply absurd.”
“We’re confident that any reasonable person, whether in Congress or not, will see, based on everything we release, that what you’re doing is trying to punish those you see as your enemies and protect those you think are your friends,” the Clintons said. “Keep misleading Americans about what’s really at stake, and you’ll learn that Americans are better at finding the truth than you are at hiding it.”