Bill and Hillary Clinton have refused to testify before a US congressional committee investigating the Jeffrey Epstein case. The move sharpens their confrontation with Republicans and could lead to efforts to hold the former president and former secretary of state in contempt of Congress.
The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Republican James Comer, had for months sought their testimony as part of an inquiry into the Clintons’ ties to Epstein, who was convicted of sex crimes, and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. On Tuesday, however, the couple signaled that they were prepared to defy subpoenas, despite pressure from Comer and other Republican leaders, including President Donald Trump.
In a joint four-page letter to Comer, the Clintons said that “everyone eventually decides that they have seen or experienced enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles, and its people, regardless of the consequences.” For them, they wrote, that moment has come now.
They also said they saw “no plausible explanation for what is happening other than partisan politics,” noting that as part of the same investigation Comer had issued subpoenas to eight other people but had taken no meaningful steps to compel their appearance.
Shortly after the letter was published, Comer told reporters on Capitol Hill that his committee could begin contempt-of-Congress proceedings against the Clintons as early as next week.
A copy of the letter sent by Bill and Hillary Clinton to Congress.
Such proceedings could culminate in criminal charges against the Clintons and potentially a prison sentence. As precedent, Comer has pointed to the cases of Steve Bannon, a former chief strategist to Donald Trump, and Peter Navarro, his longtime trade adviser. During the Joe Biden administration, both were charged and convicted for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas and each served four months in prison.
On Tuesday, January 13, the Clintons said they were prepared to “vigorously defend themselves,” stressing that a legal opinion prepared by their lawyers “unequivocally” demonstrates the “legal invalidity” of the subpoenas issued by Comer. Representatives for the Clintons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The couple’s refusal to take part in the inquiry marked another turn in a long-running scandal that has provoked strong reactions on both sides of the Atlantic and once again raised questions about Epstein’s ties to members of the political and financial elite.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-crime charges. Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in his criminal activities.
The Clintons have acknowledged that they maintained friendly relations with Epstein and Maxwell in the past, but have denied any involvement in their crimes or knowledge of them. In recent weeks, however, they have faced renewed scrutiny over their links to Epstein. Last month, the Justice Department released several photographs showing the former president.
The Justice Department disclosed part of the Epstein case file following a demand from Congress. Critics, however, accuse the Trump administration of withholding a substantial volume of documents and heavily redacting those that were released. The department says it is acting within the law and that more than 2 million documents are “at various stages of review”.
Other observers argue that the White House and Republicans in Congress are deliberately shifting the focus to Clinton and other Democrats linked to Epstein in order to deflect attention from Trump’s own contacts with him. The president has acknowledged that he knew Epstein in the past, but has categorically denied any involvement in his crimes.
On Tuesday, the Clintons accused Comer of blocking “progress in establishing the facts about the government’s role” in the Epstein case. “You have done nothing within your oversight authority to compel the Department of Justice to comply with the law and release the full Epstein files, including any materials relating to us, which we have publicly demanded,” their statement said.