Bill and Hillary Clinton officially refused to testify in the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein conducted by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The decision defies subpoenas and makes the couple at risk of being held in contempt of Congress.
The Clintons were scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill Jan. 13 and 14, but in a letter to James Comer, chair of House Oversight, the Clintons’ attorneys stated their clients would not be attending.
Comer has worked to shift the spotlight from President Trump’s ties to Epstein and his administration’s decision to close the investigation, to prominent Democrats who have been in close association with the convicted sex offender.
According to Comer, Epstein visited the White House 17 times while Bill Clinton was president. While Comer was not accusing Clinton of anything, he stated he just had questions. Comer set a deadline for Jan. 13 for Bill and Jan. 14 for Hillary.
However, hours before their deadline, the Clintons submitted a legal letter describing why they considered the subpoenas “legally unenforceable” and promised to fight Comer on the issue.
In a separate letter posted on X from Jan. 13, the Clintons said Comer’s focus should primarily be on preventing crimes like Epstein’s from happening again and not play “partisan politics.”
Comer expressed his disappointment in the Clintons decision and said he would move to hold the former president in contempt. The act would take a vote of the panel and then a vote of the full House. If it passed, it would be up to the Justice Department to prosecute, which can include a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for as long as a year.
As of Jan. 19, no contempt proceedings against the Clintons have been launched.
