Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday they will testify in a House investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — just days before a planned Congressional vote to hold the pair in contempt for defying subpoenas. The move to force testimony of a former president is nearly unprecedented, according to the New York Times.
The House oversight committee chair, James Comer, R-Ky., led the charge against the Clintons and insisted that they both sit for sworn depositions before the committee. Comer rejected an offer earlier Monday that would have Bill Clinton complete a transcribed interview and Hillary Clinton submit a sworn declaration.
The Clintons resisted the subpoenas for months, with the House Oversight Committee voting to hold them in criminal contempt of Congress on Jan. 21. Nine Democratic lawmakers voted to hold Bill Clinton in contempt and three supported the charges for Hillary Clinton in the committee. The full House floor vote was scheduled for Wednesday.
Late Monday, attorneys for the Clintons contacted Rep. Comer in an email saying the Clintons would “appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates” and asked the contempt of Congress vote be cancelled.
“They negotiated in good faith. You did not. They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care,” a spokesman for the Clintons said in a statement. “But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.”
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“They don’t want a serious interview, they want a charade,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a press briefing Monday.
“House Republicans cannot be taken seriously on this issue,” Rep. Jeffries said, criticizing the push against the Clintons as “shenanigans,” and brought attention to the millions more Epstein-related files yet to be released by the Department of Justice, in spite of the Epstein Files Transparency Act signed into law last November. The DOJ released 3.5 million more files on Jan. 30, with many new revelations of powerful men’s connections to Epstein, while also exposing the names of dozens of his victims and revealing dozens of unredacted nude images of young women, some of whom may have been teenagers.
Bill Clinton has previously said he was acquainted with Epstein, but never visited his island. According to flight logs, Clinton took four international trips on Epstein’s private jet between 2002 and 2003. Attorneys for Hillary Clinton said she had never met or spoken with Epstein.
