The Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee has threatened to begin contempt proceedings this week against Bill and Hillary Clinton if they do not appear before his committee to answer questions in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
While Republicans prepare to refer the former president and secretary of state for criminal prosecution if they don’t comply, there has been no demand that President Donald Trump face the committee in person over his own close relationship with the late convicted sex offender.
The House Oversight Committee scheduled depositions for former President Clinton on December 17 and for former Secretary Clinton on December 18.
But the couple has pushed back on sitting down with the committee behind closed doors. They have repeatedly offered to provide sworn statements for the investigation, as have other officials subpoenaed in the probe.
However, Chairman James Comer came back that their offer was not good enough.
The committee approved the subpoenas for the Clintons and eight other high-profile individuals by a voice vote on July 23. They were then issued on August 5.
“Throughout that time, the former President and former Secretary of State have delayed, obstructed, and largely ignored the Committee staff’s efforts to schedule their testimony,” Comer said in a statement on Friday. “If the Clintons fail to appear for their depositions next week or schedule a date for early January, the Oversight Committee will begin contempt of Congress proceedings to hold them accountable.”
The move to subpoena officials came as Democrats basically forced the committee to subpoena the Justice Department for all the Epstein files after the Trump administration reversed course on releasing documents.
Others subpoenaed for information were former attorney generals Bill Barr, Alberto Gonzales, Jeff Sessions, Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch and Merrick Garland, as well as former FBI Directors Robert Mueller and James Comey.
However, since the subpoenas were issued for the testimony of the ten individuals, the majority of the witnesses have been allowed to provide sworn statements to the committee and have not been threatened with contempt.
Only former Attorney General Bill Barr appeared for a deposition with the committee. The other five attorney generals provided sworn statements. Former FBI Director James Comey and Robert Mueller were also both excused.
The lawyer for the Clintons last week wrote that they remain ready to provide sworn statements while accusing Comer of making false claims about his clients.
David Kendall wrote in a letter to the committee dated December 10, and published by the New York Times, that the Clintons have been cooperating to meet the committee’s “legitimate needs” and argued the insistence that his clients testify in person is politically motivated.
He wrote that it appeared the committee was not seeking information from the Clintons pertinent to its oversight, but rather seeking a public spectacle.
“Your words and actions in this matter, along with statements by other high-ranking Republicans—including President Trump himself—lead to one conclusion: the only offense the Clintons have committed is being named Clinton.”
He went on to accuse committee Republicans of being complicit with Trump’s attempts to divert attention away from his own relationship with Epstein.
Throughout the backlash and slow drip of information about Epstein since the Trump administration did an about-face on releasing documents over the summer, the president has repeatedly tried to distance himself from the disgraced financier and even called for a probe to look into the relationship between Clinton and Epstein.
Both men have been pictured with Epstein. On Friday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a series of new photos provided by the Epstein estate. It included images of both Trump and Clinton with Epstein.
Flight logs revealed during civil litigation showed Clinton was a passenger on Epstein’s jet for multiple international trips in 2002 and 2003. None of the logs show that Clinton or Trump were on the plane during trips to Epstein’s island, but the president has repeatedly suggested, without evidence, that Clinton was there.
Both Trump and the former president have denied any wrongdoing concerning their relationships with the convicted sex offender.
Congress has subpoenaed sitting presidents on rare occasions in the past, and while the courts have found presidents do not have absolute immunity, they have been granted some protections.
No former president has appeared before Congress since 1983. Trump was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 select committee in 2022, but he tried to block it. The committee ended up withdrawing the subpoena as time ran out on their investigation.
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