Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have dropped their opposition and agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The sudden reversal came as House lawmakers prepared to vote on holding both Clintons in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena, according to a committee aide who spoke with Politico. As of now, it remains unclear when either Bill or Hillary Clinton will appear before the committee.
The Clintons were initially scheduled to sit for depositions in mid-December. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer postponed the depositions by a month to accommodate the Clintons’ plans to attend a funeral. Despite the extension, the former first couple failed to appear for their rescheduled testimony last month.
Following their absence, lawmakers on the committee voted on a bipartisan basis to advance contempt of Congress charges to the full House, which was set to consider the matter this week. That looming vote appears to have prompted the Clintons’ change in strategy.
In a letter sent last month explaining their refusal to comply with the subpoena, the Clintons struck a defiant tone. “Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences,” they wrote. “For us, now is that time.”
The Clintons claimed the subpoenas compelling their testimony were “legally invalid” and argued they had already attempted to provide Chairman Comer with what they described as the limited information they possess. They insisted their resistance was principled, not evasive.
“We’ve done so because Mr. Epstein’s crimes were horrific,” the letter continued. “There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics.”
Neither Bill nor Hillary Clinton has been accused of criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. There is no evidence that Hillary Clinton ever traveled with Epstein or boarded his private jet, often referred to as the “Lolita Express.”
Bill Clinton, however, has acknowledged multiple interactions with Epstein over the years. He has admitted to taking four trips aboard Epstein’s jet, meeting Epstein at his Harlem office in 2002, and making one brief visit to Epstein’s New York apartment. Other reports and court filings have suggested additional encounters beyond those Clinton has publicly acknowledged.
According to a review of flight logs conducted by The Washington Examiner, Bill Clinton took at least 27 flights on Epstein’s plane. Epstein also visited the Clinton White House multiple times during the 1990s and attended a 1993 donors’ reception hosted by Bill and Hillary Clinton after making a $10,000 donation to the White House Historical Association, according to a 2019 report by The Daily Beast.
The House Oversight Committee launched its Epstein investigation last year to better understand the financier’s sex trafficking network, how he cultivated influence to evade scrutiny, and how Congress can strengthen laws to combat human trafficking.
Epstein died in 2019 in a jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. Since taking office more than a year ago, the Trump administration has released millions of pages of documents, communications, and other materials related to the so-called Epstein files, fueling renewed congressional scrutiny and public interest in those connected to the disgraced financier.
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