Bill and Hillary Clinton have refused to testify in the House Oversight Committee’s Jeffrey Epstein inquiry, and skipped their depositions.
“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,” the Clintons wrote to Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, according to a letter first reported by the New York Times.
“For us, now is that time,” they added.
The couple was set to testify starting Tuesday in the U.S. Congress investigation, and Republicans warned they could possibly face contempt charges if they failed to appear.
The Clintons also addressed the likelihood of the committee voting to hold them in contempt.
“We expect you will direct your committee to seek to hold us in contempt,” they wrote. “You will say it is not our decision to make. But we have made it. Now you have to make yours.”
In the letter, released on social media Tuesday, the Clintons told Comer he’s on the cusp of a process “literally designed to result in our imprisonment.”
After the letter was published, the House Oversight Committee announced that it will seek to hold Clinton in contempt after he failed to appear for his deposition.
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“As a result of Bill Clinton not showing up for his lawful subpoena, which again was voted unanimously by the committee in a bipartisan manner, we will move next week in the House Oversight Committee markup to hold former President Clinton in contempt of Congress,” Comer told reporters Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill.
“No one’s accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. We just have questions,” Comer said after Bill Clinton did not show up for a scheduled deposition at House offices Tuesday.
“Anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together,” he added.
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Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein but had a well-documented friendship with Epstein, a wealthy financier, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Republicans have zeroed in on that relationship as they try to wrestle control over demands for a full accounting of Epstein’s wrongdoing.
Comer also indicated that the committee would not attempt to compel testimony from U.S. President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, saying that it could not force a sitting president to testify.
In December, Comer threatened to begin contempt of Congress proceedings against the Clintons if they refused to appear for depositions as part of the committee’s investigation into Epstein.
In a statement on Dec. 12, Comer said that the Clintons had “delayed, obstructed, and largely ignored the Committee staff’s efforts to schedule their testimony” for several months. He said the committee would begin proceedings to try to force them to testify if they didn’t appear the following week or schedule an appearance in January.
His statement came hours after Democrats on the committee had released dozens of photos they had received from Epstein’s estate, including images of Clinton.
The House Oversight Committee issued numerous subpoenas last August, with nearly a dozen subpoenas issued to high-profile figures, seeking information and files related to Epstein, following calls for more transparency in the case.
That’s when the Clintons first received their subpoena for testimony, as well as a slew of former attorney generals and FBI directors.
House investigators also issued a subpoena to current Attorney General Pam Bondi for documents related to the investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and associate who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
“While the Department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell’s cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell,” Comer wrote at the time.
Comer added that the oversight panel “may use the results of this investigation to inform legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.”
In addition to Clintons, the 10 other individuals subpoenaed for closed-door depositions between August and October were former attorneys general Merrick Garland, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzales, and former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller.
— with files from The Associated Press
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