Clintons agree to testify in House Epstein probe as contempt vote looms

Facing the prospect of a rare contempt vote, attorneys for former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told House Oversight Committee staff late Monday that the couple “will appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates” in the panel’s probe of Jeffrey Epstein. The move paused a planned advance of contempt resolutions but left Republicans disputing the format and timing of any testimony.

The subpoenas for the Clintons were issued last August when the Oversight Committee opened its inquiry into Epstein and his network. Committee Republicans have demanded sworn depositions to satisfy the subpoenas, while the Clintons had earlier proposed alternative arrangements: a four-hour transcribed interview for Bill Clinton and a sworn declaration from Hillary Clinton. Committee leaders rejected that approach as insufficient.

Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican leading the investigation, said the emailed assent lacked the necessary detail. “The Clintons do not get to dictate the terms of lawful subpoenas,” Comer said, and later added that “those terms lack clarity yet again and they have provided no dates for their depositions.” He told colleagues he would seek to “clarify the terms they are agreeing to and then discuss next steps with my committee members,” suggesting the standoff was not yet resolved.

The procedural tug-of-war carried immediate institutional weight. Republican leaders had been advancing contempt resolutions through the House Rules Committee, a final step before a floor vote, and the Rules Committee postponed moving the measure while Comer and the Clintons negotiated. If the House were to hold a former president in contempt, it would mark an unprecedented enforcement moment in modern congressional history and could lead to criminal referral.

The broader investigation has issued subpoenas to a string of former Justice Department and FBI officials in recent months as Oversight seeks records and testimony “related to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein.” Among those drawn into the probe are former attorneys general and past FBI directors, reflecting the panel’s wide-ranging effort to map prosecutorial and investigative decisions across administrations.

Angel Ureña, a Clinton deputy chief of staff and spokesperson, posted on X that the couple “negotiated in good faith” and accused Comer of failing to do so. Ureña wrote that “They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care,” and added, “But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.”

Both Clintons maintain they have provided the panel with sworn statements and “the limited information” they possess about Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 after his 2008 convictions and later federal investigations. Photographs of Bill Clinton with Epstein from decades ago have circulated in past coverage; Clinton aides say those images predate any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and that any association ended long before Epstein’s arrest.

Key questions now remain: whether the committee will accept the Clintons’ offer as presented, whether testimony will be under oath and publicly transcribed, and when and where depositions will take place. The dispute tests not only the power of congressional subpoenas but also the routines by which former senior officials are held accountable, a matter with domestic political resonance and international attention as the United States confronts how institutions probe high-profile wrongdoing.