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AP, WASHINGTON
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A US House of Representatives committee on Wednesday advanced resolutions to hold former US president Bill Clinton and his wife, former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time.
The House Oversight and Government reform Committee approved the contempt of Congress charges, setting up potential votes in the House early next month. In a departure from party lines, some Democrats supported the contempt measures against the Clintons, with several lawmakers emphasizing the need for full transparency in the Epstein investigation.
The votes were the latest turn in the Epstein saga as Congress investigates how the late financier was able to sexually abuse dozens of teenage girls for years.
US Representative James Comer, top, right, chairman of the US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, speaks during a hearing alongside US Representative Robert Garcia, top, left, the ranking member, at the US Capitol in Washington on Wednesday.
Photo: AFP
“No witness, not a former president or a private citizen, may willfully defy a congressional subpoena without consequence, but that is what the Clintons did and that is why we are here,” US Representative James Comer, the committee’s chairman, said at the session.
The repercussions of contempt charges loomed large, given the possibility of a substantial fine and even incarceration.
In addition, passage of contempt charges through the full House was far from guaranteed, requiring a majority vote.
The Clintons have said they had nothing to do with Epstein for decades and are seeking a resolution to the dispute.
This week, they offered to have the committee leadership and staff interview Bill Clinton in New York.
Comer on Tuesday rejected that offer, saying that any interview also had to have an official transcript.
A spokesman for the Clintons, Angel Urena, said on social media that the Clintons are trying to help the Epstein investigation, but that “both Clintons have been out of office for over a decade. Neither had anything to do with him for more than 20 years.”
Behind the scenes, Clinton lawyer David Kendall has tried to negotiate an agreement with Comer for months.
Kendall raised the prospect of having the Clintons testify on Christmas and Christmas Eve, according to the committee’s account of the negotiations.
The Clintons, who said that the subpoenas are invalid because they do not serve any legislative purpose, have also offered the committee written declarations about their interactions with Epstein.
Epstein donated to Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and Hillary Clinton’s joint fundraising committee ahead of her 2000 US Senate campaign in New York.
On Wednesday, Democrats tried to advance several changes to the contempt of Congress charges.
Several argued that Hillary Clinton should be exempted because she has said she had very little personal interaction with Epstein.
Democratic lawmakers also tried to downgrade the contempt of Congress resolution to a civil rather than criminal offense.
Democrats criticized Comer for focusing on the Clintons when the US Department of Justice is running a month late on a congressionally mandated deadline to publicly release its case files on Epstein.
Nine Democrats voted with all Republicans on the committee to advance contempt against Bill Clinton, and three Democrats — US representatives Summer Lee, Melanie Stansbury and Rashida Tlaib — joined in the vote to advance the contempt resolution for Hillary Clinton.
Comer has indicated that he will insist that the subpoena be fulfilled by nothing less than a transcribed deposition of Bill Clinton.
“They’re going to have two weeks until this bill is on the floor,” he said.
