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Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, will testify in a congressional investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a staffer said on Monday.
The House’s Republican-led oversight committee recommended last week that the Clintons be held in contempt for refusing to testify about their relationship with Epstein, with several Democrats on the panel agreeing. The Clintons had offered to co-operate with the panel but had refused to appear in person, saying the investigation was a partisan exercise aimed at protecting Republican President Donald Trump.
The House of Representatives had later this week planned to hold the two prominent Democrats in contempt, a finding that potentially could lead to criminal charges. Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, who served in Trump’s first administration, served short prison sentences in 2024 for refusing to appear before a House committee investigating Trump’s actions leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Asked if the House would hold up its contempt votes against the Clintons, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told Reuters: “They’re working on that right now. The lawyers are looking into the details.”
Johnson earlier welcomed the news of the former president and the former secretary of state agreeing to testify.
The U.S. Department of Justice released thousands of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein with many redactions. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton is among the most prominent people in this set of materials and there are few mentions of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The U.S. Justice Department’s recent release of millions of internal documents related to Epstein has revealed the late financier and sex offender’s ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business — both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges.
It would be unprecedented in modern times for a former president to give testimony in Congress in such a highly charged scenario. Harry Truman and Gerald Ford are the only former presidents to testify in Congress since the Second World War — Truman to talk about the United Nations Charter, and Ford appearing to discuss the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.
Republicans want ‘political spectacle’: top Democrat
As with Trump, Bill Clinton is known to have flown on Epstein’s plane several times. He has expressed regret about the relationship and said he knew nothing about Epstein’s criminal activity.
Clinton’s representatives say the former president broke off relations with Epstein after the first round of criminal charges in 2006. Epstein’s confidant, the now-imprisoned Ghislaine Maxwell, attended the wedding of Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, in 2010.
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate, has said through a spokesperson that she “cannot recall ever speaking to Epstein.”
Republican James Comer of Kentucky, who chairs the the oversight committee, said on Monday the Clintons have not given a date for their depositions and that he will discuss next steps with panel members.
“The Clintons’ counsel has said they agree to terms, but those terms lack clarity yet again and they have provided no dates for their depositions,” Comer said. “I will clarify the terms they are agreeing to and then discuss next steps with my committee members.”
Comer earlier Monday rejected an offer from attorneys for the Clintons to have Bill Clinton conduct a transcribed interview and Hillary Clinton submit a sworn declaration.
U.S. Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam says the latest release of more than three million pages from the Epstein files confirms Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and is calling for him to testify before the U.S. Congress. King Charles stripped his brother of his title in early November amid mounting pressure over his ties to Epstein.
Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries told ABC News that in his view the Clintons had offered good faith offers to give testimony, suggesting Comer’s motives have been partisan and designed to embarrass the couple.
“The notion that they’re going to go after secretary Clinton and Bill Clinton with criminal contempt — in other words, this is sort of a ‘lock her up’ approach — seems completely inconsistent with the law, if the goal is to actually try and get the information as opposed to create a political spectacle,” Jeffries told ABC News on Sunday.
Democrats also say the Justice Department has not yet released all the material it has on the late financier, and that the Republican leadership has not pressed that issue.
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