WASHINGTON – The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday voted to hold former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas.
The committee had asked the Clintons to sit for depositions about their relationship with the late financier and sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. Like Donald Trump, Bill Clinton was photographed repeatedly in Epstein’s company. Neither man has been implicated in Epstein’s crimes.
Nine Democrats joined all the committee’s Republicans in voting for the contempt resolution against Bill Clinton. Three Democrats voted for the resolution on Hillary Clinton.
The focus on the Clintons is likely a welcome diversion for Republicans, who’ve been caught between their loyalty to Trump, who has called the Epstein matter a “Democrat hoax,” and demands from their base for the Epstein files to be made public.
While Trump’s Justice Department has dragged its feet in complying with a law requiring the release of all of its files on Epstein, the Clintons defied deadlines set by the committee for them to come to the Capitol to sit for depositions.
“The Clintons’ testimony is critical to understanding Epstein’s sex trafficking network and the ways he sought to curry favor and influence to shield himself from scrutiny,” Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said before the vote.
Comer complained that the Clintons’ attorneys tried to delay the committee’s action by making unrealistic offers, such as having the former president sit for an untranscribed interview in New York. “The response we received was not cooperation, but defiance, marked by repeated delays, excuses, and obstruction,” Comer said.
If the full House approves the contempt resolution, it would be referred to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for prosecution, meaning the Clintons could face prison time. Two former officials from President Donald Trump’s first term went to prison for defying subpoenas issued by Democrats during Joe Biden’s presidency. Comer said the Clintons would have two weeks to comply with the subpoena before the full House votes.
“They will have another opportunity,” Comer said.
Before the vote, Democrats said they believed people should comply with their subpoenas, but complained that Republicans were being more aggressive in enforcing the Clinton subpoenas than the committee’s separate subpoena demanding that the Justice Department hand over its files on Epstein.
“It’s interesting that it’s this subpoena only that Republicans and the chairman have been obsessed about putting all their energy behind,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the committee’s top Democrat.
The Justice Department said earlier this month it had only uploaded around 12,000 of more than 1 million files from its investigation of Epstein, who killed himself in prison in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges. Last year, Congress passed a law requiring all the documents to be put online in a searchable database by Dec. 19.
Several Democrats suggested Attorney General Pam Bondi should be held to the same standard as the Clintons, but the committee voted down an amendment from Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) to hold Bondi in civil contempt.
“If this committee wants to be taken seriously, we would be addressing all the bad actors in this investigation, not cherry-picking,” Lee said.
Lee voted in favor of the Bill Clinton subpoena along with fellow Democrats Maxwell Frost (Florida), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Illinois), Stephen Lynch (Mass.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Emily Randall (Wash.), Lateefah Simon (Calif.), Melanie Stansbury (N.M.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.). Only Lee, Stansbury and Tlaib voted for the Hillary Clinton subpoena.