The House Oversight Committee is rejecting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s demand for a public hearing after she and ex-President Bill Clinton agreed to being deposed in the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein probe.
‘The Clintons are going to Clinton and try to spin the facts since no one is buying their claims. The only ones moving the goalposts are, as usual, the Clintons and their attorneys. The Clintons were issued bipartisan subpoenas for depositions—not a hearing,’ a spokeswoman for the committee’s GOP majority told Fox News Digital.
‘Republicans and Democrats on the Oversight Committee voted to recommend the House hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress for defying duly issued subpoenas for six months. In the wake of facing contempt of Congress proceedings, the Clintons’ attorney finally agreed to filmed, transcribed depositions on February 26 and 27. These depositions are in accordance with House and Committee rules.’
The spokeswoman said that all witnesses who appear in front of the committee ‘are being treated fairly and consistently.’
The Clintons were two of 10 people subpoenaed for testimony before the committee as it probes the federal government’s handling of Epstein’s case. So far just two people subpoenaed by the committee, former Attorney General Bill Barr and ex-Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, have appeared in person.
The former president and former Secretary of State both agreed to terms for testimony set by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., after months of back-and-forth.
Their attorneys sent Comer an email hours before the House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most bills see a chamber-wide vote, was set to advance a pair of contempt of Congress resolutions against the former first couple.
Hillary Clinton posted on X on Thursday morning, ‘For six months, we engaged Republicans on the Oversight Committee in good faith. We told them what we know, under oath. They ignored all of it. They moved the goalposts and turned accountability into an exercise in distraction.’
‘So let’s stop the games. If you want this fight…let’s have it—in public. You love to talk about transparency. There’s nothing more transparent than a public hearing, cameras on. We will be there,’ Clinton wrote.
Comer announced on Wednesday that the former first lady will sit for a closed-door transcribed interview on Feb. 26, and the former president will appear on Feb. 27 under the same terms. Both interviews will be filmed, Comer said in a press release.
The Clintons were both facing contempt of Congress votes in the House this week if they did not agree to come to Capitol Hill for in-person interviews with the Oversight Committee.
Those votes were likely to succeed as well. Late last month, nine Democrats on the House Oversight Committee joined all Republicans in voting to advance Bill Clinton’s contempt of Congress resolution to a House-wide vote. Three Democrats voted to advance the resolution against Hillary Clinton.
A contempt of Congress vote would have referred both Clintons to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for criminal prosecution.
‘Republicans and Democrats on the Oversight Committee have been clear: no one is above the law — and that includes the Clintons. After delaying and defying duly issued subpoenas for six months, the House Oversight Committee moved swiftly to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings in response to their non-compliance,’ Comer said in a statement.
‘Once it became clear that the House of Representatives would hold them in contempt, the Clintons completely caved and will appear for transcribed, filmed depositions this month. We look forward to questioning the Clintons as part of our investigation into the horrific crimes of Epstein and Maxwell, to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and for survivors,’ he added.
Their attorneys wrote to Comer last month calling his subpoenas legally invalid and a violation of separation of powers, arguments the Kentucky Republican rejected.
‘President and Secretary Clinton have already provided the limited information they possess about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the Committee. They did so proactively and voluntarily, and despite the fact that the Subpoenas are invalid and legally unenforceable, untethered to a valid legislative purpose, unwarranted because they do not seek pertinent information, and an unprecedented infringement on the separation of powers,’ the letter read.
The two sides then went back-and-forth discussing various terms as Comer continued to forge ahead with contempt proceedings.
Comer twice rejected offers for himself and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee, to travel to New York with limited staff to interview Bill Clinton.
Meanwhile, Democrats had accused Comer of pursuing the contempt charges for political motivations rather than to get closure for Epstein’s victims.
Bill Clinton was known to have a friendship with Epstein before his federal criminal charges and is among many high-profile names to appear in the trove of files being released on the late pedophile by the DOJ. But there has been no implication of wrongdoing by either of the Clintons as it relates to Epstein.