Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, are set to provide testimony in a congressional inquiry involving the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a congressional aide disclosed on Monday. The House’s Republican-led oversight committee had recently suggested holding the Clintons in contempt for declining to testify about their association with Epstein, a stance supported by several Democrats on the panel. Although the Clintons had offered to cooperate with the panel, they had declined to appear in person, stating that the investigation was a partisan effort aimed at shielding Republican President Donald Trump.
The House of Representatives had intended to proceed with holding the two prominent Democrats in contempt later this week, a determination that could potentially result in criminal charges. Notably, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, who served in Trump’s initial administration, were briefly incarcerated in 2024 for refusing to appear before a House committee examining Trump’s actions leading up to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
When questioned about the possibility of the House moving forward with contempt votes against the Clintons, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson informed Reuters, “They’re working on that right now. The lawyers are looking into the details.” Johnson had previously expressed satisfaction upon learning that the former president and former secretary of state had agreed to testify.
The recent release of millions of internal documents by the U.S. Justice Department concerning Epstein has unveiled the late financier and sex offender’s connections to numerous prominent figures in politics, finance, academia, and business both before and after his guilty plea in 2008 on prostitution charges.
It would be extraordinary in contemporary times for a former president to testify in Congress in such a highly charged situation. Since World War II, only Harry Truman and Gerald Ford have testified in Congress—Truman on the United Nations Charter and Ford regarding the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.
Similar to Trump, Bill Clinton has been known to have flown on Epstein’s plane on multiple occasions. He has expressed remorse over the association and claimed ignorance of Epstein’s criminal activities. Representatives of Clinton have stated that the former president severed ties with Epstein following the initial round of criminal charges in 2006. Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s confidante now in prison, attended the wedding of Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, in 2010.
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and 2016 presidential nominee, asserted through a spokesperson that she does not recollect ever conversing with Epstein. Republican James Comer of Kentucky, chair of the oversight committee, indicated on Monday that the Clintons have not provided a specific date for their depositions, and he plans to discuss the next steps with committee members. Comer rejected an offer from the Clintons’ attorneys for Bill Clinton to conduct a transcribed interview and for Hillary Clinton to submit a sworn declaration.
Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized the motives behind pursuing criminal contempt against the Clintons, suggesting that it was driven by partisanship and intended to embarrass the couple. Democrats also raised concerns about the Justice Department not releasing all the material it possesses on Epstein and the lack of pressure from Republican leadership on this matter.