After former President Bill Clinton failed to appear at a House Oversight Committee deposition on Tuesday, chairman James Comer said he will move to penalize him for not complying with a subpoena.
The hearing focused on the now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Rep. Comer, R-Ky., told reporters afterward that the committee’s markup next week would vote to hold Clinton in contempt of Congress for “not showing up for his lawful subpoena.”
Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor offense.
Bill Clinton’s wife and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been subpoenaed to appear before the committee on Wednesday, but has said she will not comply.
Epstein, who died in a New York correctional facility in 2019, pleaded guilty in 2008 to felony solicitation of prostitution, as well as procurement of minors to engage in prostitution.
In 2019 the Southern District of New York charged him on counts of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, as well as sex trafficking of minors. His death in prison shortly after the indictment was ruled a suicide.
Comer told reporters that the committee wished to speak with Clinton due to his history of interactions with Epstein. He said that Clinton was not being accused “of any wrongdoing.”
“We just have questions. And that’s why the Democrats voted along with Republicans to subpoena Bill Clinton,” Comer said.
The Clintons sent a letter to Comer on Tuesday, in which they argued they were not under obligation to appear for the closed-door depositions.
“You are on the cusp of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment,” write the Clintons. “This is not the way out of America’s ills, and we will forcefully defend ourselves.”
The Clintons added that “we are confident that any reasonable person will see, based on what we release, that what you are doing is trying to punish those who you see as your enemies and to protect those who you think are your friends.”
In 2022, former White House advisor Steve Bannon was sentenced by a federal jury to four months in prison and a $6,500 fine after not appearing before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
Peter Navarro, who has served as a White House trade adviser in both Trump terms, also refused to appear before the Jan. 6 committee, and served four months in prison in 2024 with an order to pay a $9,500 fine.
If Clinton were to be prosecuted for contempt of Congress, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., would have to certify to a United States attorney his alleged non-compliance with a subpoena.
A spokesperson for Comer did not immediately respond to a request for response to the Clintons’ letter.
