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Bill and Hillary Clinton have refused to testify before a congressional committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein, in an escalation that could see the former US president and one-time secretary of state held in contempt of Congress.
James Comer, the Republican congressman who chairs the House oversight committee and is leading the congressional investigation into the late convicted sex offender, has for months sought testimony from the Clintons over their ties to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
But on Tuesday, the former president and secretary of state made clear that they were willing to defy a congressional subpoena in the face of threats from Comer and other top Republicans, including President Donald Trump.
“Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences. For us, now is that time,” the Clintons said in a four-page joint letter addressed to Comer on Tuesday.
“There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics,” the couple added, noting that Comer had also subpoenaed eight other people in the probe but made no effort to force them to appear.
Shortly after the letter was made public, Comer told reporters on Capitol Hill that his committee would take steps as soon as next week to hold the Clintons in contempt.
That process could end with the Clintons facing criminal charges and a possible prison sentence.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s one-time chief strategist, and Peter Navarro, the president’s longtime trade adviser, were indicted and later convicted for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas during the Biden administration. Both men served four-month prison sentences for the convictions.
The Clintons on Tuesday said they were prepared to “forcefully defend ourselves”, noting that a legal analysis prepared by their lawyers made “clear” that Comer’s congressional subpoenas were “legally invalid”.
Lawyers for the Clintons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Clintons’ refusal to participate in the congressional investigation marks the latest twist in a long-running scandal that has ignited furore on both sides of the Atlantic and raised fresh questions about Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on federal sex crime charges. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Epstein’s criminal activities.
The Clintons have acknowledged they were once friends with Epstein and Maxwell, but denied any involvement in, or knowledge of, their crimes.
They have nevertheless faced uncomfortable questions in recent weeks over their links to him. The former president appeared in several photographs released last month by the Department of Justice.
The DoJ has made public some of its files relating to Epstein following a congressional order. But critics have accused the Trump administration of withholding a large number of documents and heavily redacting much of the material in its possession. The DoJ has said it is following the law compelling it to release the files, and that more than 2mn documents are “in various phases of review”.
Others have accused the White House and congressional Republicans of shifting the focus to Clinton and other Democrats with links to Epstein in an effort to distract from Trump’s own ties to him.
The president has acknowledged he was once friends with Epstein but has vehemently denied any involvement in his criminal activities.
The Clintons on Tuesday accused Comer of preventing “progress in discovering the facts about the government’s role” in the handling of the Epstein case.
“You have done nothing with your oversight capacity to force the Department of Justice to follow the law and release all its Epstein files, including any material regarding us as we have publicly called for,” the Clintons said.
Additional reporting by Stefania Palma in Washington
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