What’s Next as House Mulls Contempt Vote Against Both Clintons in Epstein Probe?

The House panel investigating the crimes of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein announced plans to hold former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for failing to respond to a subpoena.

This comes just a day after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee also announced it would move to hold former President Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress for failing to appear for his deposition in the investigation. 

The committee will meet for a markup on a criminal contempt citation on Jan. 21, House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced. If it approves the citation, the full House would then consider it.

“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined her husband in defying a bipartisan lawful Congressional subpoena to show up today,” Comer said on Wednesday.

“What is most disappointing to the Oversight Committee is the fact that we have in good faith negotiated with the Clintons’ attorney for five months. Throughout the past five months, they implied to us they are trying to make a date work.”

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to felony solicitation of prostitution, as well as procurement of minors to engage in prostitution. He died in a New York prison cell in 2019 in what was determined to be a suicide.

The House oversight committee last summer issued subpoenas to ten individuals, including the Clintons, to testify about the crimes of Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. 

The 42nd president was photographed in a swimming pool at Epstein’s estate, appearing with both Maxwell, who was convicted of helping Epstein perpetrate crimes, and another woman whose face was blocked out. The photo was published a batch of Epstein files released by the Justice Department in December. 

Comer noted that Epstein claimed to have helped set up the Clinton Foundation, and that records show he helped raise money for the foundation. 

This week marked the third time the Clintons have declined to provide information to the House committee. The House Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement issued subpoenas on a bipartisan vote in July 2025 to both Clintons and other former federal officials.

As it did on Tuesday, the committee gaveled in for a formal hearing with an empty witness chair, this time with Hillary Clinton’s name on the witness table. 

Lawmakers had subpoenaed the former president to appear for a deposition on Oct. 14, 2024, while the former secretary of state was supposed to appear on Oct. 9, 2025. When the Clintons declined, the former president and secretary’s deposition were moved to Dec. 17 and Dec. 18, respectively. 

The Clintons said they could not appear on the December dates, in order to attend a funeral. 

In both cases, the committee offered to accommodate the Clintons if they set new dates in January. After they declined, the committee set Jan. 13 and Jan. 14 for the depositions. 

The Clintons wrote a letter to Comer that cast their defiance of the subpoena as an act of patriotism, asserting, “There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics.”

“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 Clinton’s letter says. 

On Tuesday, the former secretary of state posted on X, “This is not about Right or Left, it’s about Right and Wrong.”

Her comment mirrored what the former president said in a separate X post, and Comer said he agreed. 

Spokespersons for the Clinton Foundation, and former President Clinton’s office at the foundation, did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Daily Signal for this story. 

Comer noted that former attorneys general, the Justice Department, and the Epstein estate have complied with lawful subpoenas. 

“Bill Clinton is trying to play the victim card,” Comer told reporters Wednesday. “Only Bill Clinton could triangulate a terrible atrocity to these survivors who have had to endure who knows what from Epstein and Maxwell and their associates.”

Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Trump campaign and White House adviser Steve Bannon were prosecuted in 2022 and served prison sentences for not complying with subpoenas from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. 

For the Clintons, facing legal troubles is nothing new. In 1999, the 42nd president was held in contempt of federal court for inaccurate information he told a court regarding his affair with a White House intern. He was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the same matter months earlier, but acquitted in the Senate.

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