On January 13, Former US President Bill Clinton and Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday refused to testify before a Republican-led congressional inquiry into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying the probe was a partisan activity rather than a real effort to find out facts.
In a letter to House of Representatives Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, the Clintons said they had hit a point where they felt obligated to push back.
“Every person has to decide when they have seen or have enough and they are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences,” they wrote, adding that for them, “now is that time.
Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, retaliated and said the committee would meet next week to consider holding Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress, which could lead to criminal charges.
A committee spokesperson also confirmed that contempt proceedings would be started against Hillary Clinton if she fails to appear in front of the panel on Wednesday.
The Clintons have argued that they had already tried to cooperate by giving what they characterised as “little information” that they had on Epstein.
They accused Comer of attempting to deliberately draw the spotlight away from things that were done under the Trump administration.
Epstein committed suicide in jail in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges during the first year that President Donald Trump was in office.
“If the government did not do all it could to investigate and prosecute these crimes, for whatever reason, that should be the focus of your work,” the Clintons wrote arguing that there was no evidence the committee was pursuing that goal. They decided that the investigation seemed only to be motivated by partisan politics.
Comer said most Americans want answers about Bill Clinton’s past association with Epstein – he was known to visit the White House 17 times during Clinton’s presidency and to fly in Epstein’s private plane several times.
Clinton has said he regrets the relationship but has denied he knew anything about Epstein’s criminal activities, and there has been no indication in the evidence that he has any link to sex trafficking.
In a separate letter, the Clintons’ attorneys suggested that the subpoenas were invalid and unenforceable and claimed that subpoenas were an attempt at embarrassing political opponents at the direction of President Trump.
Also read: Trump signs bill to release Epstein files
