WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton skipped their depositions before the House Oversight Committee regarding late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, forcing the panel’s GOP leader to begin contempt of Congress proceedings Tuesday.
“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,” the ex-first couple wrote to Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), according to a letter first reported by The New York Times.
“For us, now is that time.”
Comer had warned he would begin proceedings to hold the Clintons in contempt if they did not appear for depositions about their personal relationship with the deceased sex trafficker.
If found in contempt, the Clintons could theoretically be arrested by the US Capitol Police and brought before Congress.
Their eight-page letter accused Comer and Oversight Republicans of “trying to punish those who you see as your enemies and to protect those you think are your friends,” while calling their subpoenas “invalid and legally unenforceable.”
Bill Clinton, 79, had been compelled to appear for the interview with Oversight lawmakers and staff on Tuesday.
The deposition for Hillary Clinton, 78, was set for Wednesday.
The Oversight investigation has been taking place as the Department of Justice continues to release photos, videos, and other investigative files related to Epstein and his imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on federal charges of trafficking minors for sex — some of whom were alleged to have been as young as 14 years old.
A federal judge sentenced Maxwell, 64, to 20 years in prison in 2022 for conspiring in the sex trafficking of dozens of girls.
The British socialite had remained close with the Clinton family — even after Epstein pled guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for sex in 2008.
Two years later, Maxwell attended Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, despite being scheduled to appear on the same date for a deposition in a civil suit filed against Epstein by one of his accusers.
Bill Clinton was close with Epstein, attending dinners with him and other wealthy and well-connected celebrities, academics, and politicians — as well as traveling on his plane at least two dozen times before the financier registered as a sex offender.
New photos released last month by the DOJ show the 42nd president half-naked in a jacuzzi lounging with an unidentified woman during one of those trips with Epstein and Maxwell.
In the Friday letter, the ex-first couple claimed Comer would continue to “release irrelevant, decades-old photos that you hope will embarrass us.”
Reps for the Clintons have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing on the part of the president — and claimed that he never visited Epstein’s notorious private island in the Caribbean.
Steve Scully, a former IT contractor on Little St. James, however, alleged in the 2020 Netflix documentary “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich” that he once saw Bill Clinton on what was known as “Pedo Island.”
Comer noted in one letter to the couple’s lawyers while seeking depositions: “It is precisely the fact President Clinton and Secretary Clinton each maintained relationships with Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell in their personal capacities as private citizens that is of interest to the Committee.”
Democrats on the panel have also selectively released other disclosures from the Epstein estate to imply wrongdoing on the part of President Trump, who was an acquaintance of Epstein’s in the 1990s and early 2000s.
A spokesman for the Clintons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
