Both Clintons failed to appear at a House Oversight committee hearing about the late convicted sex offender’s ties to the rich and powerful.
WASHINGTON, D.C., USA โ Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may face legal action after they failed to appear at a House Oversight Committee hearing Tuesday morning. The committee was planning to question them about their reported connection with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.ย
Republican members of the committee threatened to hold the pair in contempt of Congress after they skipped the hearing.ย
Why were the Clintons subpoenaed?
Photographs recently released by the Department of Justice appeared to show Bill Clinton at various times in Epstein’s estate and on the disgraced financier’s private plane.ย
Several of the photos showing Clinton had the faces of other people in them redacted, indicating they were potential victims of sex crimes.ย
The House Oversight Committee has been investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and connections with many prominent politicians and celebrities over the decades before his death. In recent months, both Republicans and Democrats on the committee have released thousands of documents and photos from the “Epstein files,” which are the DOJ’s collected files on the disgraced financier.
Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on numerous sex crimes. His personal files were seized by federal investigators, and were added to a trove of research and investigative materials gathered in order to prosecute him.ย
Will the Clintons face criminal charges?
Committee Chair James R. Comer has repeatedly threatened to hold the high-profile pair in contempt of Congress if they failed to appear at Tuesday’s hearing, a misdemeanor crime of obstructing lawmakers’ work.ย
Subpoenas were issued to the Clintons on July 23, 2025ย ordering their testimony related to Epstein’s crimes.
โIt has been more than four months since Bill and Hillary Clinton were subpoenaed to sit for depositions related to our investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwellโs horrific crimes,” Comer said in a press release on Monday, the day before the Clintons failed to appear. “Throughout that time, the former President and former Secretary of State have delayed, obstructed, and largely ignored the Committee staffโs efforts to schedule their testimony. If the Clintons fail to appear for their depositions next week or schedule a date for early January, the Oversight Committee will begin contempt of Congress proceedings to hold them accountable.โ
The Clintons sent an eight-page legal letter before the scheduled deposition, saying they considered the subpoenas “invalid and legally unenforceable,” according to the New York Times.
They also said they had no knowledge relevant to the investigations and had previously provided sworn statements to Comer related to Epstein.
In a separate letter posted on Bill Clinton’s social media accounts after he and his wife were scheduled to appear, the Clintons accused Comer of targeting them and said they were planning to fight what they consider politically-motivated charges.ย
“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 Clintons wrote in the four-page response.ย
What is contempt of Congress?
Congress holds the power to charge individuals who interfere with its duties in contempt, according to Syracuse University’s Law Review website.ย
Traditionally, a contempt of Congress charge is used to punish people who refuse to appear or provide testimony in a Congressional investigation or hearing.
“To hold a person in contempt, either chamber of Congress needs a simple majority vote. Congress can hold a person in contempt for refusing to testify or otherwise obstructing a Congressional inquiry,” the university’s website said. “Prosecution of criminal contempt is rare, but it carries the possibility of a fine and/or up to a year in jail. A criminal citation for contempt of Congress would be forwarded to the local U.S. Attorneyโs office, which is not obligated to pursue the charges.”
Recent examples include Trump advisor Steve Bannon, who served a four-month prison sentence in 2022 after he refused to testify in Congress’ Jan. 6 investigation, and former Attorney General Eric Holder, who was held in contempt in 2012 for refusing to turn over documents, but was ultimately not prosecuted.
