Washington — Bill and Hillary Clinton told the House Oversight Committee they will comply with depositions in the panel’s inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein, asking that pending contempt actions be paused while dates are scheduled.
In an email to committee staff on Monday, the Clintons’ attorneys said the former president and former secretary of state “accept the terms” laid out by the committee and are willing to appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates. The email requested confirmation that the committee would not proceed with contempt proceedings while scheduling was arranged.
Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said later Monday that the Clintons’ message lacked clarity and did not include proposed dates. Comer said the acceptance was tied to the House moving toward contempt votes and that he would need to clarify the terms with committee members before deciding next steps.
The panel subpoenaed both Clintons last year but the couple declined to comply at the time, arguing the subpoenas were legally invalid. In January the committee recommended holding them in contempt; those recommendations advanced out of the committee with some bipartisan support. A larger group of Democrats backed the contempt resolution related to Bill Clinton, who has acknowledged past interactions with Epstein. Neither Clinton faces criminal accusations in the Epstein matter.
On Jan. 31 the Clintons’ legal team put forward an alternative plan aimed at avoiding contempt votes. They proposed that Bill Clinton submit to a four-hour, transcribed interview in New York limited to questions about investigations and prosecutions connected to Epstein. For Hillary Clinton, the lawyers offered a sworn written declaration answering outstanding questions and said any required in-person testimony would follow the same format and limits as her husband’s. Their lawyers asked that subpoenas and contempt measures be withdrawn if those conditions were accepted.
Comer responded that the proposed scope and format were inadequate. He said limiting Bill Clinton’s testimony would allow the former president to answer few questions, called several of the requested conditions unreasonable and described the terms for Hillary Clinton as unacceptable.
The exchange surfaced publicly during a House Rules Committee meeting Monday evening. Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw (Va.) told members that the Clintons had agreed to appear under the committee’s most recent terms; Comer said he had not been aware of the email while he was testifying and disputed the characterization, saying the committee had not reached an agreed offer.
Top Oversight Committee Democrat Rep. Robert Garcia urged Comer to provide deposition dates, saying the Clintons had accepted Republicans’ requests and demanding the committee move forward. Rules Committee Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said consideration of the contempt resolutions would be postponed until the committee confirmed precisely what the Clintons were agreeing to, warning the panel would resume the contempt process if there was not “substantial compliance and agreement overnight.”
The Oversight Committee issued subpoenas in August to the Clintons and to several former Justice Department officials whose tenures date back to the George W. Bush administration. To date, only former Attorney General Bill Barr has testified in a closed session; others provided written statements. Comer has argued that the former officials were treated differently because they were not photographed with Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell and because there is no evidence they were directly involved in the matters under review. The Clintons have accused Comer of conducting a partisan attack intended to embarrass and politically punish them.
Last week the Justice Department released a large set of previously sealed Epstein-related documents that include references to multiple public figures, including Bill Clinton and former President Donald Trump. Like Clinton, Trump has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The committee’s next steps depend on whether the parties can agree on precise dates and terms for testimony acceptable to both sides and whether the Oversight leadership deems the Clintons’ written acceptance sufficient to halt contempt proceedings.