(The Center Square) – The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to hold former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hilary, in contempt of Congress after neither showed up to their depositions last week.
As part of the committee’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the Clintons were summoned to testify before lawmakers on their previous relationship with the high-profile sex trafficker.
Given the Clintons’ refusal, committee members voted bipartisanly to hold them both in contempt of Congress. The House must approve the measure before referring it to the Department of Justice, which makes the final decision on whether to prosecute.
“No witness—not a former President or a private citizen—may willfully defy a duly issued congressional subpoena without consequence,” Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Wednesday. “We must do what is necessary to uphold Congress’s investigative authority, which is imperative to the legislative process.”
The decision comes as the public awaits the release of all federal investigative materials related to Epstein, who died in prison before trial, and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, will testify before the committee in a virtual deposition on Feb. 9, lawmakers announced during the hearing.
The DOJ is already a month past the congressionally mandated file release deadline and shows no signs of fulfilling the requirements soon. So far, the agency has published only 12,285 documents, about 1% of the files in its possession.
Although some Republican lawmakers previously called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to also be held in contempt of Congress for violating the deadline, the committee tanked a Democratic motion during the Wednesday hearing, which would have done so.
“Republicans only care about ‘following the rules’ when they can weaponize them. But the second it cuts both ways, they go mute,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, posted on X after the hearing. “Pam Bondi and the DOJ have failed to comply with the subpoena and discharge petition — and y’all have nothing but excuses for them.”
The DOJ has pleaded for patience, arguing that reviewing the millions of files is “a time-intensive process due to the voluminous materials, the idiosyncratic nature of many of the materials, and the need to protect victim identifying information.”
Originally published on thecentersquare.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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