Bill Clinton, named in Epstein files, agrees to testify before Congress
Photo: Former US President Bill Clinton (Getty Images)
Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have agreed to appear before Congress to give testimony in the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to Bloomberg.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating the case of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, and the Clintons’ lawyers have informed the panel that Bill and Hillary Clinton are willing to appear and provide testimony.
Earlier, the House had planned a vote on whether the Clintons could be held in contempt of Congress for previously ignoring subpoenas related to the Epstein investigation. In a letter to the committee’s chairman, Republican James Comer, the Clintons’ attorneys said their clients were willing to comply with the committee’s conditions and appear on mutually agreed dates, while requesting confirmation that the contempt proceedings would not continue.
Comer’s office noted that the lawyers’ position remained somewhat unclear, as specific dates for testimony had not yet been proposed. Senior Democrat on the committee, Congressman Robert Garcia, stated that the Clintons were prepared to cooperate and suggested that Comer had little choice but to accept the offer.
Bill Clinton has previously maintained that he severed all ties with Epstein years before the financier’s death in a New York prison in 2019 and was unaware of his criminal activities. Nonetheless, the former president has appeared in investigations due to flights on Epstein’s private plane and personal contacts in the 2000s.
Hillary Clinton is not directly implicated in the case, though she is mentioned indirectly through her husband’s interactions with Epstein after he had left public office.
Bloomberg notes that a former US president providing testimony before a congressional body is an exceptionally rare occurrence.
