A vote in the House is expected within the next few weeks.
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton face criminal contempt votes in Congress
The House Oversight Committee has voted to proceed with contempt proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton.
WASHINGTON – House members have taken a bipartisan move to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress after they failed to testify about Jeffrey Epstein this month.
Several Democrats on the Republican-led House Oversight Committee supported the Jan. 21 measure, setting up an even bigger and trickier political showdown for the party in the coming weeks.
Nine Democratic members of the committee voted in favor of holding the 42nd president on contempt charges. Three Democrats, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, also voted to hold the former secretary of state in contempt.
If the issue comes to a vote in the House, more Democrats will have to choose whether to publicly defend two of their party’s former standard-bearers whose past ties to Epstein have come under increasing scrutiny. A newly unearthed photo of Bill Clinton with the disgraced money manager has undermined the party’s criticism of President Donald Trump and his past relationship with Epstein, who died in prison awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Only one chamber would need to vote to recommend contempt to the Justice Department, which could lead to fines and jail time.
The Clintons, who have called for the full release of the so-called “Epstein file,” have repeatedly denied wrongdoing and argued that the subpoenas imposed by Republicans were “unenforceable.” (Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to his relationship with Mr. Epstein.)
Still, the Clintons consulted with Congressional lawyers for five months and requested a meeting with the committee. But negotiations broke down after conflicting accounts emerged about whether the two would abide by the official record of testimony.
“The response we received was not cooperation, but defiance marked by repeated delays, excuses and obstruction,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said before the committee’s vote.
Bill Clinton’s press secretary, Angel Ureña, said in a statement that the Clintons never said no to the report, and stressed that they wanted to support the commission. However, he argued that the Republican Party “continues to give misdirection to protect God knows who.”
“We have offered to help, we have helped, and we are ready to help at this moment. But the Republicans refuse to say yes,” Ureña wrote on social media.
Throughout a lengthy committee meeting, Republican lawmakers criticized the Clintons and their Democratic colleagues.
“This should be bipartisan,” said Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina). “It’s unbelievable that we’re politicizing rape, we’re politicizing sex trafficking, we’re politicizing the whole Epstein case. And as a survivor, I say, that shouldn’t be happening.”
Democrats countered that they wanted to hear from the Clintons, especially Bill Clinton. But they denounced what they called a double standard among Republicans who similarly failed to criticize Attorney General Pam Bondi for not releasing the full evidence of the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation by the legally required Dec. 19 deadline.
Several Democrats with legal backgrounds also said there was no precedent for pursuing criminal contempt proceedings against individuals who reasonably complied with a lawmaker’s request for testimony.
Missouri Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell pointed out that Bannon refused to negotiate with lawmakers when Congress voted in 2021 to hold former Trump aide Steve Bannon in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena related to the investigation into the January 6 riot. He ended up serving four months in prison.
“The court has made clear that even if a negotiation were to take place, it would not meet the criteria for criminal contempt,” said Bell, a former prosecutor.
Comer promised a full House vote to charge Clinton with contempt in the coming weeks.
“It will take two weeks for this bill to be considered,” Comer said, referring to the Clintons’ lawyers. “Make no mistake about it…this bill will pass.”
Zachary Schermele is a Congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can email us at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and on Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social..
(This story has been updated to include video.)
