Republicans could send Bill Clinton to prison for defying Epstein subpoena

WASHINGTON – The House Oversight Committee will begin contempt of Congress proceedings against former President Bill Clinton, committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said Tuesday.

The committee voted last year to subpoena Bill and Hillary Clinton for questions about their relationship with disgraced financier and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. The vote came shortly after the committee took bipartisan action to subpoena the Justice Department for its files on Epstein.

Standing next to a picture of Bill Clinton reclining in a blue dress, Comer said the committee just wanted to talk to the former president.

“No one is accusing Bill Clinton of any crime,” Comer said. “We just have questions, and that’s why Democrats voted with Republicans to subpoena Bill Clinton.”

Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images

The committee will vote on the contempt charge against Bill Clinton next week, Comer said. If the full House subsequently approved the resolution, it would result in a referral to the Department of Justice for processing. If convicted, he could be sentenced to prison. Hillary Clinton’s deposition is scheduled for Wednesday; presumably the committee would also hold her in contempt if she didn’t show up.

in a long letter to Comer On Tuesday morning, the Clintons claimed their subpoenas were “legally invalid” and complained that other recipients of the subpoenas, including several former attorneys general, were exempt from having to appear for depositions.

“Despite everything that needs to be done to help our country, you are about to stop Congress from carrying out a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment,” the Clintons wrote. “This is not the solution to the ills of the United States, and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”

They went on to say that they expected Comer to despise them. “They may even publish irrelevant, decades-old photographs that they hope will embarrass us,” the Clintons wrote, adding that they hoped other Republicans would stop the House from passing a contempt resolution.

The threat of prison is real. Two former officials from the first Trump administration, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, served prison terms for defying congressional subpoenas issued by Democrats during the Biden administration.

Like President Donald Trump, Bill Clinton frequently socialized with Epstein; none have been implicated in their crimes. Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors.

When asked about the possibility of bringing Trump to testify, Comer said that it was not possible to subpoena a sitting president and that it was not necessary to do so anyway. “He answers questions every day,” Comer said.

For years, Trump allies in the right-wing media claimed the government had information that would implicate Epstein’s alleged clients, but Trump’s Justice Department said last summer that there was no “client list” or information the department could use to bring new charges. The announcement sparked a backlash that resulted in the Oversight Committee approving subpoenas to the Clintons, the Justice Department, and Epstein’s estate.

Photos of Clinton socializing with Epstein featured prominently in the first batch of Epstein files that the Justice Department released last month in response to a law requiring the material to be made public. Contrary to the requirements of the law, the department has only made public a fraction of its Epstein documents. Other material released by the committee included photographs of Trump and emails from Epstein mentioning Trump.

Comer complained that Democrats did not come to the deposition room in a show of bipartisan solidarity.

“The Democrats on the committee voted with the Republicans to get Bill Clinton in,” Comer said. “I never remember a bipartisan vote to subpoena anyone.”

A spokesperson for the Democratic committee said they were willing to speak to anyone with relevant information.

“We support former President Bill Clinton’s calls for President Trump to direct Attorney General Bondi to immediately release Epstein’s entire files, including any material that includes the former president,” said Democratic committee spokeswoman Sara Guerrero. “Cooperating with Congress is important and the committee should continue to work with President Clinton’s team to obtain any information that may be relevant to our investigation.”

As for the image of Clinton in a blue dress (a photograph from a 2012 painting by Australian artist Petrina Ryan-Kleid), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who was holding the sign, said she wanted Clinton to explain it.

“We were told this was at one of Jeffrey Epstein’s properties, and I just wanted to ask what the inspiration was for this photo,” Boebert told News themezone.