Republicans and some Democrats back contempt for the Clintons in House
Epstein probe
[January 22, 2026]
By STEPHEN GROVES and MATT BROWN
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee advanced resolutions Wednesday to
hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation,
opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful
punishments against a former president for the first time.
In bipartisan votes, the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee
approved the contempt of Congress charges, setting up potential votes in
the House early next month. In a rare departure from party lines, some
Democrats supported the contempt measures against the Clintons, with
several progressive lawmakers emphasizing the need for full transparency
in the Epstein investigation.
The votes were the latest turn in the Epstein saga as Congress
investigates how the late financier was able to sexually abuse dozens of
teenage girls for years.
“No witness, not a former president or a private citizen, may willfully
defy a congressional subpoena without consequence. But that is what the
Clintons did and that is why we are here,” Rep. James Comer, the
chairman, said at the session on Wednesday.
The repercussions of contempt charges loomed large, given the
possibility of a substantial fine and even incarceration. Still, there
were signs of a potential thaw as the Clintons appeared to be searching
for an off-ramp to testify. In addition, passage of contempt charges
through the full House was far from guaranteed, requiring a majority
vote — something Republicans increasingly struggle to achieve.
The Clintons have said they had nothing to do with Epstein for decades
and are seeking a resolution to the dispute. This week, they offered to
have the committee leadership and staff interview Bill Clinton in New
York.
Comer rejected that offer Tuesday, insisting that any interview also
have an official transcript.
What do lawmakers want to know from the Clintons?
The push in Washington for a reckoning over Epstein has shown details of
the connections between the wealthy financier and both Bill Clinton and
Trump, among many other high-powered men. Epstein killed himself in 2019
in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial.
Bill Clinton, President Donald Trump and many others connected to
Epstein have not been accused of wrongdoing. Yet lawmakers are wrestling
over who receives the most scrutiny.
A spokesman for the Clintons, Angel Ureña, said on social media that the
Clintons are trying to help the Epstein investigation but that “both
Clintons have been out of office for over a decade. Neither had anything
to do with him for more than 20 years.”
Behind the scenes, longtime Clinton lawyer David Kendall has tried to
negotiate an agreement with Comer for months. Kendall raised the
prospect of having the Clintons testify on Christmas and Christmas Eve,
according to the committee’s account of the negotiations.
The Clintons, who contend the subpoenas are invalid because they do not
serve any legislative purpose, have also offered the committee written
declarations about their interactions with Epstein.
How Democrats are approaching the issue
Democrats have largely been focused on advancing the investigation into
Epstein rather than mounting a defense of the Clintons, who led their
party for decades. They agreed that Bill Clinton should inform the
committee if he has any pertinent information about Epstein’s abuses.
A wealthy financier, Epstein donated to Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential
campaign and Hillary Clinton’s joint fundraising committee ahead of her
2000 Senate campaign in New York.
“No president or former president is above the law,” the top Democrat on
the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia, said at the hearing.
On Wednesday, Democrats tried to advance several changes to the contempt
of Congress charges. Several argued that Hillary Clinton should be
exempted because she has said she had very little personal interaction
with Epstein. Democratic lawmakers also tried to downgrade the contempt
of Congress resolution to a civil rather than criminal offense.
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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., speaks during
a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform markup business
meeting about finding former President Bill Clinton and former
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in contempt of Congress,
Wednesday Jan. 21, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP
Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Democrats spent the hearing criticizing Comer for focusing on the
Clintons when the Justice Department is running a month late on a
congressionally-mandated deadline to publicly release its case files on
Epstein. Comer has also allowed several former attorneys general to
provide the committee with written statements attesting to their limited
knowledge of the case.
The committee had also subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime
confidant, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for a conviction on
sex trafficking charges. But Comer declined to press for the interview
after Maxwell's attorney indicated she would invoke Fifth Amendment
rights in any deposition.
“It’s interesting that it’s this subpoena only that Republicans and the
chairman have been obsessed about putting all their energy behind,”
Garcia said.
Comer said the committee will interview Maxwell next month. Attorney
General Pam Bondi will also appear before the House Judiciary Committee
in February.
In the end, nine Democrats voted with all Republicans on the committee
to advance contempt against Bill Clinton, and three Democrats — Reps.
Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico and Rashida
Tlaib of Michigan — joined in the vote to advance the contempt
resolution for Hillary Clinton.
Democrats embraced the call for full transparency on Epstein after
Trump’s return to the White House, particularly after Bondi stumbled on
her promise to release the entirety of the unredacted Epstein files to
the public. The backlash scrambled traditional ideological lines,
leading Republicans to side with Democrats demanding further
investigation.
The pressure eventually resulted in a bipartisan subpoena from the
committee that ordered the Justice Department and Epstein's estate to
release files related to Epstein. Republicans quickly moved to include
the Clintons in the subpoena.
Comer has indicated that he will insist that the subpoena be fulfilled
by nothing less than a transcribed deposition of Bill Clinton.
“They’re going to have two weeks until this bill is on the floor,” he
said Wednesday
How contempt proceedings have been used
Contempt of Congress proceedings are rare, used historically as a last
resort when lawmakers are trying to force testimony for high-profile
investigations, such as the infamous inquiry during the 1940s into
alleged Communist sympathizers in Hollywood or the impeachment
proceedings of President Richard Nixon.
Most recently, Trump's advisers Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were
convicted of contempt charges for defying subpoenas from a House panel
investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of the Republican
president's supporters at the Capitol. Both Navarro and Bannon spent
months in prison.
The Jan. 6 committee also subpoenaed Trump in its inquiry. Trump's
lawyers resisted the subpoena, citing decades of legal precedent they
said shielded ex-presidents from being ordered to appear before
Congress. The committee ultimately withdrew its subpoena.
No former president has ever been successfully forced to appear before
Congress, although some have voluntarily appeared.
But some Republicans said they should face the same consequences for
refusing to testify as Bannon and Navarro.
Rep. Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican, said on social media that if the
Clintons “aren’t perp walked, we will have failed the American people.”
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