The House Oversight Committee announced Tuesday it will try to hold former President Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress after he failed to appear for a deposition as part of its probe into the late, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, NBC News reported.
House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said that because Clinton decided not to show up for a "lawful subpoena," the panel will vote next week on holding Clinton in contempt.
"We've communicated with President Clinton's legal team for months now, giving them opportunity after opportunity, to come in, to give us a day, and they continue to delay, delay, delay to the point where we had no idea whether they're going to show up today or not," Comer said. "I think it's very disappointing."
The committee had scheduled a deposition with Clinton for Tuesday morning, as well as a deposition with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Wednesday, after subpoenas were issued last year.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters that it "would be contempt of Congress" if the Clintons did not attend this week's depositions.
The Clintons said in a letter to Comer that they didn't plan to appear for the scheduled depositions, arguing that the subpoenas are "legally invalid" and citing legal analysis prepared by two law firms that they said were provided to the committee on Monday.
"Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences," the Clintons wrote. "For us, now is that time."
The Clintons also brought up the prospect of the committee voting to hold them in contempt.
"We expect you will direct your committee to seek to hold us in contempt," they wrote, adding, "You will say it is not our decision to make. But we have made it. Now you have to make yours.
"Despite everything that needs to be done to help our country, you are on the cusp of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment. This is not the way out of America's ills, and we will forcefully defend ourselves."
Comer said on Tuesday that the panel had unanimously voted in a bipartisan manner to subpoena the Clintons.
"No one's accused Bill Clinton of any wrongdoing. We just have questions," Comer said, "And that's why the Democrats voted along with Republicans to subpoena Bill Clinton."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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