Bill, Hillary refuse to testify in House Epstein probe

Both can be held in contempt

WASHINGTON:

Bill and Hillary Clinton on Tuesday refused to testify in a Republican-led congressional investigation of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying it was a partisan exercise.

"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 in a letter to Republican Representative James Comer, who chairs the House of Representatives Oversight Committee.

"For us, now is that time."

Comer said the committee will meet next week to hold former Democratic President Bill Clinton in contempt. That could potentially lead to criminal charges.

A committee spokesperson said the panel will also begin contempt proceedings against Hillary, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, if she does not appear before the panel on Wednesday.

The Clintons said they had tried to provide what "little information" they had to help with the investigation and accused Comer of shifting focus away from the Trump administration's actions.

Epstein died in jail in 2019, during US President Donald Trump's first term in office, while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

His death was ruled a suicide

"If the government didn't do all it could to investigate and prosecute these crimes, for whatever reason, that should be the focus of your work … There is no evidence that you are doing so," the Clintons wrote.

"There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics," they said.