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Washington — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to meet with the House Oversight Committee on Thursday in New York after she agreed to answer questions under oath related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to fend off a contempt of Congress vote.
Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, agreed to testify behind closed doors after a lengthy back-and-forth with the Republican-led panel culminated in a bipartisan vote to recommend that both be held in criminal contempt of Congress for failing to appear under subpoena. The House was on the verge of a floor vote, which was poised to pass with bipartisan support, when the Clintons relented to the committee’s demands for in-person questioning. The about-face marked a victory for Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s Republican chairman.
Comer denied the Clintons’ requests to hold the questioning in public, but has indicated a public hearing is a possibility after the closed-door depositions.
Bill Clinton’s deposition is scheduled for Friday.
At least 10 Republican members are expected to attend the depositions in Chappaqua, New York, according to a committee aide. Nine Democrats are expected to attend, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Neither Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing and both have called for the full release of the Epstein files.
In an interview with the BBC last week, Hillary Clinton accused Comer of holding firm on the in-person depositions to shift focus away from President Trump’s relationship with Epstein and his administration’s handling of the files.
“I have very strong opinions about what it is they’re hiding and who they are protecting,” she said. “Why do they want to pull us into this? To divert attention from President Trump. This is not complicated.”
Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein.
In a sworn declaration submitted to the committee on Jan. 13, Hillary Clinton denied any “personal knowledge” of crimes committed by Epstein or his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. She also said she “never had any responsibility for or involvement with” the Justice Department’s investigations into and prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell during her two decades in public office or as a private citizen.
“I do not recall encountering Mr. Epstein, or any specific interactions with him,” she said in her declaration, adding that Maxwell had a “personal relationship with a mutual friend,” though she does “not recall the specifics of my interactions with her.”
In the BBC interview, Hillary Clinton said she met Maxwell, who is serving a prison sentence on sex trafficking charges, “on a few occasions” through the Clinton Foundation.
Comer said in a statement Monday that the Clintons’ testimony “is critical to understanding Epstein and Maxwell’s sex trafficking network and the ways they sought to curry favor and influence to shield themselves from scrutiny.”
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said he wants to know more about Epstein’s involvement with foreign governments.
“There’s a lot of evidence that points in a certain direction around Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement with foreign governments. I think those are questions that I certainly have and that I’ll be asking,” Garcia told reporters Monday.
