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Former US President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton on Wednesday defied a congressional subpoena through a letter, declining to testify in a House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and their past associations with the convicted sex trafficker, even as Republican lawmakers move to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings against them.In the letter, which was shared on social media, the Clintons criticised the House Oversight Committee’s probe as “legally invalid” and said the committee’s Republican chair, Representative James Comer, was pushing a process “literally designed to result in our imprisonment.” “We will forcefully defend ourselves,” the Clintons, who are Democrats, wrote.“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.”Bill Clinton was due to appear before the committee on Tuesday, while Hillary Clinton was scheduled for questioning on Wednesday.The eight-page letter, released publicly, sharply criticised the committee’s conduct and priorities. It accused the government of engaging in “unprecedented acts” over the past year and warned that the committee was pursuing a process “literally designed to result in our imprisonment”. The Clintons said: “This is not the way out of America’s ills, and we will forcefully defend ourselves.”They rejected the premise of the subpoenas and said Comer’s handling of the Epstein investigation had “prevented progress in discovering the facts about the government’s role”. The letter claimed that while the committee had subpoenaed eight people in addition to the Clintons, seven were dismissed “without any of them saying a single word to you”, and that only two people had been interviewed since the investigation began last year.Citing a legal analysis prepared by two law firms, the Clintons said the subpoenas were invalid and urged Comer to release that analysis publicly. They also criticised the committee for not using its oversight powers to compel the Department of Justice to release all Epstein-related files, including any material concerning them, which they said they had publicly called for.The Clintons said they had already provided sworn statements and limited information to the committee and law enforcement authorities. “We’ve done so because Mr Epstein’s crimes were horrific,” the letter said. “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.”Comer told reporters on Tuesday that the committee intends to begin contempt of Congress proceedings against the Clintons next week. He denied accusations of wrongdoing, saying, “No one’s accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. We just have questions,” and added that “most Americans” want Bill Clinton to answer questions about his ties to Epstein, reported Dw. Epstein, a financier, was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and died by suicide in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office. Bill Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, though he and Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s and flew together on Epstein’s private plane on multiple occasions.The latest release of Jeffrey Epstein’s documents in December last year, as reported by The Independent, includes hundreds of photographs showing Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell with high-profile figures, including Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Prince Andrew, and Sarah Ferguson, often alongside women whose faces have been redacted. Several images depict Clinton in informal settings, such as in a hot tub with Maxwell and an unidentified woman or on a private plane with a redacted individual on his lap, while a painted portrait of him in a blue dress was also found in Epstein’s New York apartment. The Independent noted that none of the photos released so far appear to be directly linked to criminal allegations, and the White House quickly responded to the Clinton images amid wider public scrutiny.Republicans have long targeted the Clintons, who have faced decades of political attacks. In a separate letter from their legal team, the subpoenas were described as “nothing more than a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals”.Comer has indicated that the Oversight Committee will not attempt to compel testimony from US President Donald Trump, saying the committee cannot force a sitting president to testify. Trump has denied any involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s sex trafficking activities. Go to Source
