Date set for Clintons to appear before House committee

By Sarah Roderick-Fitch
The Center Square

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will appear before the House Oversight Committee later this month, after being threatened with criminal contempt charges.

The couple has agreed to appear for filmed, transcribed depositions as part of the investigation into Jeffery Epstein.

The former first lady is scheduled to appear Feb. 26, with the former president scheduled to appear Feb. 27. Bill Clinton was initially expected to appear Oct. 14, 2025. The appearance was postponed to Dec. 17, 2025. He was then ordered to appear Jan. 13 but failed to appear.

Hillary Clinton’s original deposition date was set for Oct. 9, then moved to Dec. 18, and later subpoenaed for Jan. 14. Like her husband, she failed to appear.

The committee voted to recommend the couple be held in contempt Jan. 21. The couple’s attorney appeared to do an about-face Monday evening, as Comer appeared before the House Rules Committee regarding contempt charges, when it was announced the couple would appear before the committee.

Comer, R-Ky., rejected an earlier attempt from the Clintons’ attorneys to provide limited testimony, the former president to conduct a maximum four-hour transcribed interview, and the former first lady to submit a sworn declaration. Comer has dug in his heels, demanding that the couple appear before the committee.

Comer reacted on social media Tuesday afternoon to the couple agreeing to appear, claiming they “caved.”

“Once it became clear that the House of Representatives would hold them in contempt, the Clintons completely CAVED and will appear for transcribed, filmed depositions this month,” Comer posted on X. “After delaying and defying duly issued subpoenas for six months, the House Oversight Committee moved swiftly to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings in response to their non-compliance.”

Comer issued subpoenas to the Clintons in early August, noting examples of a potentially close relationship between the former president and Epstein in the letter to Bill Clinton.

“By your own admission, you flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane four separate times in 2002 and 2003. During one of these trips, you were even pictured receiving a ‘massage’ from one of Mr. Epstein’s victims,” the congressman wrote. “It has also been claimed that you pressured Vanity Fair not to publish sex trafficking allegations against your ‘good friend’ Mr. Epstein, and there are conflicting reports about whether you ever visited Mr. Epstein’s island. You were also allegedly close to Ms. Ghislane Maxwell, an Epstein co-conspirator, and attended an intimate dinner with her in 2014, three years after public reports about her involvement in Mr. Epstein’s abuse of minors.”

Comer’s letter to Hillary Clinton indicated that the former president’s trips on Epstein’s plane were part of the Clinton Family Foundation trips. He also included a connection between the former first couple and Maxwell, noting that Maxwell’s nephew was employed by Hillary Clinton’s 2008 failed presidential campaign and then hired by the State Department after becoming Secretary of State.

Comer insists the purpose of the investigation is to “inform legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations.”