Former President Bill Clinton now faces the prospect of being held in contempt of Congress after he failed to appear for his deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday morning for its investigation into the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The former president was scheduled to appear before the committee on Tuesday, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set for Wednesday. No president has ever been held in contempt of Congress through a completed process.
“Everyone knows by now, Bill Clinton did not show up, and I think it’s important to note that this subpoena was voted on in a bipartisan manner by this committee,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told reporters on Tuesday, indicating members will move to hold him in contempt next week.
For the process to be seen through, members would have to vote the citation out of committee to refer it to a full vote in the lower chamber, needing a simple majority to pass. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would then have to certify the contempt citation to the federal attorney for the District of Columbia, where the attorney would then present the case to a grand jury to decide if the person held in contempt should be indicted.
The committee subpoenaed the two in August 2025 after the issue surrounding Epstein heated up and plagued Washington for months. The Clintons’ depositions were originally set for last year, but they delayed their testimony.
Bill Clinton was subpoenaed for the investigation due to many high-profile run-ins with Epstein, including 17 White House visits during the former’s presidency, according to the New York Post.
“One reason I think most Americans want President Clinton to answer some questions is because he visited the White House,” Comer said. “Jeffrey Epstein visited White House 17 times while Bill Clinton was president.”
The chairman said the committee is not “accusing Bill Clinton of any wrongdoing,” just that members “have questions,” as he held a binder full of prepared questions for a transcribed interview.
Although he had a handful of run-ins with the sex offender, Epstein’s former girlfriend and convicted sex offender in his trafficking scheme, Ghislaine Maxwell, told a senior Justice Department official last year in an interview that the former president never went to Epstein’s famous island.
As part of the investigation, the committee has released multiple batches of documents related to the files, many of which came from the committee’s subpoena to Epstein’s estate. It has continued despite the House forcing a vote on a full release of the files, leading to the bill being signed into law. While the DOJ has released a slew of files, some have pushed back, saying the department has not complied with the law.
CLINTONS TO BE HELD IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS IF THEY NO-SHOW DEPOSITIONS
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), who led the bill to release the files, called on a federal judge to appoint a special master to oversee the DOJ’s release of files last week.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Clintons for comment.