Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is facing the prospect of being held in contempt of Congress after she failed to appear for her deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday for its investigation into the files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Clinton was scheduled to appear before the committee the day after her husband, former President Bill Clinton, also did not show up for his deposition in the investigation.
“Hillary Clinton joined her husband in defying a bipartisan, lawful, congressional subpoena to show up today,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said on Wednesday.
“We are going to hold both Clintons in criminal contempt of Congress,” Comer added.
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, requiring 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, who would then present the case to a grand jury to decide whether the person held in contempt should be indicted.
In a letter to Comer released on Tuesday, the couple said they are prepared to make their case to the committee members.
“Indeed, bringing the Republicans’ cruel agenda to a standstill while you work harder to pass a contempt charge against us than you have done in your investigation this past year would be our contribution to fighting the madness,” the letter says.
The letter discusses the “failures” of the government regarding its investigation of Epstein’s crimes, while also pointing to the dismissal of seven of the eight other subpoenas originally issued when the investigation launched.
The committee subpoenaed the couple in August 2025 after the matter surrounding Epstein heated up and plagued Washington for months. The Clintons delayed their original testimony, which was set for last year.
“The facts speak for themselves: You subpoenaed eight people in addition to us,” the letter says. “You dismissed seven of those eight without any of them saying a single word to you. You made no attempt to force them to appear. In fact, since you started your investigation last year, you have interviewed a total of two people. Two.”
The letter says the couple has given the little information they have, adding they did so because “Mr. Epstein’s crimes were horrific.”
The committee posted a video of the empty chair on Tuesday during the time Bill Clinton was scheduled to appear, where they marked letters sent back and forth between the chairman and the Clintons’ lawyers for the record.
Hillary Clinton did not have the high-profile run-ins with Epstein that her husband had. Ghislaine Maxwell, former girlfriend of Epstein and convicted sex offender in his trafficking scheme, said she never saw the former secretary of state and Epstein together in an interview with a Justice Department senior official last year.
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. The committee has conducted two interviews with former Attorney General Bill Barr and Alex Acosta, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida and former secretary of labor.
The investigation 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 judge responded on Tuesday and ordered the DOJ to explain whether they should appoint a special master.
“I think [Attorney General] Pam Bondi should show up,” Massie told the Washington Examiner when asked his thoughts on the Clintons. “Let’s bring her in and find out why she’s not following the law.”