Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to testify in House about Jeffrey Epstein
The agreement, which came as the House was considering holding the couple in contempt, defused a potential showdown between the legislative and executive branches about who could be forced to testify.
Bart JansenWASHINGTON – Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have agreed to give depositions to a House committee about accused late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, defusing a potential showdown between the legislative and executive branches.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued subpoenas in August 2025 and scheduled appearances for January, but the Clintons defied them at that time.
Bill Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Angel Urena, said on social media Feb. 2 that “the former President and former Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.”
The announcement came as the House Rules Committee was considering resolutions to hold the Clintons in criminal contempt. If approved by the House and prosecuted by the Department of Justice, the charges could have potentially led to prison terms for the Clintons.
The letter to lawmakers from Clinton lawyers, which USA TODAY has reviewed, said the former president and secretary of state accepted the terms that the Oversight chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, had offered and "will appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates." The letter also asked the committee to confirm that "the House will not move forward with contempt proceedings."
Comer said he would have to study their proposal because the Clintons had resisted testifying until then. His staff had not received the offer in the minutes before he began testifying about the contempt resolutions. He argued it would set a bad precedent to allow witnesses to avoid testifying until it was apparent that a majority of lawmakers would approve contempt proceedings.
“We’re going to have to look at this and review this," Comer said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, welcomed the news but did not say whether the chamber would drop its planned contempt vote.
“That’s a good development," he said. "We expect everyone to comply with Congress’s subpoenas.”
The DOJ is in the midst of releasing millions of pages of documents from its criminal investigations. Despite a new law requiring the release of the documents, millions more pages remain confidential while hundreds of department lawyers scour them to prevent the release of the names of people who accused Epstein of abuse.
Bill Clinton is among the political and business leaders who socialized with Epstein and showed up in the documents. Clinton appeared in pictures and in a handwritten note in a book Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell assembled for Epstein’s 50th birthday.
But Clinton hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing. The Clintons have said they have been out of office for more than a decade and had nothing to do with Epstein for more than 20 years.
Comer argued that their testimony remains critical to understanding Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking network and how he curried favor with powerful figures to evade scrutiny.
Criminal contempt is a misdemeanor carrying a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison. Steve Bannon, a former Trump political adviser, and Peter Navarro, a Trump trade adviser, were each convicted of contempt for defying subpoenas about the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and sentenced to four months in prison. Navarro was fined $9,500 and Bannon was fined $6,500.
But the DOJ could also decide against prosecution in such cases. The House voted to hold Trump aides from his first term in contempt, including deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Attorney General Bill Barr and former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. But none were prosecuted.
In a scathing letter Jan. 13, Bill and Hillary Clinton had accused Comer of trying to embarrass them, calling the subpoenas "invalid and legally unenforceable."
"We are confident that any reasonable person in or out of Congress will see, based on everything we release, that what you are doing is trying to punish those who you see as your enemies and to protect those you think are your friends," the Clintons wrote.
After Bill Clinton skipped a hearing on Jan. 13 and Hillary Clinton skipped one on Jan. 14, the committee moved to hold them in contempt.
Bill Clinton's staffer, Urena, said the former president offered on Jan. 30 to meet with Comer and the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, at his New York office. Clinton agreed to answer questions about travel with Epstein, his awareness of criminal activities and efforts by Epstein to gain leverage.
Comer rejected the offer.
"The Clintons do not get to dictate the terms of lawful subpoenas," Comer said on social media.
This story was updated to add new information and a new video.