Bill and Hillary Clinton subpoenaed in congressional Epstein probe

Former American president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are part of a range of high -level people to send assignments to appear from a convention committee investigating the deceased sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Republican James Comer, chairman of the chamber’s supervisory committee, published the assignments to the Clinton on Tuesday, as well as eight other people.

The committee is looking for information on the history of Epstein, after the administration of President Donald Trump has decided not to publish more federal files on the deceased financial.

This decision has aroused indignation among Trump supporters and some Democrats, because many believe that the files include a “list of customers” of famous men affiliated with Epstein.

While the fault between Trump and its conservative base on Epstein continues to expand, the committee, made up of democrats and republicans, recently voted to issue the assignments.

They launched a large net through the Directorate of the Ministry of Justice during the administrations of George W Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden, and the Committee also assigned the department itself for files related to Epstein.

The lawyers of Ghislaine Maxwell, the Epstein partner, who is currently serving a 20 -year sentence for sex trafficking, had indicated that she was willing to testify before the powerful investigation committee, with strict legal protections. Its scheduled deposition of August 11, however, was postponed indefinitely.

Epstein’s legal saga lasted two decades, with Florida police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation firstly examining the well connected man for allegations of sexual abuse in the early 2000s.

Commer wrote in letters to each person that the Committee should “monitor the application of the federal government of the laws on sexual trafficking in general and in particular its treatment of the investigation and the prosecution of Mr. Epstein” and Maxwell.

He also indicated that the deposits will start this month and continue in the fall, with Bill Clinton scheduled for October 14.

Former Attorney General Merrick Garland, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzales, were summoned, with Jeff Sessions and William Barr, who both managed the Ministry of Justice during Trump’s first mandate. Former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller also received assignments.

The Clinton administration prior to Epstein’s investigation, but the couple’s criticisms have long questioned their relationship with Epstein.

A spokesperson admitted that Bill Clinton had made four trips with the staff of the Epstein private plane in 2002 and 2003, and met Epstein in New York in 2002. Clinton also visited the New York apartment of Epstein at that time.

The letters to each clinton cite these incidents, as well as other meetings and alleged connections, as reasons to invoke them.

In 2019, a spokesman said that the former president “knew nothing about the terrible crimes of which Jeffrey Epstein had pleaded guilty in Florida a few years ago, or those with whom he was recently charged in New York”.

The Clinton Foundation and the Bill Clinton press office did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The Ministry of Justice has made no comments.

The Committee is looking for all documents and communications from the department on Epstein and Maxwell “concerning or referring to the trafficking of human beings, the exploitation of minors, sexual abuses or related activities”, as well as American criminal affairs files against Maxwell and Epstein, documents from a 2007 agreement so as not to continue Epstein and Federal Investigations in the former financier.

It is not immediately clear if the individuals appointed by Commer will appear before the Committee and, if they do it, if they will testify publicly.

Over the past 200 years, only four other former presidents have received assignments from congress committees, and only two have given testimonies.

In particular, the committee investigating on January 6, 2021 Capitol Riot voted during a television hearing to assign Trump, who then continued to arrest him. The assignment was abandoned when the committee dissolved.

Federal prosecutors charged Epstein of sexual trafficking in minors and other crimes in 2019, during the first Trump administration.

He died by suicide in prison in August and almost immediately after, many began to question the circumstances of his death.

This summer, the prosecutor General Pam Bondi announced that his department, after having carried out an exam, had found no evidence of the long -term “list of customers”. She also said that evidence supported that Epstein died by suicide and that the government would no longer publish files.

The announcements triggered the indignation among some supporters of Trump, who promised in his campaign to publish the files.

The fight among the Republicans of the House above the case has become so controversial that the president of the Mike Johnson Chamber returned the legislators to the house in early July to block a vote on the release of Epstein files.

While requests have grown up for the Trump administration to disclose more Epstein files, the Ministry of Justice recently met Maxwell, and he is currently looking to publish transcriptions of the Grand Jury of his case. Maxwell lawyer said on Tuesday that she had opposed the release of transcriptions.

The BBC asked for comments from the White House on the assignments.