House Oversight panel votes to hold Clintons in contempt : NPR
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. (pictured right) and senior Rep. Robert Garcia, Democrat of California, confer during a hearing Wednesday on whether to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Win McNamee/Getty Images
The House Oversight Committee voted Wednesday to hold former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for criminal contempt of Congress after the pair defied a congressional subpoena. The request for testimony was filed as part of the panel’s investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein affair.
GOP members of the panel said they gave the Clintons ample opportunity to appear, but they declined to show up for their scheduled closed-door depositions last week. The Clintons called the subpoenas legally invalid and said they had already shared with the committee what “little information” they had.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., defended the effort, citing Democrats who said no one was above the law.
“This commission acted in good faith. We offered flexibility on the schedule,” Comer argued before the vote. “The response we received was not cooperation, but defiance, marked by repeated delays, excuses and obstruction.”
The move marks the Republican-led committee’s first referral for contempt, underscoring the deep partisan divide that has dominated the fight over the Epstein case. With the approval of the committee, the matter will then be submitted to the Plenary Assembly. If the House approves the referrals, they will be forwarded to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.
The committee voted 34-8 to hold the former president in contempt, with two voting members present. Nine Democrats joined Republicans in advancing the measure, underscoring internal tensions over what is more important: transparency in the Epstein affair or defending two of their party’s former standard-bearers against a perceived partisan attack. Three Democrats voted to hold Hillary Clinton in contempt.
Democrats who opposed the contempt charges used Wednesday’s hearing to argue that the vote was little more than a political score-settling.
“It’s just this subpoena that Republicans and the president have been obsessed with putting all their energy behind,” said California Rep. Robert Garcia, the panel’s top Democrat.
For example, former U.S. Attorneys General Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Jeff Sessions and Merrick Garland also failed to appear after receiving subpoenas – and none of them were held in contempt. Comer said that was because they submitted written testimony and could not recall any information relevant to the investigation.
Garcia said the Clintons relayed information to the committee and offered alternatives to testify in a different format. Garcia urged Republicans to negotiate a meeting with President Clinton, noting that he was willing to cooperate.
Democrats also argued that Republicans are not taking the Epstein investigation seriously, pointing out that the Justice Department has not fully cooperated with the legal mandate to release its tranche of records from investigations into the deceased sex offender.
“We all agree, we all want to hear from former President Bill Clinton,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida. “But the Republican commission failed to carry out a serious investigation.”
Comer sought to respond throughout the hearing, saying Republicans were working to get to the bottom of the Epstein case. He noted that on February 9, the panel would virtually interview Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, who is being held in a Texas federal prison after being convicted of child sex trafficking and conspiracy. Additionally, Attorney General Pam Bondi will appear at a public hearing before the House Judiciary Committee next month.
Contempt of Congress is a rare charge, although it has been used successfully in several high-profile cases. Under the Biden administration, two close allies of President Trump, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, each served four months in prison after failing to cooperate with Democrats in their investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
