Clintons refuse to testify in Epstein probe as Republicans threaten contempt charges

Former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said they will refuse to comply with a congressional subpoena for them to testify in an investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The Clintons have slammed a Republican-controlled committee’s attempts as “legally invalid” as GOP lawmakers prepare contempt of Congress proceedings against them.

In a letter released on social media Tuesday, the Clintons told the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Republican congressman James Comer, that he’s on the cusp of a process “literally designed to result in our imprisonment”.

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The Clintons said they had tried to provide what "little information" they had ‍to help with the investigation and accused Comer of shifting focus away from the ​Trump administration's failures.

"We've done so because Mr. Epstein's crimes were horrific. If the Government didn't do all it could to investigate and prosecute these ‌crimes, for whatever reason, that should be the focus of your work ... There is no evidence that ‍you are doing so," they wrote.

Comer says he’ll begin contempt of Congress proceedings next week. It potentially starts a complicated and politically messy process that Congress has rarely reached for.

“No one’s accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. We just have questions," Comer told reporters after Bill Clinton did not show up for a scheduled deposition at House offices Tuesday.

Jeffrey Epstein's brother says the 'Bubba' in viral email is not Bill Clinton

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Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein but had a well-documented friendship with Epstein, a wealthy financier, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Republicans have zeroed in on that relationship as they try to wrestle control over demands for a full accounting of Epstein's wrongdoing.

“Anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together,” Comer said.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. He was found dead in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial, apparently by suicide.

Multiple former presidents have voluntarily testified before congress, but none has been compelled to do so.

Comer also indicated that the committee would not attempt to compel testimony from President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, saying that it could not force a sitting president to testify.

Under pressure from the Trump's political base, the administration has ordered the US Justice ‍Department to release files tied to criminal probes of Epstein, who was once friends ‌with Trump ​and the Clintons, in compliance with a transparency law passed by Congress.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and Reuters)