Khaberni - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary have agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of its investigation into the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Politico newspaper explained that an aide on the Oversight Committee confirmed the Clintons' agreement on Monday evening to testify before the committee as part of the investigation into the case of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, which recently led to the release of millions of related documents.
According to the newspaper, this stance represents a significant retreat by the former president and former Secretary of State, who had been insisting on challenging the committee's subpoenas, risking imprisonment by President Donald Trump's Justice Department, at a time when the House was preparing to vote on Wednesday on charging them with contempt of Congress.
After both failed to attend scheduled testimony sessions earlier this year, the Oversight Committee voted in January, with bipartisan support, to approve contempt charges against each of them.
Despite both parties affirming that they were unaware of Epstein’s crimes, they maintained that the subpoenas were not linked to any legitimate legislative purpose, rendering them invalid. They also complained that this procedure, led by Republicans, was designed to embarrass them and lead to their imprisonment.
It was not immediately clear when they would appear before the committee, or whether the House would proceed with the vote on the contempt charge.
It is worth mentioning that James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, had previously confirmed that the relationship between Bill and Hillary Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein and his convicted partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, was central to the investigation, despite the couple's denial of any social mixing with him in written statements.
Bill Clinton acknowledged limited contact with Epstein between 2002 and 2003, noting that it occurred within the context of charitable and humanitarian activities and included flights on his private plane, and both he and his wife denied visiting Epstein's island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
While a 2020 documentary alleged seeing Bill Clinton on "Little Saint James" island, both spouses, under oath, stated that they do not recall specific interactions with Epstein or Maxwell, nor were aware of the crimes subsequently charged to them, noting that their last contact with Epstein was more than a decade before his arrest in 2019.
Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy and prominent American financier who became a convicted criminal known for sex trafficking and assaulting underage girls. He established a wide network of connections with influential figures in politics, business, and society. He died in his prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on serious federal charges, leaving behind a series of scandals and ongoing investigations, and sparked a wave of conspiracy theories about his death, officially ruled as "suicide".
Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell (63 years old), a British heiress and socialite, became known for her role as a close partner and former lover of Jeffrey Epstein. In 2021, she was convicted of sex trafficking and conspiracy to entice and recruit minors for sexual assault on behalf of Epstein. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison and is considered key to understanding Epstein’s criminal network. This summer, the Trump administration transferred her to a comfortable, low-security prison in Texas without providing a public explanation.
