House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said Tuesday that Bill and Hillary Clinton only agreed to sit for transcribed, filmed depositions in the committee’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation after facing the real prospect of bipartisan contempt votes.
According to Comer, the outcome caught the Clintons off guard.
“We had a markup for contempt when they missed the [original] date that they were supposed to testify,” Comer said during an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle.”
“And to their surprise, a majority of Democrats on the Oversight Committee voted with all the Republicans.”
Comer said Democrat lawmakers had met with victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, many of whom wanted anyone known to have spent time with Epstein to be questioned under oath.
He noted that neither Clinton had ever previously been interviewed about their connections to Epstein.
However, Bill Clinton appears in photographs with Epstein and has repeatedly been accused of having a relationship with the pedophile.
The 42nd president and the former first lady were facing House votes this week to hold them in contempt of Congress if they continued refusing to appear before the committee.
Those votes appeared likely to succeed.
Late last month, nine Democrats joined Republicans to advance a contempt resolution against Bill Clinton, while three Democrats voted to advance a separate resolution against Hillary Clinton.
The Oversight Committee is investigating what the Clintons may have known about Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
The investigations include scrutiny of Hillary Clinton’s role overseeing U.S. efforts to combat international sex trafficking while serving as secretary of state.
Comer said the Clintons attempted to challenge the committee’s authority and derail the process but ultimately failed.
“Then they spent a week trying to intimidate me and say our subpoena wasn’t lawful, and then try to get the Democrats back together… to not vote for it, to make it a partisan vote, thinking they could beat it in court if it was a partisan vote,” Comer said.
He added that several Democrats were nevertheless prepared to hold the Clintons in contempt.
Following the Clintons’ agreement to comply, House leadership paused contempt proceedings Monday night.
Democrats on the committee have criticized Comer’s approach.
They argue that Comer has not threatened the Department of Justice (DOJ) for missing a congressionally agreed deadline to produce Epstein-related documents.
Thus far, the DOJ has yet to release all of the expected material.
However, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed that the delays are caused by the sheer volume of documents that need to be readacted to protect victims.
Blanche said that, in total, the DOJ has released 6 million pages.
He said the size of the physical documents was equivalent to “two Eiffel towers.”
Comer said the Clintons’ depositions will be made fully public.
“Every American is going to be able to watch the entirety of this deposition,” he said, adding that audio, video, and written transcripts will all be released.
WATCH:
The chairman framed the development as a victory for accountability.
The move signals that even the most powerful political figures are not immune from congressional scrutiny.
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