House committee votes to hold Bill, Hillary Clinton in contempt over Epstein probe subpoenas

WASHINGTON, DC: The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, January 21, voted to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress.

The step was taken after the duo defied subpoenas to be present for depositions tied to the panel's probe into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The vote against the former president was reportedly 34-8 while it was 28-15 against Hillary.

Democrats vote against Clintons

A total of nine Democrats voted to hold of Bill in contempt. These representatives were Maxwell Frost (Fla), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill), Summer Lee (Pa), Stephen Lynch (Mass), Ayanna Pressley (Mass), Emily Randall (Wash), Lateefah Simon (Calif), Melanie Stansbury (NM) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich).

Lee, Stansbury and Tlaib’s votes also went against Hillary.

"The resolutions will now go to the House for a full contempt of Congress vote. If the House passes those resolutions with a simple majority, they will be referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for potential criminal prosecution", Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin said in a post on X.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky) applauded the committee for their votes.

He said, “I’m very happy that we had a bipartisan vote today to hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress, and this shows that no one’s above the law.”

Comer specifically praised the Democrats for their votes as he added, “I felt like in my heart, there would be Democrats for it, and I’m very, very proud of the ones who did.”

Also during the meeting he shared his belief that the resolutions will pass the House.

“Make no mistake, to the Clintons and their lawyers, this bill will pass and I believe it will pass the Democrat vote, even though I’ve heard Democrat leadership is whipping to try to get you all to vote ‘no’ on this,” he stated.

Comer further noted that “they have had five months to comply with this, and to defend the indefensible and try to act like Bill Clinton’s a victim here, I think is a stretch.”

Bill Clinton's links to Epstein

As per several media reports, former President Bill shared a social and professional relationship with Epstein.

The late businessman apparently visited White House many times while Bill was the commander-in-chief.

Even after leaving the Oval office, the ex-leader traveled on Epstein's private jet for charitable trips.

Many Americans believe Bill knew of Epstein's crimes.

Clintons claim innocence in Epstein case

This came after the Clintons claimed that they had submitted all the information they knew about Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

In a letter, the Clintons' lawyer argued, “President and Secretary Clinton have already provided the limited information they possess about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the Committee.”

“They did so proactively and voluntarily, and despite the fact that the Subpoenas are invalid and legally unenforceable, untethered to a valid legislative purpose, unwarranted because they do not seek pertinent information, and an unprecedented infringement on the separation of powers,” they added.

But during the Wednesday, January 21, meeting, Comer said that they “repeatedly informed the Clintons’ attorney that written statements would not be accepted, that subpoenas required depositions.”

“Federal courts have consistently held that witnesses may not impose their own conditions upon the manner of congressional inquiry, yet the Clintons attempted to do exactly that, submitting brief, bulleted, written statements that are neither responsive nor responsive to the committee’s many unanswered questions,” he added.