Bill and Hillary Clinton refused to testify on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in the House Oversight Committee's Jeffrey Epstein probe despite lawmakers' threat to hold them in contempt.
"You will say it is not our decision to make. But we have made it. Now you have to make yours," the Clintons wrote in an apparent challenge to Republican Chairman James Comer, who set a final deadline for appearances this week.
Comer told reporters on Wednesday the committee would meet next week to move forward with proceedings for Bill Clinton - leaving open the door that the former Secretary of State could still change her mind.
The move marks an escalation in the panel's efforts to bring the former president in for a closed-door interview as part of its Epstein investigation.
Successful contempt votes by the GOP-controlled House would be both symbolic - as rebukes to the Clintons - and could be used as a tool to compel them to testify. It could also have legal consequences if the former president continues to resist cooperation and the courts or the Justice Department decide to take it up.
"It's important to note that this subpoena was voted on in a bipartisan manner by this committee. This wasn't something that I just issued as chairman of the committee. This was voted on by the entire committee in a unanimous vote of the House Oversight Committee to subpoena former President Clinton and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton," Comer said.
"Now Hillary Clinton's supposed to show up tomorrow. We'll see what happens there."
The Clintons laid out their personal and legal qualms with the request in a series of letters, obtained by CNN, penned by themselves and their lawyers.
The pair asserted in the letters that they were being unfairly singled out — noting seven other subpoenaed in-person appearances have been waived. Calling the panel's subpoenas "invalid and legally unenforceable," they outlined what they said were unprecedented harms being pushed by the administration.
"Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences. For us, now is that time," they wrote.
They added later: "Indeed, bringing the Republicans' cruel agenda to a standstill while you work harder to pass a contempt charge against us than you have done on your investigation this past year would be our contribution to fighting the madness."
After the panel meets next week, the House GOP leadership would have to schedule a vote on the House floor. A vote by the full House to hold Clinton in criminal contempt of Congress would set up a referral to the Department of Justice, which would then have to decide whether to prosecute.
The panel unanimously issued subpoenas to the Clintons in August for depositions and has been privately negotiating with their legal counsel to try to set a date for both Clintons to appear for closed-door interviews.
The Clintons claimed they "have tried to give you the little information we have."
"We've done so because Mr. Epstein's crimes were horrific," they told Comer.
"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 – to learn why and to prevent that from happening ever again. There is no evidence that you are doing so."
But Comer has appeared unmoved.
The chairman has noted that Epstein visited the White House 17 times when Bill Clinton was president, and that he flew on Epstein's plane around 27 times after he was president.
"To my knowledge, former President Clinton has never answered questions about Epstein, and we just had questions, because again, I think anyone would … admit they spent a lot of time together while Bill Clinton was president and post presidency, and again, no one's accused the Clintons of any problem. We just have questions," he said on Tuesday.
Of the thousands of documents related to Epstein that the Department of Justice was compelled to release, several are never-before-seen photographs of Bill Clinton with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
One image shows a shirtless Bill Clinton in a jacuzzi next to another person whose face is redacted. There are additional photos of him swimming in an adjacent pool with Maxwell. These pictures show another woman swimming with Bill Clinton and Maxwell, but her face is redacted.
Yet another showed Bill Clinton holding a drink and standing next to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while in prison awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
It's unclear where or when these photographs were taken.
Bill Clinton has never been accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing related to Epstein, and a spokesperson has repeatedly said he cut ties with Epstein before his arrest on federal charges in 2019 and didn't know about his crimes.
"The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton," Angel Ureña, a spokesperson for Clinton, said in a statement in December when the photos were released.
"This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton."
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have also released photos from Epstein's estate showing the many powerful figures in the late sex offender's orbit, including Bill Clinton. In one photo, he is pictured with Epstein, Maxwell and another couple.
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