Bipartisan Majority on Oversight Committee Votes To Advance Contempt of Congress Resolutions for Bill and Hillary Clinton

The House will soon vote on contempt of Congress resolutions for President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Oversight Committee on Wednesday advanced the contempt resolution for Mr. Clinton in a large bipartisan vote, though the resolution targeting Mrs. Clinton was passed by a slimmer bipartisan margin. The Clintons are likely to be held in contempt of Congress next month for their refusal to comply with a committee subpoena. That summons required them to appear for closed-door interviews about their relationship with deceased pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. In December, the chairman, Congressman James Comer, said he was done negotiating with the Clintons’ attorney about venues or parameters of questions. He set a firm deadline last week for the former president and first lady to show up. When they did not, Mr. Comer said the contempt proceedings would begin. After debating the resolutions for much of the day on Wednesday, nine Democrats — a plurality — voted with all Republicans to advance the resolution for Mr. Clinton. Among other Democrats, eight voted no, two voted “present,” and two others were absent from the hearing. The vote for Mrs. Clinton was narrower, though still bipartisan, likely because she was not nearly as close with Epstein as her husband was. Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, has said she never saw Mrs. Clinton speak to Epstein. The committee voted 28 to 15 to bring Mrs. Clinton’s contempt resolution to the floor, with three Democrats voting with Republicans and one Democrat voting “present.”In an apparently attempt to avoid the contempt resolutions, Mr. Clinton allegedly offered to meet privately with Mr. Comer and the top Democrat on the panel, Congressman Robert Garcia, in New York. Mr. Comer said Tuesday that the former president would allow only two staff members each for Messrs. Comer and Garcia during that sitdown. No official transcript would be recorded, had they agreed to such an offer. Mr. Comer said that he could not allow Mr. Clinton to avoid the subpoena in that fashion. “Former President Clinton has a documented history of parsing language to evade questions, responded falsely under oath, and was impeached and suspended from the practice of law as a result,” Mr. Comer said in a statement on Tuesday. “The absence of an official transcript is an indefensible demand that is insulting to the American people who demand answers about Epstein’s crimes.” “The House Oversight Committee rejects the Clintons’ unreasonable demands and will move forward with contempt resolutions on Wednesday due to their continued defiance of lawful subpoenas,” the chairman declared. The House is expected to vote on the contempt resolutions in early February once they return from next week’s recess. Prosecutions for contempt of Congress have been especially dependent on who controls the Justice Department at that given time. For example, Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress, but was never prosecuted during the Obama administration. Hunter Biden was nearly held in contempt in 2024, though House Republicans abandoned that plan once they came to the realization that President Biden’s Justice Department was unlikely to prosecute the first son. Mr. Comer told the New York Sun earlier last year that he was prepared to call up the contempt resolution, however, in the hopes that it could be used as a basis for a prosecution under the next Republican president. Mr. Biden ended up being pardoned by his father for all crimes committed between 2014 and the end of 2025, however, meaning that any contempt of Congress resolution would have been rendered useless.

Bipartisan Majority on Oversight Committee Votes To Advance Contempt of Congress Resolutions for Bill and Hillary Clinton

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