Clintons to appear for high-profile depositions in Epstein probe

The Hill · Feb 25, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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House lawmakers are preparing this week to grill former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as part of Congress’s investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The high-profile depositions, scheduled for Thursday and Friday in New York, come after months of haggling between Clintons’ attorneys and leaders of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which had voted unanimously to issue a subpoena for their testimony last July. The proceedings are extraordinary not only for the fact that a former president is being dragged before Congress, but also because Democrats had joined the effort to compel their testimony. And unlike many Oversight fights of the past, when partisan loyalties have split the panel, both sides appear ready to confront the Clintons, particularly the former president, on his close associations with Epstein and what he knew of the financier’s crimes. “The major thing is that we’re looking for truth, for the survivors, and justice and accountability, and that’s something that cuts across party lines,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). “At least on the Democratic side, we have said that anybody who was involved in criminal activity should pay the price for it.” Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) delivered a similar message. He said the Clintons’ prominence, combined with the Republicans’ decades-long animosity towards them, likely means that the former president had no exposure to Epstein’s criminal activity, because it would have been leaked by now. But if that’s not the case, he said, no one should be immune from justice. “If there’s something about Bill Clinton, I think it probably would have come out,” Ivey said late last year, as the Epstein saga was heating up on Capitol Hill. “And if it hasn’t, and they’ve got something — let’s go. Let’s do it.” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the Oversight panel, recently underwent a round of oral surgery that’s left him with 31 stitches in his mouth. Still, he said he’ll be in New York this week to lead the depositions, and he plans to release the details of the testimony as soon as possible. “We’ll publish the video and transcripts of the Clinton depositions just as quickly as the Clintons approve it, and go from there,” Comer told reporters in the Capitol on Tuesday. As the first tranche of Epstein files were released, Republican figures were quick to draw attention to various photos of Bill Clinton, including one on a plane as a woman whose face is redacted wraps her arm around him and another with the former president relaxing in a pool. The Clintons have consistently denied any wrongdoing. “The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton. This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they’ll try and hide forever,” Angel Ureña, deputy chief of staff for Clinton, said in a December statement. “So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton…There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.” The Oversight panel had subpoenaed the Clintons along with several other former government officials. But after months of negotiations with the panel, the Clintons each declined to appear for in-person depositions, prompting a January committee vote to hold both in contempt of Congress. Had the contempt resolutions come before the full House, the approval would have amounted to a criminal referral to the Trump Justice Department. The Clintons had argued they had already provided the committee with all the information they had about Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, provided sworn statements that they had no knowledge of their criminal activities, and argued that the subpoenas were invalid as they were “untethered to a valid legislative purpose [and] unwarranted because they do not seek pertinent information.” On the eve of their testimony, some Democrats said Comer and Republicans were simply trying to smear their political rivals. “What the Epstein survivors have been asking for is both transparency and accountability. … And what Republicans want to do is turn this into political theater,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) told reporters Wednesday during the Democrats’ annual issues retreat in Leesburg, Virginia. “What the Clintons have said [is] let’s do this publicly, which would be consistent with transparency,” she added. “But [Republicans] don’t want to do that. And I think that tells you everything about what those depositions are.” Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.