Bill and Hillary Clinton have said they will refuse to testify in a Republican-led investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“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,” the Clintons wrote in a letter published on social media.
“For us, now is that time.”
The letter was addressed to Republican representative James Comer. He chairs the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, whose Epstein probe was slammed as “legally invalid” by the Clintons.
He said the committee will meet next week to hold former US president Bill Clinton in contempt, which could potentially lead to criminal charges. The Clintons said this was “literally designed to result in our imprisonment”.
Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who ran against Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, is due to appear before the panel on Wednesday, with a committee spokesperson saying contempt proceedings would also be initiated against her if she fails to testify.
The Clintons said in their letter that they had provided the “little information” they had to aid the investigation.
They also accused Mr Comer of selectively enforcing subpoenas against them, as they said other former officials were allowed to provide written statements about Epstein to the committee.
“There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics,” they wrote.
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Mr Comer said after Bill Clinton did not show up to testify on Tuesday: “No one’s accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. We just have questions.”
“Anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together,” Mr Comer told reporters, adding that “most Americans” wanted Mr Clinton to answer questions about his ties to Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting trial for sex-trafficking charges in 2019.
Mr Comer claims Epstein visited the White House 17 times during Mr Clinton’s presidency, and that Mr Clinton was on board Epstein’s private plane more than 20 times.
Mr Clinton’s friendship with the financier is well-documented throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, but Mr Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The Trump administration, due to pressure from its Republican base, has ordered the US Justice Department to release files related to the criminal investigations into Epstein to comply with a transparency law passed by Congress.
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Mr Trump also used to be friends with Epstein, but he said he cut off that relationship before the financier was accused of sexual abuse.
Mr Comer indicated that the committee would not try to get testimony from Mr Trump about Epstein, as he said it could not force a sitting president to testify.
