{"id":87264,"date":"2025-08-06T01:09:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T01:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=87264"},"modified":"2025-08-06T01:09:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T01:09:38","slug":"clintons-subpoenaed-to-testify-in-congressional-epstein-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=87264","title":{"rendered":"Clintons subpoenaed to testify in congressional Epstein investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, are among high-profile figures to be sent legal summonses from a congressional committee investigating the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

Republican James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, issued the subpoenas to the Clintons and eight other individuals.<\/p>\n

The committee is seeking information about Epstein\u2019s history, after President Donald Trump\u2019s administration decided against releasing more federal files on the dead financier.<\/p>\n

That decision sparked outrage among Trump supporters and some Democrats, who refused to accept the Justice Department\u2019s statement that there was no \u201cincriminating client list\u201d in the Epstein files.<\/p>\n

Amid a rift between Trump and some of his supporters on Epstein, the committee, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, recently voted to issue the subpoenas.<\/p>\n

The panel has also subpoenaed the Justice Department itself for records related to Epstein.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein\u2019s associate who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, had indicated she was willing to testify before the powerful investigatory committee, with strict legal protections. Her scheduled 11 August deposition, though, has been postponed indefinitely.<\/p>\n

The Epstein legal saga has spanned two decades, with Florida police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation first scrutinising the well-connected tycoon for allegations of sexual abuse in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

Comer wrote in letters to each person that the committee must \u201cconduct oversight of the federal government\u2019s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr Epstein\u201d and Maxwell.<\/p>\n

He also indicated that depositions will start this month and run through the autumn, with Bill Clinton scheduled for 14 October.<\/p>\n

Former Attorneys General Merrick Garland, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzales were summoned, along with Jeff Sessions and William Barr, who both led the Justice Department during Trump\u2019s first term. Former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller were also sent subpoenas.<\/p>\n

The Clinton administration predates the Epstein investigation, but the couple\u2019s critics have long questioned their relationship with Epstein.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson\u00a0has acknowledged\u00a0<\/a>that Bill Clinton took four trips with staff on Epstein\u2019s private plane in 2002 and 2003, and met with Epstein in New York in 2002. Clinton also visited Epstein\u2019s New York apartment around that time.<\/p>\n

The letters to each Clinton cite these incidents, as well as other alleged encounters and connections, as reasons for summoning them.<\/p>\n

Citing flight logs, US media have previously reported Clinton flew on Epstein\u2019s jet up to 26 times, occasionally without his Secret Service detail.<\/p>\n

In 2019, a spokesman said the former president \u201cknows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton\u2019s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice had no comment.<\/p>\n

The committee is seeking all of the department\u2019s documents and communications on Epstein and Maxwell \u201crelating or referring to human trafficking, exploitation of minors, sexual abuse, or related activity\u201d, as well as files from the US criminal cases against Maxwell and Epstein, documents from a 2007 agreement to not prosecute Epstein and federal investigations into the former financier.<\/p>\n

It is not immediately clear if individuals named by Comer will appear before the committee and, if they do, whether they will testify publicly.<\/p>\n

Over the last 200 years, only four other former presidents have received subpoenas from congressional committees, and only two provided testimony.<\/p>\n

Notably, the committee investigating the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot voted during a televised hearing to subpoena Trump, who then sued to stop it. The subpoena was dropped when the committee disbanded.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors and other crimes in 2019, during the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n

He died by suicide in jail that August, and almost immediately afterwards, many began questioning the circumstances of his death.<\/p>\n

This summer, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced her department, after conducting a review, had\u00a0found no evidence of the long-rumoured client list<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She also said evidence supported that Epstein died by suicide. The government would release no more files, she said.<\/p>\n

The announcements sparked outrage among some supporters of Trump, who promised in his campaign to release Epstein records.<\/p>\n

The fight among House Republicans over the case grew so contentious that Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home early in July\u00a0to block a vote over the Epstein files\u2019 release.<\/a><\/p>\n

As demands grew for the Trump administration to release more Epstein records, the justice department\u00a0recently met with Maxwell,<\/a>\u00a0and it is currently seeking to release grand jury transcripts from her case. On Tuesday, Maxwell\u2019s lawyer said she opposed the release of the transcripts.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,\u201d Maxwell\u2019s lawyers wrote in a filing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC has asked the White House for comment on the subpoenas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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