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Washington — The Home Oversight Committee is voting Wednesday on holding former President Invoice Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in legal contempt after the pair refused to look earlier than the Republican-led panel, which is investigating the Justice Division’s dealing with of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The committee started assembly shortly after 10 a.m. to contemplate the matter.
If the committee votes to suggest holding them in legal contempt of Congress, the difficulty would advance to the complete Home for a vote on whether or not to search out them in contempt and refer the matter to the Justice Division. The choice to prosecute could be as much as the Justice Division, which must search an indictment from a grand jury.
On Tuesday, Home Oversight Republicans mentioned the Clintons’ attorneys “made an untenable supply” for the GOP chairman and prime Democrat on the committee to journey to New York to talk with Invoice Clinton. The proposal allowed every lawmaker to carry two workers members and the assembly wouldn’t be transcribed, in line with the committee. Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s chairman, rejected the supply.
“The Clintons’ newest calls for clarify they imagine their final title entitles them to particular remedy,” Comer mentioned in an announcement.
A Clinton spokesperson denied the transcript stipulation, saying “interviews are on the document and below oath.”
The committee subpoenaed the Clintons in August, together with former Justice Division officers courting again to George W. Bush’s administration. Since then, solely Invoice Barr, who served as lawyer common throughout President Trump’s first time period, has offered closed-door testimony to the committee, whereas the panel has accepted written statements from the others.
In letters to the committee final week explaining their determination to not seem, the Clintons and their authorized group accused Comer of making an attempt to embarrass and punish Mr. Trump’s political rivals. Their legal professionals vowed to battle the subpoenas, calling them “invalid and legally unenforceable” as a result of they didn’t have a sound legislative function.
“Nobody’s accusing Invoice Clinton of any wrongdoing. We simply have questions,” Comer advised reporters final week.
Images of Invoice Clinton have appeared within the Epstein-related supplies launched by the Justice Division, together with references to the present president, although neither have been accused of wrongdoing.
The Clintons submitted sworn declarations to the committee final week describing their interactions with Epstein.
In his declaration, Invoice Clinton mentioned Epstein provided his non-public aircraft to the previous president, his workers and his Secret Service element in help of the Clinton Basis’s philanthropic work between 2002 and 2003. He denied ever visiting Epstein’s non-public island within the Virgin Islands, the place a variety of the late financier’s alleged crimes occurred, and maintained that he had not been involved with Epstein for greater than a decade earlier than his 2019 arrest.
Hillary Clinton, in her declaration, mentioned she didn’t recall encountering Epstein or any particular interactions with him. She additionally mentioned she by no means flew on his aircraft or visited his non-public island.
The Clintons additionally didn’t recall after they met convicted Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell or their interactions together with her, however mentioned she later was in a relationship with a mutual buddy of theirs. They didn’t bear in mind precisely when their final interplay with Maxwell was past “a few years in the past.”
“To be clear, I had no thought of Mr. Epstein’s or Ms. Maxwell’s legal actions,” their declarations mentioned.
“And, no matter any intent both could have ever had, I didn’t take any motion for the aim of serving to them to keep away from any kind of scrutiny,” Invoice Clinton’s declaration added.
Jonathan Shaub, a regulation professor on the College of Kentucky, mentioned each Clintons have sturdy arguments for why they shouldn’t be compelled to testify, and the potential determination to prosecute places the Justice Division in a tough place that might have ramifications for Mr. Trump and officers in his administration if Democrats have management of Congress and the chief department.
“There are some previous Justice Division opinions that counsel, notably with President Clinton, {that a} former president is immune from compelled congressional testimony,” Shaub, who labored within the Justice Division’s Workplace of Authorized Counsel through the Obama administration, advised CBS Information.
That argument wouldn’t apply to Hillary Clinton, although the committee must set up that it has a selected legislative curiosity in having her testify, Shaub mentioned.
“That is a more durable argument to make given what exists within the public document,” Shaub mentioned, referring to Hillary Clinton’s absence within the Epstein recordsdata which were made public. “She would have stronger arguments within the prosecution to say that they do not have a legislative curiosity right here.”
In Tuesday’s assertion, Comer mentioned the committee is looking for testimony from Hillary Clinton “given her information from her time as Secretary of State of the federal authorities’s work to counter worldwide sex-tracking rings, her private information of Ms. Maxwell, and her household’s relationship with Mr. Epstein.”
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