Bill and Hillary Clinton now agree to testify before Congress

Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel's investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It's a remarkable reversal for the former president and secretary of state, who last month chose to defy committee-issued subpoenas and risk imprisonment by the Trump Justice Department — but changed their minds as the House prepared to vote Wednesday to call their bluff and hold them both in contempt of Congress.

The House could end up considering the contempt resolutions this week, anyway. GOP leaders were, Monday night, not ruling out moving ahead with the votes if they ultimately decide the Clintons are not making a good-faith effort to expeditiously schedule their depositions with Oversight members and staff.

After months of refusing to cooperate, the Clintons announced they were now willing to comply with the subpoenas as the House Rules Committee was in the middle of meeting to tee up consideration on the contempt resolutions for later in the week. The unexpected turn of events scrambled the GOP’s plans and it’s not quite clear what comes next.

"I think we need more time … to clarify with the Clintons what they are actually agreeing to,” said Rules Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). “Accordingly the committee will postpone further consideration of the contempt. However, should there not be substantial compliance and agreement overnight, the committee will return to continue the hearing on the contempt."

A spokesperson for Bill Clinton said in a statement on social media that the former first couple “look forward[s] to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.”

The Oversight Committee voted on a bipartisan basis in January to approve a contempt measure for each of the Clintons after both skipped their scheduled depositions earlier this year.

Although both have said they had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, they have maintained that the subpoenas were not tied to a legitimate legislative purpose, rendering them invalid. Bill and Hillary Clinton also argued that the GOP-led exercise was designed to embarrass and put them in jail.

“The Clintons’ counsel has said they agree to terms, but those terms lack clarity yet again and they have provided no dates for their depositions,” House Oversight Chair James Comer said in a statement Monday. “The only reason they have said they agree to terms is because the House has moved forward with contempt. I will clarify the terms they are agreeing to and then discuss next steps with my committee members.”

Some Democrats warned House Republicans not to proceed.

"If you try to move forward, that would be insane," the top Democrat on House Oversight, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, told reporters. "I mean, that would be unprecedented. It would be clearly — it would be clearly a demonstration that [Chair James] Comer is actually not interested in hearing the Clintons, but he's only interested in political games. I think that would be a huge disservice to the survivors and to the investigation.”

Rep. Suhan Subramanyam (D-Va.), a member of the Oversight panel, also said he feared Republicans would still go through with the House vote for a political end.

"The Republicans want to give Trump the ability to prosecute and put the Clintons in jail," he said in a brief interview. "That's what this is really about. This isn't about the Epstein investigation.”

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested to reporters the Clintons were in a lose-lose situation no matter what happens.

“This is a snake pit. It's a snake pit,” she said. ‘So it's not a question of whether you have to come in. That’s just the way it is.”

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.