Bill, Hillary Clinton to be deposed in New York for House Oversight Epstein probe
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be deposed by the House Oversight Committee in their hometown instead of in Washington, D.C. next week, Fox News Digital has learned.
The Clintons are testifying under oath for the committee's probe into Jeffrey Epstein. Hillary Clinton's deposition is scheduled for Feb. 26 while Bill Clinton will sit down with congressional staff and lawmakers on Feb. 27.
"The Clintons’ depositions will be held in Chappaqua, New York on February 26 and 27 as an accommodation for their schedules. The depositions are in accordance with House and Committee rules," a spokeswoman for the House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital.
The former first couple purchased their home in Chappaqua, just north of New York City, in 1999, and it has been their main residence since leaving the White House.
HOUSE PANEL MOVES TO CONSIDER CRIMINAL REFERRALS FOR THE CLINTONS
Their depositions will come after months of back-and-forth with committee Republicans about various terms for the closed-door meetings.
"The Clintons’ testimony is critical to understanding Epstein and [Ghislaine Maxwell’s] sex trafficking network and the ways they sought to curry favor and influence to shield themselves from scrutiny," House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital on Thursday evening. "Their testimony may also inform how Congress can strengthen laws to better combat human trafficking. Our goal for this investigation is straightforward: we seek to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and for survivors."
House Republicans nearly moved forward with a vote on holding them both in contempt of Congress last month after the Clintons' lawyers ripped Comer's subpoenas as legally invalid and a breach of separation of powers.
While some Democrats agreed with the move, the majority of them accused Comer of persecuting the Clintons on political grounds.
If the votes were successful, they would both have been referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for prosecution. A guilty verdict for contempt of Congress carries up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $100,000.
But days before the expected vote, the Clintons' counsel told Comer they would agree to testify.
In the days since, however, both Clintons have waged a public pressure campaign demanding they get public hearings instead of a closed-door transcribed and taped interview.
"I have called for the full release of the Epstein files. I have provided a sworn statement of what I know. And just this week, I’ve agreed to appear in person before the committee. But it’s still not enough for Republicans on the House Oversight Committee," Bill Clinton posted on X this month.
"Now, Chairman Comer says he wants cameras, but only behind closed doors. Who benefits from this arrangement? It’s not Epstein’s victims, who deserve justice. Not the public, who deserve the truth. It serves only partisan interests. This is not fact-finding, it’s pure politics."
Comer has said that public hearings are not out of the question, but not before depositions behind closed doors.
Bill Clinton was known to be friendly with Epstein long before the federal case against him first emerged and has appeared in documents on the late pedophile released by the DOJ. But neither he nor Hillary Clinton are implicated in any wrongdoing.
The Clintons are two of over a dozen people and entities who have been subpoenaed for information in the committee's bipartisan Epstein probe.
It's not unprecedented for the committee to travel for depositions, either. Committee staff and some lawmakers were in Ohio on Wednesday to depose former Victoria's Secret CEO Leslie Wexner, a former client of Epstein's financial advisory firm who was named in documents released by the DOJ about the late pedophile thousands of times.