Former US president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify before a US House investigation examining how authorities handled earlier cases involving the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The decision, confirmed on Monday by a spokesman for Bill Clinton, removes the immediate threat of Congress voting to hold the couple in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas. Lawmakers are investigating whether failures by law enforcement and prosecutors allowed Epstein to avoid more serious consequences for years, despite repeated allegations of sexual abuse.
“The former president and former secretary of state will be there,” Clinton spokesman Angel Urena said in a post on X, adding that the couple “look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone”.
The House Rules Committee had earlier advanced resolutions accusing Bill and Hillary Clinton of defying subpoenas that demanded in-person testimony about their past contacts with Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The case continues to reverberate through Washington, ensnaring prominent political figures and fuelling sharp partisan disputes. Republicans argue that the Clintons’ past associations with Epstein — including Bill Clinton’s travel on Epstein’s private jet in the early 2000s — warrant questioning under oath.
Democrats, however, say the investigation has increasingly taken on a political dimension. Some have accused Republicans of using the probe to target critics of Donald Trump, noting that Trump, who also had a long-standing social relationship with Epstein, has not been called to testify.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has not been accused of criminal activity related to Epstein. Neither Bill Clinton nor Hillary Clinton has faced criminal allegations connected to Epstein’s crimes.
In earlier correspondence with Congress, the Clintons declined to appear in Washington, arguing that the subpoenas lacked a clear legislative purpose and were therefore invalid. Instead, they submitted sworn written statements detailing their limited knowledge of Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
Bill Clinton acknowledged flying on Epstein’s aircraft during trips linked to work by the Clinton Foundation but said he never visited Epstein’s private island and was unaware of any criminal activity at the time. Hillary Clinton said she had no substantive interactions with Epstein, never travelled on his plane and never visited his properties.
Following confirmation that the Clintons will testify, the House Rules Committee voted on Monday evening to suspend, for now, any move to hold them in contempt of Congress.
The decision has helped avoid a potentially divisive vote among Democrats. While some within the party argue that no individual should be shielded from scrutiny in efforts to fully understand how Epstein operated for so long, others feared that contempt proceedings would divert attention from broader institutional failures — and from Trump’s own past contacts with Epstein.
The Justice Department last week released what it described as the final batch of investigative files related to Epstein, closing a chapter in a case that continues to raise questions about power, accountability and unequal treatment under the law.
As the congressional inquiry moves forward, testimony from the Clintons is expected to be closely scrutinised for what it reveals — not only about Epstein’s connections, but about how US institutions handled one of the most consequential abuse scandals in recent history.
