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Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have agreed to testify before a US congressional committee investigating sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesman for the couple announced.
The decision was made amid the possibility that they could face criminal charges for obstruction of Congress, due to their previous refusal to appear before the House Oversight Committee after a months-long impasse.
Bill Clinton knew Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, but denied any knowledge of his sex crimes and says he ended the relationship two decades ago. It is not clear when the testimony will take place, but it will be the first time a former US president has testified before a congressional committee since Gerald Ford in 1983.
The Clintons say they have given sworn statements to the committee and have already provided the "limited information" they have about the late pedophile. The couple had dismissed the subpoena as "nothing more than a ploy to embarrass political opponents, at the behest of President Trump."
"They negotiated in good faith, you didn't. They told you under oath what they knew, you don't care. But the former president and the former Secretary of State will be there," their spokesman, Angel Ureña, said via X, responding to a message from committee Republicans who demanded the couple come forward to testify about Bill Clinton's past dealings with Epstein.
Bill Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing by Epstein's victims and has denied any knowledge of his actions. Epstein's private jet records show Clinton took four international flights in 2002 and 2003.
The former president also appears at the late financier's estate in photos included in a series of files released by the Justice Department. One photo shows the former president swimming in a pool and another shows him lying face down with his hands behind his head in what appears to be a hot tub.
When the photos were released in December, they were decades old, his spokesman said, and Clinton was no longer associated with Epstein before his crimes came to light. The Clintons sent a letter to the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, last month criticizing his handling of the Epstein investigation.
"The decisions you have made and the priorities you have set as president regarding the Epstein investigation have hindered progress in uncovering the facts about the government's role," the letter said.
They added: “there is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than party politics.”
Comer had previously noted that Clinton's subpoenas were passed on a bipartisan vote and said "nobody is above the law." "We've been in contact with President Clinton's legal team for months, giving them the opportunity to come in, give us a day, and they keep delaying, delaying, delaying," the Kentucky Republican said.
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