Clintons refuse to testify in House Epstein investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton say they will refuse to comply with a congressional subpoena for them to testify in an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

The Clintons are slamming a Republican-controlled committee's attempts as "legally invalid" as GOP lawmakers prepare contempt of Congress proceedings against them. In a letter released on social media Tuesday, the Clintons tell the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Republican Rep. James Comer, he's on the cusp of a process "literally designed to result in our imprisonment."

READ MORE: See photos and documents from the latest Epstein file release

Comer says he'll begin contempt of Congress proceedings next week. It potentially starts a complicated and politically messy process that Congress has rarely reached for.

"No one's accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. We just have questions," Comer told reporters after Bill Clinton did not show up for a scheduled deposition at House offices Tuesday.

He added, "Anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together."

Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein but had a well-documented friendship with Epstein, a wealthy financier, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Republicans have zeroed in on that relationship as they try to wrestle control over demands for a full accounting of Epstein's wrongdoing.

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Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. He killed himself in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial.

Multiple former presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, but none has been compelled to do so.

Comer also indicated that the committee would not attempt to compel testimony from President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, saying that it could not force a sitting president to testify.