Rep. Comer rejects Clintons' offer, will move forward with contempt of Congress vote

Austin Horn, Lexington Herald-Leader on Jan 21, 2026

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U.S. Rep. James Comer refused to conduct an interview with former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on their terms Tuesday, setting up a vote Wednesday in a U.S. House committee to hold them both in contempt of Congress.

The House Oversight Committee sought to depose the Clintons regarding their relationship to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, especially as public interest around the investigation into his crimes rose throughout 2025.

Bill Clinton was a known associate of Epstein’s, as was President Donald Trump.

Last week, both Clintons defied congressional subpoenas from Comer, R-Ky. Seven of the other eight people subpoenaed have been dismissed from their depositions, but Comer is pursuing them because of Trump’s enmity toward them, they claim. The Clintons wrote a blistering letter to that effect around the same time of their refusal.

Comer’s refusal to conduct the interview comes after days of negotiations between Comer’s staff and the Clintons fractured. The pair had been open to an interview in a private setting such as their office in New York, according to The New York Times.

A statement from Comer claims that the Clintons sought to nix the production of a transcript from that interview. The Clintons have beat back that allegation.

“The absence of an official transcript is an indefensible demand that is insulting to the American people who demand answers about Epstein’s crimes,” Comer wrote in a statement. “Without a formal record, Americans would be left to rely on competing accounts of what was said.”

Angel Urena, former President Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, wrote in a statement that Comer wasn’t telling the truth.

“We never said no to a transcript. Interviews are on the record and under oath. Whether it was written or typed isn’t why this is happening. If that were the last or only issue, we’d be in a different position. You keep misdirecting to protect you-know-who and God knows what,” Urena wrote.

Emails released by the House Oversight Committee’s social media account in response to Urena show that representatives of the Clintons, whose names are blacked out in the post, said they were not “opposed to the creation of a record of the interview.”

Meanwhile, staff for the committee pointed to the Clinton team’s proposal that Comer and the ranking Democratic member of the committee both be present with one staffer and a “notetaker,” each.

Comer, in the statement, said that the Clintons were dodging the deposition because “they believe their last name entitles them to special treatment.”

“The House Oversight Committee rejects the Clintons’ unreasonable demands and will move forward with contempt resolutions on Wednesday due to their continued defiance of lawful subpoenas,” Comer wrote.

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