Clintons will appear for depositions in Epstein probe, staving off contempt vote

By Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Bill and Hillary Clinton will appear for depositions later this month in the House’s Jeffrey Epstein probe, putting an end to the contempt of Congress proceedings against them and setting up high-stakes interviews.

After months of back and forth, House Oversight Chair James Comer finally got the Clintons to agree to his terms for closed-door depositions. The former president is scheduled to appear on February 27 and the former secretary of state will appear on February 26.

The agreement was reached at the eleventh-hour as the House was gearing up for a vote to hold the Clintons in contempt for defying a congressional subpoena – a move that could have ultimately resulted in significant legal consequences.

The pair initially did not want to appear for interviews, arguing through their attorneys that subpoenas for their testimony were invalid and that they were being unfairly singled out when other individuals subpoenaed in the investigation were permitted to provide written testimony. Neither Clinton appeared for initial deposition dates set by the oversight panel, which resulted in a bipartisan vote to hold them in contempt.

As the final contempt vote in the House drew closer, legal counsel for the Clintons’ tried to find an off-ramp and made multiple offers for the former president and former secretary of state to appear voluntarily, but they wanted to control the location, the scope, the length of the interview, who could attend and bring their own transcriber.

Comer rejected all of those attempts and gave the Clintons until noon on Tuesday to agree to his terms for a closed-door deposition in February that would be videotaped, transcribed and have no time limit.

“Once it became clear that we would hold them in contempt, the Clintons completely caved and will appear for transcribed, filmed depositions this month,” Comer said in a statement announcing the deposition dates.

Two sources had earlier told CNN that the Clintons agreed to appear for depositions on the panel’s terms, but also said they wanted public hearings, which congressional Democrats have also supported.

“They have agreed to ever single position that James Comer has laid out and they’ve agreed to all the points,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters. “We have said from day one we want to hear from President Clinton. We said that strongly.”

Comer said later on Tuesday that he is open to holding public hearings with the Clintons, but his panel would begin with private depositions since that is what the subpoenas compelling their appearance called for.

“If they still want some more oversight, then I think the members of my committee would love to have them in for a public hearing, so we’re fine with that, but the issue here is this original subpoena, and the contempt was on the deposition. So if they get through the depositions and they still want a public hearing, we’ll try to do something,” he told CNN just after announcing the Clintons would appear before the panel later this month.

The question of whether to hold the Clintons in contempt has also exposed a Democratic divide in Congress. Nine Democrats on the oversight panel supported the contempt votes last month, but senior Democrats were against the move – arguing that Comer was playing politics.

With their testimony set, the Clintons will separately appear under oath to answer questions about their ties to Epstein.

Bill Clinton has repeatedly denied wrongdoing related to the late convicted sex offender. A spokesperson for Clinton has repeatedly said the former president cut ties with Epstein before he was charged with soliciting prostitution in 2006 and didn’t know about his crimes.

The Justice Department’s latest release of Epstein files offers fresh insights into how the former president’s staff communicated with Epstein and his long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell, including sometimes-lewd email exchanges.

Last week’s release of the Epstein files – more than 3 million documents – follows a smaller, earlier batch in December that revealed never-before-seen photos of Bill Clinton and Epstein together and a shirtless Clinton in a hot tub with someone a DOJ official described as a “victim” of Epstein’s sexual abuse.

The latest files include frequent communications between Maxwell — who is currently in prison for sex trafficking — and Clinton staffers between 2001 and 2004. It was during this period that Bill Clinton travelled with his staffers on Epstein’s private plane at least 16 times according to a CNN analysis.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Alison Main and Manu Raju contributed to this report.