US House panel subpoenas Clintons in Epstein probe

US lawmakers have subpoenaed former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for testimony on Jeffrey Epstein, in a major escalation of the controversy surrounding the investigation into the notorious sex offender. Photo / Shawn Thew, AFP

US lawmakers have subpoenaed former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for testimony on Jeffrey Epstein, in a major escalation of the controversy surrounding the investigation into the notorious sex offender.

The Clintons were among multiple former Democratic and Republican government officials – as well as the Justice Department – targeted by investigators reviewing the handling of the disgraced financier’s case after he died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

The White House has been facing increasingly intense demands to be more transparent after the Justice Department angered Trump supporters – many of whom believe Epstein was murdered in a cover-up – when it confirmed last month that he had died by suicide in his prison cell and that his case was effectively closed.

The department also said Epstein had no secret “client list” – rebuffing conspiracy theories held by Trump’s far-right supporters about supposedly high-level Democratic complicity.

Trump has urged his supporters to drop demands for the Epstein files, but Democrats in the Republican-led Congress – with some support from majority lawmakers – have also been seeking a floor vote to force their release.

“By your own admission, you flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane four separate times in 2002 and 2003,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer wrote to former President Clinton.

“During one of these trips, you were even pictured receiving a ‘massage’ from one of Mr Epstein’s victims.”

The White House has been seeking to redirect public attention from uproar over its handling of the affair with a series of headline-grabbing announcements including baseless claims that former President Barack Obama headed a “treasonous conspiracy” against Trump.

Epstein was for years a friend and associate of Trump and numerous high-profile people before he was convicted of sex crimes and then imprisoned pending trial for allegedly trafficking underage girls.

His death supercharged a conspiracy theory long promoted by Trump supporters that Epstein had run an international pedophile ring and that elites wanted to make sure he never revealed their secrets.

After Trump returned to power in January, his administration promised to release Epstein case files.

Past relationship

When Attorney-General Pam Bondi announced on July 7 that she had nothing to release, Republicans were furious – and Trump has attempted to control the scandal ever since.

The case got even more complicated for the President after a Wall Street Journal report that he had written a lewd birthday letter to Epstein in 2003. Trump denies this and has sued the Journal.

The Journal then dropped a separate story, saying Bondi had informed Trump in May that his name appeared several times in the Epstein files, even if there was no indication of wrongdoing.

Other officials targeted by the Oversight Committee include former FBI director James Comey, former special counsel Robert Mueller and ex-attorney generals Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales.

Their depositions will take place between mid-August and mid-October.

Comer also issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for records related to Epstein – including its communications with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden and his officials.

Lawmakers have also been seeking testimony from Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for her role in his alleged crimes – although her co-operation is considered unlikely.

The latest move from Comer comes after Democrats on the oversight panel forced a vote to issue a subpoena just before the August recess, with three House Republicans backing the effort.

“Justice must apply to everyone, no matter how rich, powerful, or well-connected they are,” said Summer Lee, the Democratic congresswoman who introduced the motion.

-Agence France-Presse