Clintons agree to in-person depositions in 11th-hour offer to avoid contempt vote in Jeffrey Epstein investigation

CNN

By Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to appear for in-person depositions in Washington, DC, in the congressional Jeffrey Epstein probe, caving in hopes of avoiding a looming House contempt of Congress vote.

It was not immediately clear whether the last-minute acquiescence would work, as GOP leaders indicated Tuesday the Clintons’ still needed to agree to specific terms. House Speaker Mike Johnson said a deadline of Tuesday at noon had been set to “work out the details,” and both he and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said a full House vote remained possible this week to hold the former president and former secretary of state in contempt for their repeated refusals to testify for months.

“If it’s not done satisfactorily, then we’ll proceed with the contempt,” Johnson said.

At issue is whether the Clintons have accepted the standard deposition terms outlined in the subpoenas issued to them: transcribed, filmed depositions in February with no time limit, according to a person familiar the matter. While the Clintons said Monday they would come a testify, Comer said Monday the terms under which they would appear were not clear.

Still, the Clintons’ latest proposal, which has not been independently reviewed by CNN, shows the lengths to which they are willing to go to avoid the vote, which could ultimately carry legal consequences.

“They negotiated in good faith. You did not. They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care. But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone,” Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña said in a defiant X post to Comer on Monday.

Before Comer and Johnson’s remarks Tuesday, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee said he didn’t see a scenario where the panel’s chairman didn’t accept the Clintons’ offer. The Clintons, he told CNN, had “accepted every single term that has been laid out by Comer.”

“We’ve said from day one that we wanted Bill Clinton to testify in front of the Oversight Committee. We’ve been repeating that and we’ve been working obviously with their teams. And so, I’m glad they’re going to testify,” Rep. Robert Garcia said.

Just hours earlier, the Republican chairman, unsatisfied by conditions the Clintons’ legal team sought to place on their cooperation, appeared set to move forward with the contempt proceedings.

“It has been nearly six months since your clients first received the Committee’s subpoena, more than three months since the original date of their depositions, and nearly three weeks since they failed to appear for their depositions commensurate with the Committee’s lawful subpoenas,” Comer wrote at the time. “Your clients’ desire for special treatment is both frustrating and an affront to the American people’s desire for transparency.”

The House Rules Committee was setting the parameters for such a vote when the latest proposal was made.

The offer from the Clintons’ attorney came via email in the middle of a committee meeting as Comer was testifying about the contempt proceedings, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Later Monday evening, however, House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx announced that, given the developments, the panel would hold off on advancing the contempt resolutions. She noted that if there was not further progress overnight, they would return to consider them again.

It wasn’t the Clintons’ first attempt to avoid proceedings.

Through their attorneys, the pair had made multiple offers in recent days, including a four hour in-person voluntary interview in New York, which Comer had rejected earlier Monday.

The earlier correspondence, obtained by CNN, revealed that the Clintons’ team had been in search of an off-ramp for days. Attorneys for the former president and former secretary of state have been in discussion with the Republican-led committee multiple times since lawmakers from both parties voted in January to hold the Clintons in contempt for refusing to appear for in-person depositions.

By rejecting the Clintons’ initial offer, Comer had all but ensured that the House would hold a final vote this week on the contempt resolutions.

According to that letter dated January 31, the Clintons’ lawyers laid out the terms under which the former president would sit for a voluntary, transcribed interview. He would sit for four hours in New York City for an interview limited to the scope of the Epstein probe, they said. Lawmakers from both parties and their staff could ask questions, and the lawyers said both the Clintons and the committee could have their own transcriber present, according to the letter.

Bill Clinton has repeatedly denied wrongdoing related to Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.

Even though the lawyers continued to push for the panel to drop its subpoena for Hillary Clinton’s testimony, they said she could submit a second sworn declaration or appear for an in-person interview in a similar format to her husband.

In exchange, Clinton attorneys Ashley Callen and David E. Kendall had asked Comer to withdraw the subpoenas and contempt resolutions against them.

Comer rejected that offer from the Clintons’ attorneys as “unreasonable” and said he could not accept such terms.

He could not agree, he said, to changing the interview from a sworn deposition to a voluntary interview, and he rejected the way in which the attorneys sought to limit the interview’s scope. Comer noted if the attorneys had offered a voluntary interview when the former president first received his subpoena for testimony in August, the situation could have played out differently.

Clinton, he added, would have incentive to attempt to “run out the clock” if the committee agreed to a firm, four-hour time limit for an interview. And the Republican chairman questioned why the Clintons wanted their own transcriber, if an official court reporter provided by the panel would be present.

“But given that he has already failed to appear for a deposition and has refused for several months to provide the Committee with in-person testimony, the Committee cannot simply have faith that President Clinton will not refuse to answer questions at a transcribed interview, resulting in the Committee being right back where it is today,” the Comer wrote.

This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.

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CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Alison Main and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.