Nearly 30 days after the Trump administration’s Justice Department blew past the deadline to release documents mandated under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a new flashpoint has erupted — this time between Congress and the Clintons.
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton openly defied House Republicans on Tuesday, signaling they will not comply with subpoenas demanding testimony about their knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein and his crimes. In doing so, the Clintons appeared to dare GOP investigators — particularly Rep. James Comer — to pursue contempt charges and attempt to jail them.
In a sharply worded letter released publicly, the Clintons laid out what they described as a pattern of “unprecedented” abuses under President Donald Trump, arguing that the administration’s conduct has stripped the process of legitimacy.
“People have been seized by masked federal agents from their homes, their workplaces, and the streets of the communities,” the letter began. “Students and scientists with visas permitting them to study and work here have been deported without due process. The people who laid siege to the U.S. Capitol have been pardoned and called heroes.”
The letter went on to accuse the Justice Department of being weaponized against political opponents and cited, “most recently and searingly,” the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
According to the Clintons, that context matters. They argued that the Justice Department’s failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act — a bipartisan law requiring the release of documents related to Epstein — undermines any demand that they participate in congressional proceedings.
“Now is the time,” the Clintons wrote, to “fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences.”
The former president and former secretary of state also dismissed the subpoenas themselves as legally invalid, citing a legal analysis they said was provided to Comer. They accused the House Oversight Committee of selectively enforcing subpoenas while failing to seriously pursue testimony from others.
“You subpoenaed eight people in addition to us,” the letter said. “You dismissed seven of those eight without any of them saying a single word to you. You made no attempt to force them to appear.”
They further accused Comer of failing to use his oversight authority to pressure the Trump administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi to comply with the law and release the Epstein files.
“Despite everything that needs to be done to help our country,” the Clintons wrote, “you are on the cusp of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment.”
Comer fired back on social media, rejecting the Clintons’ justification and accusing them of dodging accountability.
“You’re right, President Clinton. This is about right and wrong,” Comer wrote. “Epstein’s survivors deserve justice and answers. Refusing to comply with a bipartisan, duly authorized congressional subpoena is unacceptable. No one is above the law.”
With the Epstein files still largely sealed, subpoenas ignored, and accusations of lawlessness flying in all directions, the standoff has become yet another chapter in the long, dark afterlife of Jeffrey Epstein — where answers remain buried, and the fight over who must testify is far from over.
