US House panel subpoenas Clintons in Epstein probe

WASHINGTON - US lawmakers on Aug 5 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 in July 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 Mr Trump’s far-right supporters about supposedly high-level Democratic complicity.

Mr 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 the 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 Mr Trump.

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

His death supercharged a conspiracy theory long promoted by Trump supporters that Epstein had run an international paedophile ring and that elites wanted to make sure he never revealed their secrets. After Mr 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 Mr Trump has attempted to control the scandal ever since.

The case became even more complicated for the President following a Wall Street Journal report that he had written a lewd birthday letter to Epstein in 2003. Mr Trump denies this and has sued the Journal. The Journal then published a separate story, saying Ms Bondi had informed Mr 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey, former special counsel Robert Mueller and former attorneys-general Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Bill Barr, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales.

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

Mr Comer also issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for records related to Epstein – including its communications with Mr 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 cooperation is considered unlikely.

The latest move from Mr 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.

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