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WASHINGTON – Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reached an agreement to testify before lawmakers in late February about accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

House Republican leaders threatened to hold votes Feb. 4 on resolutions of criminal contempt for the Clintons if they couldn’t reach an agreement for testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

But the chair, Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, said on social media that the Clintons had “CAVED” at the threat of a contempt vote and would appear in closed-door depositions that will be filmed and transcribed. He said questions will focus on Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

“We look forward to now questioning the Clintons as part of our investigation into the horrific crimes of Epstein and Maxwell, to deliver transparency and accountability for the American people and for survivors,” Comer said.

When will Clintons testify to a House committee?

Hillary Clinton will testify Feb. 26 and Bill Clinton on Feb. 27. They had offered to appear at public hearings, but lawmakers often seek depositions ahead of time to follow lines of more detailed questioning than allowed in five-minute periods for each lawmaker at a hearing.

The committee had subpoenaed the Clintons in July 2025 as part of an investigation into Epstein. The inquiry is part of a broad effort in Congress and through the courts to unearth information about Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Bill Clinton is among the political and business leaders who socialized with Epstein and showed up in the documents. Clinton appeared in pictures and in a handwritten note in a book Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell assembled for his 50th birthday.But Clinton hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing. The Clintons have said they have been out of office for more than a decade and had nothing to do with Epstein for more than 20 years.

Comer argued that their testimony remains critical to understanding Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking network and how he curried favor with powerful figures to evade scrutiny.

Clinton testimony part of broad release of info about Epstein

The dispute over testimony from the Clintons coincided with the Justice Department releasing millions of pages of documents from its criminal investigations. Despite a new law requiring the release of the documents, millions more pages remain confidential while hundreds of department lawyers scour them to prevent the release of names of people who accused Epstein of abuse.

Lawmakers from both parties have blasted the department for withholding documents. President Donald Trump, who socialized with Epstein during the 1990s and early 2000s before a falling out, told reporters Feb. 2 that the department should move on to other business.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche denied accusations that the department tried to protect powerful men. “We did not protect President Trump,” Blanche said. “We didn’t protect or not protect anybody.”

Have other presidents testified before Congress?

Bill Clinton won’t be the first former president to testify before Congress. But the events are rare.

For example, President George Washington testified before the entire Senate in 1789 about treaties with Native Americans. President Abraham Lincoln testified in 1862 before the House Judiciary Committee about a newspaper publishing one of his addresses before it was released.

President Woodrow Wilson talked with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the White House about the peace treaty with Germany after World War I. And President Gerald Ford appeared before a House Judiciary subcommittee at the Capitol about his pardon of Richard Nixon.

Why were the Clintons threatened with contempt?

The compromise over Clinton testimony came after the threat of a criminal prosecution for contempt.

Criminal contempt is a misdemeanor carrying a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison. Steve Bannon, a former Trump political adviser, and Peter Navarro, a Trump trade adviser, were each convicted of contempt for defying subpoenas about the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and sentenced to four months in prison. Navarro was fined $9,500 and Bannon was fined $6,500.

The Republican-led committee held bipartisan votes Jan. 21 on two resolutions to hold the Democratic Clintons in criminal contempt of subpoenas for information about Epstein.

Nine Democrats joined Republicans in the vote against Bill Clinton, and two voted present, which isn’t voting for or against something. Three Democrats joined Republicans in the vote against Hillary Clinton.