Bill Clinton Could Go to Jail for Refusing a Congressional Subpoena on Epstein

Bill and Hilary Clinton have officially refused to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of their investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. They released a forceful statement in which they suggested that what was needed in this moment was to fight back, although many suspected that they also refused to testify because former President Clinton is suspected to have had ties to Epstein.

Regardless, the news that the Clinton's have refused to testify also means that they are now legally vulnerable. Here's what we know about whether either Bill or Hilary could wind up in jail.

The speculation that Clinton could be going to jail stems from his defiance of a Congressional subpoena, which means that he could be held in contempt of Congress and jailed as a result. According to reporting from Politico, a letter from the Clintons made it clear that they would be refusing to comply, and further argued that the threats of legal action against them wouldn't amount to anything.

The letter said that the subpoena was “nothing more than a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals, as President Trump has directed.” The attorney then added that the subpoenas about the Clintons were “not related to a valid legislative purpose,” and are therefore “invalid and legally unenforceable.”

House Oversight Chair James Comer, meanwhile, told reporters that he plans to hold a vote during next week's session on whether the Clintons should be held in contempt for refusing the subpoena.

“We’ve communicated with President Clinton’s legal team for months now, giving them opportunity after opportunity to come in, to give us a day, and they continue to delay, delay, delay to the point where we had no idea whether they were going to show up today or not,” Comer said.

Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor charge that means you've obstructed the business of Congress or one of its committees. It is most often charged to people who are subpoenaed but refuse to testify for one reason or another. It has also been used to charge people for bribing members of Congress.

A vote to hold Clinton in contempt would be a significant marker, in part because of his stature as a former president.

In a public letter to Comer, the Clintons suggested that the committee was playing politics instead of trying to prevent more Epsteins from committing crimes.

“Despite everything that needs to be done to help our country, you are on the cusp of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment,” they wrote. “This is not the way out of America’s ills, and we will forcefully defend ourselves.”

Crucially, they also said they would appear at a public hearing. “We are prepared to make our case to your 45 committee members and, if need be, more importantly, we also will defend ourselves in the public arena to ensure this country knows exactly what you are doing and why you are doing so, instead of helping the American people who need this Congress’s work and protection," they wrote.