Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were among 10 former senior government officials subpoenaed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on August 5, 2025, as part of a congressional investigation involving Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, also issued a separate subpoena to the U.S. Department of Justice seeking records related to the federal government's investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell.
The subpoenas followed a July 23, 2025, vote by the committee's Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee. According to the House Oversight Committee, Republicans and Democrats approved by voice vote a motion directing that the Clintons and eight former Justice Department or FBI officials be subpoenaed for testimony.
Who Was Subpoenaed?
In addition to Bill and Hillary Clinton, the committee subpoenaed former Attorneys General Alberto Gonzales, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Jeff Sessions, William Barr and Merrick Garland, as well as former FBI Directors Robert Mueller and James Comey.
The original schedule called for depositions to begin in August 2025 and continue into October. Hillary Clinton's deposition was initially scheduled for October 9, while Bill Clinton's was scheduled for October 14.
Congressional subpoenas require witnesses to provide testimony or records, but issuing a subpoena does not establish wrongdoing by the person who receives it. The committee said the testimony was sought as part of its oversight of federal law-enforcement decisions involving Epstein and Maxwell.
What Congress Said It Was Investigating
In its subpoena letters, the committee said it wanted to examine the federal government's enforcement of sex-trafficking laws and its handling of the investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell.
The committee said its work could inform possible legislation involving federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and the government's use of non-prosecution or plea agreements in sex-crime cases.
The subpoena to the Justice Department sought records concerning Epstein and Maxwell, including material connected to human trafficking, exploitation of minors and sexual abuse, as well as documents involving the federal criminal cases and the controversial 2007 non-prosecution agreement reached during the earlier Florida investigation of Epstein.
The committee's demands came during renewed public and political scrutiny of the government's handling of Epstein-related records.
DOJ and FBI Review of the Epstein Files
In July 2025, the Justice Department and FBI released a joint memorandum summarizing their review of investigative material related to Epstein.
The agencies said their review found no incriminating "client list," no credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people as part of his crimes and no evidence that would provide a basis to open investigations of uncharged third parties.
The memo also said much of the government's material contained sensitive information about victims or was subject to court sealing. DOJ and the FBI concluded at the time that further public disclosure of the material they had reviewed was not warranted.
That decision drew criticism from people across the political spectrum, including some supporters of President Donald Trump who had expected the administration to make additional Epstein-related records public.
The existence of a person's name in flight logs, address books, photographs, emails or other Epstein-related records does not by itself establish involvement in Epstein's crimes.
Bill Clinton's Documented Association With Epstein
Bill Clinton's past association with Epstein became a focus of the congressional inquiry.
Clinton's office said in 2019 that the former president made four trips aboard Epstein's aircraft in 2002 and 2003, after Clinton had left the White House. Those trips included international travel connected to Clinton Foundation work, according to his representatives.
Publicly released flight logs contain Clinton's name on 26 individual flight legs during the period. The difference between the figures reflects the way multi-stop journeys can be counted: one larger international trip may contain several individual flight segments.
Clinton's representatives have said that staff, foundation supporters and members of his Secret Service detail accompanied him during the trips.
In a 2019 statement, a Clinton spokesman said the former president knew nothing about the crimes to which Epstein had pleaded guilty in Florida or the federal charges later filed against him in New York. Clinton's representatives also said he had not spoken with Epstein in more than a decade and had never visited Epstein's private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The congressional subpoena cited Clinton's contacts with Epstein as one reason the committee wanted his testimony. A subpoena, however, is an investigative demand and is not a finding that Clinton participated in criminal conduct.
Hillary Clinton's Subpoena
The committee also subpoenaed Hillary Clinton, citing what it described as the Clinton family's past associations with Epstein and Maxwell and her former role as secretary of state.
In its August 2025 letter, the committee said it believed she might have information relevant to its investigation, including knowledge from her government service concerning federal efforts to combat international sex trafficking.
The letter did not accuse Hillary Clinton of participating in Epstein's crimes.
Ghislaine Maxwell and the Congressional Inquiry
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime associate, had separately been subpoenaed by Comer on July 23, 2025, for a deposition that was initially scheduled to take place at a federal prison on August 11.
Maxwell was convicted in federal court in 2021 of sex-trafficking-related offenses involving Epstein and was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison.
Her attorneys indicated that any congressional testimony would raise significant legal issues, including her continuing rights while pursuing available legal remedies. The August deposition did not proceed as originally scheduled.
Epstein's Criminal Cases and Death
Epstein had faced scrutiny from law-enforcement authorities for years before federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged him in July 2019 with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
He died in federal custody on August 10, 2019, before his New York case could go to trial.
The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging. A later Justice Department inspector general investigation documented serious failures by federal prison personnel but said the medical examiner's findings were consistent with suicide and reported that the FBI found no criminality concerning the manner of Epstein's death.
The unusual circumstances surrounding the failures at the Metropolitan Correctional Center nevertheless fueled years of speculation and public demands for greater disclosure of government records.
Why the Congressional Investigation Was Significant
Subpoenaing a former president for testimony is unusual. Congressional committees have broad investigative powers, but disputes over subpoenas can lead to negotiations, litigation or contempt proceedings when witnesses resist appearing or producing records.
The House committee said it was examining not only prominent individuals' contacts with Epstein, but also whether federal agencies properly handled Epstein's cases, the circumstances surrounding his death and broader questions involving enforcement of sex-trafficking laws.
The investigation also became part of a larger political dispute over how much Epstein-related information the federal government should make public while protecting victims, complying with court orders and preserving grand-jury secrecy.
Later Developments
Subsequent events substantially changed the status of the original subpoenas.
The Justice Department began producing records to the committee in August 2025. On September 2, the committee said it had publicly released 33,295 pages supplied by DOJ and that additional production was expected.
Bill and Hillary Clinton did not appear on their original 2025 deposition dates. Their testimony was rescheduled several times, and in January 2026 the Oversight Committee voted on a bipartisan basis to recommend contempt-of-Congress findings after the Clintons failed to appear on newly scheduled dates.
In February 2026, however, the Clintons agreed to sit for transcribed and filmed depositions. Hillary Clinton testified on February 26 and Bill Clinton on February 27.
The House Oversight Committee later released videos of both depositions.
Hillary Clinton said after her deposition that she had never met Epstein, had never communicated with him and had no information about his criminal activities. She said she had known Maxwell casually as an acquaintance.
Bill Clinton was questioned separately about his contacts with Epstein, including his travel aboard Epstein's aircraft.
The later testimony did not alter the basic distinction at the center of the original August 2025 story: the subpoenas were demands for information in a congressional investigation, not findings that the Clintons or the other subpoenaed former officials had committed crimes connected to Epstein.
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