Democrats Stay Quiet Ahead of Key Vote
House Democrats are largely avoiding direct answers as Republicans prepare to move forward with contempt votes against former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The House Oversight Committee is set to meet Wednesday morning to consider two resolutions tied to its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
The committee will review reports recommending that both Clintons be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas. After several hours of debate, members are expected to vote on whether to send the matter to the full House. If approved, the resolutions would refer the Clintons to the Department of Justice for possible criminal action.
Contempt Votes Likely to Advance
Republicans are expected to support the measures as a bloc, which makes passage out of committee likely. However, the position of Democrats remains unclear. Two Democratic members who spoke to reporters on Tuesday declined to say how they would vote.
Representative Ro Khanna of California said lawmakers should first focus on releasing the Epstein files. He argued that calling witnesses before those records become public is premature. Khanna added that once the files are released, the Clintons should testify, along with anyone else connected to the case.
Epstein Files Still Unreleased
Khanna, working alongside Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, previously helped force a vote requiring the Justice Department to release nearly all Epstein related documents. Despite that mandate, the department has released only a small portion of the material, even though Congress set the deadline more than a month ago.
When asked directly how he would vote on the contempt resolutions, Khanna repeated that testimony should come after the files are made public.
Claims of Partisan Enforcement
Representative Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia also avoided a firm position. He said he wanted to see whether the committee applies the same standards to everyone who has failed to comply. In his view, the process has started to look partisan.
So far, the committee subpoenaed ten people as part of the investigation. Only former Attorney General Bill Barr has appeared in person. Former Labor Secretary Alex Azar gave a deposition under a separate subpoena. The Clintons remain the only two individuals facing contempt action.
Republicans argue the Clintons repeatedly refused to cooperate on scheduling depositions. Their legal team has countered that the subpoenas lack legal validity.
GOP and Democrats Trade Hypocrisy Claims
Several Democrats on the committee declined to comment at all. That includes the panel’s top Democrat, Representative Robert Garcia of California. Garcia has previously accused Chairman James Comer of selective enforcement. He claimed Comer targets political opponents while ignoring what Democrats describe as noncompliance by the Justice Department.
Comer, however, plans to push back strongly. In prepared remarks, he is expected to argue that Democrats will expose their own hypocrisy if they refuse to support the contempt votes. Comer says the committee offered flexibility and received delay and obstruction instead.
