He added, “Anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together.”
Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein but had a well-documented friendship with the wealthy financier throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Clinton together in an undated image released last year as part of the so-called Epstein files.Credit: AP
Republicans have zeroed in on that relationship as they wrestle with demands for a full accounting of Epstein’s wrongdoing.
“We have tried to give you the little information we have. We’ve done so because Mr Epstein’s crimes were horrific,” the Clintons wrote in the letter.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex-trafficking and conspiracy charges. He killed himself in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial.
Multiple former presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, but none has been compelled to do so. That history was invoked by President Donald Trump in 2022, between his first and second terms, when he faced a subpoena by the House committee investigating the deadly January 6, 2021, riot by a mob of his supporters at the US Capitol.
Trump’s lawyers cited decades of legal precedent they said shielded an ex-president from being ordered to appear before Congress. The committee ultimately withdrew its subpoena.
Comer also indicated that the oversight committee would not attempt to compel testimony from Trump about Epstein, saying that it could not force a sitting president to testify.
Trump, a Republican, also had a well-documented friendship with Epstein. He has said he cut off that relationship before Epstein was accused of sexual abuse.
Loading
Meanwhile, the congressional co-sponsors of legislation that forced the public release of investigative documents in the sex-trafficking probe of Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell asked a New York judge in a letter to appoint a neutral expert to oversee release of the materials. The letter, dated January 8, was delivered to the judge on Monday night, New York time.
Congressmen Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, told US District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer they had “urgent and grave concerns” that the Justice Department has failed to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the files to be released last month.
They said they believed “criminal violations have taken place” in the release process.
Engelmayer presides over the Maxwell case. Maxwell, a former Epstein girlfriend, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her 2021 sex-trafficking conviction for recruiting girls and women to be abused by Epstein and for sometimes joining in the abuse.
Loading
Last month, Maxwell sought to set aside her conviction, saying new evidence had emerged proving constitutional violations spoiled her trial.
Justice Department officials, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, have said the files’ release was slowed by redactions required to protect the identities of abuse victims.
In their letter, Khanna and Massie wrote that the department’s release of 12,000 documents out of more than 2 million documents being reviewed was a “flagrant violation” of the law’s release requirements and had caused “serious trauma to survivors”.
“Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the act,” the congressmen said as they asked for the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure all documents and electronically stored information were immediately made public.
Loading
They also recommended that a court-appointed monitor be given authority to notify and prepare reports about the true nature and extent of the document production and whether improper redactions or conduct have taken place.
Engelmayer directed the Justice Department and Maxwell, if she wishes, to respond to the allegations by the congressmen by Friday.
AP
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
