CLINTONS AGREED TO TESTIFY BEFORE US CONGRESS IN EPSTEIN CASE - PRESS SECRETARY

MOSCOW, Feb 3 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have agreed to testify before the US House Oversight Committee regarding the investigation into US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Clinton's spokesman Angel Urena said, reported Sputnik/RIA Novosti.

"They negotiated in good faith. You [the committee] did not. They told you under oath what they know, but you don’t care. But the former President and former Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone," Urena said on X on Monday.

On August 5, subpoenas were sent to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, as well as eight former attorneys general and FBI directors, to testify in the renewed investigation into Epstein. The Clintons have declined to testify before the committee, arguing that the subpoenas are legally unenforceable.

In mid-January, US House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said that the committee planned to charge the Clintons with criminal contempt of Congress for defying a legal subpoena to testify as part of the investigation. Later in January, the committee voted to hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress.

On January 30, US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that all the materials related to the Epstein case had been released. With the latest disclosure, the total volume of released data exceeds 3.5 million files and includes mention of numerous powerful figures. 

In 2019, Epstein was charged in the US with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit such trafficking. Prosecutors said he sexually abused dozens of underage girls between 2002 and 2005, paying them cash and using some to recruit others, with some victims as young as 14. In July 2019, he was denied bail by a Manhattan court. He was found dead in his cell weeks later.

-- BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI