Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed on Monday to testify in the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, capitulating to the demands of its Republican chairman days before the House was expected to vote to hold them in criminal contempt of Congress.
For months, the Clintons had been adamant that they would not comply with subpoenas from Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the panel’s Republican chairman, that they have described as invalid and legally unenforceable. They accused Mr. Comer of being part of a plot to target them as President Trump’s political adversaries and promised to fight him on the issue for as long as it took.
But after some Democrats on the panel joined Republicans in a vote to recommend charging them with criminal contempt, an extraordinary first step in referring them to the Justice Department for prosecution, the Clintons ultimately waved the white flag and agreed to fully comply with Mr. Comer’s demands.
In an email sent to Mr. Comer on Monday evening, attorneys for the Clintons said their clients would “appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates” and asked that the House not move forward with a contempt vote, which had been slated for Wednesday.