Bill and Hillary Clinton have said they will testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Their decision reverses their long-standing refusal just days before lawmakers were set to vote on holding them in criminal contempt of Congress.
The former president and former secretary of state had spent months rejecting subpoenas issued by Representative James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s Republican chairman.
The Clintons had argued that his demands were not legally valid and accused him of using the investigation as a political weapon at the direction of President Trump.
Their position shifted after several Democrats on the committee joined Republicans in supporting a recommendation to refer the Clintons to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.
It marks a rare and dramatic escalation that would have been an unprecedented move against a former first couple.
Following that vote, lawyers for the Clintons contacted Comer on Monday evening to confirm that both would sit for depositions at dates to be agreed upon, and urged the committee to abandon its plans to proceed with the contempt vote scheduled for later this week.
‘They negotiated in good faith. You did not,’ spokesmen for the Clintons said in a statement. ‘They told under oath what they know, but you did not care. But the former president and former secretary of state will be there.’
Hellbound and Down 