Hillary Clinton calls for public testimony on Jeffrey Epstein, saying, “Let’s stop the games.” In a pointed challenge to Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, the former secretary of state urged lawmakers to take testimony from her and former President Bill Clinton in a public hearing rather than behind closed doors.
The call came Thursday after the Clintons dropped their efforts to fight subpoenas from the committee, whose Republican leadership had warned it could seek to hold them in contempt of Congress if they refused to appear. Clinton said she and her husband had cooperated for months, only to see their cooperation dismissed.
“For six months, we engaged Republicans on the Oversight Committee in good faith,” Clinton wrote on X. “We told them what we know, under oath. They ignored it all. They kept moving the goalposts and turned accountability into a distraction.”
She then sharpened her message, directly naming Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer of Kentucky. “So let’s stop the games. If you want this fight, let’s have it — in public,” she wrote, adding that true transparency means open hearings with cameras rolling.
Republicans on the committee pushed back. Comer told reporters earlier in the week that the Clintons would not receive special treatment and that the subpoenas called for depositions, not public testimony. “If they get through the depositions and they still want a public hearing, we’ll try to do something,” he said.
A committee spokeswoman echoed that stance, accusing the Clintons of trying to reshape the narrative. She said the subpoenas were bipartisan and approved by both Republicans and Democrats, and that the committee had already voted to recommend holding the Clintons in contempt after months of noncompliance.
According to the committee, the Clintons’ legal team ultimately agreed to filmed, transcribed depositions scheduled for late February. The spokeswoman emphasized that the process follows House rules and mirrors how other witnesses in the Epstein investigation have been handled, including high-profile Republicans such as former Attorney General Bill Barr and former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta.
As the standoff continues, Clinton’s demand has reframed the debate around transparency. By pressing for open testimony, she has put the spotlight on whether the Epstein investigation will play out in public view—or remain largely behind closed doors.
