Bill and Hillary Clinton faced 'surprise' from Democrats calling for Epstein testimony, says Rep Comer

The chairman of the House Oversight Committee said former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed to sit for transcribed, filmed depositions in the committee’s Epstein investigation after facing the possibility of a contempt vote that drew Democratic support — a prospect Comer claims the Clintons did not see coming.

"We had a markup for contempt when they missed the [original] date that they were supposed to testify," Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said Tuesday on "The Ingraham Angle."

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said the Clintons did not expect Democrats on the House Oversight Committee to support proceedings to hold them in contempt. (JP Yim/Getty Images for New York Hilton Midtown; Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

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"And to their surprise, a majority of Democrats on the Oversight Committee voted with all the Republicans."

He said Democrats met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's victims, who wanted everybody known to have spent time with Epstein to answer questions, adding that the Clintons have never been interviewed on the matter. Bill Clinton has appeared in photographs with Epstein.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is seen with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The 42nd president and former first lady were facing contempt of Congress votes in the House this week if they did not agree to come to Capitol Hill for in-person interviews with the Oversight Committee.

Those votes were likely to succeed. Late last month, nine Democrats on the committee joined all Republicans in voting to advance Bill Clinton's contempt of Congress resolution to a House-wide vote. Three Democrats voted to advance the resolution against Hillary Clinton.

The committee is examining what the Clintons may have known about Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, including scrutiny of Hillary Clinton’s role overseeing U.S. efforts to combat international sex trafficking while serving as secretary of state. 

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Comer claimed the Clintons attempted to avoid their deposition, but it didn't work.

"Then they spent a week trying to intimidate me and say our subpoena wasn't lawful, and then try to get the Democrats back together... to not vote for it, to make it a partisan vote, thinking they could beat it in court if it was a partisan vote," Comer said, adding some Democrats were prepared to hold them in contempt of Congress. 

The Clintons’ change of heart led the House to pause proceedings to hold them in contempt on Monday night.

Democrats on the committee have pointed out that Comer has not pushed to hold others who did not appear in contempt, nor has he made any threats against the Department of Justice for failing to produce all of its documents on Epstein by a deadline agreed to by Congress late last year. The department has produced a fraction of the documents expected so far.

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Audio and video from the Clintons' testimony will be publicly available, Comer said, along with a transcript.

"Every American is going to be able to watch the entirety of this deposition," he said.

Fox News Digital's Greg Wehner and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.