By Bhargav Acharya
Jan 13 (Reuters) - Bill and Hillary Clinton on Tuesday refused to testify in a Republican-led congressional investigation of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying it was a partisan exercise.
"Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences," the Clintons wrote in a letter to Republican Representative James Comer, who chairs the House of Representatives
Oversight Committee. "For us, now is that time."
Comer has threatened to hold the Clintons in contempt if they failed to appear before the committee, which could potentially lead to criminal charges.
In the letter shared on social media by Hillary Clinton, the Clintons said they had tried to provide what "little information" they had to help with the investigation and accused Comer of shifting focus away from the Trump administration's failures.
"We've done so because Mr. Epstein's crimes were horrific. If the Government didn't do all it could to investigate and prosecute these crimes, for whatever reason, that should be the focus of your work ... There is no evidence that you are doing so," they wrote.
"There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics," they said, and added that they expect Comer to direct the committee to hold them in contempt.
President Donald Trump's administration, under pressure from Trump's political base, has ordered the U.S. Justice Department to release files tied to criminal probes of Epstein, who was once friends with Trump and the Clintons, in compliance with a transparency law passed by Congress.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Rod Nickel)
