House investigators are moving toward holding former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress after the pair declined to appear for scheduled depositions tied to the committee's Jeffrey Epstein-related probe, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Newsmax on Thursday.
Biggs, a member of the House Oversight Committee, said on "Wake Up America" that committee members from both parties approved the witness list and that Democrats as well as Republicans supported issuing subpoenas.
"When we did the subpoena motion on this, every Democrat in the room voted to do this," Biggs said, adding the committee "spent six months negotiating back and forth with the Clintons' lawyers."
Biggs said the Clintons' attorneys had indicated they intended to testify and that the committee adjusted scheduling to accommodate them but that the Clintons ultimately did not appear.
"We accommodated their schedule, moving this once, and moving it to this date," he said. "But then they just send a little paper telling us some of the things that they wanted us to know about the Epstein case."
Biggs said the next step would be a contempt vote followed by a referral to the Justice Department.
Asked what penalties could apply, Biggs said contempt of Congress can carry prison time, though he stressed the process would move through the Justice Department after a referral.
Biggs also said the committee wants to question Hillary Clinton because of alleged connections involving the Clinton Foundation.
"Jeffrey Epstein said that he helped set up the Clinton Foundation," Biggs said, adding that the committee wants to learn "what the relationship really was between Bill, Hillary, and Jeffrey Epstein."
Biggs said he does not necessarily accept Epstein's claims as true but said lawmakers want to determine the facts.
"I don't know if you can believe anything that Jeffrey Epstein said, but we've got to find that out," he said.
Pressed on whether a search warrant could be pursued for records, Biggs said the Justice Department has protocols that could allow investigators to seek access to documents as part of an investigation, including one tied to contempt proceedings.
"In reality, those types of protocols, those processes are in place," he said.
"DOJ could say, well, as part of this investigation and … part of the contempt investigation that they would do, they want to get access to those records, so they could execute a search warrant," Biggs added.
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