Former US President Bill Clinton refused to appear Tuesday at the Capitol in Washington for a congressional hearing on his past ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, exposing himself and his wife Hillary to prosecution for obstruction of Congress.

"He did not show up today," James Comer, the Republican head of a powerful House committee investigating the Epstein case, told reporters.

"Nobody is accusing Bill Clinton of anything wrong, we only have questions," the elected official added, referring to the 79-year-old former Democratic president.

His wife Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate who lost to Donald Trump in 2016, was expected at Congress on Wednesday.

But in a letter published Tuesday, the couple announced their refusal to appear for hearings and claimed that the summonses they received were "legally invalid".

In this acerbic letter, Bill and Hillary Clinton also criticize the fact that James Comer allowed the commission to cancel the subpoenas of seven other former officials, in exchange for written depositions, while the Republican elected official allegedly refused on several occasions to do the same for the couple.

"We tried to give you the little information we have. We did it because Mr. Epstein's crimes were horrific," they say.

- Transparency -

A prominent figure in the New York jet set, Jeffrey Epstein is accused of sexually exploiting more than a thousand young women, including minors.

He was found hanged in his New York cell in 2019 before his trial for sex crimes. His death fueled countless conspiracy theories claiming he was murdered to protect prominent figures.

During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump promised his base explosive revelations. But since returning to power, the Republican has been reluctant to release the dossier and is facing a backlash, including from among his supporters.

In August, as controversy grew over the government's lack of transparency, the Clintons were subpoenaed to appear before Congress.

"By your own admission, you travelled on Jeffrey Epstein's private plane four times in 2002 and 2003," stated the subpoena letter sent to Bill Clinton by James Comer.

The committee will vote next week to begin the procedure to obstruct Congress against the former president, the Republican official said Tuesday.

Such a procedure would then need to be adopted by a vote in the House before any possible prosecution by the Department of Justice.

- Redacted documents -

Bill Clinton, who claimed in 2019 that he had not spoken to Jeffrey Epstein for more than a decade, has always denied having any knowledge of his crimes.

Once close to the financier with whom he moved in the same circles, Donald Trump has also always denied having any knowledge of his criminal behavior and claims to have broken with him well before his legal troubles.

However, in mid-November he called for an investigation into the links between his Democratic predecessor and Jeffrey Epstein.

In late December, after months of delays, his government began to release thousands of photos, videos and texts about the wealthy financier.

But the entire file has not yet been made public as required by a law promulgated in November, and many published files have been heavily redacted, like one document entirely blacked out over 119 pages.

In their letter Tuesday, Bill and Hillary Clinton criticized James Comer for not using his powers as a congressional official, they said, to "force the Justice Department to comply with the law and release all Epstein documents, including anything that relates to them, as they have publicly called for."