Bill Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing by survivors of Epstein’s abuse, and has denied knowledge of his sex offending.
In a statement on Tuesday, Comer said the subpoenas to the Clintons were voted on in a “bipartisan manner”.
“We communicated with President Clinton’s legal team for months now, giving them opportunity after opportunity to come in, to give us a day, and they continue to delay, delay, delay, to the point where we had no idea whether they’re going to show up today or not,” he said.
The Clintons contended the subpoenas – legal orders to provide testimony – “are nothing more than a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals, as President Trump has directed”.
In a letter to Comer, lawyers for the Clintons said they had communicated “proactively and voluntarily” with the committee and that the subpoenas were “untethered to a valid legislative purpose, unwarranted because they do not seek pertinent information, and an unprecedented infringement on the separation of powers”.
Bill Clinton appears with Epstein and at the late financier’s estate in photographs that were recently released by the US Department of Justice after Congress passed a law requiring the agency to release material related to investigations of Epstein.
One picture shows the former president swimming in a pool, and another shows him lying on his back with his hands behind his head in what appears to be a hot tub.
Clinton was photographed with Epstein several times over the 1990s and early 2000s, before Epstein was arrested for sex-trafficking.
Clinton spokesman Angel Ureña said when the photos were released last month that they were decades old and Clinton stopped associating with Epstein before his crimes came to light.
A spokesperson has previously acknowledged that Bill Clinton took four trips with staff on Epstein’s private plane in 2002 and 2003, and met with Epstein in New York in 2002. Clinton also visited Epstein’s New York apartment around that time.
Citing flight logs, US media have previously reported Clinton flew on Epstein’s jet more than two dozen times, occasionally without his Secret Service detail.