WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that they will refuse to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify in a House committee's investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
The Clintons, in a letter released on social media, slammed the House Oversight probe as “legally invalid” even as Republican lawmakers prepared contempt of Congress proceedings against them. The Clintons wrote that the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Republican Rep. James Comer, is on the cusp of a process “literally designed to result in our imprisonment.”
“We will forcefully defend ourselves,” wrote the Clintons, who are Democrats. They accused Comer of allowing other former officials to provide written statements about Epstein to the committee, while selectively enforcing subpoenas against them.
Comer said he’ll begin contempt of Congress proceedings next week. It potentially starts a complicated and politically messy process that Congress has rarely reached for and could result in prosecution from the Justice Department.
“No one’s accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. We just have questions," Comer told reporters after Bill Clinton did not show up for a scheduled deposition at House offices Tuesday.
He added, “Anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together.”
Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein but had a well-documented friendship with the wealthy financier throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Republicans have zeroed in on that relationship as they wrestle with demands for a full accounting of Epstein's wrongdoing.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. He killed himself in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial.
“We have tried to give you the little information we have. We've done so because Mr. Epstein's crimes were horrific,” the Clintons wrote in the letter.
Multiple former presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, but none has been compelled to do so. That history was invoked by President Donald Trump in 2022, between his first and second terms, when he faced a subpoena by the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump's lawyers cited decades of legal precedent they said shielded an ex-president from being ordered to appear before Congress. The committee ultimately withdrew its subpoena.
Comer also indicated that the Oversight committee would not attempt to compel testimony from Trump about Epstein, saying that it could not force a sitting president to testify.
Trump, a Republican, also had a well-documented friendship with Epstein. He has said he cut off that relationship before Epstein was accused of sexual abuse.
FILE - Former President Bill Clinton, left, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listen as Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a eulogy for U.S. Rep.†Sheila Jackson Lee, Aug. 1, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
FILE - Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listen during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The death toll from nationwide protests in Iran surpassed 2,000 people on Tuesday, activists said, as Iranians made phone calls abroad for the first time in days after authorities severed communications during a crackdown on demonstrators.
The number of dead climbed to at least 2,003, as reported by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iranian state television offered the first official acknowledgment of the high death toll, quoting an official saying the country had “a lot of martyrs” and that it did not release a toll earlier because of the dead suffering gruesome injuries. However, that statement came only after activists reported their toll.
The demonstrations began a little over two weeks ago in anger over Iran’s ailing economy and soon targeted the theocracy, particularly 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Images obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press from demonstrations in Tehran showed graffiti and chants calling for Khamenei's death — something that could carry a death sentence.
Soon after the new death toll became public, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!”
He added: “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.” Trump did not give details.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to the Qatar-funded satellite news network Al Jazeera in an interview aired Monday night, said he had continued to communicate with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.
But after Trump's message Tuesday, top Iranian security official Ali Larijani responded by writing: “We declare the names of the main killers of the people of Iran: 1- Trump 2-” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The activist group said 1,850 of the dead were protesters and 135 were government-affiliated. Nine children were killed, along with nine civilians it said were not taking part in protests. More than 16,700 people have been detained, the group said.
With the internet down in Iran, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The AP has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Skylar Thompson with the Human Rights Activists News Agency told AP the new toll was shocking, particularly since it reached four times the death toll of the monthslong 2022 Mahsa Amini protests in just two weeks.
She warned that the toll would still rise: “We’re horrified, but we still think the number is conservative."
Speaking by phone for the first time since their calls were cut off from the outside world, Iranian witnesses described a heavy security presence in central Tehran, burned-out government buildings, smashed ATMs and few passersby. Meanwhile, people remain concerned about what comes next, including the possibility of a U.S. attack.
“My customers talk about Trump’s reaction while wondering if he plans a military strike against the Islamic Republic,” said shopkeeper Mahmoud, who gave only his first name out of concern for his safety. “I don’t expect Trump or any other foreign country cares about the interests of Iranians.”
Reza, a taxi driver who also gave just his first name, said protests are on many people's minds. “People — particularly young ones — are hopeless, but they talk about continuing the protests,” he said.
Several people in Tehran were able to call the AP on Tuesday and speak to a journalist. The AP bureau in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was unable to call those numbers back. Witnesses said text messaging was still down, and internet users in Iran could connect to government-approved websites locally but nothing abroad.
Anti-riot police officers wore helmets and body armor while carrying batons, shields, shotguns and tear gas launchers, according to the witnesses. Police stood watch at major intersections. Nearby, witnesses saw members of the Revolutionary Guard's all-volunteer Basij force, who carried firearms and batons. Security officials in plainclothes were visible in public spaces.
Several banks and government offices were burned during the unrest, witnesses said. Banks struggled to complete transactions without the internet, they added.
Shops were open, though there was little foot traffic in the capital. Tehran's Grand Bazaar, where the demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of Iran's rial currency, opened Tuesday. However, a witness described speaking to multiple shopkeepers who said security forces ordered them to reopen no matter what. Iranian state media had not acknowledged that order.
The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
It also appeared that security service personnel were searching for Starlink terminals, as people in northern Tehran reported authorities raiding apartment buildings with satellite dishes. While satellite television dishes are illegal, many in the capital have them in homes, and officials broadly had given up on enforcing the law in recent years.
On the streets, people also could be seen challenging plainclothes security officials, who were stopping passersby at random.
State television also read a statement about mortuary and morgue services being free — a signal that some likely charged high fees for the release of bodies amid the crackdown.
Khamenei, in a statement carried by state TV, praised the tens of thousands who took part in pro-government demonstrations nationwide on Monday.
“This was a warning to American politicians to stop their deceit and not rely on traitorous mercenaries,” he said. “The Iranian nation is strong and powerful and aware of the enemy.”
State TV on Monday aired chants from the crowd, which appeared to number in the tens of thousands, of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” Others cried out, “Death to the enemies of God!” Iran’s attorney general has warned that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge.
In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this photo obtained by The Associated Press, Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo)
A slogan is written on a wall reading in Farsi: "Death to dictator" in an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
A placard is placed on bricks which reads in Farsi: "Long live the Shah," referring to the Pahlavi dynasty which was toppled by 1979 Islamic Revolution, in an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo)
Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo)
This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)
A picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set alight by protesters outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
FILE - Protesters march on a bridge in Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 29, 2025. (Fars News Agency via AP, File)
