The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is threatening to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress if they fail to appear for closed-door depositions next week as part of the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The panel previously issued a subpoena for Bill Clinton, who has been tied to Epstein, to appear before congressional investigators Jan. 13; Hillary Clinton has been provided a subpoena to testify Jan. 14. But a committee spokesperson said Friday that, so far, neither had confirmed they would participate.

“They are obligated under the law to appear and we expect them to do so,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “If the Clintons do not appear for their depositions, the House Oversight Committee will initiate contempt of Congress proceedings.”

This seldom-used congressional power can range in implications from a symbolic action to a precursor to forcing jail time.

In examples of the potential serious consequences to contempt of Congress charges, two Trump associates, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, were sentenced to prison time for failing to cooperate with subpoenas from the Democratic-led select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the Capitol.

The GOP-controlled House voted to hold former Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt in 2024 over the Justice Department’s decision not to provide the audio of then-President Joe Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur.

The Biden-era DOJ did not prosecute the case, and that audio was ultimately released by the Trump-era department.

A lawyer for the Clintons did not immediately return a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Bill Clinton has insisted the former president did not know about Epstein’s crimes and that, as of 2019, had not spoken to Epstein in over a decade. In wake of the initial release of materials in the Justice Department’s possession in the Epstein case in which Bill Clinton appeared in multiple photos, the same spokesperson has called for the Trump administration to release all materials in its possession related to the former president.

“We need no such protection,” the statement read.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan said in an interview Friday he will invite former special counsel Jack Smith to testify in an open hearing as soon as this month in what would be a politically high-stakes event for members of both parties and the White House.

“He’s coming in,” the Ohio Republican said of Smith, who led the federal criminal cases against President Donald Trump.

Smith sat for over eight hours, with breaks, before Judiciary Committee members and staff investigators last month behind closed doors while his legal team has repeatedly requested a public forum for their client to argue his case.

Jordan released a transcript and video record on New Year’s Eve and said Friday he now wants Smith to stand before the public and defend his claims of misconduct against the president.

Smith found Trump guilty of working to circumvent the results of the 2020 election, mishandling classified documents and obstruction of justice, but was forced to drop the charges when Trump won reelection in 2024.

“One of the key takeaways in the transcript is, we said, ‘did you [have] any evidence that President Trump was responsible for the violence that took place at the Capitol?’ He had no evidence of that whatsoever,” Jordan said of the committee’s December interview with Smith.

Jordan said he is eager for Smith to answer that question, and others, before live cameras.

Lanny Breuer, one of Smith’s lawyers and a partner at the firm Covington & Burling, said in a statement that “Jack has been clear for months he is ready and willing to answer questions in a public hearing about his investigations into President Trump’s alleged unlawful efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents.”

Republicans have been going after Smith for years with allegations that he was presiding over a partisan witch hunt with the support of the Biden administration, but they have redoubled their efforts after revelations that Smith’s office secretly obtained phone records for GOP lawmakers in the days around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Smith has maintained he never spoke to Biden or White House staff during his investigation.

Smith defended his work last month to House Judiciary members and staff, but his testimony was hamstrung, in part, by a federal court order that has kept the second volume of his report surrounding the classified documents case under seal. He has maintained he is interested in sharing the results of this investigation, but the Justice Department has interpreted that the order precludes him from discussing details with Congress.

These potential restrictions on his testimony back in December will likely be the same for a public hearing in the near future.

Democrats will likely celebrate the opportunity for Smith to discuss his work publicly, believing he has information that will damage the president.

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday there needs to be “a full investigation” into the shooting death of a woman in Minneapolis by an ICE agent while asserting that the officer was “operating in self-defense.”

Johnson said he understood many people on social media, including “elected officials,” are commenting on the video of the shooting. “But we all understand there has to be a full investigation,” he added. “That’s the appropriate thing. That will happen.”

Johnson quickly added it “appears to us that the officer involved was operating in self-defense” and “he made a snap judgment, as they do.”

He also mentioned reports that the ICE officer responsible for the shooting had been involved an incident last year where he had been dragged by a car and injured and thus had reason to think his life “was in danger.”

“We’ll have to see,” Johnson said, referring to the investigation.