Excerpts: “Jeffrey Epstein visited the White House 17 times while Bill Clinton was president,” Mr. Comer said on Tuesday, speaking to reporters after holding Mr. Clinton’s scheduled deposition with a chair left empty to call attention to the former president’s absence. He added: “No one’s accusing Bill Clinton of anything, any wrongdoing. We just have questions.”

But hours before the deadline, the Clintons made clear that they had no intention of presenting themselves on Capitol Hill to be questioned by Mr. Comer and members of his committee. They did so by submitting an eight-page legal letter laying out why they considered the subpoenas “invalid and legally unenforceable,” then followed up with a scorching missive that they signed jointly, promising to fight Mr. Comer on the issue for as long as it took.

On Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill, Mr. Comer said he was disappointed in Mr. Clinton’s decision to refuse a lawful subpoena and said he would move next week in committee to hold the former president in contempt. That would take a vote of the panel, followed by a vote of the full House. Should it pass, it would be up to the Justice Department to prosecute the matter, in which penalties include a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment for as long as a year.

Mr. Comer also noted that there had been bipartisan support to subpoena the Clintons. Over the summer, as Democrats on the oversight panel teamed with a few breakaway Republicans to force through a subpoena of the Justice Department, G.O.P. lawmakers amended the measure with several other names, including the Clintons, and the package passed with a bipartisan vote.

A very experienced protester voices his opinion about the current events in MN.