WASHINGTON — A key US congressional panel has voted to hold former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in contempt of Congress over their refusal to comply with subpoenas in its investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee approved the contempt measure, with the support of several Democrats, and it will now go to the full House of Representatives for a vote.

Nine Democrats joined with Republicans in voting to hold the former president in contempt. The vote to hold the former secretary of state in contempt was also bipartisan. But fewer Democrats supported that move, with some arguing she should be allowed to submit written testimony or should not have faced a subpoena for testimony in the first place.

If it passes the chamber, the matter will be referred to the justice department.

The committee had summoned both Clintons to testify about Epstein, with whom Bill Clinton has appeared in photographs in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Bill Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing by survivors of Epstein's abuse, and has denied knowledge of his sex offending.

Lawyers for the Clintons had called the Oversight Committee subpoenas "unenforceable", and said they had already provided the "limited information" they had about Epstein.

The panel’s action marks an escalation in its feud with the Clintons over testimony in the bipartisan Epstein investigation. A successful contempt vote by the GOP-controlled House would be both symbolic — as rebukes to the Clintons — and could also be used as a tool to compel them to testify. It could also have legal consequences if the House votes and the courts or the Justice Department decide to take up the matter.

A vote by the full House would set up a referral to the Department of Justice, which would then have to decide whether to prosecute.

“Former President Clinton and Secretary Clinton were legally required to appear for depositions before this committee. They refused,” House Oversight Chair James Comer said during Wednesday’s committee meeting.

The former president sought a last-minute off-ramp to prevent the contempt proceedings from moving forward. Clinton proposed a limited interview with the top two lawmakers on the committee, according to a letter from the Clintons’ attorneys sent to Comer.

In a statement, Comer called the offer from the Clintons’ team “unreasonable” and said he planned to move forward with holding them in contempt.

Angel Ureña, Clinton's spokesman, responded to Comer on X, saying: “We never said no to a transcript. Interviews are on the record and under oath. Whether it was written or typed isn’t why this is happening. If that were the last or only issue, we’d be in a different position. You keep misdirecting to protect you-know-who and God knows what.”

The attorneys also said 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 justice department 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.

Angel Ureña, Clinton's spokesman, said when the photos were released that they were decades old and Clinton stopped associating with Epstein before his crimes came to light.

Although a number of Democrats agreed that Bill Clinton should answer questions from the committee about his previous relationship with Epstein, many argued that the panel should also interview Trump for the same reasons.

Comer said that Trump has “answered a lot of questions” about Epstein but when it was pointed out those questions have not been under oath, the Republican chairman added, “There’s never been a sitting president come under oath in an Oversight Committee hearing. But we’ll see how this plays out. We want to get the truth.”

While Comer said he hasn’t seen anything “that implicates President Trump,” he didn’t rule out needing to speak with the president. — Agencies