Bill and Hillary Clinton on Tuesday refused to testify in a Republican-led congressional investigation of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying it was a partisan exercise.

“Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences,” the Clintons wrote in a letter to Republican Representative James Comer, who chairs the House of Representatives Oversight Committee.

“For us, now is that time.”

Comer said the committee will meet next week to hold former Democratic President Bill Clinton in contempt. That could potentially lead to criminal charges.

A committee spokesperson said the panel will also begin contempt proceedings against Hillary, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, if she does not appear before the panel on Wednesday.

The Clintons said they had tried to provide what “little information” they had to help with the investigation and accused Comer of shifting focus away from the Trump administration’s actions.

Epstein died in jail in 2019, during US President Donald Trump’s first term in office, while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide

“If the government didn’t do all it could to investigate and prosecute these crimes, for whatever reason, that should be the focus of your work … There is no evidence that you are doing so,” the Clintons wrote.

“There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics,” they said.

Epstein White House visits and flights

Comer said “most Americans” want Bill Clinton to answer questions about his ties to Epstein. The Kentucky Republican said Epstein visited the White House 17 times while Clinton was in office and that the former president had flown on Epstein’s plane some 27 times.

Clinton has expressed regret about the relationship and has said he knew nothing about Epstein’s criminal activity. No evidence has surfaced that Clinton was involved in sex trafficking.

“No ones accusing Bill Clinton of any wrongdoing,” Comer said. “We just have questions.”

The US Justice Department has been releasing files tied to criminal probes of Epstein, who was once friends with Trump and the Clintons, in compliance with a transparency law passed by Congress.

A separate letter sent to the committee on Monday by the Clintons’ attorneys said the subpoenas for their testimony were invalid, unenforceable and “nothing more than a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals, as President Trump has directed”.