By Annie Grayer, Eric Bradner, CNN
(CNN) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was disappointed after nearly half of the House Oversight Committee’s Democrats voted Wednesday to hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas in its Jeffrey Epstein investigation. And on Thursday, she let them know it.
In a private meeting, Pelosi said she was upset that Democrats supported the contempt vote because the former president and former secretary of state were still negotiating with the committee over the terms of a possible future appearance, two sources in the room told CNN.
One of the sources in the room described Pelosi as “emphatic” and said of the former speaker’s remarks: “When she speaks, she means it. She knows her voice has power.”
The former speaker suggested no proceedings should move forward against the Clintons until after the Justice Department has released all of the Epstein investigative files.
And she rejected the argument that they should be treated the same as Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, two Trump allies and first-term administration officials who were held in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas from the committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. After being held in contempt, both were later prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to prison terms.
CNN has reached out to Pelosi’s office.
Pelosi’s frustration underscores the Democratic fracture after the Clintons failed to comply with a subpoena in the Epstein case. The Clintons had cast the effort to compel their separate appearances on Capitol Hill to answer questions under oath as unfair and legally unenforceable, and they framed their refusal as a principled stand for America.
“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. For us, now is that time,” the Clintons wrote in a letter at the time of their refusal.
But as Republicans on the panel were quick to note, even Democrats had signed off on the subpoenas. And the Clintons’ strategy in dealing with demands that they testify about the late convicted sex offender has put them in a tough legal position, experts say, in addition to the political fallout it has created for them and their political party.
The Clintons are “in a very difficult position, because these cases are very straightforward. They’re pretty much, ‘Did you get a subpoena, and did you go testify?’” said former US Attorney John Fishwick, a Barack Obama appointee. “The courts are going to say that Congress has broad discretion on who they want to ask for a deposition.”
Fishwick pointed to Bannon and Navarro receiving jail sentences, and said the Clintons run the risk that judges would feel they need to be consistent.
David Rapallo, professor at Georgetown Law and the former House Oversight Committee Democratic staff director under the late Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, said that “as a legal matter, Congress clearly has the authority to issue subpoenas, including for depositions, and if witnesses refuse to comply with those subpoenas, they can be held in contempt.”
“Their perceived unfairness is not necessarily a legitimate basis to refuse to comply with a legal requirement, although it does appear the Clintons are being singled out when others, like the attorney general, have not produced information required by law,” he said.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Bill and Hillary Clinton for comment.
The Clintons have sought to negotiate over how they would participate in the House Oversight Committee’s Epstein probe. On January 16, the Clintons’ attorneys offered to make the former president available for an interview