US House Speaker Mike Johnson addresses MPs in the House of Commons alongside Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord McFall and Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle in Westminster, central London, Britain. Picture date: Tuesday January 20, 2026. Jordan Pettitt/Pool via REUTERS
One of Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) former attorneys is teed up to help bring down the GOP's latest gambit related to the Jeffrey Epstein files, according to a new report.
Ashley Callen, the co-chairwoman of the congressional investigations practice at Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block and a Republican lawyer who previously worked as general counsel for Speaker Mike Johnson, was recently hired by Bill and Hillary Clinton to represent them against GOP subpoenas for their testimony, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. Callen was hired at a time when negotiations between the Clintons and top Republicans in the House of Representatives had "broken down," the Times reported.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) recently rejected an offer from the Clintons to testify at their New York office. The offer included having Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) and two staff members present to take notes, the Times reported.
Comer claimed he rejected the offer because it did not guarantee a full transcript. The Clintons disputed that characterization to the Times.
"And in negotiations that stretched over the holiday weekend, Ms. Callen, working with Mr. Marin, offered up Mr. Clinton for a face-to-face interview with Mr. Comer," the report reads in part. "Such an interview, she noted, would have been the first time in history that a former president sat for in-person testimony, under oath, to assist with a congressional investigation."