The House Oversight Committee issued deposition subpoenas on Aug. 5 to failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton requiring their testimony “related to horrific crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein.”
Evidently the Clintons didn’t feel that they should be held to the same standard to which Democrats previously held President Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon and current trade adviser Peter Navarro, who were both jailed for defying subpoenas issued by the Jan. 6 committee.
‘The Clintons were legally required to appear and instead responded to our good-faith negotiations with defiance.’
After repeated warnings that the Clintons risked criminal exposure by failing to comply with the subpoenas, the committee advanced two resolutions on Wednesday recommending that the House of Representatives find them in contempt of Congress.
The resolution finding Hillary Clinton in contempt passed in a 28-15 vote. The three Democratic lawmakers who joined Republicans in supporting the resolution were Reps. Summer Lee (Pa.), Melanie Stansbury (N.M.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.).
The resolution finding Bill Clinton in contempt passed in a 34-8 vote with the help of Lee, Stansbury, Tlaib, and six other Democrats: Maxwell Frost (Fla.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Stephen Lynch (Mass.), Emily Randall (Wash.), and Lateefah Simon (Calif.).
“By voting to hold the Clintons in contempt, the Committee sent a clear message: No one is above the law, and justice must be applied equally — regardless of position, pedigree, or prestige,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said in the wake of the votes. “The Clintons were legally required to appear and instead responded to our good-faith negotiations with defiance, delay, and obstruction.”
RELATED: Ghislaine Maxwell scheduled to testify before House Oversight Committee
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images.
The Clintons’ lawyers, apparently aware that the other shoe was about to drop, proposed that Comer travel to New York for a conversation with Bill Clinton where “no official transcript would be recorded and other Members of Congress would be barred from participating,” Comer indicated on Tuesday.
Comer noted both that the “Clintons’ latest demands make clear they believe their last name entitles them to special treatment” and that the proposal for a transcript-free interview was unworkable because “Clinton has a documented history of parsing language to evade questions, responded falsely under oath, and was impeached and suspended from the practice of law as a result.”
Angel Urena, deputy chief of staff to Bill Clinton, denied Comer’s framing and stated hours ahead of the votes that “we have offered to help, we have helped, and to this very moment we are ready to help. But the Republicans REFUSE to say yes.”
Urena suggested that the dealbreaker was ultimately lawmakers’ alleged refusal to “keep their questions about the Epstein investigation to questions about Jeffrey Epstein.”
House GOP leaders are reportedly not expected to vote on whether to refer the contempt findings to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution until lawmakers return in February. The Washington Post suggested that the delay will afford the Clintons time to talk their way out of hot water and into an arrangement with the committee.
Democrats have a history of evading consequence for defying congressional subpoenas.
Eric Holder, former President Barack Obama’s attorney general, was held in contempt of Congress in a decisive 255-67 vote in 2012 for refusing to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal.
The Obama Justice Department rewarded Holder for keeping Obama’s documents from the American people’s elected representatives by refusing to prosecute.
In 2024, House Republicans voted to hold former Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas for audio recordings of former President Joe Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur.
The Biden Department of Justice revealed on June 14, 2024, that it would not bother prosecuting the Democratic official.
House Republicans talked a big game in early 2024 about possible repercussions after Hunter Biden defied a congressional subpoena. Biden managed to get out unscathed as lawmakers dropped their proposed contempt resolution to give the pardoned felon’s attorneys more time.
Republican allies have not been so lucky.
After the Democrat-controlled House voted 229-202 in 2021 to hold him in contempt of Congress, the Biden DOJ energetically prosecuted Steve Bannon, securing a conviction and recommending that he serve at least six months in prison and pay a $200,000 fine. He ultimately served four.
Navarro received a similar treatment and ended up serving a four-month prison sentence as well.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Bill clinton, Hillary clinton, Clinton, Contempt of congress, Contempt, Jeffrey epstein, Epstein, Hillary, House oversight committee, James comer, Politics
