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The elite playbook never changes. When the spotlight turns hot and the questions get too close, the powerful vanish behind walls of lawyers, letters, and lofty declarations of principle.
Former President Bill Clinton, once a frequent flyer on Jeffrey Epstein's plane and photographed repeatedly in the disgraced financier's orbit, has now openly defied a congressional subpoena.
Following Clinton's brazen refusal to answer under oath about ties to a convicted sex offender whose crimes scarred countless victims, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced Tuesday that Republicans will initiate contempt of Congress proceedings against the former president after he failed to appear for a scheduled closed-door deposition.
The panel, investigating government handling of Epstein's case, had issued subpoenas in August to Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other officials.
Depositions were delayed multiple times, including after Clinton cited a funeral attendance in December.
"We've communicated with President Clinton's legal team for months now, giving them opportunity after opportunity to come in to give us a day, and they continue to delay, delay, delay. Delaying to the point where we had no idea whether they would show up today," Comer told reporters.
The committee plans to markup the contempt resolution next week.
Hillary Clinton faces a deposition Wednesday, with Comer warning similar action if she skips it.
No Democrats appeared for Tuesday's session.
The Clintons deemed the subpoenas "invalid and legally unenforceable" in a letter to Comer.
They offered sworn statements instead of in-person testimony.
Bill Clinton has denied wrongdoing, noting he traveled on Epstein's plane during Clinton Foundation trips in the early 2000s before Epstein's charges.
Recent Justice Department file releases included multiple photos of Clinton with Epstein.
"For months, we've been offering the same exact thing he accepted from the rest, but he refuses and won't explain why. Make of that what you will," Angel Urena, a spokesperson for Bill Clinton, said in December.
"Since this started, we've been asking what the hell Hillary Clinton has to do with this, and [Comer] hasn't been able to come up with an answer," Nick Merrill, a spokesperson for Hillary Clinton, said last month.
Contempt carries up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, though prosecution is not guaranteed.
Past cases include prison sentences for Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro over Jan. 6 subpoenas, while Merrick Garland's 2024 contempt referral went unprosecuted by the Biden DOJ.
Accountability evaporates when the accused write their own rules.
The Clintons' defiance mocks the very system they once led, turning a probe into Epstein's enablers into another partisan circus. If former presidents can thumb their noses at lawful subpoenas without consequence, what remains of congressional oversight?
The victims deserve answers, not excuses. The American people deserve better than elite exceptionalism.
