patrick.net

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed late Monday to testify in a House investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but the Republican leading the probe said an agreement had not yet been finalized.

Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, continued to press for criminal contempt of Congress charges against both Clintons Monday evening for defying a congressional subpoena when attorneys for the Clintons emailed staff for the Oversight panel, saying the pair would accept Comer’s demands and “will appear for depositions on mutually agreeable dates.”

The attorneys requested that Comer, a Kentucky Republican, agree not to move forward with the contempt proceedings. Comer, however, said he was not immediately dropping the charges, which would carry the threat of a substantial fine and even incarceration if passed by the House and successfully prosecuted by the Department of Justice.

The New York Times ran a breaking story this morning, headlined, “Clintons Capitulate on House Epstein Inquiry, Agreeing to Testify.” I guess mocking Steve Bannon’s jail sentence for refusing to testify wasn’t such a hot idea, huh, Hillary?

The sub-headline explained, “Former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the ex-secretary of state, agreed to depositions they had long resisted— just days before the House was to vote to hold them in contempt.”

The Clintons’ chickens are coming home to roost— on Pedo Island. For thirty years, the Clintons have treated congressional subpoenas like Nigerian prince emails— acknowledged with a smirk and immediately deleted. But yesterday, as the House was literally mid-vote to hold them in contempt, the most Teflon couple in American political history finally ran out of non-stick spray.

They tried everything and House Republicans held the line. How about written statements? Rejected. A four-hour interview in New York where Bill could bill by the hour? Rejected. Hillary submitting a sworn pinky-promise instead of showing up? Rejected. The Clintons’ lawyers fired off a flurry of desperate last-minute emails more creative than a middle-schooler explaining why his test answers were identical to the girl right in front of him.

Then, mid-committee-meeting, as Chairman James Comer (R-Ky) was literally testifying about holding them in contempt, their attorney fired off a desperate email: Fine. We’ll come. “The Clintons,” the Times admitted, “ultimately waved the white flag and agreed to fully comply with Mr. Comer’s demands.” It was total surrender. “The Clintons on Monday evening agreed to all of Mr. Comer’s demands, removing any time limit on the deposition of Mr. Clinton or on the range of topics that Republicans could ask him about.” ...

After months of insisting that the majesty of the office required that former presidents not be subjected to this indignity, last night their spokesman bravely pivoted and said the Clintons “look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone.” Give me a break.

This, from a woman who ran a classified email server from her bathroom closet. From the family that BleachBit-scrubbed 33,000 subpoenaed emails, smashed BlackBerries with hammers, and told congressional investigators to go pound sand for three decades. Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s Lolita Express at least 26 times, according to flight logs. Sometimes he ditched his Secret Service detail. He visited Epstein’s island. He accepted Epstein’s money. He posed for photographs, some of which are hard to look at before eating.

Prison for perjury is measured in years. Bill was already disbarred for lying under oath about Monica Lewinsky— and that was at the pinnacle of his Teflon status, for a relatively trivial Oval Office dalliance.

Now he’s agreed to another deposition, this one about cavorting with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In 2026. With millions of Epstein files surging around the internet. With a deposition transcript that will almost certainly be published online, thanks to the Epstein Transparency Act. What could possibly go wrong? I wonder if they’ll ask the former president about Epstein’s portrait of him? 🍿