It’s never been altogether clear why Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, launched a crusade to get Bill and Hillary Clinton to testify as part of his panel’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation. But the Kentucky Republican did it anyway, even issuing first-of-their-kind subpoenas to compel the Democrats’ testimony.
When the Clintons resisted the cheap, partisan tactics, Comer upped the ante, scheduled a contempt hearing and set the stage for a possible criminal process. The former Democratic president and former secretary of state, left with little choice, ultimately acquiesced.
There’s still some question about how the next steps will unfold, though Hillary Clinton sent an interesting rhetorical shot across Comer’s bow on Thursday morning. “For six months, we engaged Republicans on the Oversight Committee in good faith,” she wrote online. “We told them what we know, under oath. They ignored all of it. They moved the goalposts and turned accountability into an exercise in distraction.”
“So let’s stop the games,” Hillary Clinton added. “If you want this fight, @RepJamesComer, let’s have it — in public. You love to talk about transparency. There’s nothing more transparent than a public hearing, cameras on. We will be there.”
The hapless committee chairman hasn’t yet responded, but in the meantime, there’s also a larger context to all of this. The New York Times reported that no former president has ever been compelled to testify to Congress under subpoena, and Comer has set a precedent his party might ultimately come to regret.
Members of Congress don’t necessarily think that is a good thing; they want the ability to bring in former presidents when they are relevant witnesses and may have something meaningful to say. And Mr. Comer’s move was a rare power play by a Republican lawmaker at a time when the G.O.P.-led House and Senate have ceded much of their power to the White House.
But his accomplishment also amounted to a remarkable use of government power to target a political adversary — the kind seen more often in autocratic societies where a peaceful transfer of power is not a given because leaders fear ending up in prison after leaving office. And it was one that some experts said further chipped away at the country’s democratic norms.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told the Times that “like all powers of Congress or any other branch, these are powers that can be abused. We’re living in a period of spectacular abuse of power.”
That’s true, though it’s also true that now that the door is open, others can walk through it.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, told the Times: “There’s no question that Oversight Democrats will want to speak to Donald Trump and others. That is a precedent that has now been set by Comer and House Republicans.”
It was against this backdrop that NBC News’ Tom Llamas reminded the incumbent president: “Democrats are already saying if you bring President Bill Clinton and he has to testify, we’re bringing President Trump.” Before the anchor could finish his question about this, Trump interjected.
“Well, I think they might say that, you know? But they’ve already brought me. See, I’ve been brought,” the president replied. “They had me indicted, many, many times. Many, many times.”
Like so many of the president’s comments, this didn’t make any sense at all — congressional Democrats had nothing to do with the many criminal charges Trump has faced — though the response suggested he’s not at all eager to answer questions about Epstein, even if subpoenaed in future years, and even if the Clintons cooperate.
Watch this space.
