No one is above the law, not even Bill and Hillary Clinton

OPINION:

Last week, Bill and Hillary Clinton refused to testify in the House of Representatives’ Jeffrey Epstein investigation, saying: “Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences. For us, now is that time.”

When Mr. Clinton was president, Epstein visited the White House 17 times. Although no one is accusing Mr. Clinton of any wrongdoing, questions abound regarding his relationship with the American financier, human trafficker, child sex offender and serial rapist.

For months, Democrats have hounded President Trump about releasing the Epstein files, demanding transparency. In November, Mr. Trump signed a bill ordering the release of all files and communications related to Epstein, and his Justice Department has been doing just that since Dec. 18.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer is conducting his own investigation and subpoenaed the Clintons to testify behind closed doors, given their relationship with Epstein and his longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell. The Clintons said they considered the subpoenas “invalid and legally unenforceable” and accused Mr. Comer of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a politically driven process “literally designed to result in our imprisonment.”

So, according to Democrats’ own standards, to prison Mr. and Mrs. Clinton should go.

Peter Navarro served four months in jail for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify before the House Jan. 6 committee. Mr. Navarro, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, cited executive privilege in his noncompliance — an excuse the Clintons don’t have. Mr. Navarro was convicted of contempt of Congress in 2023 for failing to provide documents and testify about the 2020 election and the Capitol riot.

Like the Clintons, Mr. Navarro argued that his prosecution was a political weaponization of the justice system. At the time, CNN boasted that Mr. Navarro’s punishment for evading a House inquiry “will boost the leverage lawmakers will have — under administrations of both parties — to secure cooperation with their investigations.”

For decades, the congressional and executive branches tested the limits of Congress’ ability to enforce its subpoena power without referring the matter to the Justice Department for prosecution. Before Mr. Navarro, it was largely a game of chicken, where both sides would typically come to some sort of an agreement.

However, Democrats shattered those norms with their fraudulent Jan. 6 committee, stacked with liberal partisans and two anti-Trump Republicans, concluding that Mr. Trump was the “central cause” of the Capitol riot and part of a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election result.

Steve Bannon also served four months in jail for defying a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee, starting in July 2024. Although Mr. Bannon didn’t have executive privilege as an excuse, he was found guilty in 2022 of failing to provide documents and appear for a deposition related to his involvement in the 2021 riot.

Because an appeals court rejected Mr. Navarro’s bid to stay out of jail while he appealed his conviction, a federal judge rejected a stay on Mr. Bannon’s imprisonment and revoked bail. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that witnesses who “willfully” refuse to comply with valid congressional subpoenas can be punished, regardless of the excuse. Mr. Bannon was arguing that he defied the subpoena based on the advice of his attorney, who said Mr. Bannon was immune from the panel’s demands.

Therefore, the Clintons should be held to the same standard for defying a congressional subpoena. Last week, Mr. Comer said he was “disappointed” in their decision to refuse a lawful subpoena and would move this week in committee to hold the former president in contempt.

If passed by Congress, as Democrats did in the case of Messrs. Navarro and Bannon, it will be up to the Justice Department to prosecute the matter. The Clintons could then be fined up to $100,000 for their noncompliance and face jail time for as long as a year.

Four months behind bars should do the trick.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Democrats, in their effort to take down Mr. Trump and his allies, shattered the way in which Washington typically operates.

The Clintons seem to think the old standards still apply, arguing that the subpoenas were “unwarranted because they do not seek pertinent information, and an unprecedented infringement on the separation of powers.”

Except the subpoenas aren’t “an unprecedented infringement on the separation of powers.” Just ask Messrs. Navarro and Bannon.

No one is above the law.

• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.