Clinton Trump Epstein files testimony could set legal precedent for cases

Since there was such a storm over Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show, perhaps a solution is at hand. This compromise would satisfy red and blue America. The exhibit would stun the country: Former President Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump would testify at halftime about the Epstein files.

Republicans believe that former President Clinton has something to hide Jeffrey Epstein. Democrats think the same thing about President Trump. The House Oversight Committee summoned the former president and Hillary Clinton to testify about the Epstein files. After much debate, the Clintons are scheduled to appear behind closed doors later this month.

But both Bill and Hillary Clinton are now calling for open sessions. Democrats believe that such a public appearance — for a former president — would set a precedent for bringing in President Trump to answer questions about what he knew about Epstein.

Ghislaine Maxwell will appear before lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee for the deposition of the Epstein probe

Hillary Clinton addresses her staff and supporters about the US election results while her husband, former US President Bill Clinton, applauds at a hotel in Manhattan, New York, November 9, 2016. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

One of the architects of the law requiring the release of the Epstein files praised the former first couple’s demand last week to testify in a televised open hearing. Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, said the former president is an important witness.

“as long as [the hearing is] “It focused on Epstein, and it’s not a wild goose chase — it’s not trying to score political points or embarrass President Clinton or President Trump, it’s asking legitimate questions about what they knew happened and who they knew were involved in heinous acts. That should be a legitimate point of investigation,” Khanna said.

After agreeing to a closed session later this month, Hillary Clinton headed to X. “If you want this fight let’s make it public,” she wrote to Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Republican of Kentucky.

Former President Clinton echoed his wife’s words the next day on Channel X, also calling for a public hearing. The former commander-in-chief announced that he would not be used “as a prop in the closed kangaroo court”.

A spokeswoman for Comer accused the former first couple of “moving the goalposts”. He was always coming open for hearing. But after a Closed door deposition.

“Depositions have historically been more objective than hearings,” Comer said. “Unfortunately, the hearings have become more of an entertainment thing.”

It is difficult to trace exactly what the Clintons wanted.

The House Oversight Committee voted along party lines last August to subpoena both Bill and… Hillary Clinton to testify – along with a host of other prominent figures such as former Attorney General Bill Barr. After much bargaining, the committee asked them to come on the October dates. The Clintons challenged those things. The committee then made appointments for them just before Christmas. But neither of them appeared after that because of the funeral. The committee asked the Clinton family to give them appearance dates in January. They didn’t. The committee then set additional dates for January testimony. They’ve skipped those. That’s when Coomer threatened to hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress if they didn’t appear in January. The Oversight Committee voted — in a bipartisan fashion — for contempt. The House Rules Committee last week planned to prepare a measure to force the full chamber to vote in contempt of court — and to send the Clinton family criminal referrals to the Justice Department for prosecution after they defied subpoenas.

Revealed: Trump called on police chief to support Epstein investigation, lawmakers named 6 men protected from exposure

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., along with Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., left, speak to reporters after a closed-door briefing with Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and confidant of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on February 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

But the Clinton family finally agreed to the depositions at the end of this month. Once that was on the calendar, the duo began calling for public hearings.

There is a method behind this madness. There is no loyalty among young Democrats in Congress to the Clintons. In fact, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, The California Democrat came under fire from some Democrats for wanting the Clinton family to appear. Younger Democrats do not have as much reverence for the Clinton family as older Democrats. Hillary Clinton ran for president a decade ago. She has not been a senator since 2009. She last served as secretary of state in early 2013. President Clinton left the Oval Office more than a quarter-century ago.

But this is the Democrats’ gambit:

If former President Clinton appears about the Epstein files, it may be difficult to prove that President Trump will not appear.

“It certainly sets a precedent,” said Rep. Suhas Subramaniam, D-Virginia. “President Trump was subpoenaed during the January 6 investigations and didn’t show up. He invoked some sort of executive privilege. And so we’re kind of forcing the Clintons to show up with the threat of criminal contempt. That’s a precedent we’re setting.” “In other countries, such as the UK, the Prime Minister regularly comes before Parliament. Therefore, it does not seem to be unprecedented around the world.”

This is certainly a parliamentary system where the Prime Minister is a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer regularly appears on Prime Minister’s Questions every Wednesday at noon in London. MPs typically pepper the Prime Minister with questions and taunt him in a scene that looks like something out of Monty Python.

But the American and British systems are fundamentally different.

Getting a current or former president — and even a first lady — before Congress is rare but not unheard of.

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Former President Bill Clinton was seen in photos with Jeffrey Epstein as part of the release of the Justice Department’s Epstein files on Friday, December 19. (Ministry of Justice)

There are three notable examples of sitting presidents appearing before Congress. President Abraham Lincoln voluntarily testified before the House Judiciary Committee in 1862. The New York Herald published his State of the Union message to Congress before sending it to Capitol Hill. Bosses sent written “reports” in those days. They did not address Congress. Lawmakers investigated the leak of the letter to Congress. It has been speculated that Herald reporter Henry Wyckoff had previously obtained the letter thanks to his friendship with Mary Todd Lincoln. The House sergeant-at-arms briefly detained Wyckoff — and released him after the president spoke to the Judiciary Committee.

President Woodrow Wilson appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1919 to discuss a treaty with Germany and the creation of the League of Nations. Wilson’s efforts to create a League of Nations failed. The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles.

President Gerald Ford was in office for two and a half months before he voluntarily appeared before the House Judiciary Committee in the fall of 1974. Ford told lawmakers that his pardon of former President Richard Nixon was not something they had negotiated. Ford told the committee that he pardoned Nixon because his physical and mental health had severely deteriorated.

Former President Harry Truman appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1955 to testify about the United Nations Charter.

Ford returned as former president in 1983 to attend a Senate hearing marking the bicentennial of the Constitution.

There are examples of sitting and former first ladies testifying as well.

Eleanor Roosevelt testified twice first lady. Once about work issues. Then about organizing volunteers for the Civil Defense Agency before World War II.

Rosalynn Carter has testified about mental health as First Lady.

Hillary Clinton famously testified about her husband’s health care plan — though it was often called (often derisively) “HillaryCare” in the fall of 1993. She has testified several times as Secretary of State. Most notably in early 2013 regarding Benghazi.

First Lady Laura Bush was on her way to Capitol Hill to testify before a Senate committee on early childhood education on September 11. The committee canceled the session after the New York and Pentagon attacks.

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So, many Republicans want to hear from the Clintons about the Epstein files. Frankly, some were more interested in just despising them than knowing anything about Epstein. But it looks like the Clintons will at least sit down and testify in a few weeks. Whether or not there was a hearing is unclear. Some Republicans may push for this. But buyer beware. An open session for the Clintons will only intensify efforts by Democrats — and some Republicans — to listen to President Trump.

Their testimony may not come during the Super Bowl halftime show. But open testimony by a former president and a current president would be a political Super Bowl.