Most congressional precedents emanate from Capitol Hill.
Most presidential precedents emerge from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
But a precedent which may echo around the halls of Congress and the White House for years materialized in recent days in the snow-covered, wooded village of Chappaqua, .
Thats where former President Bill Clinton testified under subpoena to the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Lawmakers said the panels ability to compel testimony from a former president could establish a new precedent going forward â including in matters involving President Trump and the Epstein files.
According to historians, never before has a congressional committee deposed a former president. It was rare enough to have former First Lady and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testify the day before. Republicans noted that former President Clinton had previously acknowledged knowing Epstein and traveling on trips that included him.
“I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices,” said Hillary Clinton after nearly six hours of closed-door testimony before the panel.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Hillary Clinton declared “Youll have to ask my husband,” more than “a dozen” times during her deposition ahead of Bill Clintons the following day.
There are no accusations of wrongdoing against either of in connection with Epstein. But the former presidents past ties to Jeffrey Epstein have spurred questions from lawmakers.
“It’s very difficult to get people in for these depositions of great power and great wealth,” said Comer. “It took seven months, seven months to get the Clintons in here. But we’ve got them in here.”
“Here” was Chappaqua, about an hour north of New York City. The Clintons have resided in Chappaqua since President Clinton left office in 2001 and when Hillary Clinton ran for Senate from New York in 2000. Hillary Clinton served as a senator from New York from 2001 until 2009, when she became President Obamas first Secretary of State.
More specifically, the “here” for the Clintons testimony was not a bland office in the Rayburn House Office Building. House members questioned the Clintons at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, known locally as “ChappPAC,” a white structure with simple arcades and Greek columns atop a hillside above the Saw Mill River.
The Epstein inquiry is serious, and the unusual venue underscored the extraordinary nature of the proceeding.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., appeared to snap a photo of Hillary Clinton during the deposition, then shared it with conservative media outlets.
“I admire (Hillary Clintons) blue suit. So I wanted to capture that for everyone,” said Boebert outside the venue.
“Why did you send the picture?” asked a reporter.
“Why not?” retorted Boebert.
“We are sitting through an incredibly unserious, clown show of a deposition, where Members of Congress and the Republican Party are more concerned about getting their photo op of Secretary Clinton than actually getting to the truth and actually holding anyone accountable,” charged Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz.
After concluding her testimony, Hillary Clinton told reporters she found the “end” of the deposition to be “quite unusual because I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate, one of the most vile, bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the internet.”
That is a reference to a conspiracy theory that emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign between Hillary Clin
