The Clintons Draw the Line

"We will move next week in the House Oversight Committee markup to hold former President Clinton in contempt of Congress," Rep. James Comer announced. The threat itself matters less than what came next.

Bill and Hillary Clinton responded with a letter that abandons the careful distance former presidents typically maintain from congressional battles. The response extends far beyond the testimony request that prompted it.

"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," the letter states. "For us, now is that time."

Former presidents don't talk like this. They stay out of congressional fights. They write books, give speeches, and let their lawyers handle subpoenas.

Clinton has chosen a different path.

Bill Clinton is demanding complete transparency in the investigation. Release all files, he wrote. Not just documents related to the Clinton family, but the entire record of individuals connected to the committee's inquiry. That same list includes Donald Trump.

Flight records show Trump flew on Epstein's private jet at least eight times between 1993 and 1996. One flight carried only Trump, Epstein, and a 20-year-old woman whose name has been redacted. Trump also traveled with ex-wife Marla Maples and children Tiffany and Eric on other flights. The committee has not subpoenaed Trump.

Both Clintons graduated from Yale Law School in 1973. Bill taught constitutional law at the University of Arkansas. Hillary practiced at Rose Law Firm and served on the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate impeachment inquiry. They know exactly what the law says about congressional subpoenas. They also know how far they can push it.

"You subpoenaed eight people in addition to us. You dismissed seven of those eight without any of them saying a single word to you."

Only the Clintons face contempt proceedings.

The investigative focus remains concentrated on Democratic targets while Republican figures connected to the same matters face no equivalent scrutiny.

Congressional oversight powers have deployed exclusively against political opponents cease to function as oversight. They have become weapons. The committee's actions seem retaliatory, even predatory.

"Continue to abet the dismantling of America, and you will learn that it takes more than a wrecking ball to demolish what Americans have built over 250 years," the letter warns.

This represents something unusual in modern American politics. A former president directly challenging congressional authority and framing that challenge as a defense of democratic institutions rather than personal interest. Clinton could have responded through attorneys with procedural objections. He chose confrontation instead.

The approach mirrors tactics typically associated with Trump's political style. Amplify the attack. Turn it into a rallying point. Refuse to play defense. The Clintons recognize Democrats want leadership willing to match Republican aggression with equal force. They're offering themselves as that leadership.

The strategy carries significant risk. If Democratic lawmakers and voters embrace this combative posture, it reshapes how the party responds to congressional investigations and political attacks. If the Clintons stand alone, the letter becomes another chapter in decades of Clinton-related controversy that changes nothing about the current political dynamic.

The consequences matter because the precedent matters. Contempt of Congress charges against a former president establish new boundaries for how political power gets wielded against previous administrations. The Clintons argue those boundaries threaten fundamental democratic principles when applied selectively.

"Despite everything that needs to be done to help our country, you are on the cusp of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment. This is not the way out of America's ills, and we will forcefully defend ourselves."

The December Epstein file release featured Clinton prominently. Photos showed him in a hot tub with a woman the Justice Department identified as a victim, on Epstein's plane with another woman whose face was redacted, and at London's Churchill War Rooms with Kevin Spacey and Ghislaine Maxwell. Flight records confirmed Clinton traveled on Epstein's private aircraft over 25 times after leaving office. The files documented at least 17 White House visits by Epstein during Clinton's presidency.

Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein's crimes. His representatives maintain he severed ties with Epstein before the financier's criminal activities became public knowledge. The photos date from the early 2000s, when Clinton used Epstein's plane for Clinton Foundation trips, before Epstein faced any charges.

Clinton's spokesperson called the file release a deliberate distraction. "This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever," Angel Ureña said in a statement.

The Democratic Party just lost an election to a man whose name appears in the Epstein files just as much as Clinton, if not more. Trump flew on that plane. Trump partied with Epstein. Trump's Mar-a-Lago hosted him. Voters didn't care. They put him back in the White House anyway.

Democrats aren't lining up to defend the Clintons. Not one committee Democrat bothered showing up to the depositions. The party that built its reputation on accountability went silent when their own faced the same scrutiny. The Clintons are on their own.

@Santitos

@salinasmariasantos

Copyright © 2026 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.