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Most congressional precedents emanate from Capitol Hill.
Most presidential precedents emerge from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
However a precedent which can echo across the halls of Congress and the White Home for years materialized in latest days within the snow-covered, wooded village of Chappaqua, New York.
That’s the place former President Invoice Clinton testified underneath subpoena to the Home Oversight Committee as a part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Lawmakers mentioned the panel’s potential to compel testimony from a former president may set up a brand new precedent going ahead — together with in issues involving President Trump and the Epstein information.
Based on congressional historians, by no means earlier than has a congressional committee deposed a former president. It was uncommon sufficient to have former First Girl and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testify the day earlier than. Republicans famous that former President Clinton had beforehand acknowledged realizing Epstein and touring on journeys that included him.
“I don’t recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I by no means flew on his airplane or visited his island, houses or places of work,” mentioned Hillary Clinton after almost six hours of closed-door testimony earlier than the panel.
Democrats on the Home Oversight Committee launched a picture of former President Invoice Clinton as a part of its Jeffrey Epstein investigation. (Home Oversight Dems)
Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., mentioned Hillary Clinton declared “‘You’ll need to ask my husband,’” greater than “a dozen” occasions throughout her deposition forward of Invoice Clinton’s the next day.
There aren’t any accusations of wrongdoing towards both of the Clintons in reference to Epstein. However the former president’s previous ties to Jeffrey Epstein have spurred questions from lawmakers.
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“It is very tough to get individuals in for these depositions of nice energy and nice wealth,” mentioned Comer. “It took seven months, seven months to get the Clintons in right here. However we have got them in right here.”
“Right here” was Chappaqua, about an hour north of New York Metropolis. The Clintons have resided in Chappaqua since President Clinton left workplace 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 till 2009, when she turned President Obama’s first Secretary of State.
Former U.S. President Invoice Clinton speaks through the 2025 Clinton World Initiative (CGI) in New York Metropolis, U.S., September 24, 2025. (Kylie Cooper/Reuters)
Extra particularly, the “right here” for the Clintons’ testimony was not a bland workplace within the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing. Home members questioned the Clintons on the Chappaqua Performing Arts Middle, recognized regionally as “ChappPAC,” a white construction with easy arcades and Greek columns atop a hillside above the Noticed Mill River.
The Epstein inquiry is severe, and the weird venue underscored the extraordinary nature of the continuing.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., appeared to snap a photograph of Hillary Clinton through the deposition, then shared it with conservative media shops.
“I love (Hillary Clinton’s) blue swimsuit. So I needed to seize that for everybody,” mentioned Boebert exterior the venue.
“Why did you ship the image?” requested a reporter.
“Why not?” retorted Boebert.
“We’re sitting via an extremely unserious, clown present of a deposition, the place Members of Congress and the Republican Get together are extra involved about getting their picture op of Secretary Clinton than truly attending to the reality and really holding anybody accountable,” charged Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz.
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After concluding her testimony, Hillary Clinton advised reporters she discovered the “finish” of the deposition to be “fairly uncommon as a result of I began being requested about UFOs and a sequence of questions on Pizzagate, probably the most vile, bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the web.”
That could be a reference to a conspiracy principle that emerged through the 2016 presidential marketing campaign between Hillary Clinton and President Trump. Proponents falsely claimed Democrats operated a baby intercourse trafficking ring out of the Comet Ping Pong pizza store in Washington. A North Carolina man later drove to Washington, D.C., and fired photographs contained in the restaurant, telling authorities he was there to rescue kids.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-N.C., asserted that Hillary Clinton was “screaming” at lawmakers through the deposition.
“She was unhinged,” mentioned Mace. “And I hope that President Clinton is much less unhinged at the moment than his spouse was yesterday.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., emerged from the Chappaqua Performing Arts Middle about 90 minutes into former President Clinton’s deposition to invest about what might have been behind Epstein and his intercourse trafficking operation. Luna famous she was talking just for herself and never different members of the committee.
Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (L) and former President Invoice Clinton arrive on the West Entrance of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. In at the moment’s inauguration ceremony Donald J. Trump turns into the forty fifth president of the US. (Win McNamee/Getty Pictures)
“It has turn into very evident even within the final 24 hours in traces of questioning that Jeffrey Epstein was operating an intelligence gathering operation,” mentioned Luna. “I do consider it was a honey pot operation.”
Luna added that it was potential a U.S. intelligence ally was concerned, although she offered no proof for the declare.
One of many 5 agreed-upon areas of questioning for the Clintons was how Epstein used his connections with highly effective figures to cover his crimes. That’s the reason people akin to former President Clinton and President Trump have surfaced in beforehand launched Epstein-related paperwork.
The presidency is a novel workplace, and even President Trump expressed some sympathy for Invoice Clinton’s look earlier than the Oversight Committee.
“I do not like seeing him deposed. However they definitely went after me much more than that,” mentioned the president.
When pressed on Friday, President Trump mentioned he was unfamiliar with the Epstein information.
“I don’t know something in regards to the Epstein information. I’ve been completely exonerated,” mentioned President Trump.
Oversight Committee Republicans have been requested whether or not they agreed with that declare.
“From all of the proof I’ve seen he is been exonerated for a very long time,” replied Comer.
“The Epstein victims have exonerated President Trump. This can be a trope that you simply guys are — a rabbit gap you guys are taking place. However he is been exonerated time and again by Epstein victims,” mentioned Mace.
However Democrats questioned why the committee sought testimony from former President Clinton and never President Trump.
“There’s a whole lot of e mail correspondence that included President Clinton,” mentioned Comer.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the highest Democrat on the Oversight panel, argued the transfer set a broader commonplace.
“There is a precedent now,” mentioned Garcia. “We now need President Trump to come back in and to testify underneath oath in entrance of the Oversight Committee. We wish the First Girl, who we all know had a relationship as effectively with Jeffrey Epstein, to come back underneath oath and testify to the Oversight Committee. That’s the new precedent that Republicans needed to set right here.”
Garcia added that President Trump “has not been exonerated, and we’ve severe questions for President Trump.”
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., argued that the committee spoke “to the improper president.”
It’s unclear whether or not the panel will search testimony from President Trump. Democrats have indicated they might contemplate doing so in the event that they achieve management of the Home within the fall midterm elections.
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Separation of powers is a key part of America’s constitutional system. Solely a handful of presidents have ever testified earlier than Congress — and none had beforehand been deposed as a former president.
The nation’s historical past contains small communities which have taken on outsized political significance. Lawmakers and authorized observers say Chappaqua may now be a part of that listing if presidential testimony earlier than Congress turns into extra frequent.
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