'The View' hosts call on Clintons to comply with subpoena, testify on Epstein
Several co-hosts of "The View" pleaded on Friday that former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary should comply with congressional subpoenas on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters Wednesday that the Clintons could face contempt charges for not having complied with the call to testify. Meanwhile, the Clintons' attorneys criticized Comer's leadership of the investigation in a letter and discounted the subpoenas, saying, "President and Secretary Clinton have already provided the limited information they possess about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the Committee."
But some prominent liberal voices have said that it would be better for America as a country if the Clintons testify
"As someone who wants to see everything in the Epstein files and wants every single person held accountable, I think the Clintons should show up," "The View" co-host Sara Haines said. "It was a unanimous vote to subpoena them, and regardless of these affidavits or anything else, I think when people don’t show up, it makes them look guiltier than they are."
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"President Clinton has showed up in tons of pictures with no wrongdoing but images that have been released in the files," Haines continued. "And we’ve known of the friendship for years, and two years after Epstein got his sweetheart deal, Ghislaine Maxwell was invited to Chelsea [Clinton]’s wedding, so there are some associations there that I think you leave – you put everything out there. Let it be public. Let people hear.
"Because otherwise, you give them the bait to say, ‘Well, you’re not doing it, we’re not doing it. This person is not doing it.’ No, if you want the Epstein files, and you want everyone held accountable, they show up, and they do it."
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin shared a similar sentiment, noting Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were jailed for defying congressional subpoenas about the January 6 investigation.
"I just personally don’t believe that congressional oversight is something that should be optional to people," she said. "I’ve testified before Congress, never under subpoena. I was asked to and showed up and never have seen a congressional subpoena as optional."
Griffin went on to argue that it would be a great opportunity for Bill Clinton to shed light on any actual wrongdoing he saw other people engaged in.
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Co-host Ana Navarro argued that while she is personally uncomfortable with the idea of calling on the Clintons to testify, she agrees it is ultimately what is best for society.
"I have known Bill and Hillary Clinton for over 20 years. They were very good friends of my ex, and they would come down to Miami and stay at his hotel all the time. So, it’s very hard for me and, you know, it’s not a comfortable place for me to say that I want them to show up, and I want them to testify, but here’s the thing, I want us as a society to hold the people that we like to the same standard that we hold the people that we don’t like," she said.
Navarro said the Oversight Committee was holding the Clintons to a different standard, while Donald and Melania Trump were being given special treatment.