Epstein, the Clintons and the death of trust
The scandal is devouring the old elite and destroying what few vestiges of trust in authority remain
From magazine issue:
February 16 2026
Bill and Hillary Clinton attending the inauguration of President Donald Trump in 2025. The Clintons have agreed to testify in the House investigation into Jeffrey Epstein (Getty Images)
Bill and Hillary Clinton had a choice: face criminal contempt charges or come clean about their friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. After months of resisting, the former president and his wife have now agreed to testify before the House. Clinton will be the first former president to appear before Congress since 1983, when Gerald Ford discussed bicentenary celebrations for the enactment of the Constitution. An appearance of this gravity, however, is unprecedented; it may well mark the start of a true Epstein reckoning in America.
The Epstein scandal has become a strange monster, hell-bent on devouring the old elite
In typical Clintonian style, the couple presented their initial refusal as a principled stand. Last month, they sent a gold-embossed letter to House Oversight Committee chairman James R. Comer which listed the supposed crimes of the Trump administration: January 6ers pardoned, deportations without due process, ICE agents killing protesters. “Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country,” they wrote. “For us, now is that time.” And so, nobly, they refused once again to explain to the American people why Bill is in the Epstein files alongside a young woman in a hot tub. Grandstanding over the ills of the Trump presidency was a blatant attempt to use partisanship to avoid scrutiny.
Democrats on the Oversight Committee clearly felt the same way. Despite minority leader Hakeem Jeffries’s best efforts, rank-and-file Democrats decided enough was indeed enough: they voted to pressure the Clintons to testify rather than anger their midterm voters. Siding with the Republicans was considered less toxic than appearing to protect an Epstein associate, even one who was once America’s commander-in-chief.
https://spectator.com/article/epstein-the-clintons-and-the-death-of-trust/?edition=us
