The Clintons, stalling the Oversight Committee

The Clinton Playbook: Delay, Deflect, Declare Victory

The timeline here matters because it exposes a pattern so familiar it practically has a copyright. For six months, according to Hillary Clinton herself, the Clintons "engaged" the Oversight committee.

But what did that engagement look like? The committee says the Clintons declined multiple offers to schedule live testimony and instead offered sworn written statements — a format that gives lawyers total control over every syllable and denies investigators the ability to ask follow-up questions in real time.

Chairman Comer rejected that. He also rejected a request for a closed-door deposition and what he described as a "ridiculous offer" for an unofficial interview. Last month, Comer stated that the Clintons' "latest demands" made it--

"clear they believe their last name entitles them to special treatment."

Then came the no-shows. Both Clintons failed to appear for their scheduled depositions. Bill Clinton's absence triggered contempt of Congress proceedings. Hillary Clinton defied the bipartisan subpoena entirely. Six months of "good faith engagement" culminated in two empty chairs.

Only after all of that — after the contempt proceedings, after the subpoena defiance, after months of procedural stalling — did the Clintons' lawyers, Jonathan Skladany and Ashley Callen, finally accept the terms of the depositions. And they did it, according to the committee, "at the eleventh hour" on Tuesday.

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