Jon Stewart says Clintons should 'absolutely' comply with congressional subpoenas on Epstein
"The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart said Wednesday during his podcast that former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should "absolutely" comply with their congressional subpoenas.
Stewart answered an audience question about whether the Clintons should comply with the House Oversight Committee's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Both Clintons defied subpoenas to appear before the committee this week.
"I absolutely do," he said. "But why should they comply if the Department of Justice is not complying with releasing the files? Like, is compliance a kind of specialized individual indigenous opportunity, or should it be universal? I mean the Department of Justice has subpoenaed them to testify in the Jeffrey Epstein case while not complying with releasing the files."
"So how does that comport in any — but do I personally think they should comply? Abso-f---ing-lutely. Absolutely," Stewart said during his "Weekly Show" podcast.
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"And if they've got something to hide or an affair, like yes, we should know about all this," Stewart continued. "This is bonkers, how long this is going on. But absolutely, they should comply and the Department of Justice should comply, and these victims of this heinous case should finally get some of the justice and peace that they deserve."
The Clintons did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The House Oversight Committee, not the Department of Justice (DOJ), subpoenaed the Clintons to testify.
Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., confirmed to reporters Wednesday that the Clintons would face punishment.
"The [Epstein estate] complied with our lawful subpoena. [Former Attorney General Bill Barr and former Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta] came in and were deposed because of our lawful subpoenas. This same lawful subpoena was issued to the Clintons, and they defied it," Comer said.
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The Clintons' attorneys criticized Comer's leadership of the investigation in their letter, discounting the subpoenas.
"President and Secretary Clinton have already provided the limited information they possess about Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the Committee," the lawyers said.
"Your continued insistence that the former President and Secretary of State can be compelled to appear before the Committee under these circumstances, however, brings us toward a protracted and unnecessary legal confrontation that distracts from the principal work of the Congress with respect to this matter, which, if conducted sincerely, could help ensure the victims of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell are afforded some measure of justice for the crimes perpetrated against them, however late. But perhaps distraction is the point."
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Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed in November, the DOJ was required "to publish (in a searchable and downloadable format) all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ's possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein."
The DOJ said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York earlier this month that "there are more than 2 million documents potentially responsive to the Act that are in various phases of review."
So far, the DOJ has released approximately 12,285 documents comprising around 125,575 pages, which is less than 1% of all records potentially related to the case, according to Axios. While there are numerous files remaining, the DOJ said it believes "a meaningful portion" of the documents are duplicates.
Fox News' Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.