What the hell was the House Oversight Committee doing questioning Hillary Clinton today?

Photo: Newsweek

Here’s the story: House Republicans eager to kiss the ass of Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton to be questioned about Jeffrey Epstein today in Chappaqua, New York.

Here’s the deal: Hillary Clinton never met Jeffrey Epstein. She didn’t know him. She knows nothing about his crimes other than what she saw in the news.

Here’s the sad part: She’s married to Bill Clinton, who knew Epstein, flew on his jet, traveled with him to Africa, and socialized with him for years. Former President Clinton will be questioned by the House Oversight Committee tomorrow.

Here’s my question: Where was Larry Summers? He knew Epstein for years, visited his island in the Caribbean, socialized with him, flew on his jet…all the things done by usual suspects associated with Epstein. Why didn’t Representative James Comer, Republican from Kentucky, send Summers a subpoena?

Where was Comer when Leslie Wexner, the billionaire founder of the L Brands retail empire, was questioned by Democrats on the Oversight Committee last week about his long friendship and business association with Epstein? Wexner “sold” Epstein his Manhattan mansion for a pittance and gave him power of attorney over his billions, facilitated Epstein’s – and Trump’s – attendance at Victoria’s Secret fashion shows…the list goes on. Why didn’t a single Republican attend the closed-door deposition of Wexner?

How about some of the other famous and infamous men who were friends with or were otherwise associated with Epstein? Why didn’t they call George Mitchell, the former Senator, and question him about his long and close association with Epstein? How about Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. Attorney for Southern Florida, who let Epstein walk away with a non-prosecution agreement from a years-long investigation into his sex trafficking? Trump appointed him Labor Secretary in 2017, and he served until Epstein was arrested – again – on sex trafficking charges in 2019, and he was forced to resign because of the scandalous deal he made with the notorious pedophile.

Why didn’t Comer and the Republicans call Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, and ask him why he became friends with Epstein years after he was convicted on state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution? What was going on in that “friendship?” Why did Gates risk his reputation and in the end his marriage, over his association with a convicted sex offender?

What reason could Comer possibly have for not calling Brad Karp and questioning him for six hours about his long association with Epstein? Karp was the chairman of the white shoe law firm Paul Weiss. He was friends with Epstein during the years after his conviction as a sex offender in Florida. Karp asked Epstein for help getting his son a job. He shared non-public information about the sale of a stock with Epstein that he could have profited from. Karp and Epstein worked together to establish surveillance of a woman who had accused Leon Black, another friend of Epstein, of sexual abuse. Karp thanked Epstein for a “once in a lifetime” evening they spent together in 2015, seven years after Epstein’s conviction for sex crimes in Florida. In emails found in the Epstein files, Karp called him “amazing” and “an extraordinary host.” What exactly did Epstein “host” that Karp attended? What was so “amazing” about Epstein that Karp remained friends with him for years and even wrote a draft of a legal filing just before Epstein’s arrest in 2019 coming up with a theory of why his conviction from 2008 could not be used against him in any new charges? Why did Karp do all this for Epstein when he wasn’t even a client of his firm?

How about Woody Allen? Why didn’t the Oversight Committee call him? Or Noam Chomsky? Or how about Thomas Pritzker, the Hyatt Hotels billionaire, who maintained a close friendship with Epstein for years after he was found guilty on charges of sex with a minor in 2008? What was so special about Jeffrey Epstein that Pritzker, a powerful figure in the business world, would remain friends with a creep like Epstein, a friendship that would end up causing him to resign from his chairmanship of the Hyatt empire when his name turned up in the Epstein files? What did he do with Epstein that was so terrible that Pritzker would be so ashamed of?

Today the New York Times published a story about all the men who worked for Microsoft who were friends and associates of Epstein. Bill Gates was one, sure, but there were others. Why didn’t the Republican chairman of the Oversight Committee call Reid Hoffman, one of the founders of LinkedIn and a member of the board of directors of Microsoft? Hoffman traveled on Epstein’s jet to his island in the Caribbean along with Joi Ito, the head of MIT’s Media Lab. Hoffman later sent a thank-you present to Epstein, a metal sculpture, which he said “may strike your funny bone for the island.” Isn’t Representative Comer interested in what kind of sculpture Hoffman sent Epstein, and why it was humorous “for the island?”

In 2014, the same year Hoffman visited Epstein’s island, it was revealed that Virginia Giuffre accused Epstein of raping and trafficking her for sex with adult men. Giuffre was introduced to (then) Prince Andrew by Epstein and would later sue the prince for sexual abuse and settle the suit for millions. Hoffman corresponded with Epstein about how to deal with negative media attention that apparently resulted from coverage of Giuffre’s charges against Epstein and former Prince Andrew.

Why would Reid Hoffman try to help Epstein fight against negative publicity about his sex trafficking of little girls? Aren’t the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee interested in asking Hoffman about everything he knows about Jeffrey Epstein? Why, for example, did Epstein offer to help Hoffman lower his tax burden when he sold LinkedIn to Microsoft?

How about the other men from Microsoft? Why doesn’t Comer want to talk to Steven Sinofsky, the head of the Windows division of Microsoft, about his friendship with Epstein? Sinofsky shared non-public inside information about Microsoft products with Epstein. He sought Epstein’s help with his severance package when he left the company in 2013, five years after Epstein’s conviction for sex crimes in Florida. When his resignation pay-out came through, he emailed Epstein, “Got paid. You will be too :)” Why aren’t the Republicans on the Oversight Committee interested in these key Epstein friendships with the men from Microsoft? Aren’t they interested in what Epstein did for Bill Gates and Reid Hoffman and Steven Sinofsky?

The world didn’t know about these men and their friendships with Epstein until the release of the files. But now we do know about them, but we don’t understand how these wealthy and powerful and influential men could remain friends with a known pedophile after he was convicted on charges of sex with a minor in 2008.

What did Epstein do for powerful men like Thomas Pritzker and Brad Karp and Reid Hoffman? Whatever it was about their friendship with Epstein, it caused them to resign their positions in the businesses they ran and the law firms they oversaw. In some cases, such as Bill Gates, friendship with Epstein ended marriages.

Why? What was it that was so special about Jeffrey Epstein that these men would risk their careers and even their marriages to be friends with him?

Republicans questioned Hillary Clinton for six hours about a man she had never met and did not know. Why aren’t they interested in talking to a whole bunch of men who did know him, who traveled with him, who stayed overnight at his properties, some of whom flew on his notorious jet, who gave him insider stock information, who gave him legal advice, who opened doors for him to meet other powerful men?

What is it about Jeffrey Epstein that has Republicans so frightened that they won’t ask questions of the powerful men who knew him?

Inquiring minds want to know.