House Dems eye contempt charges for Trump officials

[babylonsister]

House Dems eye contempt charges for Trump officials
By Mike Lillis and Olivia Beavers - 04/30/19 08:12 PM EDT


House Democratic committee leaders are threatening to hold top administration officials in contempt of Congress amid a series of ongoing investigations, a recourse that could lead to fines — or even prison.

The idea has been floated in recent weeks by a small handful of rank-and-file members who’ve accused the administration of stonewalling, but it gained steam on Tuesday as the chairmen of several powerful panels said they’re also considering contempt in an effort to compel the cooperation of recalcitrant administration witnesses.

“I promise we will do everything in our power to enforce our subpoena. I refuse to be in a situation where we’re unable to use every tool that we have in our toolbox to do that,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told reporters in the Capitol. Invoking a little-used process known as inherent contempt, Cummings said, is one of those options.

”We will look at all those tools from a very practical standpoint,” he said. “It may be that we want to just deal with fines, I don’t know. But it’s either fines and/or prison.”

Separately, Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), head of the Judiciary Committee, and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), head of the Intelligence Committee, met with members of the New Democrat Coalition Tuesday morning, where they also endorsed the possibility of tapping contempt as a strategy for compelling testimony from uncooperative administration officials.

more...

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/441490-house-dems-eye-contempt-charges-for-trump-officials

[watoos]

1. Don't get me wrong, Dems should file contempt charges,

but who is going to enforce it? Who is going to collect the fines? Who is going to arrest people who defy subpoenas?

The time for impeachment is growing shorter and shorter. Democrats would hold a lot more clout under an impeachment hearing. They could petition the courts to expedite their decisions since the election is approaching. They could hold Barr to his word that he release the grand jury testimony to Congress.

Hey, what do I know about how impeachment will hurt Democrats politically? Maybe we should devote our resources to working with the king on an infrastructure bill?

[Iliyah]

2. Do so!

[Vinca]

3. They should stop hemming and hawing and do it. Put their behinds behind bars.

Trump has always viewed himself as above the law and for good reason. He's always gotten away with it. No more.

[babylonsister]

4. I don't know if subpoenas have

been issued and ignored yet. I think there has to be a method; I imagine Dems are chomping at the bit to get to the facts.