Page 513 - Contempt News Today

Other than kevin mccarthy in trying to overturn election results, who was more central than jim jordan. i think this is going to the heart of the matter trying to get some kind of insight from jordan. it puts the members of the committee in a difficult spot, john. if jordan doesnt cooperate, what do you do? do you hold your own colleague in contempt? that creates all kinds of challenges inside the body itself. >> so, john, we have been getting a lot of viewer mail particularly from the dakotas. ...

Not yet saying what he is going to do. i think thats interesting because he is, obviously, the top republican on the judiciary committee and he would take over if the republicans take over the committee. and so, he is going to be able to send subpoenas and i bet you, he is considering exactly how he responds because its going -- its going to -- its going to weigh a lot on how he -- he gets responded to when he issues subpoenas. >> its a good point. i want to bring in cnn chief legal analyst and ...

I think your question gets at, courts are really reluctant to do that and referee a kind of internal congressional dispute. so, i think at that point, it will be up to congress to go and use its inherent contempt authority to go and essentially jail jim jordan for failing to tell the truth. >> kurt, i want to come back and get the big picture from you. we talked the other day about the differences and similarities of this situation with what happened to nixon and watergate and the great podcast ...

He would fit right in on lifestyles of the rich and famous. he made it clear yesterday he was always negotiating in bad faith and never planned to vote for build back better. >> i knew where they were and i knew what they could and could not do. they just never realized it because they figure surely to god we can move one person. the bottom line i knew we could not change. it never was going to change. it never could change with that many people. for the last month what are we going to do? how a...

Analyst. good to see you. lots to get to tonight. perry is slamming the committee, calling it illegitimate. it is almost like he is daring the committee members to subpoena him. mind you, he is a member of congress. will they subpoena him and try to hold him in contempt? >> they very well might. this whole idea that congressional committees shouldnt go after their own comes from a day that does not exist anymore in congress. this idea there would be a huge bream of decorum to subpoena a member o...

This committee should do everything they need to do to get to the bottom of this. john, look, aagain here we are almost a year removed from january 6th. we have one political party the republican party that for some reason doesnt want america to get to the bottom of that attack on our democracy. i get that the committee is in a tough spot and up against a clock but they have to do everything they possibly can do to these republicans. >> along those lines the "new york times" is reporting, the co...

Referrals to the doj. not on contempt, not on contempt. not for perry and others but actual actions surrounding january 6th. "the times" says they could be financial actions, funding the lies that went into the insurrection. it could be, you know, the former president himself for not doing anything to stop it. do you think its necessary, given your -- your passion about this for them to do this? >> i think its necessary to do whatever they can do to -- to do whatever, john, they have to do to ma...

Testify. and it should be heightened if youre a member of congress. and its your own body. the two rules they have our contempt, which you were mentioning before. to formally try and say a crime is being committed because you are failing to tell the truth to congress. and the other is a criminal contempt. that is whats being used with steve bannon right now. the other mechanisms that congress has is the inherent contempt authority. they could actually jail this member of congress on their own if...

Contempt, which you were mentioning before to formally try to say a crime is being committed because youre failing to tell the truth to congress and the other is -- so thats a criminal contempt. thats what is being used with steve bannon right now. the other mechanism is the inherent contempt authority they could actually jail this member of congress on their own if they wanted to and say look, you know, thats the price for not telling the truth. thats the power that goes all the way back to the...

Unnerved now because it appears that the committee is going to go after his biggest allies in congress, including jim jordan, who the committee now knows had multiple communications and contacts with trump around january 6th. >> joyce, how significant is this jordan news? >> well, it suggests a couple of things. this isnt something that the january 6th committee, which has been highly strategic, did half baked. they have to have known that jim jordan and other members of congress wouldnt volunta...