Page 644 - Contempt News Today

And your bat and your documents and go home. it is a disrespect of the process and congress and we have seen it frankly before, and were seeing it again here. >> but what do you think it suggests about what were going to see from trump folk in terms of how they regard this? >> yeah, look, i think, chris, if theres anything that president trump will go down in history for among many things, its disrespect for congress as a coequal branch of government and were seeing it yet again with the subpoen...

History for among many things, its disrespect for congress as a coequal branch of government and were seeing it yet again with the subpoenas with stalling and delaying and not showing up. look, congress has ways of fighting this. they can, number one, file a lawsuit in civil court to enforce compliance, two, they can go to the attorney general and seek criminal contempt charges, and theres also this old, you know, more than a century-year-old process of inherent contempt that congress can go dow...

>> no, i dont take questions. of course. >> how do you really feel? >> its just -- its frustrating because as much as this report is damning for the trump administration, aint nothing going to happen. nobody is going to do anything to stop -- to hold these people accountable for what they did, nor is anybody going to do anything to stop them from doing it again, as you talked about. these subpoenas, the deadline is today. these four trump officials, theyre not going to play ball. mark meadows is...

What facts hes looking at but accountability is really the key term here, victor. and i think the key person we have to be looking at is the attorney general, merrick kbakb garland. the senate has done its thing, theyve issued a report. its damning but does it deter donald trump, jeffery clark, mark meadows? no. the only person whos in real position here to enact an accountability in a meaningful way is the attorney general, merrick garland. >> so, kim, talk to me about that. what are the option...

So if the worst case scenario happens, i wonder how much of an earthquake that winds up being among american women. your thoughts because this really could be it. >> you know, until the supreme court refused to stay this really unbelievably unlawful texas law the first time around, i thought there might be a chance they would gut roe versus wade versus overturning it outright. thats a way they could foreclose abortion rights which are all but unavailable without creating the kind of earthquake y...

Activity as the treasury department. a former u.s. attorney on the team. former senior investigators. they have the methods of investigation that theyre going to pursue, and if that includes subpoenas for documents or for testimony, the people who received the subpoenas must comply, and if they dont, i expect congress to take them to court and to issue contempt against those individuals and force them to comply with this lawful investigation. theres no other way. if we dont have cooperation with...

>> right. >> and he was never compelled by a court to testify. he ultimately negotiated some very favorable terms of behind closed doors testimony. that leaves two alternatives. one, criminal contempt. what the congress can do is vote out a contempt against the witness who fails to appear, refer it to the department of justice and then the law says that the u.s. attorney for the district of columbia, quote, has a duty to present the matter to the grand jury for its action. what does that action ...

Tool in congresss toolbox whmpt it comes it a guy like steve bannon who there can be no claim of executive privilege for, he left the administration in august of 2017. i hope congress seriously considers using its power of inherent contempt and force him to testify because not all contemptuous witnesses are made equal. >> yeah. you know, lets go on to some of the newer subpoenas. claire, im going to start with you. ali alexander, hes been one of the more interesting figures in this attempted cou...

And for the chairman and vice chair how far they are willing to go in order to enforce their authority and provide for the authority of congress to conduct this investigation. the question is, are they going to make criminal referrals to the justice department for contempt or potentially obstruction? they have a credible investigation. the vehicle for them to enforce it is if they make a criminal referral to the justice department and then it would be on the justice department to enforce that. c...

It took two years, lengthy and possibly a dead end and inherent contempt where congress asks the sergeant at arms to directly arrest an individual and detain them until they produce what is needed. thats not really, theres no real precedent in modern times for that and they view that as a different can of worms. the four individuals are expected to appear for depositions next week. well see how that turns out. >> don mcgahn ran the clock, played the game and won. not just these four. theres 15 p...