Page 699 - Contempt News Today

President left office and whether to bring a criminal case. >> you decided no not correct. >> but he had to do certain things in reaction to that. in other words he was held in contempt, he had a pay fees to paula jones and her counsel and things of that sort and most important before he left office he had to issue a statement saying that he understood the testimony he provided was false. >> in that case the independent counsel statute, it was quite different than whats going on today. it had a ...

Yet? >> yes, we already have. many times. for example, its the refusal of the president to allow any members of the white house to testify. this really is a bogus claim of executive privilege. in the nixon impeachment, in article 3, what congress was essentially saying is the sole power of impeachment rests in the house. that the executive is required to cooperate with the house in that impeachment inquiry. and that the refusal to do so is, in fact, an impeachable offense. the committee voted wh...

Conversations. if every time i open my mouth you call me a bigot. i would be open to impeachment if you cared about my problems but i only see democrats who make everything worse. open the border, socialism, more power to washington. >> well you know, weve had something happen in the last three years during the trump administration and that is the venom has been so hateful from the left against the president that the trump voters have decided that they really hate them. the east coast elite and ...

So you do that. number two, now youre talking about additional charges of obstruction. so those then go into the further counts and charges as it would for any ordinary citizen in a court. >> okay. >> so youre obstructing, and thats another charge. and you hold them in contempt. >> so then what do you do with the vice president because he was sent requests for documents and said it does not appear to be a serious request, his office says the request doesnt appear -- this is another stonewall. >>...

This is somewhat like its a political process, but this is somewhat like a grand jury. the grand jury got to get all the information first before you decide whether or not you indict or not, and then you pass it on to a regular jury. but thats whats happening right now. >> okay. lets talk about this because you know secretary of state mike pompeo failed to meet the subpoena deadline. to the house to produce ukraine-related documents. a house foreign affairs committee aide says pompeo has failed ...

Some that have gone to the testimony and others that talk about documents and when you have the secretary of state that has missed the deadline that was yesterday to supply material, how will the committees compel someone to comply. >> they have a few choices. they could go the traditional route which is try to get them to comply through contempt and then seek a legal civil lawsuit. they could force the contempt themselves, use their inherent power to do that, and given the direction that the wh...

Thats another charge. and you hold them in contempt. >> so then what do you do with the vice president because he was sent requests for documents and his office says the request doesnt appear to be a serious request. >> theyre stonewalling because theyre trying to cover up. thats another thing. >> i got 20 seconds left. what do you say to frustrated folks out there who are saying, well, what are you guys doing? do something. they think hes going to -- their words -- hes going to get away with th...

Comply? >> well, then we take it a step further. people have been talking about inherent contempt and other things, but my hope is that the white house officials will do their job and be cooperative. >> thats your hope. if they dont, would you see that as grounds for an article of impeachment as it was with richard nixon during watergate? >> oh, without question. i think were already there. i think the american people are there. democrats, republicans, and independents, people are sick and tired...

You know secretary of state mike pompeo failed to meet the subpoena deadline. a house foreign affairs committee aide says pompeo has failed to meet the deadline. however, the state department has contacted the committee on this matter, and we hope the department will cooperate promptly. you have that. the committee subpoenaed the white house for ukraine related documents. tonight in a statement they said, this subpoena changes nothing. just more document requests. wasted time, taxpayer dollars. ...

Is it naive of us to think that the ag will truly be independent and impartial when hes a political appointee? >> the post-watergate norm is if the president is i want to crack down on drugs, the attorney general enforces that policy, or i want to track down on pharmaceutical companies. what the attorney general should not go is go at that specifically pharmaceutical companys ceo who didnt give their president the campaign contribution they wanted. there should not be individual tailoring of pro...