Page 11 - Oversight Function News Today

News. obviously, i told my viewers at the top how rare it is to even have a floor vote on impeachment. this was the first one since your party took office. thats a big story. its not the only thing going on, as you know, in a very he formal way with teeth that could matter in litigation. you and your colleagues are moving forward on votes to hold other trump officials in contempt. walk us through what that means, why thats important, what it would achieve. >> why thats important is that the over...

His son was involved. the idea this wasnt fully developed in the course of the vetting seems bizarre. >> why they wouldnt get a ahead of this in some way, that confounds me also. it was bound to come out. >> remember rob porter, they didnt get ahead of rob porter. >> hope hicks, former aide will testify behind closed doors tomorrow in the house of representatives. the judiciary committee but the white house is saying she has immunity. she doesnt have to answer questions regarding the time she se...

And i know that you have been asking congress, the democratic-led house to approve $4.5 billion in additional funding for housing. they havent moved on that. but when you read this report and saw what was happening in your facilities what was your reaction and what are you doing to stop it? >> first of all, so that report dated back to some of those issues back in 2018, but to answer your question first directly is i welcome that report. i appreciate the ig and what theyre doing as an oversight ...

Adam schiff said youve already seen some of the mueller counter intelligence documents but youre seeking many more documents. can you tell us what youve seen so far? >> im not in a position to tell you be what has happened over the course of the last months to six weeks is a slow dance by the administration to proviede as little as possible for as long as possible. theyre going to drag this out as long as they can because the clock will be with them if we go into the end of september, october wi...

1 oversight function to comply with, the fact that those subpoenas have been essentially ignored is shameful, its a violation of the norms. i know people get tired of hearing us talk about norms being violated, but these are so essential to the functioning of our government, hopefully the american people will begin to see that. >> but heres the issue. its setting a table for those who are already at the table, who believe that there was obstruction of justice, who are going to be watching this, ...

Now with congress in its oversight function. eric: is that enough for a reason to call for impeachment, eric holder was held in contempt, you have obama administration and other administrations pushing back against congressional oversight. >> no, congressional oversight pushback is normal. i served in the state department and handled the work with the house for the secretary of state, but we didnt block on a repetitive basis every possible witness that democrats in this case are asking for, whic...

There had been a few that had been in favor of impeachment proceedings, but it changed their opinions immediately. and i think the thinking is if you get robert mueller up there and read out loud some of the passages in the mueller report, it would change public sentiment. >> you used to work in the executive branch. the current administration seems to think that complying with subpoenas is optional. whats your reaction to that? >> i worked under the executive branch in the two previous administ...

You hold these hearings? you have an impeachment inquiry and say never mind, were not going to impeach or is it a runaway train once it gets going? >> its hard to tell. the fact is that the president has given us no choice. i believe the special counsel laid out solid evidence that there was obstruction before the report was filed. for me, the last straw was the obstruction continuing after the fact. so, it makes our oversight function nearly impossible. part of this is getting the american publ...

I think they both -- legal arguments in front of courts get subpoenas answered and force people to testify. i also think the hearings that will come with the impeachment inquiry will help educate, inform the american public. one thing that struck me last week is the power of the special counsels message when mr. mueller said what he said. he was just reading from his own report. but its clear that a large amount of the american public took mr. barr to his word that the report exonerated him. so ...

Could flex the motion and who had to prove a legislative purpose. up till now its the president thumbing his nose and stonewalling and saying what are you going to do about it? in walks the third co-equal branch of the government, the judiciary to say lets resolve this chicken game. both of you are going at each other. you dont have to prove a legislative purpose to me initial think, to the president of the united states, you can actually assert it because you have the authority to do so and num...