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Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

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fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

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The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Impeachment / Impeach the Motherfucker! / Contempt

Contempt

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Breaking from Le Post:

House panel moves to hold former White House official in contempt after he obeys Trump administration’s instruction not to testify

The House Oversight Committee moved Tuesday to hold a former White House personnel security director in contempt of Congress for failing to appear at a hearing investigating alleged lapses in White House security clearance procedures.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said he would consult with the House counsel and members of the panel about scheduling a vote on contempt for former White House personnel security director Carl Kline. At the instruction of the White House, Kline failed to show up for scheduled testimony on security clearances.

The move marks a dramatic escalation of tensions between Congress and the Trump White House, which is increasingly resisting requests for information from Capitol Hill.

“The White House and Mr. Kline now stand in open defiance of a duly authorized congressional subpoena with no assertion of any privilege of any kind by President Trump,” Cummings said in a statement. “Based on these actions, it appears that the President believes that the Constitution does not apply to his White House, that he may order officials at will to violate their legal obligations, and that he may obstruct attempts by Congress to conduct oversight.”

Anyone know what happens next? I’m not sure how the House proceeds after a contempt vote. Hopefully it’s not referred to the DOJ, which is now headed by a Trump toady who has even less grounding in institutional ethics than Jeff Sessions.

PS: While the debate rages about whether or not to open impeachment proceedings against Trump, can we all agree to start impeaching William Barr, maybe as a trial run? Having now read the Mueller report, I can see more clearly than ever what a lying hack that guy is.

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  1. 1.

    TenguPhule

    Anyone know what happens next?

    We get to see if the House will finally use the Sergeant at Arms to arrest the fucker.

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    ““The White House and Mr. Kline now stand in open defiance of a duly authorized congressional subpoena with no assertion of any privilege of any kind by Trump,” Cummings said in a statement. “Based on these actions, it appears that Trump believes that the Constitution does not apply to his White House, that he may order officials at will to violate their legal obligations, and that he may obstruct attempts by Congress to conduct oversight.”

    Appears is doing so much heavy lifting that it should be checked for steroids.

  4. 4.

    JaneE

    I would also like to see an impeachment for Kavanaugh for his perjured confirmation testimony. If they can impeach Bill Clinton for thinking that “sex” means “penis in vagina” they can impeach Kavanaugh for saying it was legal for him to drink while he was underage.

  8. 8.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @TenguPhule:
    I’m sure the Trump White House and the entire right will try to portray it as a kidnapping if they do. It’s how they roll

  10. 10.

    Emma

    Try this. Short is that they can refer it to the appropriate court and send him to jail for a year. Fine is minimal. I don’t think the SaA has been sent out to collect the criminal since the 19th century?

  11. 11.

    TenguPhule

    @Luciamia:

    And Trump has ordered all WH officials to skip the Correspondents Dinner.

    And despite them leaving, the average IQ at the event failed to rise to the occasion.

  12. 12.

    Gravenstone

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Well Fuckerbee Slanders is mischaracterizing April Ryan’s comment that Slanders’ “head should roll” over her lying as captured in the Mueller report as a threat to decapitate her. So of course they will push the most extreme interpretation of anything and everything going forward. All the better to paint themselves as powerless victims.

  14. 14.

    TenguPhule

    @Emma:

    they can refer it to the appropriate court

    We’ve seen exactly how much importance Trump and his minions give to the orders of the court.

  15. 15.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    Getting to the point when every single goddam day requires a trigger warning.

    Where, goddamnit, its where!! //

  16. 16.

    Hungry Joe

    So he’s saying, “Yeah, I’m breaking the law. What are you gonna do about it, chump?”

    Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to “You and whose army?” Because he’s got one. Or do we? I really don’t want to see how that plays out.

  18. 18.

    chopper

    this guy’s really working as hard as he can to build up an even better obstruction case against himself.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    IANAL, but Contempt of Congress is a criminal offense. It looks like (from the list of people charged/found in contempt since 1975) the documents/testimony are eventually provided. It’s hard to say with Donnie’s people though – they’re transparently trying to run out the clock.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    Barbara

    Adding to the list of new laws that will need to be passed to accommodate the depths of behavior that could not be envisioned even during the second Bush presidency. In this case, cessation of federal employment in the event you refuse to submit to congressional oversight. When the lack-of-brains trust that hatched the scheme to fire U.S. attorneys found themselves hauled up in front of Congress, it dawned on each and every one of them that they could not invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and remain on the federal payroll, so they resigned. You can’t work for the federal government and not be subject to congressional oversight.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    Josh Marshall wrote (earlier today) “The Congress has a constitutionally mandated responsibility to oversee the executive branch.” According to Wikipedia, those powers are implied, not enumerated. Assuming the Wiki explanation is correct, I can see the Traitor-in-Chief resisting all the way to SCOTUS, thinking that Drunky McDrunkface, Gorsuch, Sockpuppet Thomas, and Alito will vote his way, with Roberts being the only question mark.

    No doubt, before that happened, Traitor Turtle would un-traitor-ify himself, and start acting as if the Constitution (as opposed to power) was something that mattered to him.

  25. 25.

    donnah

    Cline is the shithead who taunted Tricia Newbold, who was the security person at the White House and testified against Cline and others for illegal practices in issuing security clearances. Newbold is small in stature due to a form of dwarfism, and Cline would deliberately put files she needed up beyond her reach.

    What kind of loathsome monster, a grown man, does shit like that? Send him to prison based on that action alone.

  26. 26.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Hungry Joe:
    Hopefully the military would refuse to obey his orders in such a scenario. Half of the armed forces hate his guts according to polling

    @Gravenstone:
    That’s particularly rich coming from her. She’s the one who accused Democrats of treason and basically threatened them with execution

  29. 29.

    Martin

    The House really needs to stop slow-walking this. Scheduling testimony in May? If this shit is serious, get them in this week. Trump wants nothing more than to drag this out through 2020.

  30. 30.

    TenguPhule

    @SFAW:

    with Roberts being the only question mark.

    Roberts is an exclamation point, not a question mark.

    He’s a loyal Republican.

  32. 32.

    Martin

    @SFAW: It’s a bit past implied. USSC grappled with this problem during Watergate and affirmed that authority of Congress. They should be free to plow ahead.

  33. 33.

    TenguPhule

    @Barbara:

    You can’t work for the federal government and not be subject to congressional oversight.

    Unfortunately, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove already broke that norm. We’re suffering the aftermath of the precedent.

  35. 35.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @TenguPhule:

    To forever. Just like Trump’s tax returns

    That’s got me to thinking. The law is pretty clear on the IRS commissioner turning over requested tax documents to Congress. Would it be stealing if the Capitol Police seized the records themselves for Congress?

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    If the House votes to hold him in contempt, the referral is made to the US Attorney for the District of Columbia for action.

  37. 37.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Some people who live in glass houses aren’t scared of wayward stones.

    @Hungry Joe: Howdy! I just (finally) read your friend’s excellent book. People, read Glass House, by Brian Alexander. It’s the story of the destruction of Lancaster OH by – you guessed it – corporate raiders of the 80s. An extremely compelling read.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    the referral is made to the US Attorney for the District of Columbia for action.

    That seems like an exercise in futility if ever there was one.

  39. 39.

    dww44

    PS: While the debate rages about whether or not to open impeachment proceedings against Trump, can we all agree to start impeaching William Barr, maybe as a trial run? Having now read the Mueller report, I can see more clearly than ever what a lying hack that guy is.

    There’s another theory out there that Barr is deliberately throwing himself out as bait to the Dems, hoping they bite on him and he thereby deflects their interest from the President. Don’t know how credible that is, but it works for me. I’ve come to believe that if one credits Barr with the attorney bona fides he’s assumed to have previously demonstrated, he’s obviously far more of a partisan than a patriot. It’s always party first with this guy and he appears to have eaten the Trump magic beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner for quite some time.

  40. 40.

    TenguPhule

    Supreme Court’s conservatives appear likely to let Trump add citizenship question to 2020 Census

    The Supreme Court’s ideological divide was on full display Tuesday, and it seemed from their questioning that the court’s conservatives were likely to defer to the Trump administration on adding a question concerning citizenship to the 2020 Census form sent to every American household.

    The court’s liberal justices were skeptical of the case offered by Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who represented the administration.

    They’re not even pretending at this point.

    Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. noted that historically the census has asked far more than just where people live.

    Justice Neil M. Gorsuch pointed out that the citizenship question was asked on the short form more times than it was not. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said that the United Nations advised that countries should ask such a question.

    Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that even if Census Bureau experts had advised against adding the question, Ross could have concluded that there would be little difference in outcome if the question was added.

    How could that be arbitrary and capricious, as lower courts have found, he asked.

  41. 41.

    JaySinWA

    If history is a guide the answer to what happens next is a messy and prolonged legal battle.
    Here is a Congressional Research Service report on the recent history of contempt of congress cases. Warning, it is an 89 page PDF.
    https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34097.pdf
    From a footnote in the less than stellar Wikipedia entry on contempt of congress
    Congress has three formal methods by which it can combat non-compliance with a duly issued
    subpoena. Each of these methods invokes the authority of a separate branch of government. First,
    the long dormant inherent contempt power permits Congress to rely on its own constitutional
    authority to detain and imprison a contemnor until the individual complies with congressional
    demands. Second, the criminal contempt statute permits Congress to certify a contempt citation to
    the executive branch for the criminal prosecution of the contemnor. Finally, Congress may rely on
    the judicial branch to enforce a congressional subpoena. Under this procedure, Congress may
    seek a civil judgment from a federal court declaring that the individual in question is legally
    obligated to comply with the congressional subpoena.
    A number of obstacles face Congress in any attempt to enforce a subpoena issued against an
    executive branch official. Although the courts have reaffirmed Congress’s constitutional authority
    to issue and enforce subpoenas, efforts to punish an executive branch official for non-compliance
    with a subpoena through criminal contempt will likely prove unavailing in many, if not most,
    circumstances. Where the official refuses to disclose information pursuant to the President’s
    decision that such information is protected under executive privilege, past practice suggests that
    the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not pursue a prosecution for criminal contempt. In addition,
    although it appears that Congress may be able to enforce its own subpoenas through a declaratory
    civil action, relying on this mechanism to enforce a subpoena directed at an executive official
    may prove an inadequate means of protecting congressional prerogatives due to the time required
    to achieve a final, enforceable ruling in the case. Although subject to practical limitations,
    Congress retains the ability to exercise its own constitutionally based authorities to enforce a
    subpoena through inherent contempt.

  42. 42.

    Luthe

    @TenguPhule: He’s a loyal Republican with an eye on his legacy. He voted to uphold the ACA because he knew in the long run history would be against him if he didn’t. I think this is another place where he will take the long view.

  43. 43.

    mrmoshpotato

    WARNING: Washington Post link contains video whose still is Jared giving an I-dare-you-to-punch-me-in-the-face look.

    The move marks a dramatic escalation of tensions

    ‘Actual oversight of a criminal, bastard Administration’ is not spelled that way.

  45. 45.

    TenguPhule

    @Luthe: I disagree. Beer Boy and Frosty the White Man have come on board since the original ACA decision and I have no confidence he’ll maintain the position he took last time. Long View for Republicans has devolved into “survive the news cycle for the week.”

  46. 46.

    tobie

    @TenguPhule: WASF. This is what I feared. The only possible swing vote was Roberts. Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh are birds of a feather.

  49. 49.

    rikyrah

    House panel moves to hold former White House official in contempt after he obeys Trump administration’s instruction not to testify

    Have him arrested. Period.

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    PS: While the debate rages about whether or not to open impeachment proceedings against Trump, can we all agree to start impeaching William Barr, maybe as a trial run?

    ICAM.

    He should be impeached on GP.

  52. 52.

    TenguPhule

    Donald J. Trump
    ✔
    @realDonaldTrump
    The Wall is being rapidly built! The Economy is GREAT! Our Country is Respected again!

    83.5K
    1:46 AM – Apr 23, 2019

    So its the golden oldies greatest hits.

    I am ashamed to be relieved that he’s only repeating old stupid lies instead of putting forth brand new ones. That’s how far we’ve fallen as a country.

  53. 53.

    rikyrah

    ??
    NEW: South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the only top-tier 2020 Democratic candidate talking money from lobbyists, a fact highlighted by his upcoming fundraiser hosted by Steve Elmendorf. https://t.co/PcrOiQvQwa

    — Kevin Robillard (@Robillard) April 22, 2019

  54. 54.

    mrmoshpotato

    @BobS: Probably, but that money can’t just be handed over to the government.

    See $20 mil that a racist asshole raised through GoFundMe to build Dump’s Last Monument To The Confederacy.

  57. 57.

    eemom

    eedad and I were spinning a potential screenplay the other night while walking our doggies, to the effect that Putin grants asylum to the entire Dump family in exchange for the nuclear football, or at least a ton of top secret strategic info. First plot glitch was that Dump probably couldn’t get away with the football, and he doesn’t know any such info cuz he doesn’t give a shit. Yeah, but JARED could probably get his hands on it….download the entire keys to the national security kingdom onto a disk, and they all flee to Moscow with it. Then the rest of the movie is a cliffhanger about some heroic Democrats fighting to save the world from the ultimately empowered Putin.

    I think it has potential. Mnemosyne, you around? Can you hook me up with a studio exec? Adam, can you consult?

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    @Martin:

    It’s a bit past implied. USSC grappled with this problem during Watergate and affirmed that authority of Congress. They should be free to plow ahead.

    Well, before Roberts showed his true colors re: his “balls and strikes” and stare decisis lying during his confirmation, I would have been reassured by that statement. But since, as far as I can tell, he has had no compunction re: ignoring strong precedent when it suits his Federalist Society/political goals, I’m still concerned.

  59. 59.

    Kay

    @LemieuxLGM
    1h1 hour ago
    More
    In light of today’s oral arguments, enjoy this David Sirota classic about how when you think about it there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between Sam Alito and Sonia Sotomayor, so no big deal if Obama loses:

    Does it even matter? Asks Bernie’s campaign employee, David Sirota.

  62. 62.

    trollhattan

    If I were to envision Larry Mitchell Hopkins, border botherer of Mexicans from all the Mexicos and wannabe kingslayer, I could not top his actual photo.

    How have we hatched all these violent losers? Is it the water?

  63. 63.

    gene108

    Contempt of Congress doesn’t mean much. Rove was held in contempt of Congress, IIRC, and not much happened to Rove.

    Congress has next to no police powers versus the Executive branch.

  66. 66.

    Scott

    I think for FY2020, the House should shut down funding for the White House and selected staff. Maybe direct GSA to cut off power. Power of the purse is powerful.

  68. 68.

    gene108

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:

    It’s the story of the destruction of Lancaster OH by – you guessed it – corporate raiders of the 80s.

    Reagan giving the green light to corporate raiders probably did as much as anything else to destroy the middle class as anything else, but it doesn’t get the attention trade deals get.

    Also, this green light to corporate raiding and M&A activity of all kinds, radically changed the way corporations behave. Instead of producing balance sheets that showed steady growth, healthy cash flow, health cash balance, etc., and maybe not the most maximized P/E ration possible, companies that operated like this were open targets for raiders, and still are (see Bain Capital as an example), so companies trimmed workforces, trimmed benefits, did away with pensions, etc., in order to make sure their share value was as high as possible and therefore they would not be take over targets.

    EDIT: Also highly recomment Den of Thieves

  69. 69.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: Thank FSM! What was up with Clinton’s budget surplus? Was he trying to ummmm…..non-bankrupt? the US?

    Whatever happened to that surplus?

  74. 74.

    TenguPhule

    Six Trump Interior appointees are being investigated for possible ethical misconduct

    The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation into whether six of Trump’s appointees have violated federal ethics rules by engaging with their former employers or clients on department-related business.

    The new inquiry, which the office confirmed in an April 18 letter to the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, is looking into senior Interior officials, including Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Doug Domenech, White House liaison Lori Mashburn and three top staffers at the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs. The Campaign Legal Center detailed the officials’ actions in a Feb. 20 letter to the inspector general’s office, suggesting a probe was warranted.

    The rot runs deep.

  76. 76.

    Gin & Tonic

    I never thought I’d say this, but I hope the US 2020 Presidential election is as free and fair as Sunday’s Presidential election in Ukraine was.

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    Reup, bc people are still getting this wrong.

    Barr’s claim that there was no underlying crime described in report for Trump to cover-up is 100% false. SDNY named him an unindicted co-conspirator in hush payments. https://t.co/0lb9gQddzM

    — emptywheel (@emptywheel) April 23, 2019

  79. 79.

    Mary G

    I expect a lot of tweeting about PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!!! and WITCH HUNT!!!

    Seriously though this is one of the biggest tests of how much the Republicans are willing to put up with in flouting the rule of law.

  80. 80.

    gene108

    @rikyrah:

    The conservative justices on the Supreme Court will all get throbbing boners, in anticipation of sticking it minorities, especially Thomas.

    Oral arguments and questions no longer matter. The conservative movement in America via the Federalist Society, right-wing media, and billionaire sugar-daddies has managed to merge the Republican Party into a Borg like entity, where the role of a Republican Congress is to prop up a Republican President, and the Courts exit to prop up Republican laws and/or goals.

    The way to counter this is for the House, if it is in Democratic hands in 2021, to increase the number of seats. House hasn’t done this, since 1911. It is fully within their rights to increase memebership beyond 435 seats. I think a 100 seat increase for the next decade could counterbalance this sort of fuckery.

  81. 81.

    Peale

    @TenguPhule: Yep. First you take away the power from states with high numbers of immigrants by reducing their congressional delegation. That those states often happen to be blue is beside the point (wink). If the Democrats ever by luck or pluck to win in 2020 AND their voters show up in 2022 to get them back in control of the Senate, it would be nice if the first thing they’d do is lower the barriers to naturalization. Instead of a $700 application fee, just lower it to -$700. $1,000 if you’ve been eligible for a decade or more and haven’t moved on from permanent residency. Trump is already slow walking the naturalization process – the time from application to approval is double what it was under Obama. The dems need to take a more aggressive stance on making demographic change in the vote pool happen now, since the conservative position has become so hostile to the notion of legal immigration, naturalization, and “natural born citizenship” for the children with non-citizen parents.

  83. 83.

    SRW1

    @Luciamia:

    And Trump has ordered all WH officials to skip the Correspondents Dinner.

    A camera might have caught one of these officials grinning after a joke about the Trumpster.

  84. 84.

    Martin

    @NotMax: We’ll be damn lucky if it’s only a trillion. February spent $401B and brought in $167B. 60% of spending wasn’t paid for. Revenues are uneven due to taxes coming on often quarterly, but if we have one month a quarter at that burn rate and the other 8 months are break-even, we’re at a $1T. The other months won’t be break-even. Hell, I’m not even sure April will be.

  86. 86.

    Martin

    @SRW1: Someone is trying very hard to prove that people follow his orders.

    I’m not sure he even has the legal authority to do that, but whatev. It’s Chinatown.

  88. 88.

    Martin

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah, but it’s like mid-May, 4 weeks out. If the dems do go for impeachment using the Mueller report as justification, I think it’s valid for voters to be skeptical – if it was so alarming, why didn’t you move faster? There should be someone testifying daily. There’s no shortage of people who need to be subpoenaed here.

  92. 92.

    joel hanes

    @Luciamia:

    Trump has ordered all WH officials to skip the Correspondents Dinner.

    Good.

    Can we permanently cancel this damned thing now?
    It suborns the press by letting them pretend that they’re savvy insiders in the government, instead of adversarial reporters

  97. 97.

    Just One More Canuck

    @TenguPhule:

    And despite them leaving, the average IQ at the event failed to rise to the occasion.

    Nothing from nothing leaves nothing

  98. 98.

    James E Powell

    @different-church-lady:

    How do order a former employee to do (or not do) anything?

    That was my first question. It also doesn’t seem like much of a defense to a contempt charge for ignoring a subpoena.

    I know I’m preaching to the choir, but Democrats need to make this defiance of the law and constitution central to the impeachment inquiry. They need to get into the faces of the press/media because those a holes would never accept this from any Democrat. They are treating the whole thing with the standard ‘both sides’ bullshit.

  99. 99.

    dww44

    @Mary G: And also how long it will take Democrats to stop playing nice with a norm breaking, law breaking, contemptuous Trump administration and a totally complicit Republican party! I’ve had enough myself.

  100. 100.

    My Side of Town

    I saw this earlier today.

    In 1821, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress needs the power to hold someone in contempt or else it would be “exposed to every indignity and interruption that rudeness, caprice, or even conspiracy, may meditate against it.”

    The full House or Senate can approve a contempt citation by a majority vote, and then must hand the matter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, “whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action,” according to the law.
    http://time.com/5023920/trump-russia-election-congress-capitol-jail/

  103. 103.

    Bill Arnold

    @Gravenstone:

    That’s a bitch just begging to be first against the wall.

    Let me put it this way; if there were a trolley problem where one was offered an anonymous choice between J. Kushner and an innocent wolf spider mom with an egg sack, and all else were the same (this is not the case), my choice might possibly be Life for the spider-mom and her unborn children. And I would not kill the philosopher.

  104. 104.

    Chris Johnson

    @BobS: NOW I remember where I ran into the name Jared before.

    It’s the old MacOS (68K, classic MacOS) useful program ‘Jared’. Does this.

    Jared

    You’re welcome.

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