Political factions in Washington, DC all reached a collective boiling point on Wednesday, with an executive privilege stunt from Donald Trump, a Contempt of Congress ruling from House Democrats, and an unexpected subpoena from the Republican-led US Senate.
Politics
Despite repeated cries of “NO COLLUSION” and “NO OBSTRUCTION,” Donald Trump continues to prove day by day that he has something to hide.
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EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE
On Wednesday, Trump cited executive privilege to prevent Congress from seeing the full and unredacted version of the Robert Mueller report. Democrats in both chambers of the legislative branch have been pushing for more than a month to see the full 448-page report and its treasure trove of evidence — particularly since the report was written as a tool for the congressional body to decide if/how to sanction Trump. However, Attorney General William Barr has repeatedly refused to release the report to Congress. Instead, he issued a 4-page “summary” of his thoughts regarding the findings, showed Trump and his attorneys the report before all others, then redacted information he deemed as sensitive before eventually supplying a watered-down version to Congress.
By asserting executive privilege, Trump has now blatantly denied Congress access to the true evidence of the Mueller investigation and stymied their elected responsibilities.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler of New York said the administration was “misapplying the doctrine of executive privilege,” and called the decision a “clear escalation in the Trump administration’s blanket defiance” of the constitutional duties of Congress.
However, The White House remained recalcitrant.
“This is over,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday as an excuse for the executive privilege assertion and as a dig toward Rep. Nadler.
“The American people see through Chairman Nadler’s desperate ploy to distract from the President’s historically successful agenda and our booming economy,” Sanders continued. “Neither the White House nor Attorney General Barr will comply with Chairman Nadler’s unlawful and reckless demands.”
Oh, really??
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CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS
After last week’s partisan act to eagerly attend the Republican-led Senate hearing but completely ignore the Democratic-led House committee hearing, Attorney General William Barr not only proved he is working for Donald Trump instead of the American people, but basically dared Democrats to make something out of it.
Well, they did!
On Wednesday, House Democrats on the Judiciary Committee voted 24-16 to find Barr in contempt for not complying with their subpoena to provide documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report.
“The information we are requesting is entirely in our legal right to receive,” Chairman Nadler said regarding demands for Barr to turn over the complete unredacted version of the report and any underlying materials. “Our fight is about defending the rights of Congress to hold the president — any president — accountable.”
“For the White House to be degrading the office the president holds, degrading the Constitution of the United States and degrading the first branch of government, the legislative branch, that’s just not decent,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
Unless a compromise is reached, a worst-case scenario could see Barr placed behind bars for boldly thumbing his nose at Congress.
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A REPUBLICAN SUBPOENA
In a shocking move on Capitol Hill, the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena for Donald Trump Jr. to appear before the committee.
The move caught most of Washington off guard, particularly since Republicans in the Senate have all fallen in line in support of Trump and have never dared to go after his family.
No one knows why members of Trump’s own party felt it necessary to subpoena Junior, and the committee seems intent on keeping it that way.
“We do not discuss the details of witness engagements with the Committee,” a spokesperson said. “Throughout the investigation, the Committee has reserved the right to recall witnesses for additional testimony as needed, as every witness and witness counsel has been made aware.”
Stay tuned…
Okay so a few thoughts on the matter…….
DJ wrote: “Unless a compromise is reached, a worst-case scenario could see Barr placed behind bars for boldly thumbing his nose at Congress.”
Well since House Dems serving on Judiciary Committee insisted on going down this road (finding Barr in contempt) we’ll have to wait and see just how far they’re willing to go in the event that Barr still refuses to comply.
Re: “the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena for Donald Trump Jr. to appear before the committee.”
Now THAT was a shocker! But here too ….we’ll have to wait and see just how far the Rep-led Intelligence Committee is willing to go in the event Trump Jr. refuses to show up.