I’m very interested in what happens with Steve Bannon testifying before the House committee, though not for the reason that’s getting the most attention.
Honestly, I don’t care all that much about him showing up because of what he’ll say as a witness. Because I don’t think he’ll say much of anything as a witness – or anything. My guess is that he’ll say “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember” about everything, and anything he doesn’t respond to that way he’ll probably take the Fifth Amendment. (If they’ve subpoenaed any documents from him, that’s another matter.) What I do care about is how he’s dealt with as someone defying a subpoena from the United States Congress. If he doesn’t want to testify, that’s his business – but every action has consequences. And, speaking as a non-lawyer who is also not a Constitutional scholar, I think that the consequence for defying a legal subpoena from the House of Representatives should be something that puts you in prison. Otherwise, why have subpoenas, and without subpoenas why have Congressional investigations? Which brings me to a related issue. It got some attention, though not a lot from the proper perspective. And it’s that when the House of Representatives voted 229-202 last week to refer contempt charges against Steve Bannon to the Justice Department, the story (to me) was not that the vote passed, but that 202 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted that they do not think that someone who has defied a House subpoena should be charged with contempt. I’m going to repeat that one. Last week, 202 elected Republicans in the House of Representatives, who sworn an oath the defend and protect the U.S. Constitution, voted on the record that they believe that someone who has defied a House subpoena should not be charged with contempt. And though this is very clear, I’m still going to put it another way – 202 Republicans out for 211 elected to protect the country said that they think it’s fine if a witness wants to defy Congress and ignore to testify even when they have been legally subpoenaed. So, to today’s GOP, there’s no reason to have subpoenas. And without subpoenas – to today’s Republican Party – there’s no reason to have Congressional investigations. Which, of course, is a very fascist thing to do. Trying to undermine other centers of authority to governmental power and abuse. Mind you, I think it’s a pretty safe bet that if the Republican Party was in control and they were investigating Democrats they’d be screaming bloody murder that their subpoenas should be followed. Unfortunately, there would be two big problems with their screaming. The first is the rule of law and justice isn’t a “Who’s in power” thingee and it only works when dealt with evenly and fairly, other wise it isn’t justice. And the second is that they’re now on record saying that subpoenas don’t matter, and ignoring one shouldn’t be referred to the Department of Justice. Of course, we’ll find out what the DOJ has to say about all this. And it seems likely (hopefully) that the Justice Department will say that Republicans are full of sheep drench and subpoenas actually do really matter. But still, the problem for the Republican Party is that they know stand on a foundation of stating that Congressional subpoenas don’t matter and that they can be ignored. Which means that Congress’s power and authority would be undermined, most especially when trying to stand up as a co-equal branch of the government against illegal acts of an authoritarian president. Which is such a very fascist thing to do. But then, that’s today’s Republican Party. Because all of this is about today’s elected Republican Party, which promotes, defends and enables fascism.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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