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What will crazy Rashida Tlaib think of next? The Michigan congresswoman wants to lock up Trump White House allies who won’t testify before Congress. Now she boasts that she’s been discussing it with other House Dems, too, since she sits on the House Oversight Committee. That committee is one of five committees investigating Trump.
And apparently Rashida and her fellow Dems have a cunning plan.
Credit: giphy.com.
Speaking with the website Deadline Detroit on Saturday, Tlaib claimed that the Democratic Caucus has discussed ways to jail recalcitrant Trump officials who refuse to testify under subpoena. She admits that this action, called “inherent contempt,” is “uncharted territory.”
“There have been actual serious conversations about what the logistics would look like… if we did have to force someone through a court order to come before the Congressional committee. This is pretty uncharted territory for many of us and even for Congress.”
Nor is she the only one who’s threatened this. Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) also wants to throw them in prison. He told CNN on Wednesday:
“I think it’s time to call in the sergeant-at-arms and march them off to our little jail, which we do happen to have. Let them sit there and cool off for a while.”
Ja, zey haff vays to make Trump officials talk.
On Tuesday, President Trump threw down the gauntlet when his administration blocked key witnesses from testifying in an impeachment inquiry.
Will Crazy Rashida and her colleagues then have these officials dragged off to the slammer if they refuse to appear like good children? After all, in theory they could spend up to 12 months in prison. Who wants that?
But it’s not likely. According to the New York Times, Rashida Tlaib’s inherent contempt scheme probably won’t work, anyway.
“But in practice, this law is generally toothless in disputes between Congress and the executive branch. Invoking prosecutorial discretion, the Justice Department can decline to charge an official who defies a subpoena at the president’s direction.”
Plus, Congress hasn’t tried that since 1935. And as for that “little jail” which Garamendi bragged about — the NYT writes that “Congress lacks any prison for holding someone in long-term detention.”
So Tlaib’s Cunning Plan to take out Trump loyalists to get to the man himself will probably go down in flames, anyway. But never fear — Crazy Rashida will probably cook up some other scheme. After all, she promised her constituents that her goal is to “impeach the motherf****r.”
Keep going, Rashida. You want more Trump in 2020? Because this is how you get more Trump.
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[…] Victory Girls: Rashida Tlaib Devising Way to Lock Up Trump Allies […]
George V says: Anyone who is not scared by Tlaib or Garamendi’s comments is naive. Even if you vote Democrat, odds are at some time in the future they will come for you.
rbj1 says: Jailing political opponents. They are marxists, not democrats.
GWB says: They are one and the same the last decade or so.
Wfjag says: I guess that the courts are no longer open. If the hearings were part of a proceeding authorized by the House, the Committee issuing the subpoena would go to court and have it order compliance – after the subject had the opportunity to oppose the subpoena, and if, after the protections of due process were followed, if there was noncompliance, the court would order sanctions as authorized by law.
What is proposed is jailing persons for disobeying certain House Democrats who are not acting according to enacted laws. If the MSM wasn’t a lapdog of the DNC, this would be denounced as tyranny.
GWB says: part of a proceeding authorized by the House
The thing is they could actually pass that if they cracked the whip.
What they desire is not actually impeachment, but a whipping post with Trump tied to it for the duration of the election. Because they believe that they can continue to play word games and use all the “corruption” they find to defeat him next November.
But, yes, they want power, too. And they’re letting their inner tyrant show because some of them think it truly is inevitable.
GWB says: “inherent contempt”
HA! My contempt for you and yours is inherent. I loathe tyrants and all kinds of meddlers, and I detest those who would not only take freedom away from others but would give it away for themselves. That’s part of who I am, so, yes, it’s ‘inherent’.
That phrase is idiotic and horribly tyrannical. It basically says that you assume contempt (in a legal sense) on the part of the other person in everything they do. It’s a violation of the Constitution and of our common law (involving due process and innocent until proven guilty).
in an impeachment inquiry
Please stop using that term. At least put it in scare quotes. There IS NO impeachment inquiry. It’s called a “fishing expedition”. It could also be called a “political stunt”. It could also be called a violation of campaign finance laws, since they’re using the actual legislative time and treasure to pursue a direct campaign action.
But, whatever you call it, it is NOT an “impeachment inquiry”.
These folks really are tearing off their masks. They are so upset about being denied their due power after 0bama that they won’t even pretend anymore. They want to RULE and they want it NOW. They want to put YOU in your proper place because you’re just not good enough, and if you won’t be re-educated, then you should be pushed aside and trampled under.
They need to remember these two mottoes, because they go hand-in-hand:
Molon labe!
Sic semper tyrannis!
Slow Joe Crow says: It’s a good thing the Constitution explicitly prohibits bills of attainder because you know they would try it.
Scott says: This is exactly what happens when you not only allow into the country those who hate everything about it, and would destroy it in a moment to allow socialists and terrorists free reign, but also elect them to Congress…
Stacy0311 says: Every official subpoenaed should appear before the committee holding their hearing and after the chair makes their opening statement read the following statement:
“As you have made clear from you opening statement, you have no desire to investigate anything, no desire to determine facts or motives or search for anything even remotely resembling an impeachable offense. Today you are only interested in spewing talking points, creating sound bites to get a few seconds of air time on the news. You have abandoned any pretense of objectivity. You have abdicated your role of oversight. You have become nothing more than partisan harpies screeching about a president who frustrates your desires for control and treats you with the contempt you so richly deserve. With that being said, I will not sit here while you badger me and try to force me to admit to crimes which exist only in your imagination. Further, I choose to exercise my 5th Amendment protections regarding any and all of the hypothetical crimes you are inventing for this administration. I bid you ‘Good Day’ and I am leaving to go back to my office to continue my work on behalf of the American people.”
And then put all their papers back in their briefcase, get up and walk out.
GWB says: Egad, I would LOVE to see that.
Richard McEnroe says: THIS is why they want Trump’s business records. So they can run down and harrass anyone who ever had dealings with him.
SDN says: Trump’s business records are also the records of a multinational operation that operate in multiple jurisdictions. Whole accounting firms are needed to keep track. And yes, to most people, the results of those laws will be impossible to understand as anything except ridiculous things that no one who isn’t crazy or crooked would do.
Pat Downing says: Not to worry. Rashida will die of terminal ugliness before she gets the chance.
5JimBob says: Tlaib is talking about taking political prisoners. Next she’ll be planning campaigns of starvation and deportation in “Red” parts of the country.
Joe in PNG says: Don’t say “gulags”. Instead say “volunteer climate recovery worker”.
SDN says: Not deportation. Importation of barbarians with permission to loot, and kill those who resist.
Ankylus says: Interesting. She apparently does not understand that any warrants issued by Congress–even if they can do such a thing–will be enforced by the Federal Marshal’s Service. The Federal Marshal’s Service is a part of the executive branch. The head of the executive branch is, of course, Trump, and so he is the de facto head of the Federal Marshal’s service.
This is reckless, and they are going to try an experiment whose outcome is unknown but that will throw us into yet another constitutional crisis.
Perhaps the Democrats should have been more worried about this kind of thing when they let Eric Holder get away with it solely because he was a Democrat.
The Democrats have turned us into a banana republic.
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