BREAKING: The House Foreign Affairs Committee has announced contempt proceedings against POMPEO

[soothsayer]

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Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
·
Aug 28, 2020
BREAKING: The House Foreign Affairs Committee has announced contempt proceedings against POMPEO

Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
Chairman ENGEL says a new response from Pompeo rejecting cooperation with a committee subpoena recently was the last straw.

Here's the latest letter the committee got from Pompeo:
https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/_cache/

[Squinch]

1. Good for Chairman Engel. The first to actually level a consequence against these scofflaws.

[TruckFump]

2. Good!!! EOM

[Wellstone ruled]

3. About friggin time.

Engel is out at the end of the year anyway,so suddenly he found his spine,wow. Each and everyone here was wondering where or when Contempt would finally be used.

[Cha]

30. You don't know that. There's no reason to Insult Chairman Engel..

for something you have no idea what went on behind the scenes to make this Happen.

"..found his spine.. "? Really??? Good god.

[Wellstone ruled]

32. Yup!!!

[Cha]

33. NOPE!!!!!!!! You're Wrong.

[Wellstone ruled]

34. Interesting,have a great day.

[Budi]

45. If only Engel would have used social media to make Skin Care videos

Now there's a spine fer ya!

Actually, here's what Rep Engel has accomplished instead of selling a Skin Care Regimen on social media.

In the 116th Congress, Engel became chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee.

*Engel was a founding member of the Congressional Medicare for All Caucus in 2018.

*He also founded the House Oil and National Security Caucus.

*He is a member of several caucuses, including the Congressional Albanian Caucus,
*the Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety,
*the House Caucus on Human Rights,
*the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus,
*the Congressional Arts Caucus, *
the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus,
*and the Climate Solutions Caucus.

*Along with Medicare for All, Rep Engel is also a cosigner on the Green New Deal


Here's More history on Rep Engel's failure to (wait for it....)
'GROW A SPINE':

What an ignorant demeaning phrase I see used against one of our own long serving finest House Democrats.
Grow up..


https://ballotpedia.org/Eliot_Engel

[rso]

4. Pompeo

Pompeo needs to really hope that Donnie is re-elected, otherwise Biden’s AG can prosecute him for the felony of Contempt of Congress.

[onetexan]

10. K&R!! Him & Lowbarr need to be held accountable for their crimes.

[Mike 03]

5. Good.

[rso]

6. Pompeo

If Engel really found his spine, he needs to pressure Nancy to approve inherent contempt, which is a perfectly legal, albeit controversial way of handling Pompeo and other Trump miscreants.

[BComplex]

8. What would that mean? "Inherent Contempt"?

Is that where they send the The United States Marshals Service after him?

[rso]

9. Pompeo

Inherent contempt refers to an old law, last used during the 1920s, that allows the Speaker of the House to instruct the House Sergeant at Arms (Capitol Police), to forcefully and physically bring in a non-cooperating witness to testify. SCOTUS upheld the law in the 1920s. It would be quite controversial and potentially dangerous, as Pompeo is always with his State Security Detail, but the House would still be within its legal purview as the law is currently valid..

[triron]

15. Definitely should be used if necessary.

Otherwise no consequences.

[StarfishSaver]

18. Unfortunately, Capitol Police have no jurisdiction outside of Capitol grounds

Inherent contempt sounds great as a concept but it won't actually accomplish anything, which is probably why Pelosi hasn't tried to invoke it.

The case you referred to didn't rule that the Sergeant-At-Arms had the authority to arrest someone beyond the Capitol perimeter - the defendant in that case didn't contest jurisdiction and went along willingly with the arresting officer, so it wasn't an issue. They just ruled that the House has the authority to find someone in contempt without a court order. If the Sergeant-at-Arms actually tried to arrest Pompeo anywhere but at the Capitol complex, I doubt any court would permit it.

[cstanleytech]

21. I thought that all of DC was considered to be essentially federal though so if that is true

would not the Sergeant-at-Arms be able to take him into custody almost anywhere in DC?

[StarfishSaver]

36. Capitol Police don't have jurisdiction on all federal property. Just the Capitol grounds

So, no, he couldn't.

[rso]

22. Pompeo

Actually, in 1927, the Deputy Sergeant at Arms traveled to Ohio and Forcibly brought back the brother of the Attorney General of the United States To testify in Wash DC.. And the courts have upheld this law. However, as I stated earlier, the complicating factor with Pompeo and Barr is that they both have 24/7 security details, which could lead to a nasty confrontation .

[SunSeeker]

25. We already are having a nasty confrontation.

Our democracy is at stake.

[StarfishSaver]

37. Please read my post again

Last edited Sat Aug 29, 2020, 07:43 AM - Edit history (1)

The Court upheld the right of Congress to hold someone in inherent contempt, not the right of Congress to arrest someone for inherent contempt wherever they may be. Those are two different things.

For example, if you commit a crime in New York, the New York authorities have the right to issue a warrant charging you with that crime under New York law. But if you flee to Portugal, the New York City Police Department can't sent a NYPD cop to Portugal to arrest you because they have no jurisdiction outside of New York City. If they want to have you arrested in Portugal and brought back, there are some very specific rules and laws they must follow in order to get you back to New York.

Now, it's possible that they could send a cop to Portugal to find you and tell you that you've been charged with a crime in New York and, if you choose to, you can come back with him to New York to face charges. In that instance, you have essentially waived extradition and New York can put you on trial once you get back. But that doesn't mean that the NYPD now has the power to arrest whomever they want wherever they want.

That's what happened in the case you're citing. The Deputy SAA went to Ohio and brought the AG back to DC. But he did not contest the jurisdiction of the SAA to arrest him outside of the capital; the case centered on the power of the Senate to find someone in inherent contempt and issue a warrant. The power to issue a warrant and order an arrest is separate from the power of law enforcement to make that arrest in particular jurisdictions.

Think of the Capitol Complex as its own little city. Mayor Pelosi has the right and power to find Pompeo in contempt and issue a warrant. But the Capitol Police can only arrest him within their jurisdiction and have no authority to arrest him anywhere else.

I hope that makes sense.

[SunSeeker]

23. Why do they need permission from a court? The House have inherent contempt authority.

No court said the Sargeant-at-Arms CAN'T go outside the Capitol grounds to arrest a non-compliant witness, and the Supreme Court did affirm the inherent contempt arrest powers of Congress.  In the 1821 case of Anderson v. Dunn, the Supreme Court said, Congress’ power to “hold someone in contempt is essential to ensure that Congress is not exposed to every indignity that rudeness, caprice or even conspiracy may make against it.”

All non-compliant witnesses can be presumed to be outside the Capitol grounds (because they're not complying with the subpoena to come to the hearing!). So it stands to reason that the Court would not have affirmed inherent contempt powers if it didn't want the Sargeant-at-Arms going out and arresting non-compliant witnesses.

As stated by Glenn Kirschner, former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, "Inherent contempt is not for the genteel or the faint of heart. It’s an aggressive approach to a dramatic problem. But when you are in a battle for the health and viability of our republic, you don’t leave your most effective arrow languishing in your quiver." https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/why-democrats-congress-should-use-inherent-contempt-force-trump-officials-ncna1058861

These are not genteel times. We should not be unilaterally disarming. Our democracy is at stake.

Send the Sargeant-at-Arms out to handcuff that bag of puss and throw him in the basement jail or cloakroom or whatever room they can clear out, with a cot and a bucket.

If Trump can put babies in cages, we can put Barr in the basement.

[triron]

27. We have our naysayers with us always.

[StarfishSaver]

39. Some may call it "naysaying." Others just call it the law.

[SunSeeker]

41. Former AUSA Glenn Kirschner doesn't agree with your interpretation of "the law." nt

[StarfishSaver]

42. I just remembered

how impossible it is to explain to you anything about "the law" given your certainty that you are an expert on it. So I'll stop wasting my time trying. Think whatever you like.

[SunSeeker]

46. I remember too.

You kept making incorrect assertions. Just like now, you responded to my legal arguments with insults. I have never held myself out as an "expert," nor have I used my background to convince people I am right. I am citing AUSA Glenn Kirschner, who is indisputably an expert. Yet you make no effort to contradict what Kirschner is saying. You reacted similarly last time, when I was citing Laurence Tribe and Hillary Clinton, who were urging us in early 2019 to immediately pursue a formal impeachment inquiry. Tribe explained that would give the House stronger grounds to demand the Mueller grand jury materials under FRCP 6(e)'s "preliminary to judicial proceedings" exemption from grand jury materials nondisclosure rules. You incorrectly insisted that general oversight hearings were no less sufficient to meet the “preliminarily to” test than a formal impeachment inquiry. https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212111035#post106 Sadly, by the time the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) finally followed Hillary's and Tribe's advice, it was September, 2019. https://www.c-span.org/video/?464147-1/house-judiciary-committee-approves-guidelines-impeachment-investigation. The HJC lawyers did eventually, and successfully, make the argument that Tribe was suggesting. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/25/judge-rules-doj-must-turn-over-mueller-grand-jury-material-to-house-democrats-000299. As the District Court ruled:

Some of DOJ’s arguments regarding whether HJC meets the “preliminarily to” test have been mooted due
to developments in the possible impeachment of President Trump since the pending application was filed. DOJ, for
instance, initially argued that statements by the Speaker and the House Majority Leader showed that “the House
Democratic caucus was ‘not even close’ to an ‘impeachment inquiry.’” DOJ Resp. at 27 (quoting Rep. Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) Continues Resisting Impeachment Inquiry, CNN (June 11, 2019), http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRI
PTS/1906/11/cnr.04html). That may have been true in June, but not now, after the Speaker herself announced in
September that the full House is “moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.” Pelosi Remarks
Announcing Impeachment Inquiry (Sept. 24, 2019), https://perma.cc/6EQM-34PT [hereinafter Pelosi Tr.].

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000016e-046a-d3de-a7ee-edfabc550002

Unfortunately, like the announcement of formal impeachment inquiry proceedings, the District Court ruling came late in the year, on October 25, 2019. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/25/judge-rules-doj-must-turn-over-mueller-grand-jury-material-to-house-democrats-000299. All DOJ had to do was delay matters for just 3 more months with appeals to deny the HJC the documents, and that is exactly what it did. The impeachment hearings were held without the key grand jury documents being released to the American people, nor any parts of the Mueller Report's findings forming the basis for an article of impeachment. The House Judiciary Committee's lawsuit is now languishing at the Supreme Court, with no sense of urgency and may not even be set for hearing; the impeachment hearings concluded months ago.

Back in May of 2019, like now, you insisted that I didn't understand, and you refused to cite or discuss why the experts I cited were wrong. https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212111035#post121 You now claim it's "impossible" to explain "anything about 'the law'" to me. That is a cop out.

I assure you, I definitely do understand legal arguments. We are on the same side. All I am trying to do is have us use the best strategy for us to achieve our common goals. That is not a "waste" of time.

[StarfishSaver]

38. No court NEEDS to say it

The law specifically limits the Capitol Police jurisdiction to the Capitol Complex.

You are confusing the right to find someone in inherent contempt on the one hand - which the Congress clearly has the right to do - and the power of the Sergeant-at-Arms to actually take someone into custody. The Sergeant-at-Arms has the right to arrest people, but only within the areas it has jurisdiction.

I know you don't like that, but that's the law. Law enforcement officers can't go around arresting people wherever they choose.

And if the House issued a warrant for Pompeo's arrest, the Sergeant-at-Arms would never have a chance to execute an arrest - Pompeo would get a court order within minutes enjoining the SAA from taking him into custody outside the area of its jurisdiction.

[SunSeeker]

40. A court does need to say that. Why not force Pompeo to get an injunction?

Why roll over like Pompeo already got his injunction?

[Cha]

44. Quit Smearing our Dem Leaders by talking about their "spines" ALL

the Dems in the HOUSE Have SPINES!

They're on the Fucking Front Lines Fighting FOR DEMOCRACY!!

[Budi]

7. Thank You Chairman Elliot Engel (D NY)

Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today announced that the Committee will begin work on a resolution holding Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in contempt.

Chairman Engel made this announcement amid Secretary Pompeo’s ongoing refusal to comply with the Committee’s duly authorized subpoena for records into his transparently political misuse of Department resources.

Chairman Engel said, “From Mr. Pompeo’s refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry to his willingness to bolster a Senate Republican-led smear against the President’s political rivals to his speech to the RNC which defied his own guidance and possibly the law, he has demonstrated alarming disregard for the laws and rules governing his own conduct and for the tools the constitution provides to prevent government corruption. He seems to think the office he holds, the Department he runs, the personnel he oversees, and the taxpayer dollars that pay for all of it are there for his personal and political benefit.

“I gave Mr. Pompeo ample opportunity to fulfill my request for documents, which I first made more than three months ago. These documents were already produced to the Senate, and his refusal to provide them to the Foreign Affairs Committee required that I issue a subpoena on July 31.".

--------------

I hope the Biden Admin brings on board the wise & careful public servant to his country, Rep Elliot Engel. An advisory position would be a perfect move for this man with years of knowledge & good works to bring.

Rep & Chairman Elliot Engel has always been a rock steady force for his country & his people.
Thank you sir.

[Budi]

13. Here's the Press Release from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs

https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/2020/8/engel-announces-contempt-proceedings-against-pompeo


Engel Announces Contempt Proceedings against Pompeo
August 28, 2020

.....

[druidity33]

29. Engel got primaried, no?

If i'm not mistaken, he'll be out of office as of the start of the new year session. I hope his successor has ample opportunity to redouble Engel's efforts...

[AllaN01Bear]

11. wonder how long it will take the it to pardon him.

[Fritz Walter]

12. Lock. Him. Up!

And save room for other administration stooges who thumb their dirty, runny noses at Congressional oversight.

[BillyBobBrilliant]

14. He will look so natural

during his frog walk.

[flying_wahini]

16. Good! About damn time.

[BlueMTexpat]

17. At LONG last!

[Mr.Bill]

19. Is there anyone in the Trump administration

who isn't guilty of either contempt or lying to Congress?

[RobertDevereaux]

20. Let this be the first step of many significant steps (giant leaps, rather)...

Toward bringing all of these traitorous criminals to heel!

[rso]

24. Pompeo

In 1927, the Deputy Sergeant at Arms traveled to Ohio and forcibly brought to Washington the brother of the Attorney General at the time in order to obtain testimony. So the law is legitimate and actual, and still on the books. However, as I stated earlier, the complicating factor is that both Barr and Pompeo have 24/7 security details, which could lead to a serious confrontation.

[SunSeeker]

26. We already have a serious confrontation. Trump has told his minions to ignore subpoenas.

Courts are incapable of acting with the speed needed to prevent harm to the country and our ability to have a free and fair election on Nov. 3. That is a Constitutional crisis.

As stated by Glenn Kirschner, former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, "Inherent contempt is not for the genteel or the faint of heart. It’s an aggressive approach to a dramatic problem. But when you are in a battle for the health and viability of our republic, you don’t leave your most effective arrow languishing in your quiver." https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/why-democrats-congress-should-use-inherent-contempt-force-trump-officials-ncna1058861

These are not genteel times. We should not be unilaterally disarming. Our democracy is at stake.

Send the Sargeant-at-Arms out to handcuff that bag of puss and throw him in the basement jail or cloakroom or whatever room they can clear out, with a cot and a bucket.

If Trump can put babies in cages, we can put Barr in the basement.

[uponit7771]

31. " Courts are incapable of acting with the speed needed to prevent harm" 👈🏾 This needs to be fixed

... quick fast, the courts act to slowly when it comes to election issues like in Wisconsin the SC waiting till the last minute there.

All election related issues should have emergency status and people working 24/7 to prevent what Trump is doing.

People don't think Trumps illegal actions will hurt the vote and they will

[triron]

35. We are basically fucked I think sometimes.

Give me something that will work.

[Ilsa]

43. Are security details supposed to

Prevent legal proceedings, like serving subpoenas, arrests, taking into custody for testimony, etc? I thought they would have to stand down for proceedings or actions ordered by a judge.

[live love laugh]

28. YES!! It's the stick pin I've been hoping for to deflate Pomp(eo)ASS.

Hoping Barr’s next! 🤞🤞