Rep. Katie Porter is not about to let Emily Murphy off the hook

[True Dough]

Love Porter's tenacity!

Link to tweet

[Rorey]

1. Emily Murphy is a traitor

There's no other way to look at it.

[Mr. Ected]

3. AND a coward

[Cha]

25. Oh yeah.. a chickenshit coward.

[trueblue2007]

13. Emily Murphy is a traitor i say LOCK HER UP !!!!!!!!!!!

[Maraya1969]

44. The problem as I see it is they haven't locked anyone up. They need to get serious

with these bastards.

[jaxexpat]

46. Clever observation there. And quite true, as well.

[onenote]

61. The bigger problem is that she hasn't done anything that violates the federal criminal code

To the extent she had a legal duty to issue an ascertainment before she did (and that's far from clear), her failure to do so could be considered grounds for removing her from office. But its not criminal. It only might turn into a criminal offense if a court ordered her to issue the ascertainment (and nobody asked a court to do so) and she committed criminal contempt by refusing to follow the court's order.

[PatrickforO]

23. And she is only the tip of the tip of the iceberg when it comes

to treason.

Treason is Donald's middle name. Donald Treason Trump.

[Evolve Dammit]

32. Agreed

[DeminPennswoods]

2. Katie Porter is a keeper!

nt

[GemDigger]

7. I have big dreams for that woman.

Big dreams.

[BComplex]

45. I think Katie Porter is amazing. She's a leader and a force to deal with if you're on the wrong side

of the law, or on the wrong side of what is right and good.

[TeamPooka]

54. I would love her to be my next senator

Taking vice president elect Harris’s place

[renate]

20. I absolutely adore her

[ProudMNDemocrat]

4. Subpoena Murphy's ass before Congress .

Before Trump's one term ends. Keep the pressure on this woman to have her explain herself under oath. If she refuses, levy a heavy fine.

[Blue Owl]

5. I've heard Ms. Murphy is a toxic employee, and a bottom-ranked candidate for any job

Pass it on!

[jaxexpat]

47. Allergic to soap and had her daughter take her General Service Test because she's the only......

one in her family that reads.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

6. K & R. Murphy is still breaking the law.

[Biophilic]

8. Yes!!

These people need to face consequences and others need to see it happen. No more slippage of responsibility.

[gademocrat7]

9. Go, Katie!

Make her testify. No excuses.

[Dem2]

12. ditto!

No point in me typing the same thing

[ancianita]

10. Oh I can't wait for this.

[BarbD]

11. Murphy must be held accountable for lying.

Her lying had huge consequences.

[warmfeet]

14. Yep. The American people deserve answers.

We pay their salaries.

[MontanaMama]

15. Can we expect a subpeona?

Murphy's obstruction cannot stand.

[2naSalit]

16. Is she a MOM or what?

No juvenile delinquent could pull one over on her!

[uponit7771]

29. +1

[Lonestarblue]

17. In all fairness, being questioned by Katie Porter would scare the bejesus out of most people.

She is so wonderful, but I sure am happy she’s on our side. After watching her make Jamie Dimon squirm, I just cheered. And I love her boards she uses to explain things to people because they are so obviously a subtle “I can’t believe you’re so stupid I have to draw things to help you get a clue.” She is relentless without ever sounding anything but prepared and professional. A partisan hack like Emily Murphy would probably be scared to death of Katie Porter.

[scarletwoman]

18. This is moot now, since the GSA released the transition go-ahead yesterday evening.

This post is outdated.

[True Dough]

26. Moot? My backside, it's moot!

Emily Murphy still has a lot of accounting to do for the delays she caused and the waffling she did. She's not worthy of holding her position and she should still have to defend her actions.

[scarletwoman]

27. There's no point in holding a hearing to pressure her into doing what she has already done.

Which was the purpose of the hearing scheduled today.

It would be more useful at this point, for the House to pursue some sort of corrective action to the current system which allows a single person to make the decision of ascertainment after a presidential election.

[True Dough]

28. Murphy's actions, yet to be explained, would be central to such a restructuring

And there would be no better prelude to reforming the existing system than a Katie Porter grilling of Emily Murphy upon which a future commission could be struck.

[uponit7771]

31. +1

[berni_mccoy]

36. Uh no. The law was not followed. Congress has an oversight obligation

To hold her accountable.

[scarletwoman]

37. That may be, but the original reason for today's hearing has been rendered moot.

Amy Murphy has no reason to appear today, so why would there still be a hearing?

[berni_mccoy]

38. To get answers on what justification she used and determine

If and how the law should be changed. Motive, intent and rationale are all components to restructuring the law and determine if she should remain as head of GSA (Congress can remove her)

[scarletwoman]

39. Congress clearly needs to amend the Presidential Transition Act of 1963.

And if they want/need to subpoena GSA documents and/or Emily Murphy in order to do so, fine.

Also, if the Biden Justice department wants to pursue any charges related to Ms. Murphy's actions, that would be fine too.

All I've been saying is that the original hearing scheduled for today is no longer needed and won't happen.

[onenote]

62. Precisely.

For those that say the law, as currently written, wasn't followed, I ask the following: why didn't the Biden campaign go to court with a demand that she be ordered to issue the ascertainment?

[TxVietVet]

19. Never forget that conservanazis want the government

Run by business “leaders”. tRump💩 crime family is the best they could offer up WITH Putin’s help.

They want to destroy our Federal government and loot it. Install a system that only benefits the wealthy and make the poor and middle class pay for it.

We might not be this fortunate next time around.,

[orleans]

21. question: what came first? her letter and the funds? or trump's tweet telling her to release money?

n/t

[VA_Jill]

22. I still

want to see Katie Porter and her whiteboard make Emily cry. Okay, call me sadistic, but that beeatch mad the country squirm and cry for days, OK?

[Cha]

24. Rt.. ChickenShit Emily Murphy! TY

Rep Katie Porter!

[William769]

30. K&R

[MyOwnPeace]

33. OVERSIGHT!!!!!!!!

Means JUST THAT - they're gonna' watch W-T-F is going on!!!!!
The Founding Fathers planned it that way so that we could be assured that our government was functioning properly!

The BunkerBoy Mis-administration gave the middle finger to Congress and their duties to oversee what was happening in our government. They defied requests, demands, and even subpoenas to avoid appearing at "OVERSIGHT" hearings. Emily was just doing what her bosses had shown by example and perhaps even following direct orders.

THIS MUST STOP!!!!!

The CONSTITUTION demands OVERSIGHT!

Make it happen, Joe!

[ffr]

34. Arrest her on January 20th, just for good measure

Then let everyone who has had a family member die of Covid in the last 10 months 5 minutes each to flog her in private.

Once republicans begin to understand that they are NOT above the law, then maybe we can get back to some normalcy. But not until we get 8 years of flogging them repeatedly, while we are not held to account for ANYTHING during that time period. We deserve to be made whole for their lawlessness!

[onenote]

48. Arrest her for what?

If she was breaking the law, don't you think the Biden campaign would have been screaming that from the rooftops? The problem isn't that she broke the law, the problem is that the law effectively gives the GSA head essentially unlimited discretion in making the "ascertainment" decision.

There needs to be a hearing for the purpose of figuring out how to amend the law. She essentially called for a change to the law so she'd have no excuse for not showing up at such a hearing.

[ProfessorGAC]

50. Can't Now

Once the concept of "apparent winner" was met, she triggered the transition & released the funds.
There's no doubt in my mind that when those states certified and the winner was apparent, GSA lawyers went to her to remind her that failing to act would THEN by a crime & malfeasance. Having no choice, she did her job.
So, no law was broken. If she waited more that a day, she would likely have put herself in jeopardy.
But, as you said, at this point there's nothing to arrest her for.

[onenote]

51. What federal criminal statute would she have violated?

Nothing in the US Criminal Code or the Presidential Transitions Act makes it a crime to unreasonably fail to make an ascertainment as to an apparent winner of a presidential election. Not every failure to perform a legal duty is a crime.

You're correct that once the states had certified Biden's win, it is possible that a mandamus action could have been brought to force her to make the ascertainment and if she refused to comply with the court order, she could face criminal contempt charges.

[ProfessorGAC]

55. Malfeasance

Failure to perform the legally required actions of the position is criminal malfeasance.
Kirschner & Bahara both commented on this. I trust their expertise over my limited outsider knowledge

[onenote]

56. Can you cite to the portion of 18 US Code that would apply?

[ProfessorGAC]

57. Did You Read My Post?

Apparently not.

[onenote]

58. I read your post and didn't see a citation to an applicable federal criminal statute

making malfeasance a criminal offense.

Malfeasance in office may be a basis for terminating someone from their job. It may be a common law tort to which non-criminal sanctions may apply.

There have been no "common law crimes" in the US for over 200 years. See United States v. Hudson, 11 U.S. (7 Cranch) 32 (1812). As stated therein, "The legislative authority of the Union must first make an act a crime, affix a punishment to it, and declare the court that shall have jurisdiction of the offense."

So, I repeat my question: what statute has Congress enacted that makes Murphy's action, dilatory as it may have been, a federal crime for which she could be arrested, tried, and criminally punished?

[ProfessorGAC]

59. You're Being Needlessly Argumentative

This has become tedious.
I told you what I heard legal experts say on TV. That was clear from my first post.
You have a problem, take it up with them.
I'm a retired scientist, not a lawyer. I didn't claim to be.
I'll engage no further in this tiresome exchange

[onenote]

60. I'm a lawyer with 40 years' experience

I've searched high and low for quotes from Kirschner, Bahara or any other expert that indicate Murphy could be charged with a federal crime.

My guess is that whatever you heard, you misunderstood. Because Kirschner and Bahara and others are experienced enough to know that the federal government can't arrest, try and lock up someone for an act that hasn't expressly been made a crime (with a specified punishment) by Congress.

Too many folks on DU end up sounding like Trumpers by posting "lock him (or her) up" for everything and anything they don't like without ever bothering to consider whether the action they think should be prosecuted actually violates a specific provision of the federal criminal code (18 US code).

[Illumination]

35. She's a very naughty girl! She needs to put down the bon bons, truffles & donuts. We need some

xplain'in! Katie Porter wants answers & the American people should have them too!... ..... ..... .....

[albacore]

40. I am deeply... madly... in (political) love with her.

She needs to be a committee chair, then a Senator Boxer, then VP, then President.

[panader0]

41. Whiteboard Katie

[albacore]

42. Superhero idea...."Katie, Bringer of Doom to Fools"..

Gonna be a hard sell, considering that baby face. But. As soon as she starts questioning....it's KYAG, Mr. CEO.

[panader0]

43. The baby face would be the feature. Baby Faced Katie, Bringer of Doom to Fools

pay per view

[LittleGirl]

49. Katie's

Future is so bright she’ll need shades! 😎

[colsohlibgal]

52. She Is Totally Awesome

I just love Her, she rocks.

She nails those Creeps to the Wall. They have to be fearing the White Board!

[BobTheSubgenius]

53. Yes, her tenacity, and just about everything else I've recognized in her.

One thing really stood out for me, though. And, while it's hardly an essential for being a good legislator, it is certainly a nice quality overall. She is f'ing hilarious! Saw her on Maher, and she cracked up the panel repeatedly. One of them was laughing so hard, he put his head on the desk until he recovered composure.

She is a treat!