MaddowBlog-Members eye 'inherent contempt' against Bondi after incomplete Epstein disclosures

[LetMyPeopleVote]

While there’s recent precedent for people facing contempt of Congress charges, “inherent contempt” isn’t quite the same thing.

Members eye ‘inherent contempt’ against Bondi after incomplete Epstein disclosures
While there’s recent precedent for people facing contempt of Congress charges, “inherent contempt” isn’t quite the same thing.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— (@tommyboy0690.bsky.social) 2025-12-23T09:02:32.318Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/members-eye-inherent-contempt-against-bondi-after-incomplete-epstein-disclosures

Among the many questions on the table is what the authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act intend to do next. The answer is quickly coming into focus. NBC News reported:

Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Sunday they are committed to holding Justice Department officials accountable for their failure to release all eligible Jeffrey Epstein files by Friday’s deadline, saying they’re speaking with members of Congress about holding Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt.

“The quickest way, and I think most expeditious way, to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi,” the Kentucky Republican said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

While there’s some recent precedent for people facing contempt of Congress charges (see Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, for example), “inherent contempt” isn’t quite the same thing.

In theory, Khanna and Massie could try pushing a resolution to hold the attorney general in contempt of Congress, but in practice, such an effort would almost certainly end in failure: Not only would the measure need approval from the Senate, but it would also go to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. The idea that Bondi would allow her own team to prosecute her is unrealistic.....

If inherent contempt resolutions sound unfamiliar, it’s because they’re quite rare. There was some talk among GOP lawmakers last year about targeting then-Attorney General Merrick Garland with such a measure — they wanted audio recordings of Joe Biden they could use in the presidential race — but the effort fell short.

To find an example of the House actually pulling the trigger on this maneuver, one has to go back to 1934, when the Senate sergeant at arms arrested William MacCracken, the first federal aviation regulator, who refused to participate in a congressional investigation. (It’s kind of a long story.)

As for whether the GOP-led House in the coming weeks might actually pass such a resolution against Trump’s attorney general, it’s too soon to say with confidence. Four House Republicans broke ranks on the discharge petition on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but one (Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene) is set to resign in two weeks, and it’s far from clear whether any GOP members, other than Massie, will endorse such a bold move against Bondi.

[QED]

1. ABA's definition of Inherent Contempt (from 2019)

"[Inherent Contempt]... is when the House or Senate conducts its own summary proceedings and cites the offender for contempt. The accused can be incarcerated, although imprisonment may not extend beyond the end of the current session of Congress. But this path has not been used since the mid-1930s.

https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2019/06/house-panel-contempt-efforts/

[marble falls]

2. I wish they'd quit talking about it and do something ...

... they're beginning to look like someone shaking a cane from their porch at kids walking on the lawn.