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In reply to the discussion: Question: If Mueller indicts anyone, which court would he try them in? [View all]The Velveteen Ocelot
(130,558 posts)That would be up to whoever hired them in the first place. What happens is that the contempt citation gets referred to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia who refers it to a grand jury. So it isn't a simple matter. The penalty could be between one and twelve months in jail and a fine of $100 - $1,000.
Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress - the only executive branch official in history.
"In October 2011, 7,600 pages of documents were released that Issa claimed may have indicated Holder was sent memos in regard to Operation Fast and Furious earlier than he at first claimed, contradicting Holder's sworn testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in which he said he only recently became aware of Operation Fast and Furious in the first half of 2011. In April 2012, Issa announced that his committee was drafting a Contempt of Congress resolution against Holder in response to the committee being "stonewalled by the Justice Department." On June 19, 2012, Issa met with Holder in person to discuss the requested documents. Holder said he offered to provide the documents to Issa on the condition that Issa provided his assurance that doing so would satisfy the committee subpoenas and resolve the dispute. Issa rejected the offer. .. On June 20, 2012, the Oversight Committee voted 2317 along party lines to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for not releasing documents the committee had requested....
Although this vote was not directly relevant to gun legislation, the National Rifle Association announced that they would be scoring the contempt vote, due to Holder's previous stances on gun control legislation, placing political pressure on Democrats that wished to avoid repercussions from the gun lobby. On June 28, 2012, Holder became the first U.S. Attorney General in history to be held in both criminal and civil contempt. He was held, by a bipartisan vote, in contempt by the House of Representatives in a 25567 vote, with 17 Democrats voting for the measure, 2 Republicans voting against the measure.The remaining Democrats refused to vote and marched out of the House, led by Nancy Pelosi, as a means of protesting the actions of Republicans. Holder responded to the vote, describing it as "the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided and politically motivated investigation in an election year....
President Obama and the Justice Department declined to prosecute the attorney general on the contempt charge citing executive privilege."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder