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The battle between congressional Democrats and the Justice Department over Special Adviser Robert Mueller's report on Russia has reached a new level of vitriol, with some on the left demanding that Attorney General Bill Barr be physically dragged to testify or even incarcerated for challenging the Congressional Summons.
Requests escalated after the Attorney General's refusal to appear before the Judiciary Committee of the House last week due to disagreements over the format of the hearing.
PELOSI SAYS TO BARR "LIED TO CONGRESS" AND TO A CRIME, LIKE THE DOJ BLASTS "RECKLESS" COMMENTS
Although he testified a day earlier on the Senate side, the Democrats on the committee still want to bring in the DOJ leader to answer questions about the conclusion of Mueller's investigation. Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler, DN.Y., also imposed on Barr on Monday morning to release the unedited full report and additional files – a delay that the DOJ apparently missed, forcing Nadler to schedule a vote Wednesday for the proceedings for contempt of Barr.
The committee member, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Over the weekend, urged the panel to specifically pursue the "inherent disregard", asking that Barr be arrested by the weapons sergeant and brought physically before the committee to testify – a tactic apparently not used since the 1930s.
Cohen told Anderson, of Cooper, CNN: "I think they will be an obstacle at any cost," added that the situation "leaves us no choice but to bring our sergeant to arms. is totally contemptuous of Congress, he lied to Congress.
Constitutive contempt, which allows a person to remain in custody until he testifies, is one of three possible options, with criminal contempt (under which a person is charged with a crime) and the civil judgment (leading to civil proceedings).
Cohen added, "You have to pass him off as an audience and keep him locked until he agrees to participate and come to the hearing."
Cohen stated that he did not know what the committee would do, but argued that without pursuing this route, a contempt quote would be "meaningless".
The Justice Department did not respond publicly to Cohen's warning, although a spokeswoman retaliated last week when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Barr to have committed a crime by allegedly lied. The DOJ called the attack "reckless, irresponsible and false".
Nevertheless, the scenario suggested by Cohen has so far not been interpreted by the highest Democrats. Cohen – who made fun of last week for bringing a KFC bucket to the no-show audience, eating fried chicken in front of the press camera and placing a miniature chicken near Barr's empty seat to suggest Barr is himself a chicken – even suggested that contempt scenarios might not produce a lot of action.
"This shows that we want to condemn him in contempt, but the fact is that he will not be judged contemptuous because the Justice Department is not going to impose a quote for contempt of their boss," said Cohen. "It just will not happen. Trump and Barr would fire anyone who tried to do it. "
But Cohen is not the only one on the left to call for such a radical measure.
Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote an editorial last week titled "Congress Should Be Ready to Arrest Bill Barr when he refuses to summon a subpoena".
"[T]The Chamber may order its own weapons sergeant to arrest the offender, to submit him to a trial before the whole House and, if he is found to be in contempt of court, to put him in jail until he appears before the House and brings all the documents of the House. summoned to appear, "wrote Reich in the Salon editorial. "Congress has not implemented the threat since 1935 – but it could. Would America really be subject to the wild spectacle of the House Sergeant who arrested a Attorney General and eventually put him in jail? "
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"Probably not," he writes. "Before that happens, the Trump administration would bring the case to the Supreme Court as soon as possible.
Reich also said that Trump's alleged "contempt for power inherent in Congress" was "the most dictatorial measure he has taken since his assumption of the presidency".
Another article of the week titled "William Barr is an outrage, Congress should send him to jail," has evoked a similar scenario.
"And the solution to be adopted by the House is simple if Barr does not really show up: formally condemn him in contempt of Congress, then send him to prison," wrote Joel Mathis. "It's a radical suggestion, but it's a radical moment."
In the meantime, most prominent Democrats have argued that Barr should resign despite the controversy.
"He lied to Congress. And if someone else did that, it would be considered a crime, "Pelosi told reporters. "Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not the Attorney General.
Pelosi's public comments come after Politico said she told Representative Charlie Crist, D-Fla., At a private caucus meeting on Thursday: "We've seen [Barr] commit a crime when he has answered your question.
She was referring to a hearing on April 9, where Crist had asked if Barr knew what had motivated the reports that the prosecutors of the special advocacy team were frustrated with his initial summary. Barr said that he did not do it.
But last week, the Washington Post first reported that Special Advocate Robert Mueller had contacted Barr by letter and by telephone to voice his concerns after Barr published his report. four-page summary of Mueller's findings in March. Mueller urged Barr to publish the summaries written by the Special Council Office.
However, according to the Ministry of the Post Office and the Ministry of Justice, Mueller made it clear that he did not think Barr's summary was inaccurate. Instead, Mueller told Barr that the media coverage of the letter had "misinterpreted" the results of the investigation into the obstruction of justice.
Pelosi was asked last week if Barr should go to jail for the alleged crime.
"There is a process involved here and as I said, again, the committee will have to determine how we will proceed," said Pelosi.
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