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Barr's contempt charge won't force Trump to give House Democrats what they want. Here's what might.
AG Barr's contempt charge won't force Trump to give House Democrats what they want. Here's what might.
Democrats are unlikely to obtain the testimony and documents they seek using court proceedings or tricky parliamentary maneuvers.
May 8, 2019, 4:49 PM EDT
By Suzanne Garment, author of “Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics”
The House Democrats have their work cut out for them. It’s become inescapably, ineluctably clear: The Trump administration isn’t going to comply with, acquiesce in or submit to congressional requests. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin won’t turn over President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Attorney General William Barr won’t give Congress the unredacted Mueller report, contempt charge or no contempt charge. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross won’t testify any more about the census citizenship question. Former White House Counsel Don McGahn won’t produce, for now, either testimony or documents.
....
The Democrats have to face it: No technical trick is going to do the job. Their only route to success is via the muddy road laid out by master politician Abraham Lincoln: “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” ... The most straightforward procedural suggestion for addressing executive branch noncooperation is to subpoena documents and testimony and, if they aren’t produced, hold the responsible individuals in contempt of Congress. This, it turns out, is not such a great idea.
....
In short, as I said above, no clever technical trick will do the job. If Democrats try to fight the administration through procedural means alone, they’ll become mired in processes that will likely last well beyond the 2020 presidential election — which may be the Trump re-election. Instead, they have to do something harder: Mobilize public sentiment by refusing to “move on” from the Mueller report.
In judging the House Democrats’ options, it’s impossible not to think of Watergate, in which the House articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon were substantially similar to the charges against Trump today: financial corruption, obstruction of justice, resisting lawful congressional subpoenas. ... When we look back at Watergate, its course seems preordained. But it wasn’t until the spring and summer of 1974, two years after the break-in, that Republicans began deserting Nixon in droves. The collapse of the Republican wall that had shielded Nixon wasn’t due to any procedural coup by Democrats. Instead, the cause was sustained pressure from Democrats, judges and journalists, much-maligned, who refused to “move on” from the break-in and the sentencing of the Watergate burglars.
....
Suzanne Garment, a lawyer, is the author of “Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics.” Her husband Leonard Garment was acting special counsel to President Richard Nixon for the last two years of his presidency.
Democrats are unlikely to obtain the testimony and documents they seek using court proceedings or tricky parliamentary maneuvers.
May 8, 2019, 4:49 PM EDT
By Suzanne Garment, author of “Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics”
The House Democrats have their work cut out for them. It’s become inescapably, ineluctably clear: The Trump administration isn’t going to comply with, acquiesce in or submit to congressional requests. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin won’t turn over President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Attorney General William Barr won’t give Congress the unredacted Mueller report, contempt charge or no contempt charge. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross won’t testify any more about the census citizenship question. Former White House Counsel Don McGahn won’t produce, for now, either testimony or documents.
....
The Democrats have to face it: No technical trick is going to do the job. Their only route to success is via the muddy road laid out by master politician Abraham Lincoln: “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” ... The most straightforward procedural suggestion for addressing executive branch noncooperation is to subpoena documents and testimony and, if they aren’t produced, hold the responsible individuals in contempt of Congress. This, it turns out, is not such a great idea.
....
In short, as I said above, no clever technical trick will do the job. If Democrats try to fight the administration through procedural means alone, they’ll become mired in processes that will likely last well beyond the 2020 presidential election — which may be the Trump re-election. Instead, they have to do something harder: Mobilize public sentiment by refusing to “move on” from the Mueller report.
In judging the House Democrats’ options, it’s impossible not to think of Watergate, in which the House articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon were substantially similar to the charges against Trump today: financial corruption, obstruction of justice, resisting lawful congressional subpoenas. ... When we look back at Watergate, its course seems preordained. But it wasn’t until the spring and summer of 1974, two years after the break-in, that Republicans began deserting Nixon in droves. The collapse of the Republican wall that had shielded Nixon wasn’t due to any procedural coup by Democrats. Instead, the cause was sustained pressure from Democrats, judges and journalists, much-maligned, who refused to “move on” from the break-in and the sentencing of the Watergate burglars.
....
Suzanne Garment, a lawyer, is the author of “Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics.” Her husband Leonard Garment was acting special counsel to President Richard Nixon for the last two years of his presidency.
8 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
and after carefully reading to see if the author ever gets to the point of what she says "might work"...
I finally found what she puts forth as the 'solution'...
In short, as I said above, no clever technical trick will do the job. If Democrats try to fight the administration through procedural means alone, they’ll become mired in processes that will likely last well beyond the 2020 presidential election — which may be the Trump re-election. Instead, they have to do something harder: Mobilize public sentiment by refusing to “move on” from the Mueller report.
Gee, why didn't we think of that?
No insult intended to the OP--we are all looking for some wisdom on how to break the "logjam"... But damn. Did the author really think this was a "revelation" or is she just trying to get her 1,627 words to her editor?
