House Democrats are upping the ante in their attempt to get special counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report by threatening to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress.
Personally, I think Barr needs to be impeached for his actions. But, I understand there are rules and procedures that need to run their full course in order to make that happen. I also understand how unlikely that will be. This is a great explanatory article about what exactly Contempt of Congress means, what's next, and how it could continue moving forward. Here is a telling excerpt from the article:
Here’s how this will work on a practical level: If the full House passes the contempt resolution, Pelosi will issue the citation for Barr to be held in contempt. She’ll pass that citation along to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia or the DOJ. Either the US attorney or the Department of Justice will likely say they don’t plan to move forward with prosecuting Barr.
That would be the end of the matter, unless Democrats pass a separate resolution to authorize going to court with Barr and the Trump administration over the Mueller report, and getting the courts to decide their subpoena request and contempt citation.
That itself is risky. If a judge rules against Congress and in favor of the Trump administration, it could set new legal precedent that could make it easier for future presidential administrations to withhold information from future Congressional committees.
But if the court rules in Democrats’ favor, it could strengthen the legal standing of Congress and could compel the Trump administration to comply with the subpoenas, with more serious consequences for noncompliant officials. For instance, a judge could hold administration officials in contempt of court, rather than contempt of Congress.
(Cover Photo Cred: Win McNamee)