Many people within the Trump administration could soon be found in “Contempt of Congress” and thus find themselves subject to arrest.
House Democrats have been busy since taking control in January. They’ve already issued several subpoenas, and they’ve written a lot of letters which could soon turn into even more subpoenas if they don’t get the information they want.
Trump, his lawyers, his attorney general, and other associates of the president appear to be ready to openly flout the requests coming from various House committees.
So that naturally leads to the question: What can House Democrats do about it?
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Actually federal law is very clear: If a witness refuses to comply with a subpoena to either produce documents or testify, Congress can then use criminal statutes to enforce compliance.
The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized congressional subpoena power, and it has always upheld the enforcement power of contempt.
Even Trump’s cabinet members aren’t immune from being arrested for being in contempt of Congress.
- If Attorney General William Barr ignores a subpoena to produce Mueller’s documents, he could be arrested for contempt.
- If Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin ignores a subpoena to product Donald Trump’s tax returns, he could be arrested for contempt.
It’s likely if these things happened that the Department of Justice (under control of the president) would intervene and the conflict would end up in court.
But it would take an extraordinary set of circumstances for the federal courts — including the Supreme Court — to disregard federal law and allow Trump’s people to avoid complying with congressional subpoenas.
The tax laws are very clear with respect to providing Trump’s tax returns: the statute says they must be given to the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee after he requests them, which he has done. There is no wiggle room here.
Still, yesterday, Trump had his lawyers publicly pronounce that they would not comply and would not allow the Treasury Department to turn over Trump’s tax returns to Democrats in the House.
At this point subpoenas have not been issued for either the Mueller report or for Trump’s tax returns. House Democrats have asked nicely, hoping they will receive what they want voluntarily. But if subpoenas are soon issued, and if they are ignored, then Donald Trump and his people will soon find out that the U.S. Congress is an equal branch of government, and should not be ignored.
They may also soon find out that House Democrats have the power to arrest Donald Trump’s people, and throw them jail.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
