FILE PHOTO: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland attends a news conference to announce that the Justice Department will file a lawsuit challenging a Georgia election law that imposes new limits on voting, at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:40 pm
1/6 Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) urged the Department of Justice to aggressively pursue any criminal referrals of Trump associates.
Greg Sargent of The Washington Post interviewed Rep. Raskin, who said:
“Given the nature of the congressional investigation, the Department of Justice would have every reason to enforce criminal contempt referrals from Congress,” Raskin told me. “This is about protecting the democracy against violent insurrections and coups.”
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“People are held in criminal contempt all of the time, all over the country, for disobeying subpoenas and not showing up in court,” Raskin said. “There’s nothing remotely unusual about it.”
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“Contempt proceedings are the way we deal with people who refuse to honor the justice system’s pursuit of the truth,” Raskin told me. “There is no exception for the cronies of former presidents.”
There is nothing unusual about the potential for criminal referrals for defying a subpoena. The 1/6 Committee needs to break the Trump cycle of destroying norms and the rule of law, and the way to do that is to hold Trump’s associates accountable for not complying with subpoenas.
Congress does have its own power to enforce penalties for contempt, and the committee is so serious about its work that there is little doubt that if the Justice Department does not enforce the criminal referrals, the House will act.
Rep. Raskin is correct. The best way to get the country back on track from the Trump years is to enforce the rule of law, and the good news is that with the Biden administration cooperating with the committee, the DOJ has every reason to enforce criminal referrals related to the 1/6 investigation.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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