Newt Gingrich thinks that the 1/6 Committee members can be put in jail by House Republicans, but the House doesn’t have the power to jail people.
Gingrich said on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures:
What they need to understand is on January 4 next year, you’re going to have a Republican majority in the House and a Republican majority in the Senate. And all these people who have been so tough, and so mean, and so nasty are going to be delivered subpoenas for every document, every conversation, every tweet, every e-mail…I think when you have a Republican Congress, this is all going to come crashing down, and the wolves are going to find out that they’re now sheep, and they’re the ones who are in fact, I think, face a real risk of jail for the kinds of laws they’re breaking.
There is only one problem with Gingrich’s theory. House Republicans can’t put anyone in jail. As the nation has learned from the 1/6 Committee, select committees can only make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.
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Attorney General Garland will toss any criminal referrals of 1/6 Committee members by a potential future House majority straight into the nearest dumpster.
Gingrich’s statements sound tough, but his remarks were a fantasy from the man who impeached Bill Clinton and cost his party the House.
Republicans are going to be out for revenge if they take back the House, but they won’t be able to jail anyone, as it seems Newt Gingrich learned nothing from setting his own career on fire in the 1990s
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
