The Jan. 6 Select Committee swiftly condemned the Justice Department’s refusal to slap contempt of Congress charges against former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, hours after former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was indicted on Friday for failing to cooperate with the panel.
I understood that the referrals required prosecutors to (eventually) present the case to a grand jury. There are any number of reasons why prosecutors might not want to indict these miscreants on a mere misdemeanor. They have much bigger fish to fry, and the misdemeanor charge still gives the defendants substantial visibility into what the government is holding against them. So I kind of wonder whether USADC went into the grand jury with lay-down cases against all three targets, and the grand jury was, like, nope, this Navarro guy is really overtly contemptuous, he’s got to go to trial.
We can only trust that the “pay in vs pay out” of pursuing this was seen as upside down and for that reason it was not pursued. Or it’s another example of softness from the Garland DOJ. They did get some information from Meadows. I doubt Scavino ( if he’s as dumb as he comes across ) has much to give so OK…let it go. Navarro’s asshole factor made giving him a break untenable though. And if you could just pick one he’d be my choice.
So today I learned that you can ignore a congressional subpoena and have a 50:50 chance of getting away with it. Nice job Meek!
Hi! To find out what I can do, say @discobot display help.
So today you learned nothing. Congratulations.
O/T, but a great question…no answer of course
Ohio State Rep. Dontavius L. Jarrells posed a good question. “What would happen if a teacher mistakenly shoots a student, is that teacher liable for damages for the death of that child?”
I am having a hard time understanding this decision by the DOJ. It may be that the feeling was that these two, being administration insiders who reported directly to the president, would have some vague claim of privilege that courts might find persuasive. Still, the way to contest a subpoena is to appear and through counsel file a motion to quash that subpoena. Simply ignoring a lawful subpoena is not the way to do it and failing to force these two to make their arguments in court sets a bad precedent.
Glenn Kirschner explored this issue in depth, the take away is that there is a good chance that Meadows and Scavino are cooperating with the feds, They had a sit down with Navarro the day before they an indictment was issued. As per DOJ practices, they usually do coordinated take downs. To prevent witnesses from informing others of pending indictments.
There is good reason to believe that they had a coordinated sit down (commonly referred to as a “Come to Jesus” meeting) with Meadows and Scavino, and they (or their lawyers) decided that it was in their best interests to cooperate.
As was mentioned upthread, these were only misdemeanor charges that they were going to be charged with. Which is minor compared to the criminal contempt that they could be charged with if it is determined that they committed more serious crimes. The DOJ might not want these minor offenses to complicated the more serious ones.
I sure hope the system works as intended.
I will try to find the link to Kirschner’s podcast.
ETA This may be it
The GOP was also having trouble answering questions about the physical exam required for school kids “suspected” of not representing their physical gender “correctly”
“House Republican lawmakers in Ohio passed a bill at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday night that would ban transgender girls and women from participating in high school and college athletics. It also comes with a “verification process” of checking the genitals of those “accused” of being trans.”
“This is truly bizarre medically and nonsensical, but looking at it practically, this bill means that if anyone decides to question a child’s true gender, that child must undergo a sensitive exam,” the doctor said.
Current law is not enough for the GOP, they have to make this a culture war:
Currently, if a trans girl wants to play with cis girls, she must have either a minimum of one year of going through hormone treatment or she must demonstrate no physical or physiological advantages.
There may be something to that, but the DOJ’s comment that their “investigation is complete” makes things a bit more murky.
Sorry but Garland’s life mission seems to be to wag stern fingers at people who do bad things but otherwise go out of his way to not upset anyone or cause any kind of stir, especially if they’re powerful or well-connected.
Yeah, that’s someone I want to share a foxhole with.
I’m not.
Because I am not privy to the process that has led to this point.
But I am quite willing to let this all play out and wait to make a judgment after I have all the facts at my disposal.
What fatuous twaddle.
First, it’s the US Attorney for DC who makes the decision to present these thing to a grand jury—not Merrick Garland, whose job as AG is largely about policy and who doesn’t run the DoJ on a daily basis.
Second, you are showing a lack of trust in both Garland and Biden that is exactly what we don’t need five months before the mid-terms.
Third, you are assuming a lot—and your assumptions don’t have much in the way of facts to back them up.
This issue was part of one comment last week. Suppose, as an armed teacher, I hit an innocent child in my classroom. Or maybe, my colleague on the other side of the paper-thin wall is a lousy shot and the bullet flies through several classrooms and hits one or multiple people. When does a supposedly good guy with a gun become a bad guy with a gun? Who is at fault?
In any circumstance, a teacher who discharges a weapon inside a school will not be able to return to the classroom. Ever.
Remember when - say about four years ago - when people using a public restroom needed to use the restroom of their assigned sex at birth? Some brain trusts of the GOP suggested that restroom police needed to stand at the door of every restroom to make sure that person entering the facility is the correct gender. So, beyond showing your “papers” to the guard, the final test would include either dropping your pants or lifting your skirt. Absolutely brainless.
“Asking for a friend.”
Mebbe too much paperwork??
On an entirely separate news item Putin is warning the US about sending long range weapons to Ukraine. However cnn.com in their live feed says Russia used long range precision guided missiles to destroy tanks in Kyiv. So apparently it’s OK for the Russian to use long ranges weapons but heaven help the Ukrainians if they use the same thing to defend themselves in a war that Russia started without the least provocation.
From cnn.com
“Russia says it destroyed tanks in Kyiv: Russian missiles destroyed T-72 tanks and other armored vehicles near Kyiv that had been supplied by eastern European countries to Ukraine, Russia’s defense ministry said Sunday. The ministry added that Russian Aerospace Forces used high-precision long-range air-launched missiles in the strikes on the capital’s outskirts, hitting buildings of a car repair enterprise. The Russian announcement comes after multiple explosions rocked Kyiv on Sunday morning, in the first strikes on the capital in weeks. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person has been hospitalized.”
I was visited by the Dem running against my current Republican Rep yesterday. I was excited and giddy. I told why I despise my current Rep., and we both agreed that if she had at least held one town hall in 10 years of representing this district she wouldn’t be as despised as she is now. We talked about the current Rep’s Pro-Life stance, and we disagree with her stance, but that’s her prerogative, but not her job to hinder others from doing what’s right for her.
This is only the second time in my memory that a candidate running for office has shown up on my door step.
