So my modified response would be if it comes to subpoenas the Biden Administration should comply. Since I doubt they have anything to hide it shouldn’t be an issue, unlike those from the previous administration who have refused or fought the subpoenas. Maybe they will decide it is such a load of BS they won’t even wait for subpoenas. I don’t think showing up and answering questions in a way that makes Gym Jordan look like a fool is likely to be that difficult.
Maybe I’m being naive but if HRC could stand testifying for 8-9 hours about Benghazi, etc. I would suggest members of the current administration do the same. It’s always possible someone will say otherwise but I really don’t feel thumbing their nose at the law is a good route to go just because others have done it.
Could they stand it? Sure. But should they? These are people who actually have important jobs, and a day answering idiotic questions is a day they’re not doing those jobs.
I’d vote for making the House committee(s) cross every T, dot every I and jump through every legal hoop possible before letting anyone spend one minute appearing during one of these hearings. The GOP will of course bray “What are they so desperate to hide?” but guess what – they will anyway.
The conflict isn’t likely going to be over whether Administration witnesses will testify before committees – I have no doubt that Alejandro Mayorkas can hold his own in an eight-hour grilling session. But what Republicans will also do is issue open-ended subpoenas for document production of all internal Administration communication and deliberation even tangentially related to whatever scandal they’re trying to drum up. Responding to that will take an enormous amount of staff time. Any documents produced will be used to justify additional subpoenas as Republicans react with outrage over supposed scandalous new information revealed in these document dumps. It will become a never-ending fishing expedition.
Look forward to 8 or 9 hours of this every couple months for the next two years.
That’s Chip Roy “questioning” Alejandro Mayorkas. Should Mayorkas continue to show up to be a prop for GOP rants? How about other administration officials?
My response was based on what Akaj said about following the law. Since there is not a law stating members of the Biden administration have to show up and testify then I would agree it is would be a waste of time for them to do so. Subpoenas would be another matter, no? If Biden exerts executive privilege for certain people or topics that would change things as well. My only point was that just because the previous administration decided to thumb their nose at the law and get away with it I don’t see it being appropriate for the Biden administration to go down the same road.
Also even if they did it might not be as successful. The Trumpists could delay showing up for months on end as they appealed their way through the courts trying to establish precedent. But now that the precedent case law has been established those who try this tactic might be slapped down quickly.
Oh, but don’t have to “thumb their nose” at the law. The responding party can object to the subpoenas on the grounds that they are overly broad and are not material to the cause of action. Then they can suggest the requesting party send an amended subpoena stating on what date and on what exact subject the memoranda or other piece of evidence that might be relevant. Then that subpoena gets objected to on the grounds that it is in fact not relevant to the cause of action. Depending on how savvy the WH Counsel’s office is, they can delay the onset of hearings for years.
House Republicans have spent months searching unsuccessfully for a smoking gun in the Joe Biden impeachment investigation. Instead of admitting failure, they are now pivoting to another target in their frenzy to impeach anyone, no matter how baselessly: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Both the Biden and Mayorkas impeachments are clearly not backed up by evidence. And both borrow from a House Freedom Caucus playbook of unmerited impeachment proceedings that dates to the failed 2016 impeachment of then-IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. What really concerns us, though, is the way these impeachments will both weaponize a key constitutional remedy and undermine its sober original intent. America needs impeachment to deal with the threat of future rogue presidents or other wayward government officials. Ahead of a potential Trump-Biden rematch, this is the worst possible time to turn the threat of impeachment into a partisan joke.
Well, looks like I was sorta wrong- they are gonna go after Mayorkas:
Of course subverting impeachment was the whole point of the exercise. By Impeaching Joe Biden, hisHS secretary, his son and next up probably his hair dresser, the Republicans turn impeachment into a partisan joke. This makes it easier to Trump to downplay the significance of the two actual valid impeachments for cause that he suffered.
Remember Tony Bobulinski? He’s a witness in the Biden impeachment hearing who claims that Cassidy Hutchinson is a “liar and a fraud” in regards to her statement that she witnessed him meeting with Mark Meadows. But Hutchinson has a photo that says otherwise. Tony’s lawyer, who formerly represented her, apparently repeated those defamatory comments, which I guess you’re not supposed to do as a lawyer.
The transcript of Hunter Biden’s deposition on Wednesday was released. I haven’t read the whole thing, but here’s one gem.
First, from the lead-off statement:
Mr. Biden’s testimony today is relevant to that impeachment inquiry. In addition, today’s testimony is relevant to the committees’ ongoing efforts to consider legislative reforms to Federal ethics and financial disclosure laws. Specifically, the committees seek legislative initiatives that provide transparency when the President’s or Vice President’s family members engage in financial transactions with foreign nationals, foreign companies, or foreign governments.
And here’s Eric Swalwell trolling the committee (p. 134):
The best line of the entire testimony was Hunter Biden’s response to being pestered by a GOP Rep about whether he’d worked for foreign governments: “I never worked for a country. I am not Jared Kushner.”