Liz Cheney And Adam Schiff Sound Ready To Throw Steve Bannon's Ass In Jail
Hope Merrick Garland is willing to follow through.
In the matter of the House January 6 Select Committee subpoenas that several of the most garbage members of Trumpland are saying they're going to defy, a couple members of that committee made some noise this week suggesting they absolutely intend to have those people criminally prosecuted if they follow through with their threats.
Last time we wrote about the subject, we had Democratic committee chair Bennie Thompson and Republican Adam Kinzinger making similar threats. Today's quotes are even stronger fightin' words.
Liz Cheney, the Republican who serves as vice-chair of the committee, says lock 'em up if they don't comply:
"In general, people are going to have to appear, or, you know, we will move contempt charges against them," Cheney said. She said the entire committee was in agreement on that point.
Cheney said the committee expected to have depositions from [Mark] Meadows and [Kash] Patel later this week. "We'll see if they show up. If they show up, we'll be prepared," she said.
As Talking Points Memo notes, Cheney and Thompson made a statement last week that's much the same, suggesting that Meadows and Patel were cooperating somewhat, but specifically calling out human urinal cake Steve Bannon for saying through his lawyer that he was going to defy Congress. It went something like this:
"Though the Select Committee welcomes good-faith engagement with witnesses seeking to cooperate with our investigation, we will not allow any witness to defy a lawful subpoena or attempt to run out the clock, and we will swiftly consider advancing a criminal contempt of Congress referral," the committee chairs wrote.
Cheney's comments this week sound a little tougher than last week's statement. Meanwhile, Bannon is renewing his threats to defy the committee.
Also trying to speak some reality in Steve Bannon's general direction is Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who's just trying to remind Bannon that his true father Donald Trump is a powerless loser now, and nobody is going to save you. He said all this on CNN:
"We have a new attorney general, a new Justice Department, dedicated to the principle that no one is above the law.… https: //t.co/I5eY9tjagu
— New Day (@New Day) 1634042886.0
"We have a new attorney general, a new Justice Department dedicated to the principle that no one is above the law," the Democrat continued. "So Bannon is in a completely different situation now."
Schiff warned that the committee was "not fooling around."
"Those who don't cooperate with our committee are going to be the subject of criminal contempt," he said. "We will vote on it in the House at the appropriate time, and we will refer to the Justice Department for prosecution."
In other words, welcome to hell, you pockmarked hairball.
Of course, all of this is assuming the committee doesn't back down, and that Attorney General Merrick Garland will actually do the job he was hired to do. We have not been automatically assuming he's not, simply because we can't always see exactly what the attorney general is doing behind the scenes. But this is one case where we'll be able to figure out real fast if he's going to decide if subpoenas from Congress mean something, or if Donald Trump and his minions can just keep acting like they exist entirely outside the law.
There is no in between here. CNN's sources say if Bannon doesn't comply, the committee is ready to make an example of him. We hope so.
Oh yeah, BT-dubs, the committee also just subpoenaed Jeffrey Clark, the Trump DOJ assclown who appears to have done more to help his loser president destroy democracy with coups than anyone else. There needs to be follow-through on the requirement to comply with the committee's demands, and it needs to happen now, where everybody can see it.
[ Reuters / Talking Points Memo / ibid .]
Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter .
Wonkette is funded ENTIRELY by a few thousand people like you. If you're not already, would you pls consider being the few thousandth and one?
Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .
Merrick Who? .. is he alive? .. is there a pulse? .. that Merrick? ..
oh yes, that Merrick .. he'll be hiding down in the wine cellar, until 2024.
I don't see what would stand in their way now.