THE AGENDA: Are Democrats Ready to Invoke Inherent Contempt?

Democrats Need to Start Game-Planning Right Now

Every Monday, The Watchdog Report publishes THE AGENDA, a blueprint for Democrats in Congress to reassert themselves as a coequal branch of government. A lot of conversations are taking shape about what the Democrats’ Oversight/Corruption agenda should look like IF they take back the House or Senate in November. That conversation usually centers on the investigative targets they would/should pursue. But just as, if not, more important than identifying what to investigate is how they actually intend to achieve cooperation with their investigations. That’s what we dive into in this week’s edition of THE AGENDA.

The Trump family finances, the WH renovations, the no-bid contracts to Trump-friendly companies, the flagrant abuse of taxpayer dollars and executive authority all make for a compelling list of investigative targets for Democrats should they retake the Majority in either the House or Senate. But here’s the thing. Nothing we have seen - either from Trump 1.0 or 2.0 should make Democrats think that there will be any cooperation with their investigations.

So, it’ll go like this, Democrats will launch an investigation. They’ll send a letter of inquiry requesting information, documents, even testimony. The letter will go ignored. Democrats will send another letter threatening a subpoena if there is no cooperation. The threat will be ignored. Then Democrats will issue the subpoena. The subpoena will be ignored. Democrats will threaten to hold the recipient in contempt of Congress. That threat will be ignored. Democrats will hold that person in contempt of Congress. And then what? Either the President will exert executive privilege in a blanket way and try and shutdown Democrats’ investigations or the Justice Department will simply refuse to enforce or prosecute any people held in contempt of Congress. If the courts intervene and side with Democrats, Trump will just pardon that person, as he has done to previous members of his team who were held in contempt of Congress (Steve Bannon).

So, what are Democrats going to do? What can they do to beef up their enforcement powers? Forget about passing a bill, the President will never sign it. Quite frankly, there may be very little that the Congress can do to compel Executive Branch cooperation, however, there is a lot they can do to compel cooperation from everyone else outside of the federal government. From corporate leaders who cut checks to fund the Trump family corruption ring, to former staffers and officials who have since left government service, Democrats in Congress need to be prepared to use “inherent contempt” as soon as they regain the reigns of power. Inherent contempt is a power granted to the Legislative Branch where the House or Senate has its Sergeant-At-Arms, or deputy, take a person into custody for proceedings to be held in Congress. To that end, the first thing Democrats should do if they retake the Majority is appoint a new Sergeant-At-Arms who will oversee the implementation of inherent contempt - someone like a former January 6th Capitol Police Officer like Michael Fanone or Harry Dunn.

The bottom line is if Democrats in Congress aren’t willing to deploy the full use of their given authorities to enforce subpoenas, then no one is going to take their investigations seriously.