Opinion | Jack Crane – It has been a few days since the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress, due to his lack of compliance with their ridiculous demand for an unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
However, Democratic lawmakers seem to be conflicted about how they will proceed with their vendetta against the current Attorney General, now that President Donald Trump has exercised his executive privilege to protect the files.
Some lawmakers are advocating for Barr to be forced to testify to the redacted material or jail him for defying the subpoena, according to Fox News’ report.
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., lead the charge, calling for the house to attempt to attribute him with “inherent contempt.” If that plan were enacted, Barr would be arrested by the sergeant at arms, something that hasn’t been done since the 1930s, and the idea is growing in popularity.
“We know how to arrest people around here,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told Politico according to Fox News. “And if we need to arrest someone, the [House] sergeant-at-arms will know how to do it. I’m not afraid of that.”
He added: “If they can arrest my constituents, we can arrest someone else who’s disobeying the law.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also supported Congress’ “inherent authority,” which she said was “at our disposal.”
“We have a number of steps we’re looking at that we can take,” Jayapal told Politico. “People feel like we’re progressing at the appropriate pace.”
However, not all Democrats are calling for Barr to be arrested. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif does not seem thrilled with the prospect, and even pushed back when asked about it.
“We do have a jail in the basement of the Capitol, but if we were arresting all of the people in the administration, we would have an overcrowded jail situation,” she said. “And I’m not for that.”
