Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
WHY ISN'T CONGRSS USING ITS MOST POTENT WEAPON - ITS POWER OF INHERENT CONTEMPT?
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Congress needs to stop playing games and start playing hardball against the Trump administration instead of running their mouths about the actions that they “may take if” Trump is not responsive to their authority.
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Donald Trump and the GOP are not paying the house any attention – they can’t afford to because their backs are up against the wall, so they don’t have any other options other than to ignore congress. They’ve obviously come to the conclusion that nothing would be worse than the truth coming out, so they’ve decided to obfuscate and stonewall.
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What makes that such a severe problem for the nation is since Donald Trump is all but illiterate, he’s incapable of even beginning to grasp the seriousness of the Constitutional crisis that he’s setting in motion. In addition, he doesn’t care, because he’s not interested in the impact that it’s having on the country. It’s all about “the Donald”, and he simply can’t afford to allow America a glimpse into his criminal empire, because it’s all built on smoke and mirrors and if contaminated by truth, it’ll all come tumbling down. Even Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said - and during a hearing, no less - that “Trump is a fucking idiot." I rarely agree with Sen. Graham on anything, but in this case, no truer words were ever spoken.
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Think about it. As much as Trump likes to brag about what a great man he is, if he didn’t have a lot to hide, he’d not only allow us to see his taxes in
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Donald Trump and the GOP are not paying the house any attention – they can’t afford to because their backs are up against the wall, so they don’t have any other options other than to ignore congress. They’ve obviously come to the conclusion that nothing would be worse than the truth coming out, so they’ve decided to obfuscate and stonewall.
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What makes that such a severe problem for the nation is since Donald Trump is all but illiterate, he’s incapable of even beginning to grasp the seriousness of the Constitutional crisis that he’s setting in motion. In addition, he doesn’t care, because he’s not interested in the impact that it’s having on the country. It’s all about “the Donald”, and he simply can’t afford to allow America a glimpse into his criminal empire, because it’s all built on smoke and mirrors and if contaminated by truth, it’ll all come tumbling down. Even Trump ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said - and during a hearing, no less - that “Trump is a fucking idiot." I rarely agree with Sen. Graham on anything, but in this case, no truer words were ever spoken.
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Think about it. As much as Trump likes to brag about what a great man he is, if he didn’t have a lot to hide, he’d not only allow us to see his taxes in
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We know three things about Trump’s finances – first, that his father financed Donald’s false narrative of a successful businessman until his death; secondly, every business venture that Donald has engaged in on his own has been an abject failure, and finally, after his father died, the only thing that kept him from having to go on welfare was a trust fund from his father and the Russians paying him to use his name to launder money and engage in other nefarious activities.
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So again, congress needs to stop playing games with Trump. They should ask Trump’s people to either come before a congressional committee or to submit documents only once. If they fail or refuse to do so, congress should issue a subpoena. Thereafter, if they fail to respond to the subpoena, congress should invoke their “inherent contempt” powers and fine them $25,000 per day and/or throw them in jail until they comply. Congress has that right under the Constitution - and without even having to go to court. That way the American people can be educated and pressure can be placed on the Republican senate prior to initiating impeachment. In addition, Pence, who was brought into the administration by Paul Manafort, could also be impeached for his connection to Michael Flynn, which would preclude a pardon of Trump.
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It's been reported by several news organizations that Attorney General Bar has even taken to mocking Speaker Pelosi by jokingly asking her after he ignored a congressional subpoena, "Did you bring the handcuffs?" So for congress to do anything less than utilize all of its Constitutional powers is to invite disrespect of their authority by both the people involved, and the public at large, because it makes congress look like they’re unsure of their own authority. The speaker should have Attorney General Barr locked up, because he's not only thumbing his nose at her, but at congress, the United States Constitution, and the American people.
INHERENT CONTEMPT
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The National Constitutional Center states in its publication,
Constitutional Daily, that “Justice Willis Van Devanter made perhaps the most
famous statement of these powers in McGrain v. Daugherty, a 1927 Supreme Court decision
about Mally S. Daugherty, the brother of former Attorney General Harry
Daugherty. A select Senate committee issued a subpoena for Daugherty to
testify and to also surrender records from an Ohio bank. When Daugherty refused
to comply after a second subpoena, the Senate passed a resolution issuing a
warrant and authorizing a Senate deputy to take Daugherty into custody.
Daugherty filed a habeas petition against his detention. A lower court ruled
that the Senate exceeded its powers by detaining Daugherty, freeing him.
However, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction, holding that under the
Constitution, Congress has the power to compel witnesses and testimony “to
obtain information in aid of the legislative function.”.
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“Each house of Congress has power, through its own process, to compel a private individual to appear before it or one of its committees and give testimony needed to enable it efficiently to exercise a legislative function belonging to it under the Constitution,” Van Devanter said. “This has support in long practice of the houses separately, and in repeated Acts of Congress, all amounting to a practical construction of the Constitution.”
.“Each house of Congress has power, through its own process, to compel a private individual to appear before it or one of its committees and give testimony needed to enable it efficiently to exercise a legislative function belonging to it under the Constitution,” Van Devanter said. “This has support in long practice of the houses separately, and in repeated Acts of Congress, all amounting to a practical construction of the Constitution.”
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Trump has just declared that he is not going to cooperate with congress' constitutional right of oversight, and he has taken it upon himself to overrule the United States Constitution and has declared that any further investigations into his personal conduct is unnecessary, completely dismissing congress' constitutional right to oversight, and Attorney General Barr has declared that since a sitting president can't be indicted, neither can he be investigated. So, essentially, Donald Trump has taken over the government.
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Trump is obviously so ignorant and uninformed regarding the underpinnings of America’s democratic laws and traditions, and so self-serving, greedy, and in fear of the revelations in the Robert Mueller Report that he’s completely untethered to the democratic principles that most of us take for granted. As
we speak – and as we twerk, and watch our baseball, basketball, and football
games -Trump is currently testing the limits of America’s willingness to defend
our Constitution. He's fully prepared to turn the United States of America
into the Autocratic States of Donald Trump. And Trump is transparent. That’s
why he’s so fixated on the word, “coup.” He wants to be America’s Putin - and yes, it can happen here. If Trump and Mitch McConnell's stacked Supreme Court goes along with him, at that very moment, we no longer have a democracy, but a kleptocracy like in Russia, which, it seems, is Trump's ultimate goal. He's already mentioned adding 2 years to his presidency to make up for the 2 years "wasted" on investigating him, and Michael Cohen, his long-time attorney and "fixer", said that he suspected that Trump wasn't going to give up power without a fight.
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Michael Cohen: "I fear Trump won't peacefully give up the White House if he loses the 2020 election."
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It is essential, therefore, that congress be resolute in confronting this blatant assault on our democracy. It is also essential that congress meets this challenge to our way of life with unapologetic vigor. This is no time for speeches, nor, polite accommodations, and congress must make that point abundantly clear by bringing criminal charges against Attorney General Barr for committing perjury before congress. That will serve two purposes – first, it will send a very powerful message to Trump’s other minions, and secondly, it will make Barr unavailable to interfere in the remaining cases still pending from the Mueller investigation. Because Barr has made it very clear that he represents nothing less than a fox in the hen house. He will find a way to sabotage any evidence pointing to Trump's unlawful behavior in any case within his purview. That's what he auditioned for, and why Trump hired him.
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So while the GOP is missing in action and playing political games as usual, it’s important for the responsible members of congress to recognize that this is not simply business as usual. This is the most serious assault on the United States Constitution in the history of this country - and by the most clueless individual who has ever set foot in the Oval Office. It's one thing to have a tyrant like Richard Nixon in office who's testing the limits of our democracy, but yet another to have a mindless illiterate with autocratic aspirations in office who doesn't even know that there are any limits. So this is the most dangerous situation this nation has ever faced, and it must be addressed as such. It is essential that we snatch it, and Trump, out by the roots - and fast.
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TRUMP INCOMPETENCE
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
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