'I Have A Warning For You, My Friends...': Dan Goldman Has Blunt Message For GOP Going After Garland

3 months ago

In House floor remarks last night, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) slammed an inherent Contempt of Congress resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland.

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Transcript

00:00I have so much to cover here from my friends on the other side of the aisle.

00:05First I want to just address something that my colleague from Wisconsin said when he said

00:12that the Constitution lays out very clearly in Article I the powers of Congress.

00:19And I would just ask him or any of my colleagues on the other side if you could point me to

00:25where in the Constitution it confers subpoena power on Congress.

00:32You won't be able to because it is something established by the Supreme Court that is derivative

00:38from Congress's power to legislate.

00:43So the Supreme Court has set forth exactly what a congressional subpoena is authorized

00:52to do.

00:53In a recent case, you may remember it, the Trump versus Mazars case, because Donald Trump

01:01sued his accountant to prevent them from providing documents to Congress to issue a subpoena.

01:14Congressional authority, that's what we're worried about here.

01:16Well, the Supreme Court reiterated the legislative purpose in order for a congressional subpoena

01:26to be valid.

01:28So I asked in our overview when we debated this, what is the legitimate legislative purpose

01:35that any one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle can identify to justify

01:42a contempt finding here, where they have the subpoena, including in the transcript,

01:52and everything else requested in that subpoena was provided to them, and they are insisting

02:01on getting the audio, audio of that transcript that they have.

02:07Now not surprisingly, in the Oversight Committee, which has no jurisdiction over this anyway,

02:11they offer nothing.

02:13But I did hear in the Judiciary Committee, my friend from North Carolina who is here,

02:18refer in a subsequent hearing to demeanor evidence as a legitimate purpose for this

02:26subpoena.

02:27Now, demeanor evidence is like a sophisticated legal speak that is very esoteric and only

02:36for trial lawyers, but really it is completely irrelevant to Congress's legislative role

02:43because we don't try cases.

02:46There's no trial here.

02:49There's no demeanor evidence.

02:50As much as you may want to prosecute Joe Biden, there is no congressional prosecution of Joe

02:56Biden and his demeanor evidence is no legitimate basis for this subpoena.

03:04Now, you of course know, and I don't even think you'd argue, that there's a legitimate

03:10legislative purpose to use the audio recordings in a political ad to support your dear leader,

03:17Mr. Trump, so that clearly falls outside of the range.

03:24Of course, my friends on the other side of the aisle should refocus from demeanor evidence

03:30to basic concepts like due process or executive privilege because the President of the United

03:40States asserted executive privilege over this audio tape.

03:44You may not like it.

03:46You may not agree with it, but you have no authority to determine that that is not a

03:54correct assertion of the executive privilege.

03:57And you know who else doesn't have authority to determine that?

04:00The Attorney General who you are trying to hold in contempt.

04:07Due process.

04:09You're going to fine someone $10,000 without notice or an opportunity to be heard.

04:17You're going to say, we're going to fine you because, and you have no opportunity to make

04:23a defense, and there is no neutral adjudicator?

04:28You can go to court all you want, and that's where you went, and that's where you belong.

04:33And that's why this resolution is such bogus.

04:37But I have a warning for you, my friends.

04:40You will reap what you sow.

04:43In June of 2019, then-President Donald Trump said he would, quote, defy all congressional

04:51subpoenas.

04:52And that is exactly what he did.

04:56During the first impeachment investigation, every single executive branch agency defied

05:03a lawful subpoena from Congress.

05:06Gentleman's time has expired.

05:07Members are reminded to address their remarks to the chair.

05:09I yield the gentleman one minute.

05:11Gentleman's recognized.

05:12The State Department was subpoenaed.

05:15The Defense Department.

05:16Not a single document.

05:19So I look forward to whoever one day is the Republican Secretary of State or Secretary

05:26of Defense to be held in contempt and fined, inherent contempt and fined $10,000.

05:31There were more than a dozen witnesses who refused to comply with the subpoena.

05:37And I'm not even talking about the five House Republicans who defied subpoenas in the last

05:45Congress that were determined by a court to be lawful and who would also be subject

05:52to inherent contempt because, of course, if this case where the audio tape is not provided,

05:59then blowing off a subpoena is definitely contempt.

06:03So you ought to be careful about the precedent you're setting because it is going to hurt

06:09you and your dear leader far more than us.

06:13I yield back.

'I Have A Warning For You, My Friends...': Dan Goldman Has Blunt Message For GOP Going After Garland

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