TODAY IN CONGRESS (C-SPAN TV SCHEDULE) & More:
I am posting the daily C-Span TV schedule, when I can, for those here who may be interested in tuning in to see what Congress is up to. Also, I have provided the results of the previous day’s votes on some significant Bills/Resolutions, when Congress was in session the previous day. Lastly, I have provided an update on the status of numerous Congressional Subpoenas and other Committee action.
Here’s today’s schedule with the events I think may be the most interesting in bold. You can watch C-Span HERE. NOTE: Sometimes C-Span posts additional Congressional events not on my list, later in the day.
House:
9:00 am — House Intelligence Committee Hearing on Mueller Report (House Intelligence Committee holds a hearing to discuss the lessons learned from the Mueller Report.)
10:00 am — House Morning Session (General Speeches)
10:00 am — House Oversight Committee meets to vote on Contempt Citations (The House Oversight and Reform Committee votes on holding Attorney General Barr and Commerce Secretary Ross in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas related to a citizenship question added to the 2020 Census.)
12:00 pm — House Session (The House will consider a spending package totaling $986.8 billion in discretionary spending for FY 2020 for four of the 12 appropriations bills: Labor-HHS-Education, Defense, State-Foreign Operations, and Energy-Water.)
1:00 pm — House Armed Services Committee Hearing on the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (The House Armed Services Committee debates and considers changes to the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.)
Senate:
10:00 am — Senate Session (Following Leader remarks, the Senate will continue to work on judicial and executive nominations.)
Yesterday’s Votes:
House:
1. House Resolution 430 (H.R. 430) Vote On Passage of the Resolution “Authorizing the Committee on the Judiciary to initiate or intervene in judicial proceedings to enforce certain subpoenas and for other purposes’’ (as amended).
Democrats- 229 Yes 0 No 0 Present 6 Not Voting 7
Republicans- 0 Yes 191 No 0 Present 7 Not Voting
Totals- 229 Yes 191 No 0 Present 13 Not Voting
PASSED
Voting Details HERE. Text of Resolution HERE.
Senate: No significant votes in the Senate, just more nomination confirmations.
Comments:
Today’s Events –
House — The highlight of today’s C-Span TV schedule is twofold. First up will be the House Intelligence Committee Hearing on lessons learned from the Mueller Report regarding the threat of Russian involvement in our elections. Then at 10:00, the House Oversight Committee’s debate and vote to hold both AG Barr and Commerce Secretary Ross in Contempt of Congress for defying Congressional subpoenas for documents related to the Administration proposed addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census. More on these below under “SUBPOENA WARS”.
Senate — The most interesting and potentially the most politically explosive thing going on in the Senate today will not be happening in front of the C-Span TV cameras. It will be the Closed Door Hearing conducted by the Senate Intelligence Committee where they will hear limited testimony from Donald Trump Jr. regarding his interactions with Russian operatives during the 2016 election. While some on our side are hoping that Trump Jr.’s testimony today will further deepens the legal perjury hole he dug for himself during his last appearance before Congress, I am not so sure. I hate to sound cynical, but today’s testimony might be about allowing Trump Jr. to correct the record on his previous testimony to get himself out of the perjury hole so he does not end up in Cohen’s jail cell. Anyway, we will have to wait and see what rumors fly after today’s closed door Hearing to get at least a possible glimpse of Trump Jr.’s fate.
Yesterday’s Votes:
House — The House passed a Resolution (H.R. 430) authorizing the Judiciary Committee to go to Court to enforce Congressional subpoenas issued to AG Barr and former White House Counsel Don McGahn. So what exactly is this Resolution? I have been listening to many media pundits tell me what it is, some which have apparently not read it and are just making crap up based on what they think it is. What it is NOT, is a criminal Inherent Contempt citation by Congress (i.e., it does not authorize the Committee to fine or lock up either Barr or McGahn. Broadly, it is an authorization to the Committee to take Barr and/or McGahn to Federal Court in a Civil proceeding where the Court could issue a ruling requiring compliance with the subpoenas and even possibly impose personal fines for non-compliance with the Court’s Order.
But don’t let me tell you what this Resolution is or is not. Since it’s not that long, here it is for you to read and make your own interpretation:
“That the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives is authorized, on behalf of such Committee, to initiate or intervene in any judicial proceeding before a Federal court—
(1) to seek declaratory judgments and any and all ancillary relief, including injunctive relief, affirming the duty of—
(A) William P. Barr, Attorney General, to comply with the subpoena that is the subject of the resolution accompanying House Report 116-105; and
(B) Donald F. McGahn, II, former White House Counsel, to comply with the subpoena issued to him on April 22, 2019; and
(2) to petition for disclosure of information regarding any matters identified in or relating to the subpoenas referred to in paragraph (1) or any accompanying report, pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), including Rule 6(e)(3)(E) (providing that the court may authorize disclosure of a grand-jury matter “preliminarily to... a judicial proceeding”).
Resolved, That the chair of each standing and permanent select committee, when authorized by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, retains the ability to initiate or intervene in any judicial proceeding before a Federal court on behalf of such committee, to seek declaratory judgments and any and all ancillary relief, including injunctive relief, affirming the duty of the recipient of any subpoena duly issued by that committee to comply with that subpoena. Consistent with the Congressional Record statement on January 3, 2019, by the chair of the Committee on Rules regarding the civil enforcement of subpoenas pursuant to clause 8(b) of rule II, a vote of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group to authorize litigation and to articulate the institutional position of the House in that litigation is the equivalent of a vote of the full House of Representatives.
Resolved, That in connection with any judicial proceeding brought under the first or second resolving clauses, the chair of any standing or permanent select committee exercising authority thereunder has any and all necessary authority under Article I of the Constitution.
Resolved, That the chair of any standing or permanent select committee exercising authority described in the first or second resolving clause shall notify the House of Representatives, with respect to the commencement of any judicial proceeding thereunder.
Resolved, That the Office of General Counsel of the House of Representatives shall, with the authorization of the Speaker, represent any standing or permanent select committee in any judicial proceeding initiated or intervened in pursuant to the authority described in the first or second resolving clause.
Resolved, That the Office of General Counsel of the House of Representatives is authorized to retain private counsel, either for pay or pro bono, to assist in the representation of any standing or permanent select committee in any judicial proceeding initiated or intervened in pursuant to the authority described in the first or second resolving clause.”
Now, with respect to the vote on this Resolution, it was along Party lines as most of you would suspect. However, I was a little surprised to see Republican Justin Amash vote with his Party against the Resolution. I have no explanation why the only Republican to come out boldly in favor of impeaching Trump would vote to against giving the Committee the tools to make the case for impeachment. Baffling!
Senate — Sorry to sound like a broken record, but it was only another day of confirming crappy Trump nominees.
SUBPOENA WARS —
House Judiciary Committee Barr Subpoena — Well, the House Resolution passed yesterday gives Judiciary Committee Chairman Nadler the authorization to go to Court to enforce the Barr subpoena for the unredacted Mueller Report and all underlying documents. Although its unclear if or when Nadler will use this new authority. Presently, Barr is allowing House members and staff to review all the FBI 302 reports which were produced during the course of the Mueller investigation (these FBI 302 reports are detailed notes taken by an FBI agent who was in the room during the voluntary interviews of all the witnesses conducted by Mueller’s team). However, Barr is not presently allowing the Committee to actually obtain these FBI 302 reports, nor is he budging on his withholding of the redacted portions of the Mueller Report and all “Grand Jury 6e” material (Rule 6(e)(2), Fed.R.Crim.P., prohibits "an attorney for the government" from disclosing matters occurring before a grand jury, except as otherwise provided in the rules.). It seems Nadler is seeing how far Barr will let him go on simply the threat of taking him to Court before he actually takes him to Court, which IMO appears inevitable. Furthermore, it appears that Clause 2 of the House Resolution (see above) also gives Nadler the authority to directly argue for the release to Congress of all of the “Grand Jury 6e” material both redacted in the Mueller Report and in the transcripts of Mueller Grand Jury witness testimony. Since the Court directly controls the release of Grand Jury transcripts, this provides Nadler with somewhat of an end-around Barr’s subpoena defiance, however, Barr could still decide to have DoJ argue against the release in Court. We will just have to wait and see when Nadler decides to pull the legal trigger.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena — So like the Barr subpoena, Nadler has also been granted the authority hy the House Resolution to go to Court to enforce the McGahn subpoena to testify and produce documents. However, unlike Barr, it appears that Nadler is ready to use this authority. According to this CNN Report:
“Nadler said he wanted to go to court "as soon as possible" to try to force McGahn to testify, although the timing would ultimately be decided by the House counsel.”
So it won’t be long until we see if McGahn decides to fight this in Court himself and/or whether the Trump Administration will seek to intervene in the proceedings and formally claim Executive Privilege.
House Judiciary Committee Mueller Testimony — The Committee is still in negotiations with Mueller’s team about his testimony. However, on MSNBC's Show, "the Beat" yesterday Judiciary Committee Chairman Nadler said that he sees “Mueller testifying by 'end of summer'”. Time will tell.
House Judiciary Committee Hicks and Donaldson Subpoenas — The House Judiciary Committee voted to subpoena both Hope Hicks (President Trump’s former long time personal adviser) and Anne Donaldson (Don McGahn’s former Chief of Staff) a few weeks ago. According to Politico, the subpoenas call on both women to produce requested documents by June 4. Then they are scheduled to testify with Hicks on June 19 and Donaldson on June 24. They have both been told by the White House to not respond and so far they have not. They missed the documentary deadline of June 4, so now my guess is the Committee is waiting to see if they are “no shows on June 24 before taking further action to enforce these subpoenas. However, bolstered by the new authority granted to him by yesterday’s House Resolution (according to this CNN Report) Nadler said:
“...that he would go to court to force former White House aides Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson to comply with the panel's subpoenas for the officials to testify later this month.”
House Intelligence Committee Subpoena — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) postponed a meeting to take “enforcement action” against the Justice Department after it agreed to turn over documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Schiff said that the department has agreed to turn over 12 categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials. However, while we wait to see what the Committee will do after it reviews the documents from Barr, the Committee will hold a Hearing today on lessons learned from the Mueller Report regarding the threat of Russian involvement in our elections. According to this NBC News Report, the Committee
“...will hear testimony from two former leaders of the FBI's national security branch to testify about the counterintelligence implications of Mueller's investigation. Both ex-FBI officials, Robert Anderson and Stephanie Douglas, retired from the bureau before it launched its investigation into the Trump campaign in summer 2016. By inviting them instead of agents involved in the investigation, Democrats are giving center stage to longtime career officials likely to be seen as more neutral and devoid of the political baggage that accompanies some of President Donald Trump's more outspoken critics, including former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe and former agent Peter Strzok.”
Recommended viewing to say the least!
House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee Deutsche Bank and Capital One Subpoenas (Trump’s Banking Records) — No change. A federal judge ruled from the bench and rejected President Trump's effort to block congressional subpoenas seeking his financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One. But the Trump Organization has filed an Appeal. The appeals court said Friday it will speedily consider President Donald Trump’s challenge to congressional subpoenas seeking financial records from two banks with which he did business. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued a brief order setting a schedule for written arguments to be submitted by July 18, with oral arguments to soon follow.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Subpoena (Financial Records) — No change. A three-judge panel on the appeals court will hear oral arguments on July 12 to determine whether the accounting firm Mazars can hand over Trump's financial records to House Democrats. The court also set a series of deadlines spanning June and July for parties to submit filings arguing their positions in the case.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Subpoena — The House Oversight Committee is scheduled to vote today on a Resolution to hold Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in Contempt of Congress after this pair of top Trump administration officials failed to cooperate with a probe into adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census. However, according to this story from "The Hill":
“House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said Tuesday that he would hold off on his committee’s contempt votes for Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross if officials provided certain documents to Congress by Wednesday.
In a letter sent to Barr on Tuesday evening, Cummings was critical of a Department of Justice (DOJ) letter sent earlier in the day that warned that the department would ask President Trump to assert executive privilege over the documents on the census citizenship question subpoenaed by the committee over the contempt vote, scheduled for Wednesday morning.
“In other words, without making any recognizable counter-offer with respect to the documents under subpoena, the Department appears to be indicating that it may stop producing responsive documents over which even the Department concedes no privilege exists—and that the Department may also withhold documents in other investigations,” Cummings wrote.
“The Committee cannot accept these terms. The Committee has a responsibility under the Constitution to conduct rigorous oversight of the Census, and we will not continue to delay our efforts due to your ongoing obstruction,” he added.
While he wrote that the DOJ had made “no commitments” to hand over certain documents and “no counter-offer with respect to these documents,” Cummings said he would be willing to delay the contempt vote if he received certain key documents by Wednesday.”
So we will have to see what happens during today’s Committee meeting.
House Ways & Means Committee Subpoena (Trump’s Tax Returns) — No change. We are waiting for the Committee to enforce its subpoena against Mnuchin and the IRS, and get this dispute into Court. Although I have no idea what the hold up is, especially since this is a slam-dunk case. We are also waiting for Governor Cuomo to sign the Bill allowing NYS to provide NYS tax returns of Federal or State government officials to House Committee Chairman (McNeal) upon his request (including Trump’s NYS returns). But, Chairman McNeal announced last week that he will not request Trump’s State Tax Returns.
More — And yes there is that little Closed Door Hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee where Don Jr. will testify to attempt to get his ass out of the sling he put himself in with his last Congressional testimony. Ah, how we would all love to be a fly on the wall of the Hearing room!
Thanks for Reading! If you like this series, please tell a few friends.