{"id":2416,"date":"2019-10-16T09:44:07","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T13:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2416"},"modified":"2019-10-16T09:44:12","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T13:44:12","slug":"congressional-muscle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/10\/16\/congressional-muscle\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressional Muscle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Impeachment Investigation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the past couple of weeks, the House Intelligence Committee interviewed multiple members of the Trump foreign policy team.  They’ve consistently heard the story of Rudy Giuliani, acting outside of the guardrails of the State Department or the National Security team, pursuing a renegade foreign policy in Ukraine.  When the US Ambassador in Ukraine stood up to him, she summarily lost her job.  The two \u201cbagmen\u201d who helped Giuliani \u201cgrease the wheels\u201d in Ukraine are now in Federal custody in Alexandria, Virginia, under indictment and awaiting trial.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump Was Warned<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Even the National Security Advisor, John Bolton, another Trump appointee seen as \u201coutside the lines\u201d saw the danger.\u00a0\u00a0He said Giuliani and Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney were involved in a \u201cdrug deal\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Bolton saw Giuliani as a \u201c\u2026hand grenade waiting to explode.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0When he heard the scheme to extort information about Joe Biden from the Ukrainian government, he ordered his aide to take notes, and consult legal counsel.\u00a0\u00a0And, like the Ambassador, Bolton lost his job as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happened in the Ukraine?  Rudy Giuliani knows the answers:  he is the center of President Trump\u2019s plan to extort the Ukrainian Government into investigating Biden.  Implicit in that was that the Ukrainians would find something, real or made up, to tar Biden. Critical defense money needed to defend against Russia was at stake.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We already know what the President said, and what he wanted.  What Giuliani can tell is how far the plot went, both before and after the fateful phone conversation between Trump and President Zelensky on July 25th<\/sup>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejecting Subpoenas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So it is no surprise that the House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed both Giuliani\u2019s documents, and his testimony.  The deadline to respond to the Committee was Tuesday, October 15th<\/sup>.   In an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that afternoon, Giuliani announced his refusal to comply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter to Congress from his personal lawyer, Jon Sale, cites the White House Counsel\u2019s previous response to the impeachment inquiries. He claims they are illegitimate and unconstitutional.\u00a0\u00a0Giuliani also claims that his actions were covered under attorney-client and executive privilege. Once the letter was sent, Giuliani fired Sale (National Review<\/a>.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rudy Giuliani is not an employee of the White House, the Executive Branch, or the United States Government.  He is a private citizen, acting as a supposedly unpaid attorney for Donald Trump.  He has no standing to claim privilege, or deny the subpoena.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Speaker<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sees the White House\u2019s \u201cUnconstitutional and illegitimate\u201d argument as obstruction of Congress, another impeachable offense.  Tuesday night, in response to both Giuliani\u2019s and the Office of Management and Budget\u2019s refusal to cooperate, she reaffirmed that the House of Representatives power to determine their own course of action.  The House will maintain \u201cregular order.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is little formal Constitutional process the House (or Senate) is required to follow in impeachment and trial, traditionally in Presidential impeachments, the House has voted twice.  The first was to authorize an impeachment investigation, the second whether to actually impeach the President.  This is different than \u201cregular order\u201d in the House, where bills are introduced, then referred to committees for study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House is following \u201cregular order\u201d by authorizing the committees to inquire as to impeachment.   Speaker Pelosi determined that it is worth the political cost to maintain regular order, that the demand for a \u201cvote\u201d is simply another White House obstruction. She knows that she has the votes to impeach:  clearly, the Speaker wouldn\u2019t ask for a vote she couldn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Citizen\u2019s Duty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Giuliani should show up and testify.  If he wants to claim some privilege, then the hearing is the place to begin adjudication of those claims.  Superficially, it seems hard to see how attorney-client privilege would apply.  His actions in Ukraine and the United States are potentially criminal, and those are exempted from privilege by the crime-fraud exception (NOLO<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or, he can come in and exercise his Constitutional right against self-incrimination.  He can take \u201cthe Fifth\u201d in front of the Adam Schiff, the Committee, God and the United States of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What private citizen Giuliani should NOT be able to do is defy the United States Congress with impunity.  He should not be allowed to hide behind the skirts of the President, like a five year-old child.  He was basking in Trump\u2019s glory, travelling the world using the imprimatur of the President of the United States.  Now it\u2019s time to own up for his actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House of Representatives has a police force.  And they have the power to enforce Congressional orders, \u201cinherent contempt\u201d (here\u2019s an essay<\/a> on how that works.) They should seize Rudy Giuliani and bring him bodily in front of the Committee.  There he can make a choice, testify, exercise his Constitutional rights to remain silent or stand and defy Congress.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambassador Marie Louise Yovanovitch testified for nine hours.  Fiona Hill, former advisor to the President on Russia, testified for eleven.  Secretary of State Pompeo\u2019s former Chief of Staff is testifying as I write this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giuliani needs to \u201cman up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Impeachment Investigation In the past couple of weeks, the House Intelligence Committee interviewed multiple members of the Trump foreign policy team.  They’ve consistently heard the story of Rudy Giuliani, acting outside of the guardrails of the State Department or the National Security team, pursuing a renegade foreign policy in Ukraine.  When the US Ambassador in Ukraine stood … Continue reading “Congressional Muscle”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCongressional Muscle : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Private citizen Rudy Giuliani is defying Congress. 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