Tag Archives: subpoenas

The Latest Definition of Chutzpah

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Chutzpah is derived from the Hebrew word ḥuṣpāh (חֻצְפָּה), meaning “insolence”, “cheek” or “audacity”. Thus, the original Yiddish word has a strongly negative connotation.

On Thursday, Breitbart posted an article that brilliantly illustrates the concept of chutzpah.

The article reports:

Attorney General Merrick Garland said this week that he will defy subpoenas from Congressional Republicans that he does not agree with.

Garland’s statement came after Republican leaders in Congress threatened to hold him in contempt “in their efforts to gain access to audio recordings from special counsel Robert K. Hur’s investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified materials,” according to the Washington Post.

On June 6, The U.K. Daily Mail reported:

Former Donald Trump chief White House strategist Steve Bannon must report to prison to begin his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress under a new order from a federal judge Thursday. 

The longtime Trump advisor has until July 1 to surrender himself to the authorities, under a ruling by Judge Carl Nichols.

Bannon was back at a D.C. courthouse Thursday where prosecutors urged the federal judge to send him to prison immediately.

…Bannon was previously sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison after being convicted of Contempt of Congress for failing to provide information or testimony to the House January 6 Committee.

On October 21, 2022, Newsweek reported:

After former Trump administration official, Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison and fined $6,500 in a Washington, D.C. courtroom, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder began trending on Twitter as users compared the outcomes of their two cases.

Bannon received his sentence on Friday after being found guilty in July on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena issued to him regarding the investigation into the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Holder, a Democrat who served in former President Barack Obama‘s administration, was held in contempt by the House in June 2012 “for failing to disclose internal Justice Department documents in response to a subpoena.” The White House and Justice Department did not attempt to criminally prosecute Holder after the contempt citation, CNN reported.

So I guess contempt of Congress is only a crime when Republicans do it.

When Your Words Come Back To Bite You

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On Thursday, PJ Media posted an article about Hunter Biden’s refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena.

The article reports:

On Wednesday, instead of complying with the committee’s subpoena, he gave a whiny press conference, during which he played the victim card like a petulant child. 

He accused Republicans of cherrypicking and fabricating evidence against him and denied any “financial involvement” by his father, Joe Biden, in his foreign business dealings. Hunter curiously moved the goalposts, considering that for a long time, the narrative was that Joe Biden never even spoke with his son about his business, and now suddenly, he seems to be conceding more significant involvement.

But regardless of his son’s reasons for refusing to comply with the subpoena, Joe Biden is on record saying that anyone who doesn’t comply with a congressional subpoena should be prosecuted.

It’s true. In October 2021, Biden urged the Department of Justice to prosecute anyone who defied congressional subpoenas from the January 6 Select Committee.

“Mr. President, what’s your message to people who defy Congressional subpoenas on the January 6 Committee?” asked CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

“I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally,” Biden told her.

Somehow I can’t picture the current Department of Justice holding Hunter Biden accountable criminally. And that is the problem. We have watched three years of a totally politicized justice system. I have no reason to believe that things are going to change until we get a new President, and even if that happens I am not optimistic.

If Joe and Hunter Biden did nothing wrong, how did Joe buy a million dollar beach house on a public-servant’s salary?

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

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On Friday, Rumble posted an article that included a tweet by Roger Stone that asked a very interesting question.

Here is the tweet:

The article notes:

Have you heard the latest? The Biden Boys are set to fiercely fight their congressional subpoenas. Remember what happened to the Trump officials who took a similar stand during the January 6th sideshow?

Who can forget when Peter Navarro refused to testify before the circus known as the January 6th Committee? That poor guy was convicted of contempt of Congress so quickly, it made his head spin.

On October 6, 2014, Politico reported:

A federal judge has declined a House committee’s bid to have Attorney General Eric Holder held in contempt of court — and perhaps even jailed — for failing to turn over documents related to the Justice Department’ s response to Operation Fast and Furious.

However, in a ruling Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson also denied Holder’s request for an indefinite stay of her prior order that the attorney general must turn over any “non-privileged” documents the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed as part of an investigation into the botched gunrunning investigation. The judge previously ruled that Holder must give the panel any documents that are not both predecisional and deliberative in nature.

On November 17th, CNN reported:

The White House says the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden lacks constitutional legitimacy and is calling on GOP-led congressional committees to rescind their subpoenas and interview requests, according to a new letter obtained by CNN.

The move sets up a showdown with House Republicans as the White House criticizes what it describes as “Congressional harassment of the President,” calling on the committees to withdraw subpoenas and a series of requests for interviews aimed at White House officials and Biden family members and associates.

Earlier this week, House Oversight Chairman James Comer said he sent a subpoena to former White House counsel Dana Remus to discuss Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. The Kentucky Republican had previously requested that Remus to appear for a voluntary interview, but the White House did not comply. And last week, the House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to the president’s son Hunter and brother James as well as a Biden business associate.

Ignoring subpoenas only matters when you are a Republican.

 

Protecting The Privacy Of Americans

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One of the things that happened after January 6th was that bank transactions and credit card transactions in the Washington, D.C., are were tracked to see who was in Washington on that day. One person I know who went to the rally and then went back to her hotel had her business’ PayPal account canceled essentially because she used her credit card to buy a hamburger. She was never anywhere near the Capitol building. How did PayPal know she was in Washington?

On Friday, The Epoch Times reported the following:

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has subpoenaed Bank of America (BoA) for information over the company’s alleged sharing with the FBI of private customer data from around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, events in Washington.

The subpoena is part of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government’s probe “into major banks sharing Americans’ private financial data with the [FBI] without legal process for transactions made in the Washington, DC, area around Jan. 6, 2021″—the day that supporters of President Donald Trump breached the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying the 2020 election, which the former president has called rigged and stolen. Politico first reported the Nov. 16 development.

The committee subpoenaed relevant documents from the bank, including internal communications about the decision to transfer the information to the FBI, any communications that the bank had with the agency, and any other information. The lawmakers gave Bank of America a June 8 deadline to comply.

The article also notes:

Those who had used Bank of America accounts to purchase a firearm, regardless of when or where the transaction took place, were bumped to the top of that list.

The article includes a possible solution to this obvious invasion of privacy:

However, in a Nov. 16 letter to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, informing him of the subpoena, Mr. Jordan, who also chairs the Weaponization Select Subcommittee, wrote that, “it is unclear what ‘legal’ process permits the FBI or BoA to share the sensitive customer information of potentially thousands of BoA customers and implicate them in a federal law enforcement investigation without any clear criminal nexus.”

After all, the Ohio congressman wrote, “If such a lawful authority exists, as BoA asserts, for BoA to freely share private financial information without any legal process or specific nexus to criminality, Congress has a responsibility to consider reforms that adequately protect Americans’ information.”

This is something to keep an eye on.

The Police State In Action

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On Wednesday, Breitbart posted the following headline:

Exclusive — ‘We Caught Them Red-Handed’: DOJ Spied on GOP Staffers Probing the Origins of the Russia Collusion Hoax

Is anyone surprised?

The article reports:

The Department of Justice (DOJ) obtained private communications and other personal records of multiple Republican House and Senate staffers who were investigating the department’s role in the origins of the Russia collusion hoax, according to former senior Trump administration official Kash Patel.

A recently-revealed subpoena shows that the DOJ sought the records for not only Patel when he was an investigator for then-Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), but also those of Jason Foster, who was at the time chief investigative counsel to then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (I-IA) and was also looking into the DOJ’s role in the hoax.

According to multiple subpoenas revealed so far, the DOJ had subpoenaed Google, Apple, and other companies to obtain private records in what Patel believes was an unlawful attempt to dig up dirt on them in retaliation for investigating the Democrat-pushed hoax that Donald Trump’s campaign had colluded with Russia in the 2016 presidential election.

It is time to fire every supervisor and leader in the Department of Justice and replace them with people who are willing to respect the U.S. Constitution that they took an oath to uphold and protect.

The article concludes:

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz is looking into the DOJ’s use of subpoenas “and other legal authorities” to obtain the private communications records of lawmakers, staff, and journalists, according to the DOJ Office of Inspector General website:

The DOJ OIG is reviewing the DOJ’s use of subpoenas and other legal authorities to obtain communication records of Members of Congress and affiliated persons, and the news media in connection with recent investigations of alleged unauthorized disclosures of information to the media by government officials.

The review will examine the Department’s compliance with applicable DOJ policies and procedures, and whether any such uses, or the investigations, were based upon improper considerations.

“Whether you hated us back then [because of] the Nunes memo — well, every report since then has said the same thing we did,” Patel said. “We were the first out of the gate. The IG, John Durham, said there was no lawful basis to ever investigate Trump or his campaign and that FBI people lied to a federal court and the slew of other violations that they came up with.”

“They got caught. We asked them to help expose it and instead they doubled down and used the system of justice and FBI investigatory powers to try to take us out and silence us,” he said.

“I’m going to put Chris Wray, Rod Rosenstein … and other people in the hot seat under oath, and I’m going to depose them, and demand they answer these questions, and we’re going to watch them lie to the world,” Patel said, adding that Rosenstein currently works at Wray’s old law firm.

“None of this is a coincidence. These people cover up for each other and Chris Wray is still covering up for them as a director of the FBI and I’m going to expose it all,” he said.

It’s time to either abolish the DOJ and the FBI or simply fire the executives and appoint new ones.

Democrats Are Good At Destroying Evidence

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Remember when Hillary Clinton wiped her servers clean and destroyed cell phones? She was never held responsible for either action. Obviously some of the House Democrats have learned from her experience.

On Wednesday, The Conservative Treehouse posted the following headline:

The article reports:

Most close watchers already knew the motive and intention of the J6 committee was to build narratives useful against their political opposition and the 2022 midterm election cycle.  Factually, the makeup of the J6 committee was specifically structured for this intention.

That said, this remarkable statement by former J6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson is essentially admitting the committee destroyed evidence that undermined their preconceived notions.

The article explains:

After being questioned by republicans about the absence of evidence provided to the committee, former Chairman Bennie Thomson says:

…”Consistent with guidance from the Office of the Clerk and other authorities, the Select Committee did not archive temporary committee records that were not elevated by the Committee’s actions, such as use in hearings or official publications, or those that did not further its investigative activities. Accordingly, and contrary to your letter’s implication, the Select Committee was not obligated to archive all video recordings of transcribed interviews or depositions.

…Based on guidance from House authorities, the Select Committee determined that the written transcripts provided by nonpartisan, professional official reporters, which the witnesses and Select Committee staff had the opportunity to review for errata, were the official, permanent records of transcribed interviews and depositions for the purposes of rule VII.”…  (READ MORE)

“Guidance from House authorities” is political code speak for House counsel.

Who do you think was counsel for the House J6 Committee?  👀👇

Mary McCord, former Assistant U.S. Attorney

One of the key House J6 counselors, giving advice to destroy evidence that ran against their narrative, was at the epicenter of all Trump targeting while in office.

The Democrats have opened up a can or worms in their charges against President Trump. He now has the power to subpoena the records of the January 6th Committee as part of the discovery process. Isn’t it interesting that many of those records have been destroyed?

The Start Of What?

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On September 9, Red State posted an article about homes raided and subpoenas issued to dozens of supporters of President Trump. On September 10, Red State posted an article with some of the names who were subpoenaed.

The first article includes a screen shop of one of the subpoenas. The subpoena includes the following:

Why is the Justice Department asking that the subpoena be kept secret?

The September 10 article notes:

William Russell wasn’t home when the two FBI agents came to his house Wednesday morning, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Russell served in the Trump White House as a special assistant to the president and the deputy director of advance before moving down to Florida to work as an aide to Trump after he left the White House.

Russell has also been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating Jan. 6, sources familiar with the matter said. The subpoena requests documents and communications related to the so-called fake slates of electors pushed in various states in support of Trump, the sources said.

The NY Times is claiming they’re aware of a dozen people including Brian Jack, former White House political director under Trump, and a big name, Stephen Miller, Trump’s top speechwriter, and a senior policy adviser, who received subpoenas. Jack is currently both an adviser to Trump as well as to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

The subpoenas were issued to a wide range of people who either worked in the White House or on the Trump campaign, including senior officials like the campaign’s chief financial officer; personal aides to Mr. Trump; and the former chief of staff to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter who also served as one of his senior advisers. [….]

Among the recipients of subpoenas from a grand jury sitting in Washington are relatively junior aides from the White House and Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign. While the subpoenas asked for information concerning the Save America PAC, they also sought communications with several pro-Trump lawyers — like Kenneth Chesebro — who helped devise the electors plan.

Numerous subpoenas focused solely on the fake elector plan were sent to Republican state lawmakers and state Republican officials allied with Mr. Trump starting this spring.

We previously reported of subpoenas being dropped on Republican Pennsylvania state lawmakers and seizing the phone of a member of Congress, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA).

The NY Times notes that Miller was not known to have had a planning role in the electors plan or the fund-raising efforts. So it’s not clear why they are dropping a subpoena on him. Nor is it clear what their legal justification is in regard to the electors plan.

This looks an awful lot like the politicization of the Justice Department. I hope it is not. If it is, I hope the mid-term elections will put enough brave people in Congress who will put a stop to this.