Watergate prosecutor says Democrats are in a ‘use it or lose it’ moment on subpoenas
Former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks urged Democrats in Congress to aggressively enforce subpoenas issued by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Wine-Banks was interviewed about Steve Bannon refusing to comply with a subpoena by MSNBC anchor Alicia Menendez.
"Do you see a political strategy?" Menendez asked.
"I see obstruction of congress," Wine-Banks replied. "I see crime."
"I think we've long since passed the time when we can allow witnesses to ignore subpoenas," she explained. "You had said earlier in the hour 'use it or lose it' and it's true. If Congress doesn't use the powers that it has to compel testimony, they cannot exercise their constitutional right for oversight and that's what this is."
"We need new laws to prevent a recurrence of January 6th, and the only way we can do that is for Congress to have all the information that it has requested. In the letters to the people subpoenaed so far, it lays out very good cause for those people to come in and testify," she explained.
"So I think whether he is doing this to be a martyr, or whether he's doing this as a legal strategy, we know that the law does not allow him to fail, for example, to show up for his deposition. He has to come in if he wants to claim any privilege, including the Fifth Amendment, he can do it when he comes into the room," she said. "He can't do it by saying I'm not coming because I think I have executive privilege because the ex-president says I have it."
Watch:
Leave a Comment
Related Post