Political pundit Robert Reich encouraged Congress to consider having Attorney General William Barr arrested if he doesn’t cooperate with lawmakers’ demands.
Barr is scheduled to testify about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but the Justice Department and majority party Democrats are grappling over the parameters.
Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., has said Barr will be subpoenaed if he doesn’t show.
In an opinion piece in Newsweek on Tuesday, Reich, who was labor secretary in the Clinton administration, said there should be consequences if Barr refuses to comply with a subpoena.
“What could the Committee do? Hold Barr in contempt of Congress—under Congress’s inherent power to get the information it needs to carry out its constitutional duties. Congress cannot function without this power,” Reich wrote. “Under this inherent power, the House can order its own sergeant-at-arms to arrest the offender, subject him to a trial before the full House, and, if judged to be in contempt, jail that person until he appears before the House and brings whatever documentation the House has subpoenaed.”
Reich noted historical precedence of at least threatening jail time, citing the Nixon era, but cast doubt on Nadler actually going through with such an extreme show of force.
“Would America really be subject to the wild spectacle of the sergeant-at-arms of the House arresting an Attorney General and possibly placing him in jail?” he said. “Probably not. Before that ever occurred, the Trump administration would take the matter to the Supreme Court on an expedited basis.”
Nadler wants two rounds of questions in the hearing Thursday, one for members and a second in which each counsel for the Democratic Party and Republican Party would have the opportunity to ask questions. He also proposed a closed session to discuss redacted sections in Mueller’s report.
Barr objects to the added sessions and the closed session, and the Justice Department has signaled that Barr may not show up unless Nadler backs off.
