A lawyer for the Justice Department asserted that the House can impeach a president for defying subpoenas as President Trump has instructed his top aides not to testify in his impeachment trial.
Appearing in federal court on Thursday for a matter unrelated to impeachment, Justice Department lawyer James Burnham was asked by a judge what the House can do to enforce its subpoenas, according to CNN. Burnham said the House can use its impeachment powers or withhold appropriations.
“That is really not a great state of affairs for this country,” Judge Randolph Moss said of the House possibly impeaching a president over every ignored subpoena.
In Trump’s impeachment trial, Democrats have argued that he obstructed a congressional investigation into his interactions with Ukraine. Trump’s lawyers contend the president was asserting the constitutional privileges of the executive branch by telling his top aides not to comply with congressional subpoenas for their testimony, calling the obstruction charge “frivolous and dangerous.”
Burnham made the argument during a court hearing on the 2020 census. The Trump administration has tried to add a citizenship question to the census. The House Oversight Committee sued the Justice Department and Commerce Department in November, asking a judge to compel the administration to hand over documents.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who is an impeachment manager for the Democrats, was stunned by Burnham’s assertion.
“Let me begin with something in the category of you can’t make this stuff up. Today while we’ve been debating whether a president can be impeached for essentially bogus claims of privilege for attempting to use the courts to cover up misconduct, the Justice Department, in resisting House subpoenas, is in court today and was asked, well, if the Congress can’t come to the court to enforce its subpoenas — because we all know they’re in here arguing Congress must go to courts to enforce its subpoenas, but they’re in the courts saying Congress, thou shalt not do that.”
“So the judge says if the Congress can’t enforce its subpoenas in court then what remedy is there? And the Justice Department lawyer’s response is impeachment. Impeachment! You can’t make this up!” Schiff said.
