Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said that while he is reluctant to put Attorney General William Barr in jail, he is ready to do so if Barr continues to ignores Congress’ subpoenas relating to Robert Mueller’s report.
Doggett, a House member for more than two decades, made his comments a day before the House Judiciary Committee votes to hold Barr in contempt for not releasing the unredacted version of Mueller’s report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“What it means, and recognized by the United States Supreme Court in the 19th century, is that the Congress can, on its own part, issue a subpoena and enforce that subpoena through arrest or through fines. And I think we need to be prepared to do both,” Doggett said during an appearance on CNN with host Chris Cuomo.
“You don’t want to throw the AG in cuffs, right? That would cause rancor and division that we certainly would have a hard time bearing in this current climate,” Cuomo asked.
“All I want is the attorney general to realize he has a responsibility to the public, not just as a personal attorney to Mr. Trump, and to comply with the law,” Doggett said. “So if we have a lawless attorney general or lawless secretary of the treasury or some other official, it is our responsibility as a co-equal branch of government to hold them accountable,” Doggett explained. “I don’t want to throw him in jail but I’m ready to do so.”
The Texas lawmaker also said it is apparent Trump has an “obstruction today, obstruction yesterday, obstruction forever” policy and it seems the president is begging to be impeached.
