Contempt Charges Should Be Just the Start if FBI and DOJ Officials Defy House Subpoenas

Let’s say the Justice Department hit you with a subpoena, served by a pair of FBI agents, demanding that you produce documents and testimony on a date in the near future. Let’s say that, instead of complying, you responded by sending a letter to the Justice Department that admonished prosecutors that they were being “premature” in issuing their demand, and proposed instead to “meet” with them in order to “engage” on whether they really needed the materials outlined in the subpoena. Do you suppose that you would be granted this meeting? Or do you suppose that, the moment your production date came and went with no compliance, those nice FBI agents would be back with handcuffs and an arrest warrant, citing you for contempt and obstruction of an investigation?

Not a hard question. The Justice Department and the FBI are not famously tolerant of defiance.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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Let’s say the Justice Department hit you with a subpoena, served by a pair of FBI agents, demanding that you produce documents and testimony on a date in the near future. Let’s say that, instead of complying, you responded by sending a letter to the Justice Department that admonished prosecutors that they were being “premature” in issuing their demand, and proposed instead to “meet” with them in order to “engage” on whether they really needed the materials outlined in the subpoena. Do you suppose that you would be granted this meeting? Or do you suppose that, the moment your production date came and went with no compliance, those nice FBI agents would be back with handcuffs and an arrest warrant, citing you for contempt and obstruction of an investigation?

Not a hard question. The Justice Department and the FBI are not famously tolerant of defiance.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.