Posted on 07/16/2014 9:26:22 AM PDT by PoloSec
The Obama administration on Wednesday refused to send a senior White House official to testify before the House, even though House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) had issued a subpoena requiring him to appear.
The White House warned Issa late Tuesday that David Simas, director of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach, would not be appearing. White House Counsel Neil Eggleston wrote that Simas is “immune” from any effort by Congress to compel him to testify.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., subpoenaed a White House official to appear Wednesday morning, but the official was no where to be found. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
“[T]he committee’s effort to compel Mr. Simas’s testimony threatens longstanding interests of the Executive Branch in preserving the president’s independence and autonomy, as well as his ability to obtain candid advice and counsel to aid him in the discharge of his constitutional duties,” Eggleston wrote.
“In light of those principles… Mr. Simas is immune from congressional compulsion to testify on matters relating to his official duties and will not appear at the July 16, 2014 hearing.”
Issa said late Tuesday that he would hold the hearing in the hopes that Simas would appear, and when the hearing started Wednesday morning, Simas was not there. Issa started the hearing by saying he received Eggleston’s “deeply disturbing” letter late Tuesday night, and argued that this decision goes against court rulings that say White House officials are not immune from having to appear before Congress.
“A federal judge wrote that senior advisers to the president of the United States are ‘not absolutely immune from congressional process,’ ” Issa said.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on Issa’s committee, accused Issa of abusing his subpoena power, and said a subpoena should only be issued if it’s clear the subject of the subpoena has done something wrong.
“There must be a valid reason,” Cummings said. “There must be a predicate, there must be a justification, some evidence that this official engaged in some type of inappropriate activity. That foundation simply does not exist.”
Issa’s hearing was aimed at learning more about whether the Obama administration violated the Hatch Act by re-opening a political office in the White House to help Democrats’ campaign efforts. The Hatch Act limits political activities on government property or using government time.
Alternative?
When will this crap end? This corrupt administration is begging for a revolution.
Issa should have that brown smear on his subpoena tested for biohazards
Is this not a Constitutional crisis?
Will The House have the “stones” to issue an arrest warrant for failure to comply with a legal Subpoena (Contempt of Congress)?
Unfortunately, under Boehner, I assume they’ll pretend that nothing happened and that they haven’t been emasculated.
Really? So when a gov't agency (e.g., the IRS) demands we appear before them, we can just blow them off? Clearly a goose-gander thing with some far-reaching implications.
And if he doesn't. Nothing, Nothing, Nothing. The power of the entire House is useless against this communists democrat regime
If the US Congress is a co-equal branch of Government, then the Administration is not “more equal” than Congress.
If, however, Chairman Issa allows his subpoena for White House staff member David Simas to not be honored, then the Administration is above Congress, and the Administration is above the Laws derived from the Constitution of the United States of America.
Will Chairman Issa, as always before, fold like a cheap suit?
Another impeachable offense - ho hum - just toss it over there with the rest of em
That sounds like an admission that law-breaking is considered to be part of Mr. Simas' official duties, according to the Obama administration.
Not that anyone should be surprised by such a claim...
As a lifelong college basketball fan, Obama has clearly mastered the Four Corners Offense.
I guess Issa forgot the “pretty please?”.
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