Michigan democrat Rashida Tlaib has said that she and her caucus were trying to figure out how to arrest Trump administration officials who won’t comply with their illegitimate and unconstitutional impeachment inquiry. Rep. John Garamendi has apparently figured it out. The California democrat says they can simply grab administration officials and throw them in a secret democrat jail he claims exists.
As you know, the House democrats are pretending that they are impeaching President Trump over a phone call with the Ukraine president Zelensky in which nothing illegal, immoral, or unethical was said. They won’t actually pull the trigger and form a legitimate impeachment inquiry because this is all partisan posturing and not a serious matter.
As such, President Trump informed the House democratic leadership that he isn’t going to play their silly games and his administration will completely ignore their invalid subpoenas.
“It’s time to call in the sergeant at arms, march them off to a little jail.” @RepGaramendi calls for AG Bill Barr and other witnesses in the impeachment inquiry into @realDonaldTrump to be arrested if they do not cooperate. pic.twitter.com/iIK8mLZJJC
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 9, 2019
California democrat Rep. John Garamendi went on CNN to puff out his chest and act like a badass, threatening to arrest and jail Trump administration officials for blowing off their illegitimate requests.
“They want a fight? Okay, let us arm ourselves completely and totally with the full power of Congress,” said Garamendi.
The full power of Congress is to make laws and that’s it.
“With regards to inherent contempt, I’ve been for that all along. I think that when the witnesses come and they simply refuse to answer questions, I think it’s time to call in the sergeant at arms and march them off to a little jail, which we do happen to have in one of the rooms at the Capitol, and let them sit there and cool off for a while,” Garamendi said.
Even the CNN host was shocked by this and asked Garamendi if he was serious about arresting and detaining Trump administration officials.
“I would use the full power and among that is the question of inherent rights of the Congress to hold people,” said Garamendi. “This is a fundamental question of the Constitution and the separation of powers.”
Well, the separation of powers gives all of the law enforcement authority to the Executive Branch, AKA the President. Congress has no powers of arrest or detention. They can refer contempt charges to the Justice Department, but they can’t cuff and jail anyone for any reason.
Garamendi then went on to rant about how Trump is abusing his powers, which was particularly funny since he just tried to give Congress the power to enforce the law. The CNN host actually interrupted Garamendi to say he was straying from the point that he claimed he could arrest Trump administration officials.
Making this even dumber, Garamendi suggested that the House of Representatives Sergeant At Arms has the authority to arrest and detain Trump administration officials who refuse to answer democrats’ questions. This position is ceremonial and the basic role of the House Sergeant At Arms is to announce the arrival of dignitaries like the President and to follow Nancy Pelosi around with the Mace of the Republic, which is a big fancy stick. What he can’t do is arrest uncooperative witnesses on orders from democrats who don’t have that authority to give those orders.
The optics of the democrats’ farce impeachment inquiry are already horrible, but it will be catastrophic if they actually attempt to arrest Trump administration officials and hold them in a broom closet at the Capitol. It’s like they keep trying to find ways to lose control of the House and guarantee 4 more years of President Trump.
