GET GOING!

 "Whoever corruptly… endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede… the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House of Congress shall be … imprisoned not more than five years…. “ 18 U.S. Code 1505.

I do not need to repeat here the crimes committed during the January 6 insurrection riot. But worse than the crimes actually committed was the crime frustrated at the last moment – the effort to amend the Constitution by violence, scrap the vote, and seize power by a defeated presidential candidate. The facts showing Trump's involvement in that ugly effort are accumulating despite the cowardly Un-American effort of the Republican Party to stifle any inquiry of the event.

The House committee is doing everything it can to make progress but the slow-walk effort of the Trump camp is evident. The Bannon virus spreads. More and more of the Trump acolytes – people who were there and know exactly what the president did and said about the insurrection,— have now told the Committee they intended to ignore a lawful subpoena because Mr. Trump told them to do so. This despite the fact that after a delay of almost three weeks, the DOJ has indicted Bannon.

And so the crawl continues. The Committee ultimately will find the new group of Trumpers to be in Criminal contempt, the Department of Justice will spend more weeks deciding whether to prosecute, and ultimately there may be a trial, or trials, followed by appeals to the DC circuit, followed by appeals to the extremely conservative Supreme Court. And while the clock ticks, Democratic control of the House hangs by a thread. In less than 12 months the Committee faces the real possibility of a public vote that it will strip it of its power within the following 60 days, and Trump will have succeeded in frustrating, for the time being, the public revelation of the truth.

But the Department of Justice has apparently been absent when it comes to the inquiry of who, what, when, and how, the insurrection was organized and effected. They have prosecuted some 600+ people who were on the scene on January 6, but so far have apparently refused any legal action or inquiry devoted to those who planned, organized, and aided the insurrectionists.

The DOJ is key here because it is not confined by the possibility of a Republican victory in 2022. Merrick Garland, or his Biden-supported successor, will remain in office until January 20, 2025, no matter what happens next November. The Department of Justice has the tools and the mandate to get this job done. There is no scarcity of criminal statutes that apply to an effort to overthrow the government of the United States by violence and intimidation. And while grand jury testimony lacks the public view of House committee testimony, the substance of the testimony will be revealed in the indictments to follow.

Maybe Merrick Garland has a secret plan. Maybe that plan is brilliant. But our judicial system has demonstrated its ability to move at a snail's pace, and January 2022 and January 2025 are not so far away.

Finally. even aspects of this Executive's prerogatives are threatened by Republican control of the House. For example, the crime of obstruction,-- the statute quoted at the head of this piece – would be vitiated if a Republican-led House Committee withdrew its subpoenas and "found" that the refusal of Bannon, Meadows. Flynn, et al. to testify did not obstruct the committee's inquiry.

Because there is little doubt the Republicans will kill the January 6 insurrection inquiry if they get the opportunity,  this administration needs to do everything in its power to expose every aspect of the greatest threat to this country since the firing on Fort Sumter and the abrogation of the Constitution via the secession of the southern states. One of the tools the government has is something aptly named the Department of Justice. It's time for that organization to earn its honored title. If its current personnel are not up to the job, then Joe Biden should focus on finding people who are. There is no scarcity of motivated talent.

A bientot.

……………………..

There is no fixed schedule for these posts. If you would like to receive notice of each new posting, please fill out the form at <"http://eepurl.com/gf7fS9">.