Next Tuesday is going to be completely bonkers
Yesterday, House Democrats revealed that they’re planning to hold a full House vote to formally hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress. Right around the same time, the House Oversight Committee revealed that it’s also planning to hold Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt. Palmer Report took this as a sign that the House was lining up one big contempt ceremony for numerous Trump officials and associates across the board. Sure enough, that’s what’s happening.
Congressman Steny Hoyer, the number two ranking House Democrat behind Nancy Pelosi, is now hinting that next Tuesday’s contempt hearing could include “every name who has either refused to respond to a congressional subpoena or request for documents, or who has been instructed by the president not to respond.” While he didn’t drop specific names, the presumed list is staggering.
Based on Hoyer’s description, we could be looking at the following people being held in contempt of Congress next week: William Barr, Wilbur Ross, Steve Mnuchin, Don McGahn, Annie Donaldson, Hope Hicks, and more. To be clear, as of today, only Barr has been held in contempt at the committee level – and that would presumably have to also happen with these other names before Tuesday, so they can be voted on at the full House level.
In any case, it’s becoming clear that next Tuesday is going to be completely bonkers. The House is going to formally hold several of Trump’s cabinet members, and several of Trump’s associates, in contempt of Congress. Then we’ll see what specific punitive measures are carried out against them. At the least, the hearing on Tuesday will make for a major television spectacle.
