Politics

House Panel Approves Contempt Charge For Clinton IT Guru

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Font Size:

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (HOGR) members voted along party lines Thursday to recommend holding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton technology aide Bryan Pagliano in contempt of Congress after he defied a congressional subpoena to testify for the second time in two weeks.

“Subpoenas are not optional,” HOGR Chairman Jason Chaffetz said to the chair from which Pagliano — the sole invited witness in an HOGR hearing on Clinton’s use of private email servers at the Department of State — was supposed to testify.

 But the full House must vote on the oversight panel’s contempt resolution, and the clock is running out before Congress leaves for recess next week until after the November election. Pagliano, who managed Clinton’s email system, has already pleaded the Fifth Amendment multiple times before congressional committees. Pagliano’s lawyers indicated to the committee he would do the same if he appeared before HOGR Thursday.

Florida Republican Rep. John Mica said he could have and should have appeared — even if he took the Fifth again — rather than defy Congress. (RELATED: Hillary’s Former IT Aide Defies Congressional Subpoena To Show At Clinton Hearing)

“We cannot make this government work — we cannot function — if people will not adhere to the Constitution, the rules and the basic ability of the Congress to talk to these people,” Mica said.

“This is an issue that goes to the very core of our democratic and constitutional process,” Mica added.

Pagliano has an immunity agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ), so the only reason why he would refuse to testify is if Pagliano has something too revealing to say about the Clinton investigation, said South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy.

“So you wouldn’t want people to say the same thing to Congress that they would to the FBI,” Gowdy said.

Democrats called the contempt resolution and all of HOGR’s hearings on Clinton emails political theatre.

“Republicans want a photo op,” HOGR Ranking Member and Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings said. “They want a ready-made campaign commercial.”

“I think it’s about an abuse of power and a waste of time,” said Virgin Islands Democratic Rep. Stacey Plaskett, adding that “it’s destroying the reputation of this committee.”

House Republicans are trying to get to the bottom of Clinton’s emails and the FBI investigation into them before November.

FBI officials still owe Congress answers, but the committee is making progress, Republican HOGR members told The Daily Caller News Foundation after a classified hearing Tuesday night on the FBI Clinton file.

“I think Congress will be able to see what it should have been able to see all along the way,” Chaffetz told TheDCNF Tuesday.

“I want to have as many open hearings as possible,” Chaffetz added. “I don’t like the closed door approach. Sometimes it’s necessary, but I’d much rather have them in the open.”

Follow Kathryn on Twitter

Send tips to katie@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel