White House counselor Kellyanne Conway finds herself the latest member of the Trump administration to be attacked by partisan Democrats in Congress.
House Democrats will vote to hold Conway in contempt after she ignored a subpoena to testify about alleged Hatch Act violations. The House and Oversight Committee chairman, Elijah Cummings (D-MD), scheduled a vote for Thursday, the Hill reported.
The Democrats’ pursuit of Conway is just one front in their ongoing subpoena battle with the Trump White House. President Donald Trump has accused Democrats of “presidential harassment” and seeking a “do over” of the Mueller investigation by summoning witnesses who already gave hours of testimony to Mueller’s team.
Subpoenas and threats
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), not to be confused with Robert Mueller’s office, last month recommended that Trump fire Conway over her alleged violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from weighing in on elections. The White House defended the outspoken adviser, who has commented on various political races, by accusing the OSC of trying to suppress her First Amendment rights.
The Oversight panel called on Conway to testify voluntarily in June, and she refused, prompting Cummings to issue a subpoena to appear at a hearing that was scheduled for last week. When Conway ignored that on the advice of the White House, Cummings threatened to have Conway held in contempt if she doesn’t testify before July 25.
The Democrats have shown considerable bad faith in pursuing Conway, who left-wing activist groups have said should be fired or even thrown in prison.
White House defends Conway
The White House has consistently defended Conway while blasting the calls for her firing, and testimony, as a partisan witch hunt. In a last-minute letter to Cummings last week, the White House asserted Conway is “absolutely immune” from testifying about her work in the West Wing. The White House invoked privilege to block other former Trump staffers, like former White House counsel Donald McGahn, from testifying either in full or in part to Congress, to the chagrin of Democrats.
Conway has shrugged off the threats with her characteristic unflappability. “They’re not going to silence me. They’re not going to take away my First Amendment rights,” Conway told Fox last week.
Abuse of power
The conflict with Conway now follows a familiar pattern: Democrats have taken to abusing their “oversight” power to harass the White House with demands for — it would seem endless — testimony, often from White House officials who already testified for hours for the Mueller probe. When their subpoenas are ignored, Democrats issue contempt threats to bully their targets into compliance.
While Democrats complain that the president is running roughshod over checks and balances, Republicans see the House’s subpoena war with Trump very differently. Many Republicans believe that Democrats will take virtually any reason to attack Trump and his staff, especially after their continued attempts to “do over” the Mueller probe.
The witch hunt continues
If Democrats vote to hold Conway in contempt Thursday, she will be just the latest White House staffer to have earned that distinction. Democrats on Cummings’ panel voted to hold attorney general William Barr and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt last month after they declined to hand over records pertaining to Trump’s now retired citizenship question on the 2020 census, which Democrats argued was racist. Last week, the full House voted to hold the two men in criminal contempt.
The Oversight Committee will vote on a subpoena Thursday for personal e-mails allegedly used for government work by White House staffers, the Hill reported. Meanwhile, House Intelligence and Judiciary Democrats will grill Robert Mueller on Wednesday in a last-ditch attempt to drive home the narrative that President Trump should be impeached.
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