What do you do when a governing authority orders you to do something, such as … oh … testify under oath about what you might know about a criminal act?
I know what I would do. I would report to the authority and tell it what I know. Or don’t know.
The 1/6 House select committee is issuing subpoenas to former Donald Trump aides, friends, family members (who also worked for the government) about what they know about the events that led to the insurrection on 1/6. Many of them are refusing to comply with what I would describe as a “direct order” from the committee.
I will add that it is a direct lawful order by a duly constituted congressional committee charged with finding the truth behind the insurrection.
The committee chaired by Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is working with breathtaking speed. It is proceeding at a pace I didn’t think was possible. Congress isn’t known as a breakneck organization. Yet, the chips have been thrown down and this panel is moving with remarkable speed and efficiency toward what I hope is a well-researched conclusion.
As for the subpoenas it is issuing, the subjects of those summonses need to understand the gravity of the orders they have been given. They are issued in the name of an American public — at least most of it — that is horrified at the events of 1/6. We all witnessed what Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell has rightly defined as a “violent insurrection” against the U.S. government. Such hideous violence cannot be allowed to stand.
When the powers that be issue an order for those with direct knowledge of the circumstance to report, well, they need to comply or else face the consequence of their refusal.
I believe that is what they call the “rule of law.”