A source familiar with McGahn's thinking said the former White House counsel will do what the law requires, but no decision has been made yet about whether to cooperate with House Judiciary. https://t.co/ARWRbr94vl— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 24, 2019
Told ya so. (Although please to note Congress can only enforce subpoenas by going to court. So there's no rapid response team to this, no sending out the Sergeant-at-Arms or some such. The Capitol Police don't enforce subpoenas. Viz:
Either house of Congress can vote to hold in contempt a witness who refuses to provide testimony or produce requested documents pursuant to a congressionally authorized subpoena. As set out in 2 U.S.C. § 194, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has the “duty [] to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action.” Contempt of Congress, which is a federal misdemeanor, is punishable by a maximum $100,000 fine and a maximum one-year sentence in federal prison. But if the executive branch is not inclined to prosecute a contemnor (the contemnor is a person or entity who is guilty of contempt before a judicial or legislative body), Congress will have a difficult time implementing such a penalty. Congress can also file a lawsuit asking a judge to order the witness to provide the information, raising the additional possibility of imprisonment for contempt of court.
Sorry. You want to see just how slow this can go, read the article about Obama's assertion of executive privilege, that took 42 months to resolve against him. By then Congress had changed and was no longer interested. OTOH, Trump has waived executive privilege for everything Congress is looking for right now. Still, the courts won't move all that fast, which is why hearings should begin and get this stuff before the public,. That is what Trump fears most.)
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