Now that Bill Barr has refused to continue testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Wolf Blitzer pressed a liberal guest on Thursday about one of the most egregious possible outcomes: sending the Attorney General to prison.
Even though Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, stated that jail time is “not something that I believe is being seriously contemplated,” the anchor of the weekday CNN program The Situation Room hopefully continued to ask what the committee could do if Barr doesn’t show up for more testimony.
While acknowledging that putting Barr in the slammer is “certainly a possibility,” Jeffries stated that the next step in the investigative process is to “make sure that the Attorney General complies with the subpoena that he has already chosen not to follow, which is the one that called for the unredacted Mueller report that was due yesterday.”
The Congressman made the comment in answer to a query from Blitzer whether committee chairman Jerry Nadler -- a fellow New York Democrat -- would consider issuing a subpoena to force more testimony from the Republican official.
Jeffries didn’t explain what he meant when he moved from the singular to the plural:
They failed to provide that document.
They failed to provide the underlying evidence that we also requested on behalf of the American people so we can understand the full story in advance of his testimony.
Nevertheless, the Congressman turned to another Democrat talking point by adding: “We’re going to move on, as well, to make sure that we secure the testimony of [former Special Counsel] Robert Mueller so he can tell his story to the American people.”
“That is going to be highly relevant,” he added.
Blitzer again asked: “[B}ut what can your committee do if they refuse to comply with these subpoenas?”
At that point, Jeffries finally admitted “one of the things that are being contemplated is holding the Attorney General in contempt of Congress.”
Still not satisfied with his guest’s responses, Blitzer inquired: “But if Nadler moves forward and your leadership moves forward with contempt, and they still refuse to comply, what do you do next, how do you get this thing moving?”
The Situation Room host then helpfully supplied some possible strategies: “Do you impose fines, do you suggest maybe even, as some have said, jail time for the Attorney General of the United States?”
“Well,” Jeffries replied: “Just this week, even though we’ve had a disagreement with the administration about the failure of the Attorney General to testify, there was a high-level conversation between the Speaker and Donald Trump to see if we can come together around having a meaningful infrastructure plan.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time Blitzer has pushed a liberal guest to hammer Barr.
On May 1, the CNN anchor practically begged Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin to accuse Barr of lying to Congress, which Blitzer asserted “would be perjury,” which is “illegal!”
