House to vote this week on contempt for former Clinton IT staffer
By Katie Bo Williams - 09/26/16 04:06 PM EDT
The House will vote this week on a resolution to hold former State Department IT technician Bryan Pagliano in contempt of Congress, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Monday.
“We’ll be taking up contempt on Bryan Pagliano for his lack of attending,” McCarthy said, referring to a committee hearing Pagliano skipped.
McCarthy provided no further details on plans for the vote.
Pagliano was responsible for setting up Hillary Clinton’s private email server during her tenure as secretary of State.
The former State Department employee declined to appear at an Oversight Committee hearing on Clinton's server earlier this month, in spite of a subpoena demanding his presence. The committee on Thursday voted along party lines to recommend Pagliano be held in contempt.
“Subpoenas are not optional,” Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said Thursday. “Mr. Pagliano is a crucial fact witness in this committee’s investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to conduct government business.”
Outraged committee Democrats decried the move as an abuse of power that violates rules against harassing witnesses.
Pagliano’s lawyers say that the former State Department employee has already asserted his Fifth Amendment rights before the House Benghazi Committee and should not be forced to do so again.
“A subpoena issued by a congressional committee is required by law to serve a valid legislative purpose and there is none here,” reads a letter sent to Oversight leadership last week, which refers to the committee’s efforts to force Pagliano to testify as a “naked political agenda” with “no valid legislative aim.” Clinton is now the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.
http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/297859-house-to-vote-this-week-on-contempt-for-former-clinton-it-staffer
