Below is my column in The Hill on the bizarre scene last week in front of the Capitol when Rep. Eric Swalwell drove up with Hunter Biden and facilitated a flagrant act of contempt of Congress, a federal crime. Swalwell used his office and presumably his staff to assist in the defiance of a valid subpoena for Hunter to appear before a House committee. The House will now presumably hold Hunter in contempt and refer the matter for prosecution. The question is what to do with Eric Swalwell.
Here is the column:
This week, millions of people were glued to their televisions as Hunter Biden defied a House subpoena in a press conference with the Capitol building in the background. It was an act of legal self-immolation as the president’s son engaged in flagrant contempt of Congress, a federal crime.
Stranger still was that behind Hunter was standing his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, who watched as his client effectively begged to be criminally charged.
But it was a familiar figure behind Lowell that was the most incongruous: Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).
At first, one had to wonder whether Swalwell had simply wandered by the presser on the way to his office. But the Biden team set up the conference on the Senate side — out of the reach of the House sergeant at arms, who might not have reacted well to an act of open contempt of Congress on his side of the Capitol.
We later learned that Swalwell was not there simply as a pedestrian, but as a participant. It was Swalwell who helped orchestrate the defiance of his own House and facilitated an alleged federal crime.
As first reported by the Washington Examiner, Swalwell used his official position to reserve the space for the press conference and lent his assistance to Hunter in refusing to appear before the House committees investigating his father, President Biden. It was a curious role for a former House impeachment manager to play in assisting in the obstruction of an impeachment inquiry of three House committees.
Of course, Swalwell has argued for the rounding up of anyone who aided and abetted the unlawful conduct during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Indeed, in 2021 Swalwell sponsored a resolution exploring whether dozens of Republican colleagues could be expelled under the 14th Amendment for aiding and abetting an insurrection by “making unsubstantiated claims of systematic election and voter fraud.”
Now, Swalwell was standing in front of the same building aiding and abetting both a potential crime and the obstruction of congressional proceedings.
Hunter was not just committing contempt of Congress; he was parading his contempt with Swalwell as the drum major.
What followed him was contempt on steroids. All Hunter had to do was walk into the building behind him to appear in the deposition and plead the 5th Amendment to refuse to testify, as others have done. The only option he did not have was to refuse to appear.
Swalwell insisted that it was the fault of the House for insisting on a closed-door deposition, which he portrayed as outrageous. It was another hypocritical moment since the Democrats insisted on the same process for witnesses, including those who appeared before the Jan. 6th committee.
It was also how Swalwell and his colleagues handled the investigation of the Ukrainian telephone call by Trump. Indeed, Swalwell participated in closed depositions and then gave interviews after they were held in private.
There are various reasons for closed deposition preceding public hearings.
First, these depositions allow professional staff to conduct questioning in a methodical and professional manner. In a public hearing, questioning is conducted by members who are often ill-equipped for substantive inquiries.
Second, Hunter must be asked about an array of financial documents and communications involving names and privacy protected information. In a public hearing, the use of such documents would trigger redactions and interruptions in their use.
Third, these depositions allow for in-depth questioning on transactions and communications. In a public hearing, members are confined to a five-minute rule that guarantees questioning cannot achieve much, if any, depth.
Both Hunter and Swalwell likely knew that, and that is precisely why they wanted a public hearing. Notably, after saying that he wanted to answer all questions in public, Hunter then refused to answer any questions in public put forward by the press.
The fourth and most important reason for the deposition is that the House wants it this way. Witnesses, even a president’s son, do not get to choose how or when they appear. Two Trump associates – Steven Bannon and Peter Navarro – refused to appear in the House and were quickly held in contempt by a majority of the House, including Swalwell.
Indeed, President Biden himself has maintained that defying subpoenas cannot be tolerated. When subpoenas were issued to Republicans during the House’s Jan. 6 investigation, Biden declared: “I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally.”
The Justice Department clearly agreed. Under Attorney General Merrick Garland, Bannon went from a failure to appear to an actual indictment in just two months.
It also does not matter that the House formally approved the impeachment inquiry only after Hunter’s press conference. As I testified in the first Biden impeachment inquiry hearing, there is no requirement of a formal vote. Indeed, the Democrats did not initially hold a formal vote in their own impeachment of Trump. Hunter’s subpoena was issued by two committees with inherent subpoena authority under three different House rules, including the authority given to the House Oversight Committee.
It was a valid subpoena.
The question is not whether Hunter Biden can be held in contempt; of course he can. The question is what to do with Eric Swalwell.
Swalwell has long courted controversy. Republicans tossed him off the House Intelligence Committee due to his purported affair with an alleged Chinese spy named Fang Fang.
This is different. Swalwell was not charged in the Chinese affair, including by the House Ethics Committee. This was a criminal act directed against the House itself.
Recently, the House censored Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) for pulling a fire alarm before a major vote. Here Swalwell played a key role in obstructing a major House investigation. Where Bowman’s offense was treated as a misdemeanor, Hunter’s offense is a felony.
Swalwell did not simply facilitate a crime, he went out of his way to associate himself with it.
Swalwell surely knew that he was helping Hunter in defying a subpoena and obstructing the investigation into Joe Biden. He not only helped set up the press conference but made sure that he was in the camera frame behind Hunter for every network audience. He presumably utilized congressional staff to assist in this effort.
In taking these actions, Swalwell encouraged and facilitated the contempt of Congress. While his conduct may not warrant a criminal charge, it certainly warrants action from the House.
The issue is whether the House has a right to demand answers in this investigation. One member was particularly passionate in 2018 in calling for contempt sanctions against Steve Bannon: “If they don’t force him to answer legitimate questions, they will be ceding Congress’ authority, and we’ll be setting a very, very dangerous precedent that people can just tell Congress what they will and will not answer, and will show no resolve to use our subpoena power to get to the bottom of what’s going on.”
That was Eric Swalwell.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School. He also previously served as lead counsel representing the House of Representatives.
Hunter “was parading his contempt with Swalwell . . .” (JT)
We’ve all know the creature that expresses contempt for you secretly, behind your back.
This is different. It’s open, brazen contempt. It’s the sociopathic, criminal mind declaring: I consciously flout the law. People are my puppets. I defy reality. Catch me, if you can.
Hunter, his lawyer and Swalwell all know Democrats have created an environment where it is impossible to seat a fair, impartial jury in DC for any case that remotely touches on partisan politics.
They all know that in the unlikely event Garland signs off on prosecuting Hunter’s contempt, he will be acquitted via jury nullification by a biased jury. So why not metaphorically give the House your middle finger?
Democrats began the process of corrupting the electorate a century ago with the invention of the bureaucratic welfare state. They promised the transfer payments would only go to those truly helpless and unable to care for themselves. It was, of course, pure lies. But it was an easy marketing gimmick to appeal to the greed of voters who were desperate during the Great Depression.
Now the Democrats have so thoroughly corrupted the electorate that they openly campaign on pure vote buying schemes: whether it is promising to give black Americans a fat stipend and laughably pretend the reason is because Democrats enslaved black Americans a century and a half ago; or buying the votes of the most privileged people in society – the college educated – by promising to “forgive” their debt. University administrators have inflated tuition and housing to $50,000 to $75.000 a year at many schools solely to enrich the academics and college administrators – who are now mostly far left political activists masquerading as academics. And now Democrats want to push that debt they suckered the students into voluntarily incurring by holding out hope that a credential would entitle them to move into the world of unearned Democrat privilege.
Beg everyone you know to STOP voting for Democrats. They are corrupt. They are evil.
How can the country win when the DOJ under Biden allows Democrats to do anything without consequence.
The House will find them both in contempt and then Garland will do nothing about it. How is this tenable? Bannon goes to prison and these two walk? Democrats hold many, many private depositions and now they say that the House can’t hold private depositions? How is this tenable? The very same fascists that held secret, in fact ultra secret depos during the Ukraine impeachment, now are saying the House can’t hold secret depos???? It gets more sickening every day.
My only suggestion is for the Republican House to take Swalwell off of every Committee that he is on. Make him pay.
HullBobby,
Seems to me, more than a few people knew not only what Hunter was going to do, but what he was going to say all in order to defy a Congressional subpoena.
Swalwell even helped facilitate it.
The Biden admin with the help of some Democrats make the US look more and more like a banana republic everyday.
You are right again Upstate!
Hunter is not defying the subpoena. He wants to testify publicly. It is the Republicans who are blocking him.
He was not at the appointed place and time. He IS defying the subpoena.
And why not put him on public display? The Repos have a proven track record of lying about what is said behind closed doors. Open the doors and let’s hear what the questions are and what the response is.
How is it that Republicans were forced to testify in private but now Democrats don’t have to? Stop it, you sound moronic.
“He wants to . . .”
A subpoena is not a “wants to.”
But then, you already knew that. And are, yet again, deceiving people via misdirection.
Did you not read the article, it clearly explained why this needed to be behind closed doors. Try something better to pass blame on Republicans as this failed miserably
Yes he did. One of the reasons is the elected representatives are incompetent…”In a public hearing, questioning is conducted by members who are often ill-equipped for substantive inquiries.”
Give me a break. They can’t do it in public because of all the grandstanding of the idiots we have elected to Congress.
Read the column before you make ignorant comments. Mr Turley Explains it quit clearly.
Well that’s embarrassing. You wrote that after JT provided a an explanation as to why that opinion is legally wrong. Damn!
They can read PROFESSOR Turley’s explanation and then get on their keyboard and basically say “so what, we don’t care about legal arguments, we only care about our feelings”/
What Sammy said is a blog version of littering.
Sammy, we got it. You are smart enough to open and e mail. Cut and past text, and spread the lie to your assigned internet addresses.
We got. Now go back to licking the windows.
Professor Turley, do you honestly believe Representative Swalwell, Hunter Biden and Abbe Lowell are unaware of the consequences they potentially face for their actions? Do you believe the President and his press secretary are unaware of the consequences for their actions in admitting they knew of Hunter’s intentions in advance?
If they Reps, then they aren’t very smart. But I don’t believe that, do you?
So the question becomes, why? Why would they flaunt their acts so flagrantly?
Clearly , they don’t have any fear of suffering any consequences. Why?
Perhaps they don’t CC believe the Republican leadership will do anything, but considering the steady path Reps Comer and Jordan are on, that’s a big gamble.
I think the more likely scenario is that they KNOW nothing will happen to them because something is going to change the chess board dramatically.
There are so scenarios we can imagine but it would be a waste of time. What should give us all pause is the fact that they do these things, but DON’T CARE.
They feel invulnerable because:
1. The DOJ may well do nothing; and
2. Joe can use the pardon power as soon as the election is over, no matter who wins.
One sure thing, he and Hunter’s attorneys should be disbarred. Hunter will be indicted and charged and will serve a short time in prison. Joe Biden will not make it past the convention. They will deep six him before he gets a chance for a second term. They have squeezed as much mileage out of him as they can. Is such rebellion a glimpse of what to expect in 2024?
Lawlessness, rebellion, despite and defiance are different faces of the same disease-moral leprosy.
Swalwell’s defense will be that he only made it possible for Hunter to park but he didn’t have any idea what was going on. Sadly, that has become something we are accustomed to with elected officials. Pleading stupid has become the norm.
Isn’t the deposition part of an “official proceeding”? Swalwell could be charged with interfering with it.
The law in question requires “corruptly … obstructs.” Care to make a legal argument that Swalwell’s actions qualify?
Merrick Garland the phony AG will do nothing, not prosecute HB…alas….at least he will be out of a job come November ‘24. We are all so glad Garland never made it to the Supreme court. Whew!
There are lessons to be learned here: border-crisis Biden* has expended an enormous amount of effort in rolling back President Trump’s reform agenda. It is essential that T45 begin his new Presidency by doing exactly the same.
The question is not whether Hunter Biden can be held in contempt; of course he can. The question is what to do with Eric Swalwell.
Trust is gone in our nation. Contempt is all we see. The Democrats lunge towards the Left, adopting Marxist talking points (i.e. oppressed vs oppressor) to divide and conquer Americans, and hence exert authoritarian leadership, has brought us to this point in our civilization. All institutions are affected, not just Hunter/Swallwell vis a vis contempt towards Congress.
The Wall Street Journal published an article by one of the authors whom Harvard University president, Claudine Gay, apparently plagiarized. The Harvard corporation also has contempt for America at large
Claudine Gay and My Scholarship
She failed to credit me for sections of my book, ‘Black Faces, Black Interests.’
Wall Street Journal
Harvard’s governing fellows last week decided to stand behind President Claudine Gay despite her disastrous congressional testimony and multiple allegations of plagiarism. In a statement, they dismissed the latter as “a few instances of inadequate citation” that constituted “no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.”
I write as one of the scholars whose work Ms. Gay plagiarized. She failed to credit me for sections from my 1993 book, “Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress” and an article I published in 1997, “Women and Blacks in Congress: 1870-1996.” The damage to me extends beyond the two instances of plagiarism identified by researchers Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet.
What to do with America’s contempt for everything and everyone? It starts with each individual. Christmas / Advent Season is here. Now is a good time to start and seek change at the individual level following the timeless message of Christianity that shaped all of Western Civilization and the US Founding Fathers pneuma in writing the US Constitution. Instead of expecting others to change, start with yourself.
Estovir,
I was out of town visiting family, away from the computer.
But I did see an article noting that Harvard has taken a 17% decline in early applications.
Naturally, Harvard will just lower their standards to make up that 17%, conflate grades and pass everyone with A’s.
But the corporate world does not have to hire them.
Also just read that Black and Hispanic community lead charter school enrollment in NC.
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/black-hispanic-students-lead-growth-charter-school-enrollment
The tide it turning.
Harvard is one of America’s most prestigious universities. No it’s not. It’s just expensive.
“. . . timeless message of Christianity that shaped all of Western Civilization . . .”
So Western civilization began with Augustine?! You’re only off by about 1,000 years — and an entire library of ideas and values.
“pneuma”: Isn’t that typical. You steal a word from ancient Greek to peddle the fiction that Christianity is the foundation of Western culture.
I suppose in your fantasy view, the 1,000 years after Augustine (the Dark/Middles Ages) were also part of Western civilization. But, pray tell, what happened to those “Western” ideas and values during that time? They just took a nap? And then miraculously woke up circa 1,400 for the Renaissance?
In your rewriting of history, and whitewashing of Christianity’s history, what exactly is the “Renaissance?” The rebirth of Augustine? The rediscovery of religious texts? What ideas and values animated the Renaissance and then the Enlightenment?
If the Jesuits taught you this intellectual dishonesty, you should demand a tuition refund.
(You are now free to deflect and to be vicious.)
JT: Thank you for an explanation of the reasons for a closed deposition versus public hearing.
This is more serious than the allegations that led to Santos’
s expulsion.
FYI John the Rule of Law is dead in America
the FBI, DOJ, IRS, along with large parts of congress…are LAWLESS
The French…oops America Political Aristocracy now is just a bunch of Machiavellian criminals….on par with French PRE-Revolution!
This is the last step before the FAILURE of an empire!
Read H.G. Wells. Outline of History written 1930’s….where he documents this collapse of about 100 empires through TIME!
“Rep. Eric Swalwell drove up with Hunter Biden and facilitated a flagrant act of contempt of Congress, a federal crime.” (JT)
First the Bidens protect China. Now China reciprocates.
Merely another sample of what the streets of San Francisco can offer up to the electorate and the State of California to the nation. Fortunately there are those who know the difference between that and shoe polish.
Who is Swawell’s Master? Hakeem Jefferies, or China?
Yes the same, but nuance is required here.
The corruption and double standards are breathtaking. Study the French Revolution, there is a real possibility this doesn’t end well for every American if the DOJ doesn’t hold equal standards regardless of party affiliation.
Rules for me, not for thee,,,
Does anyone wonder why “average” Americans distrusts politicians.
“Does anyone wonder why “average” Americans distrusts [Democrats].”
There, I fixed it for you.
The man is a lawyer, supposedly, and is continuing to make a mockery of the process. At a minimum, he should be referred to the California Supreme Court for disciplinary actions.
Let’s see if the RINOs have the cojones to send recommendations for prosecution for both Biden fils and Swalwell to Meritless Garland. Not that they’ll do more than gather dust, but it would at least be something.
You are kidding right? NOT ONE GOP member defends Trump, Giuliani, etc