Top Headline Comments 5-8-14

Happy Thursday.

Neo-neocon had a thorough dissection of NYTimes "shilly-shallying" earlier this week.

National Journal reports on the "conga line of problems" at HHS.

Hey, remember when Sec. Clinton's State Department repeatedly declined to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist group? The Daily Beast does.

Interesting that 26 Dems voted for the resolution asking DOJ for a special counsel in IRS scandal. And yet only 6 Dems voted for contempt for Lerner.

On the Lerner situation, as I wrote a couple times before, the next step is for the U.S. Attorney's office to bring the matter before a grand jury. I don't expect the Obama administration will allow that, though, despite 2 U.S.C. § 194. In the past, DOJs have declined to fulfill their duty under § 194 when they could cite executive privilege. There's been not a whisper of a suggestion that executive privilege applies in Lerner's case, but does anyone really think it likely that the administration will let this go before a grand jury?

Also, keep in mind that the outcome for the criminal contempt route is not that Lerner is ordered to testify. Under this procedure, she can simply be fined or imprisoned, not compelled to come clean. If the House wants to actually get her testimony, it will have to sue for civil contempt, which is the procedure it took to get AG Holder to cough up Fast & Furious information. The Holder contempt case is notably still bogged down in court.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 06:54 AM

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