GOP-led House panel finds former Clinton aide in contempt
Pagliano had struck an immunity deal with the Department of Justice that allowed him to talk to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents about the email server without fear of being prosecuted for any crimes.
A lawyer for the aide, Bryan Pagliano, said his client was defending his right not to appear because the committee was informed ahead of time Pagliano will assert his Fifth Amendment rights at the hearing and the only objective otherwise for his appearance, according to the ranking Democrat on the committee, is a Republican “photo-op”. “I simply can not vote for a resolution that is potentially so unethical”, Cummings said, noting that U.S. Marshals were sent to Pagliano’s workplace to issue him the subpoena. The FBI has already decided not to prosecute Clinton or her aides over the email server.
Pagliano also refused to answer questions past year before a House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, argued that previous testimony from another one of Clinton’s IT workers, Justin Cooper, made it imperative for Pagliano to testify. The resolution states that the computer specialist tasked with setting up Clinton’s server did not comply with two subpoenas ordering him to appear before the panel. Further, he said the State Department has only been able to find a handful of his emails.
Once it was clear Pagliano would not be testifying, Republican and Democratic lawmakers spent their time hurling accusations at each other and turning the hearing into an opportunity to bash each party’s nominee for president.
“This is nothing but a blatantly partisan Republican attack” on Clinton, said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the top Democrat on the committee.
“Where is our investigation of Donald Trump?”
Pagliano’s lawyer, Mark MacDougall, has said that if his client were brought before the committee, he would plead the Fifth Amendment.
“Under those circumstances, Mr. Pagliano has no fear of criminal liability preventing him from testifying before the committee”, Chaffetz said Thursday.
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“Mr. Pagliano’s testimony could provide important information” informing possible reforms to ensure “this disaster never happens again”, Chaffetz said. Recognizing that a contempt finding was an extraordinary measure, Chaffetz insisted that “this committee can not operate.if subpoenas are ignored”.
U.S. Marshals reportedly served Pagliano the orders to show up at the hearing. This week, Chaffetz demanded that Reddit preserve deleted posts that may have been written by an employee of Platte River Networks, the company that Clinton later hired to maintain the server. He payed a crucial role in the matter, and was even paid by the Clinton family for his work – separate from his paycheck as a Department of State IT worker.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the committee’s ranking Democrat, accused Chaffetz of using subpoena power to compel an appearance exclusively for political gain, in an attempt to remind voters in November’s election of Clinton’s email scandal.
The FBI appears to have investigated the question of whether Combetta was directed to delete emails after the committee asked for them.