With the likelihood of a Republican tsunami at the midterms, some are already spinning wish lists of structural changes they hope will begin to take shape. Without wishing to rain on their — or your — parade, I’d like to point out how deep by now the structural rot goes. It’s beyond the collapse of academia and K-12 education, the evisceration of our military, government waste, the dysfunction of our health system, and the one-sidedness of media coverage. It goes to the very heart of our legal system.
This week Peter Navarro was charged by a D.C. grand jury for contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the House Select Committee, a purely partisan confection of Nancy Pelosi in violation of all the traditional House rules, and a clear propaganda operation. (Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, Jr. cooperated to some extent and were spared. The committee also referred them for prosecution, but the Department of Justice declined to prosecute them.)
The charge against Navarro is a misdemeanor process crime but with significant possible consequences.
Instead of following the normal procedure in such cases of notifying the person charged and allowing them to report for processing, the FBI affected to humiliate him, arrested him as he was boarding a plane, publicly handcuffing him and placing him in leg irons.
Power Line reminds us how Attorney General Eric Holder was treated when Congress held him in contempt: