Rashida Tlaib: House Dems having 'serious' convos about jailing Trump officials to force compliance with impeachment probe

Controversial Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) revealed Saturday that House Democrats have discussed jailing President Donald Trump's allies to force compliance with the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry.

Tlaib told Deadline Detroit that House Democrats have internally deliberated whether to use the congressional power of inherent contempt to arrest Trump's allies and force them to cooperate with the impeachment probe if they refuse to do so.

"There have been actual serious conversations about what the logistics would look like ... if we did have to force someone through a court order to come before the congressional committee," Tlaib said.

The freshman lawmaker admitted invoking inherent contempt would be "uncharted territory."

"If they were to detain someone, where would they go and have them detained so that they can comply with the subpoenas?" she said.

Tlaib's comments come days after the White House informed top House Democrats that the president would not cooperate with the "illegitimate" impeachment inquiry. In a letter, White House counsel Pat Cipollone called the probe "constitutionally invalid and violation of due process."

"Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even the most elementary due process protections, the Executive Branch cannot be expected to participate in it," Cipollone wrote.

Saturday was not the first time that Tlaib has floated arresting Trump allies to force cooperation with the impeachment inquiry. Speaking at town hall event earlier this month, Tlaib said:

Let me tell you, this is pretty — and this is the last caucus conversation we had. Do you know this is really unprecedented? This is the worst time we've ever had a situation like this.

So they're trying to figure out — no joke — they're trying to figure out, "Well, is it the D.C. police that goes and gets them?" No, no. What are we hoping? I mean, I'm not in those kinds of conversations, but I'm asking, like, you know, what happens? And they're like, "Well, Rashida, we're trying to figure it out ourselves because this is uncharted territory." No, I'm telling you that they're trying to be like, "Well, where are we going to put them? Where are we going to hold them?" No, I mean those are the kinds of things they're trying to tread carefully.

Tlaib: Democrats Are Looking Into How to Arrest Trump Officialswww.youtube.com