Sparks flew during Wednesday’s debate on House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings’ (D-MD) resolution on subpoenaing Kellyanne Conway, with Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) slamming his Democrat colleagues for holding Conway to a completely different standard.
The House committee held a hearing Wednesday morning on Conway’s alleged Hatch Act violations, but she did not show up. As a result, the committee passed a subpoena resolution 25-16, but not before Meadows said his piece.
Meadows told his colleagues that a subpoena was not necessary and “not following the law,” calling the entire debate a “political spectacle.”
“We’re talking about keeping politics out of government? This subpoena is nothing more than a political spectacle, and we are better than this, Mr. Chairman,” Meadows said, warning of the “dangerous course” ahead and slamming his Democrat colleagues for holding Conway to a different standard.
“If you look at what the Hatch Act is all about, it is not about Kellyanne Conway in her speech,” he said.
“If we’re going to have the same standard – let me just tell you there are ethical complaints about every single member of Congress that does some kind of TV hit here in the Capitol,” he continued, referencing– Democrat Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA).
“If we’re going to use the same standard, they are violating– indeed would be violating – the very rules of this House,” he said.
“Here’s what is troubling Mr. Chairman,” he continued. “As we start to look at this subpoena, we have one standard for Kellyanne Conway and another standard for everybody else.”
If you’re going to subpoena people, let’s subpoena Samantha Power. Let’s make sure she comes in because you want to know what I have? I’ve got emails on her official account where she was going after Donald Trump while she was working on our government and, indeed, at the same time was unmasking individuals. So if we want to hold people accountable, let’s do it with the same standard. I don’t think it’s right to hold her to a different standard.
Cummings eventually stepped in and said, “I think that we have gotten to a point, sadly, where disobeying the law is OK.”
Meadows immediately objected, “But this is not –” before Cummings cut him off, angrily shouting, “Yes it is!”
Jordan spoke right after and said, “This is one more example of the Democrats’ obsession with going after this president.”
Despite the back and forth, the committee passed the subpoena resolution.