The State of The Union Speech by Donald Trump becomes a matter of official record in two ways.
First it is signed then given to the US Senate (to Mike Pence) through the president of the Senate, then given to the House through the Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi. It is an official record, is it not? Someone close to what goes on in DC suggests that it is.
John Dingell III, the son of the late John Dingell, longest serving congressional critter ever says “It appears that Pelosi tore up the official, signed copy of the SOTU speech. Destroying official House records is a felony and grounds for impeachment.” He continued: “I was a House Democratic Cloakroom page for years when I was a kid because I was one of only three people on Capitol Hill who knew every Congressman and Senator by sight. And knew where they hid out. I can’t tell you the number of times Fishbait Miller put the fear of God in me about the proper handling of official documents.”
The Justice department specifically states the statute under which Pelosi’s action is subject. The law is clear.
“The necessary measure of protection for government documents and records is provided by 18 U.S.C. § 2071. Section 2071(a) contains a broad prohibition against destruction of government records or attempts to destroy such records. This section provides that whoever: willfully and unlawfully; conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates or destroys; or attempts to conceal, remove, mutilate, obliterate or destroy; or carries away with intent to conceal, remove, mutilate, obliterate or destroy; any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document or other thing deposited in any public office may be punished by imprisonment for three years, a $2, 000 fine, or both.”
What Nancy Pelosi did was purposeful and with malice.
As a decades long veteran of congress, Pelosi cannot feign ignorance of the law, nor could she deny her culpability as-if what she did was an accident. She made herself visible to the world through the lens of the cameras and in a fit destroyed the public record which was reserved for the house.
There IS a provision of that law which provides for removal of the custodians from their position. It should be approached with due haste.
Will the impeachment managers act on such a violation? Will Debbie Dingell continue to defend the speaker’s actions as appropriate? Will Fishbait Miller rise from his grave to defend the sanctity of house documents being unlawfully destroyed?
Stay tuned for the next exciting installment of “The Tantrum!”
(19)Nuh Uh.
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