Within days, the U.S. Marshals Service, which is in charge of federal detainees, began an investigation into the jail and found, among other things, that there were sewage and water leaks inside and that corrections officers often antagonised their charges, sometimes withholding food and water for “punitive reasons. “”
Rather than in the Correctional Treatment Facility, where all of the Jan. 6 defendants are being held, the marshals discovered the most serious issues in an older part of the jail complex called the Central Detention FacilityThe Jan. 6 Inquiry’s claim of Executive Privilege should be understood.
The first of eight cards is dealt
An important question that has yet to be tested. The House’s investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has centred on Donald Trump’s power as a former president to keep information from his White House private. Executive privilege has been the subject of a flurry of activity recently, including a Trump administration effort to keep personal records private and a move to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress.
What exactly is the executive’s right to secrecy? To prevent the other two branches of government from seeing private communications between the president and his closest advisers, the president can claim constitutional authority to do so.
What is Trump claiming? Legal action has been taken by former President Trump to prevent White House documents relating to his actions and communications during the January 6 Capitol riots from being made public. As a matter of executive privilege, he argues that these matters should not be made public.
Is Trump’s claim of executive privilege valid? When it comes to presidential secrecy and Congress’s ability to investigate, the line is hazy. Even though a judge rejected Mr. Trump’s request to keep his papers secret, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the matter.
Is the power of executive privilege unassailable? No. Even if an executive’s claim of privilege is valid, it may not always be upheld in court. The Supreme Court upheld an order requiring President Nixon to hand over his Oval Office tapes during the Watergate scandal in 1974.
Executive privilege can be invoked by former presidents? Of course, but the courts may treat their claims with less deference than those of the current presidents. But in 1977, even though the Supreme Court ruled against Nixon, the court said Nixon could claim executive privilege even though he had left office.
Is Steve Bannon protected by the doctrine of executive privilege? This is a bit of a grey area. Whether or not a claim of executive privilege can cover communications between the president and an informal adviser outside of the government would be a novel legal question if any contempt finding against Mr. Bannon turned into legal action.
What constitutes “contempt of Congress”? People who defy congressional subpoenas are subject to this punishment. Contempt of Congress citations can be referred to the Justice Department and criminal charges can be sought. If Mr. Bannon refuses to comply with a subpoena for documents and testimony, he could be found in contempt of court.
If anything, the riot inmates’ complaints grew louder after the release of a report by the marshals. Nathan DeGrave, one of the defendants, issued a “cry for help” on Twitter at the end of October. There were accusations of “psychological and mental abuse” against the “Jan 6ers” in the D.C. jail.
Ms. Greene visited the jail a week later and met with the inmates, later noting that they sing the national anthem before going to sleep every night. Jailed conditions were far worse than those faced by homeless people or terrorists, according to Greene, who appeared on a podcast hosted by former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon following her inspection.
Many of those who were outraged by the Jan. 6 incident did not mention that the jail had been plagued with problems since long before the inmates were brought in. Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs issued a report six years ago calling the conditions in the jail abysmal. This year, a local task force released a plan to close the facility and replace it with a new one because of the ongoing problems.
People in Washington, D.C., who have spent years working to improve conditions at the jail, appeared grateful that the issue was finally receiving attention. There were concerns that officials who appeared at a public hearing on Wednesday were feigning ignorance about the longstanding predicament they were discussing.
That it took complaints from newly arrived Jan. 6 defendants—most of whom are white—to get the authorities to pay attention to detainees in jail, almost all of whom are African-American was particularly frustrating for Patrice Sulton, executive director of DC Justice Lab, an organisation that advocates criminal justice reform.
Ms. Sulton said, “It just doesn’t feel right to me.
