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Feds want Schock held in contempt

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Illinois

As a federal grand jury continues its probe of former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, a prosecutor in Springfield is pressing for further hearings on whether the Peoria Republican should be held in contempt of court for failing to produce documents.

In a 25-page filing Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass asked U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough to allow oral arguments on the issue of whether Schock is entitled to declare some documents private and out of government reach.

Bass wrote in the filing that a public official “cannot seal his official records and withhold them from the prosecuting authorities on a plea of constitutional privilege against self-incrimination.

“No court has recognized that a public official … has a constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment to avoid the compelled production of publicly-funded, non-private, public or official records within his official … office,” the filing reads.

* NBC 5…

In a filing Thursday, prosecutors alleged that Schock, and the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the United States Congress argue that every other current and future member of congress have a right against production of public documents which will, among other things, reflect how they spend public funds.

“The government respectfully submits that this argument is repugnant to the fundamental principal that no man is above the law,” they wrote. “And therefore it should be rejected.”

“Its absurdity is self-evident,” they said. “And the House has no right to confer a constitutional privilege where none exists.”

* Politico…

The Justice Department is trying to force Schock to turn over “non-private, non-personal, official Congressional and campaign records created as part of Schock’s official duties and reflecting the expenditure of public and campaign funds,” it wrote in the Thursday filing. […]

The matter could come to a head as soon as Aug. 28, when the court is scheduled to hold a status hearing in Springfield, Illinois at which the two sides will discuss the production of Schock’s office congressional records. The two sides have been battling for months over the documents. Schock has turned over some records, and the government raided his campaign office several months ago.

* ABC 7…

The former Peoria congressman has ignored two grand jury subpoenas for records and is fighting a third, according to federal prosecutors.

Authorities say that Schock is taking a page from former president Richard Nixon’s playbook more than 40 years ago, when Nixon claimed executive privilege

The especially biting request for immediate contempt charges in court papers filed late Thursday and obtained by the I-Team accuse Schock of “obvious grandstanding and inartful rhetoric.” The government claims that Schock is making arguments no different than when President Nixon unsuccessfully tried to claim “an absolute privilege of confidentiality for all Presidential communications” that the Supreme Court rejected four decades ago.

Prosecutors state that Schock’s “representations to this Court to the contrary are simply a continuation of his deceptive defiance and callous disregard of this Court’s and the Supreme Court’s authority that he has displayed for months and from the outset of this litigation.”

The full filing is here. Pretty harsh language.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 11:32 am

Comments

Even if he has a personal server? /s

Comment by walker Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 11:37 am
He needed to have all these documents on a private server in a Denver bathroom closet. If he did that he could run for president, couldn’t he?

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 11:37 am
I wonder what Schock really did to get them going after him like they are.

Comment by DuPage Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 11:42 am
He must have left quite the damning paper trail to go the wall on such a desperate legal tactic.

The Supremes ruled 8-0 more than 40 years ago that Nixon had to give up the tapes to the grand jury. They were chock-full-o incriminating stuff.

That’s the point of the subpoenas.

Comment by Wordslinger Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 11:46 am
“Obvious grandstanding and inartful rhetoric.”

Gotta love that.

Comment by IllinoisBoi Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 11:59 am
it’s not just about schock at this point. if what his lawyers are arguing prevails the feds will have a harder time going after any congressmen for wrongdoing. thats why boehner has lawyers from blag working on schocks behalf.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 12:01 pm
What he is really saying is that private cotizen shock is violating his fiduciary duty to elected official shock. The person is spererate from the office. The office has no priveledge against incrimination because under the law the pffice can not violate the law or be criminally can nvicted. Any illegal conduct was commited by the jndvifual acting outside the scope of the officice, since the office would not break the law. so the office has to produce its documents even if an employee or memeber of the office may be found und t have broken ken the law

Comment by Ghost Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 12:45 pm
I get where Schock and his legal team are coming from, but if that’s the case then no public official would give over anything and would attempt to claim that everything is “privileged”.

Comment by Team Sleep Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 12:49 pm
In my humble opinion Schock didn’t kiss Rauner’s ring DuPage when the repubs were lining up to run for the nomination and Schock’s name was being thrown around as a possible candidate…And by Rauner’s own description he is a bad man if you go against him… Think about it… It takes a lot of money to do the investigation into flight records and all the detail that was gifted to the press…. Hmmm I wonder who bankrolled that???

Comment by Skid lid Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 12:56 pm
Skid - and I think we may be seeing that with Senator McCann as well. An awful lot of oppo dumps have been thrown to the wolves in the last 3-4 months.

Comment by Team Sleep Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 1:01 pm
Schlock. What a bum

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 1:28 pm
Great analogy - the Richard Nixon playbook.

LOL!

Comment by Stones Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:12 pm
I have a hard time believing no one else in Congress has used campaign money for personal use like he did. He must have pis*ed off the wrong people to be in this much trouble.

Comment by Mama Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 2:24 pm
Blago, Jeff Parsons, and Schock. No wonder the world’s largest brass foundry was located in Decatur, with these sources of raw material so close.

Comment by Excessively Rabid Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:21 pm
Mama - do MOCs use campaign funds for some personal use? You bet. But do most of them spend money at the breathtaking pace with which Mr. Schock spent donors’s cash? No.

Comment by Team Sleep Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 3:26 pm