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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Two of Donald Trump’s allies, Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, served jail time for refusing to testify in front of Congress. Bannon, who was sentenced to four months in a federal penitentiary for contempt, said that he was, indeed, guilty. That he did have contempt for the way Congress was investigating the January 6th riots.
ICE Deputy Secretary Todd Lyons was treated with contempt earlier this week. New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, a democrat who herself faced charges for assaulting an ICE officer while trying to force her way into a detention facility last year, asked Lyons if he was a religious man. He said that he was. Then she asked: “How do you think judgement day will go for you… with so much blood on your hands?” She went on to ask “do you think you’re going to hell?” Lyons said he would not entertain such a question. The committee chair ruled that Congresswoman McIver had violated decorum.
Secretary Lyons should have stood up and walked out.
He was appearing in front of the committee voluntarily to answer legitimate questions about how ICE conducts immigration enforcement. If he had left, he might have also been cited for contempt of Congress. But such a charge would never have withstood a vote, and the Trump justice department would not have prosecuted. It would have set a useful standard for how unpopular witnesses can be treated by grandstanding members of Congress.
Mr. Lyons has the difficult and unpopular-with-some job of enforcing our nation’s immigration laws. Someone has to do it. His agents must face the rock-throwing, car-ramming, street-brawling protesters who Mrs. McIver cheers on. He has a thankless job. She is a disgrace.
Chris Conley
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