I’m a lawyer. The House could subpoena him. He’d be required to show up. If he doesn’t want to testify he can plead the fifth. The reasons for pleading the 5th are between him and his lawyer. The only way they could force him to testify is if they offered him blanket immunity. If they gave him immunity, and he still refused to testify, they could jail him for contempt.
I'm starting to get a sense that Obama's second term is going to be awfully interesting, and that he may end up wishing Romney had won before all is said and done.
That is probably so in this case, but Freepers shouldn't think that a witness can always successfully avoid testifying by pleading the 5th. It does not protect a witness from being compelled to give testimony that is embarassing, financially costly, or even places the witness in danger of retaliation. But the courts have generally taken an expansive view of the 5th, at least when it comes to in person testimony, and not say, producing business records to the IRS. So unless the party seeking the testimony, here a House Committee, can persuade the DC District Court that there is no plausible way that Petraeus could face criminal liability over Bengazi, a plea of the 5th would stand.
I don't see how the House Committee could prove that Petraeus is not facing criminal liability. I'm not alleging it, or even alleging it should be looked into, but Petraeus certainly could have, for instance, ordered records destroyed, or false or entries made in them, and could be facing criminal liability.
That being said, if BO's hand picked CIA Director takes the 5th in front of a Congressional Committee over Bengazi, then this does start to be BO's Watergate. That is too hard for the media to spin, or ignore, or obfuscate, and too easy for the public to understand that there is a big scandal, even if they don't get all the nuances. So it will never happen. If Petraeus doesn't testify, BO will claim executive privilege, and the public will MEGO and tune it out.
That’s pretty much as I thought.Having watched many episodes of Perry Mason my gut told me that taking the 5th isn’t difficult and can only be trumped by a court/prosecutor...or a Congressional committee...by a grant of immunity.