Congress Has a Way of Making Witnesses Speak: Its Own Jail
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/opinion/04tue4.html
from 2007, maybe it has been changed...
...”The Congressional Research Service issued a report in July that confirmed Congress’s inherent contempt powers. It explained how they work: “The individual is brought before the House or Senate by the sergeant at arms, tried at the bar of the body, and can be imprisoned in the Capitol jail.” Congress can do this, the report concluded, to compel them to testify or to punish them for their refusal to do so.”
snip
...”This country has seen far too much of this sort of dismissal of Congress’s authority. There is a simple way to avoid a constitutional showdown: If Congress holds witnesses in contempt, the Justice Department should enforce the subpoenas. “...
Testimony of DOJ official with ties to Fusion GPS pushed back [Bruce Ohr]
Ohr was set to appear before the Senate panel Monday, but the appearance was delayed after the committee secured new related documents, which members wanted to review before hearing from him.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3614877/posts
I appreciate your research. Thanks. I looked around as well.
Basically, the sources are unconvincing, vague and rather dated ideas about what “IS” is. Nothing is definitive.
Maybe this is what Gowdy has been trying to tell us for several years, now. He has clarified and emphasized, repeatedly, what Congress can not do, contrary to popular opinion.
We remain stalled on knowledge and therefore our expectations are out of line with reality. We need to find out why our Congress no nothing of their powers or limitations in these cases of witnesses intimidating them.
Key Stone Cops.