By Steve Neavling

President Biden said he supports prosecuting Trump allies and officials who defy subpoenas to testify before the House Select Committee that is investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. 

“I hope the committee goes after them and holds them accountable,” Biden told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday.

Asked if he supports prosecution for those people, Biden responded, “I do, yes.”

Committee leaders said they were taking steps to hold Steve Bannon, a Trump ally and former administration officials, in contempt, for refusing to comply with a subpoena. 

Ultimately, the decision belongs to the Justice Department, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked about it Thursday. 

“That would be up to the Department of Justice, and it would be their purview to determine. They’re an independent agency,” she told reporters at a White House press briefing on October 8. “They’re independent. They would determine any decision on criminal prosecutions. I’d point you to them and, of course, the committee.”

The Justice Department hasn’t said yet what it plans to do. 

“The Department of Justice will make its own independent decisions in all prosecutions based solely on the facts and the law. Period. Full stop,” DOJ spokesman Anthony Coley said Friday. 

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The Republican chairman of the House Select Committee, which is investigating the 2012 attack on the American consulate in Libya, is mincing no words about his colleagues in Congress who are speculating about the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton.

The Boston Herald reports that Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, told his colleagues to “shut up” about the case and let the FBI investigate.

“Everything I have heard about (FBI Director) Jim Comey tells me he is a straight arrow,” Gowdy said on Boston Herald Radio. “I am going to give him the room to do his investigation. He is not supposed to tell anyone what he is doing, he is not supposed to tell anyone what’s found and I wish my colleagues would shut up talking about the FBI investigation because this an executive branch entity.

“It should be a decidedly apolitical investigation and I’m convinced that’s what (Comey) wants to do,” the Republican congressman added.

The news comes after the White House confirmed Friday that 22 “top secret” emails were found on Clinton’s home server.

Clinton has denied she sent or received classified information on her personal e-mail account.

“The documents are being upgraded at the request of the intelligence community because they contain a category of top secret information,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told the Associated Press, adding the move was “not unusual.”