House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) earlier this month reportedly suggested fining Trump administration officials who do not comply with congressional subpoenas.
Bloomberg News reported Wednesday that Nadler floated the idea at a House leadership meeting. The outlet cited a person who attended the closed-door meeting.
According to Bloomberg, the person, who spoke to the outlet on the condition of anonymity, said the proposal would put more power behind the congressional subpoena, which many Trump officials are delaying or ignoring.
Nadler also mentioned the possibility of jailing officials who defy subpoenas, but believed that was not realistic, the source told Bloomberg.{mosads}
A spokesperson for Nadler told The Hill he was “not sure where Bloomberg got this from.” The spokesperson did not immediately respond when asked for further comment on the report.
President Trump on Wednesday told reporters he planned to fight “all the subpoenas.” He also called a Judiciary subpoena of former White House counsel Don McGahn “ridiculous.”
“Look, these aren’t impartial people,” he said. “The Democrats are trying to win 2020. They’re not going to win with the people that I see, and they’re not going to win against me.”
“The only way they can luck out is by constantly going after me on nonsense,” he added.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday evening that the White House particularly plans to fight the subpoena of McGahn.
Nadler responded to the report by saying in a statement that an attempt to stop McGahn from testifying would be an “act of obstruction.”
The committee demanded that McGahn testify before May 21. The panel considers McGahn to be a key witness in its probe into potential obstruction of justice.
The former White House lawyer spent hours speaking to special counsel Robert Mueller for his investigation. McGahn’s account of instances of potential obstruction were repeatedly cited in the special counsel report released last week.