LOTF: An American Political Roleplay (116th Congress)

[Sanabel]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing, Congressional Auditorium
(February 19, 2020)


After meeting with the majority membership, Chairman Simpson took his seat at the center of the bench, where he organized his notes. The press corps and some members of the public began filing in, as the hearing would be Capitol Hill’s main event on an otherwise sleepy Wednesday. He kept an eye out for members of the Attorney General’s staff, somewhat concerned the embattled cabinet member would refuse to comply with the subpoena. Finally, he called the meeting to order, explained the procedure, and delved into his opening remarks.

“Members of the public and press, I welcome you to today’s hearing. Last June, the American people were shocked when the most brazen political scandals since (Not-Abramoff) came to light. The offices of Senators Hawthorne and Sharansky were raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the pair were charged with bribery, malfeasance, misconduct, destruction of evidence, lying to Congress, and witness tampering. To remind this Committee, it is overwhelmingly likely that both Senators did so knowingly and in collaboration with former registered agricultural lobbyist Vye Agra.

To be clear, on corporate lobbying reform and the manner by which such acts of corruption may be prevented are important, but that is not within the scope of this hearing. Instead, we are assembled here today because there is the distinct possibility that there has been a miscarriage of justice in the resolution of the Midwest Massacre. Two months ago, Attorney General Jones announced through the outlet FOX News, that the Department of Justice intended to drop all but one charge against now-former Senator Hawthorne. The Attorney General did so without informing this committee, which is responsible for judicial oversight. The Attorney General did so without specifying which charges are being dropped and why. The Attorney General did so without explaining why he dropped the charges leveled against a fellow Republican, but not against now-former Senator Sharansky who is a Democrat. It is also unclear if the Attorney General acted unilaterally, or if either now-former President Wolf, President Tawney, or any cabinet members were aware of or were involved with planning these actions.

The aim of this hearing is to determine why the Attorney General acted in this manner. After which, should the committee be satisfied and not see the need to investigate further, it will determine whether or not it is justified, or if further action needs to be taken.

Committee members, I urge you all to put aside partisanship. The Midwest Massacre was a travesty, plane and simple. It is our duty to maintain the rule of law, and ensure that justice is delivered in this case of a public servant using their office and privilege for personal gain. If this committee is turned into a circus, I am sure your constituents will take issue. If we fail to get to the bottom of this, American democracy is at risk. In this country, we do not enforce the law differently based on partisan affiliation, or the whims of those who hold power- Justice is blind. Today is our chance to make that clear.

I now yield to Ranking Member Rodman for his opening remarks, after which Attorney General Jones will be asked to deliver his own short statement.”

[Emazia]

Franklin watched eagerly, having made sure that he took his medication and the side effects were off by the time of the hearing, typing on his notetaker tablet, when suddenly he had noticed an orange mess under his table.

"Dear God..."

He looked closer, and, upon further inspection, had realised it was spilt orange-flavoured water. He took a sigh, and then went back to taking notes, ready to hear Rodman speak.

[Agarntrop]

Representative Atang sat on the committee, sternly but patiently, waiting for an opportunity to speak.

[Republick Deutschland]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing, Congressional Auditorium
(February 19, 2020)
(Image)

After meeting with the majority membership, Chairman Simpson took his seat at the center of the bench, where he organized his notes. The press corps and some members of the public began filing in, as the hearing would be Capitol Hill’s main event on an otherwise sleepy Wednesday. He kept an eye out for members of the Attorney General’s staff, somewhat concerned the embattled cabinet member would refuse to comply with the subpoena. Finally, he called the meeting to order, explained the procedure, and delved into his opening remarks.

“Members of the public and press, I welcome you to today’s hearing. Last June, the American people were shocked when the most brazen political scandals since (Not-Abramoff) came to light. The offices of Senators Hawthorne and Sharansky were raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the pair were charged with bribery, malfeasance, misconduct, destruction of evidence, lying to Congress, and witness tampering. To remind this Committee, it is overwhelmingly likely that both Senators did so knowingly and in collaboration with former registered agricultural lobbyist Vye Agra.

To be clear, on corporate lobbying reform and the manner by which such acts of corruption may be prevented are important, but that is not within the scope of this hearing. Instead, we are assembled here today because there is the distinct possibility that there has been a miscarriage of justice in the resolution of the Midwest Massacre. Two months ago, Attorney General Jones announced through the outlet FOX News, that the Department of Justice intended to drop all but one charge against now-former Senator Hawthorne. The Attorney General did so without informing this committee, which is responsible for judicial oversight. The Attorney General did so without specifying which charges are being dropped and why. The Attorney General did so without explaining why he dropped the charges leveled against a fellow Republican, but not against now-former Senator Sharansky who is a Democrat. It is also unclear if the Attorney General acted unilaterally, or if either now-former President Wolf, President Tawney, or any cabinet members were aware of or were involved with planning these actions.

The aim of this hearing is to determine why the Attorney General acted in this manner. After which, should the committee be satisfied and not see the need to investigate further, it will determine whether or not it is justified, or if further action needs to be taken.

Committee members, I urge you all to put aside partisanship. The Midwest Massacre was a travesty, plane and simple. It is our duty to maintain the rule of law, and ensure that justice is delivered in this case of a public servant using their office and privilege for personal gain. If this committee is turned into a circus, I am sure your constituents will take issue. If we fail to get to the bottom of this, American democracy is at risk. In this country, we do not enforce the law differently based on partisan affiliation, or the whims of those who hold power- Justice is blind. Today is our chance to make that clear.

I now yield to Ranking Member Rodman for his opening remarks, after which Attorney General Jones will be asked to deliver his own short statement.”

Rodman glanced over at Attorney General Jones, then back down at his papers.

"Thank You, I'd like to begin by thanking Attorney General Jones for being here today. What happened regarding Attorney General Jones's dropping of charges against Former Senator Hawthorne is lacking in detail, and hopefully by the end of this hearing we can get that cleared up. I believe that the so-called "Midwest Massacre" was something that should and hopefully will not happen again in this Congress.

Firstly, I'd like to address any and all concerns from my Democratic colleagues that this hearing will become a demolition derby of clashing opinions, obstruction of congressional rule, and the such. I and hopefully other Republicans on this committee firmly believe that this hearing should be conducted peacefully and respectfully for all those involved. For the sake of our constituents, we must remain orderly and treat Attorney General Jones as a human being, an American. Not as an enemy. When the scandal first broke regarding now-Former Senators Hawthorne and Sharansky, many Americans as well as myself wanted clarity. Clarity we still to this day have not reached. Attorney General Jones dropped charges on Hawthorne but not on Sharansky. Is this an overstepping political move, or is it an evaluation of the case that we have not yet heard. Did Former Senator Hawthorne knowingly and willingly commit these heinous acts? Did Former Senator Sharansky? Or, as some have suggested, is the entire basis for this hearing based upon a witch hunt from the very start.

Attorney General Jones, as far as we know it is highly plausible that both Hawthorne and Sharansky committed these crimes. Whether or not you have more evidence than the general public and us remains to be seen, and particularly what evidence. The purpose of this hearing is to establish certainty around Attorney General Jones's dropping of charges. My friends across the aisle are going to try and turn this into a good versus evil scenario, where anyone who doesn't believe that Hawthorne should be sentenced to hang is a Russian operative or a corrupt egotistical maniac. Of course, this is an exxageration.

Chairman Simpson, and all my donkey-party friends, I ask that you keep your personal opinions and political jabs out of this room, into a safe, inside the basement. This is not the place for politics, but the place for legislating, clarity, and helping the American people.

I yield to Attorney General Jones with his opening statement."

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

Ruler thought about clapping but instead put his hands together on his lap. What a good speech he thought.

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Park did not really know what was going on. He intended on just reading the questions that his aides prepared. He had little interest in what the judiciary committee did.

[New Cobastheia]

Renfus, tapping his right boot casually under the committee table, waited for the Attorney General to make his remarks before the hearing could really get started.

[Meelducan]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

Michael had remained relatively quiet throughout the openings of the chairman and the ranking member, but it was now his turn to testify before this committee. This was the first time appearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee, but from what he heard from his colleagues, they weren't as bad as it was made out to be. He'd much rather prefer to be travelling across the country, meeting with various DOJ Officials and and other representatives, but instead he was stuck in D.C, in the packed out committee chamber.

As soon as the floor was yielded to him, Michael turned on his microphone for his opening statement.

"Good morning everyone, a thank you to Chairman Simpson and Ranking Member Rodman for holding this committee hearing today."

"As some of you may know, this will be my first time ever appearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee during my thirty years at the Department of Justice.Throughout my tenure at the DOJ, I have always acted with neutrality and in a non-partisan role to ensure justice is delivered fairly and swiftly, both when I was a criminal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, when I was Deputy Attorney General in the Burke Administration and now as Attorney General in the Wolf-Tawney Administration. Lady Justice is blind, something that I recognise and understand as one of the key principles of the Department. It is something that I have tried to incorporate into any of the roles that I have taken on during my tenure at the DOJ and while serving as Attorney General I have not taken any different approach."

"In late June of 2019, I announced that the Department of Justice would be opening an Investigation into various sitting members of Congress and a presidential candidate. This would be coined by the media as 'the Midwest Massacre'. The goals of this Investigation were simple, to find out what crimes were committed, who committed the crimes and if corruption in congress went any further. It was that same week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the congressional offices of the affected members. Those members were Senator Luke Hawthorn of Ohio, Senator Rebekah Sharansky of Illinois and Representative Jameson Marsch of Pennsylvania. All of these members were accused of various crimes and misdeeds while in federal office, like all of them partaking in a group holiday to Sri Lanka and engaging with an escort service, to all of them being offered property in upstate New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. Like I said at the time, the allegations alleged that these 'gifts' were offered as a compensation for all of the representatives voting and sponsoring legislation for increased agricultural subsidies. These were offered by lobbyist, Vye Agra who is also currently under investigation."

"I take no pleasure in being involved in party politics, but due to the lack of action taken by leaders in the House of Representatives," Michael looked directly at Simpson. "and both the Senate, I felt that it was in the best interest of the country to step in and begin an investigation. But this action has led to unfair criticism, by the same Congressional leaders who failed to step up and investigate the wrongdoings of their members. It would appear that they would rather try and score political points and would rather undermine the investigation than contribute to it, to ensure we don't have more corruption in congress and restore public faith in the institution. Well today is the day to set the record straight. Before criticising myself and the Department, they should really take a look at themselves and their own conduct."

"I would like to remind everyone that the investigation is ongoing and I know that part of human nature is speculating, but please do not draw any conclusions by the end of todays hearings. We are still in a relatively early stage of the investigation and not all facts are known yet, but I will answer all the questions asked today to the best of my ability. Thank you."

Michael turned off his microphone before shuffling his notes back together.

[Sanabel]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing, Congressional Auditorium

“Thank you for your remarks, gentlemen,” Chairman Simpson said.

Looking over his reading glasses, he looked at the Attorney General seated before him. “I would like to remind the Attorney General and this committee that we are not here to debate the virtues and shortcomings of Congressional oversight- that it outside of the scope of both this committee and this hearing. I would advise that members of this committee and the Attorney General take up their concerns with the Ethics Committee at a later time and date.”

Then, he cleared his throat.

“The floor is now open. Members may begin asking questions at their leisure.”

[Jovuistan]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

Rep. Phillip Crawford: "Attorney General Jones, let me first open by thanking you for coming here to answer our questions. Now, when you announced that the Department of Justice would be dropping all but one charge against Senator Hawthorne, your Department did not provide us or the public any clarity on which specific charges were dropped or why they were dropped. Can you tell us which charges the Department of Justice dropped against Hawthorne and how your Department came to that decision?"

[Meelducan]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

"Well firstly, the committee didn't even ask why the Department was dropping the charges. Very poor communication from the committee if I do say so. But I can get over that. Like I said, cases can develop over time and some things were not the clearest in June. I mean the department were thrown head first into this congressional mess and we used the information we had at the time to charge former Senator Hawthorn with the crimes. Upon further review and taking in new factors, my office decided it was best to drop the charges and just charge him with a misconduct in public office charge. This is defined in 18 U.S. Code § 3333." Michael said, leaning back.

[Emazia]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

"Well firstly, the committee didn't even ask why the Department was dropping the charges. Very poor communication from the committee if I do say so. But I can get over that. Like I said, cases can develop over time and some things were not the clearest in June. I mean the department were thrown head first into this congressional mess and we used the information we had at the time to charge former Senator Hawthorn with the crimes. Upon further review and taking in new factors, my office decided it was best to drop the charges and just charge him with a misconduct in public office charge. This is defined in 18 U.S. Code § 3333." Michael said, leaning back.

"Is the Attorney-General at liberty to explain these new factors?" Franklin replied, probing Jones.

[Meelducan]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

"Uhm, I think I probably could, I don't think they're very interesting or could potentially break the case, but I probably could explain the new factors we considered."

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

Ruler jumped in.

“Attorney-General, have you prosecuted cases of corruption before?”

[Emazia]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

"Uhm, I think I probably could, I don't think they're very interesting or could potentially break the case, but I probably could explain the new factors we considered."

Franklin interrupted Ruler's interruption of him. "Please do, Attorney-General. It is in the best interests of the American public. So go ahead. Please explain."

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

Ruler fired back.

“Perhaps the gentleman from Washington would allow my question to be heard.”

[Emazia]

Ruler fired back.

“Perhaps the gentleman from Washington would allow my question to be heard.”

"Please let me finish my query, Congressman."

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

Ruler fired back.

“Perhaps the gentleman from Washington would allow my question to be heard.”

"Please let me finish my query, Congressman."

“What are you trying to hide Congressman? You are not allowing my questioning to begin. This is very suspicious.”

Ruler turned back to the AG.

“Attorney-General, follow-up, are there any investigations into potential obstruction of justice by House Democratic leadership that you are aware of?”

[Agarntrop]

Atang looked bewildered.

"This is ridiculous. We should entertain the Iowa representative's desire to derail this important, non-partisan hearing into a republican conspiratorial pantomime."

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

Atang looked bewildered.

"This is ridiculous. We should entertain the Iowa representative's desire to derail this important, non-partisan hearing into a republican conspiratorial pantomime."

“Thank you for agreeing that we should entertain my questions. Not a good characterization of it but a very good point Congressman.”

[Agarntrop]

Atang looked bewildered.

"This is ridiculous. We should entertain the Iowa representative's desire to derail this important, non-partisan hearing into a republican conspiratorial pantomime."

“Thank you for agreeing that we should entertain my questions. Not a good characterization of it but a very good point Congressman.”

Atang looked embarrased.

"That was not the intention of my statement."

[Meelducan]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

The interruption gave Michael a pocket of air. He decided he would respond to Ruler's question before answering Franklin's.

"I've prosecuted cases similar to corruption when I was in the Southern District of New York. We did a lot of good work putting away the Gambino Crime Family and other gangsters. I mean have I faced such rampant corruption before? No, because under previous congressional leadership, they actually knew how to discipline their own members. But this corruption case is only in the early stages, so it's hard to compare with other cases I've prosecuted. In the late 1970's I was apart of the criminal division in D.C. and even then we didn't face as much corruption as we are facing today.

"Currently there is no investigation into the House Democratic Leadership, but we'd have to look deeper into it to see if they have been obstructing justice. I don't think it's very likely, but who knows where this corruption stops. I mean the lack of investigation by the House Leadership into its own members is shocking, really shocking. We'll have to look into it." Michael finished, smiling at Ruler.

[Federal States of Xathuecia]

“Thank you for agreeing that we should entertain my questions. Not a good characterization of it but a very good point Congressman.”

Atang looked embarrased.

"That was not the intention of my statement."

“I know it is what you believe in your heart. Good man, smart man.”

Ruler smiled at the Attorney-General in return.

“So there is a possibility that House Democratic leadership was involved? Of course this is very scary since the possible perpetrators of criminal obstruction could be on this very panel. This could go to the very top. We should consider this when thinking about what agenda this panel is doing.”

[Agarntrop]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

The interruption gave Michael a pocket of air. He decided he would respond to Ruler's question before answering Franklin's.

"I've prosecuted cases similar to corruption when I was in the Southern District of New York. We did a lot of good work putting away the Gambino Crime Family and other gangsters. I mean have I faced such rampant corruption before? No, because under previous congressional leadership, they actually knew how to discipline their own members. But this corruption case is only in the early stages, so it's hard to compare with other cases I've prosecuted. In the late 1970's I was apart of the criminal division in D.C. and even then we didn't face as much corruption as we are facing today.

"Currently there is no investigation into the House Democratic Leadership, but we'd have to look deeper into it to see if they have been obstructing justice. I don't think it's very likely, but who knows where this corruption stops. I mean the lack of investigation by the House Leadership into its own members is shocking, really shocking. We'll have to look into it." Michael finished, smiling at Ruler.

Representative Atang questioned.

"Regardless of the obstructionist remarks made by the Iowa Congressman, if this investigation is indeed only at a very early stage, why does the Attorney General's office consider it appropriate to arbitrarily drop charges against political allies without thorough explanation?"

[Meelducan]

House Judiciary Committee Special Hearing

Michael nodded along with Ruler, before looking at Atang when he jumped in.

"Congressman Atang, I find your comments about my office down right disrespectful. We have an amazing team over at the Attorney Generals Office, probably the best in the world." Michael paused. "Congressman, have you ever served in the Department of Justice, either as a prosecutor or Attorney General? I'm assuming you haven't due to your previous statements. There are many reasons why charges can be dropped from a case and this case is no different to other cases, just because we are investigating politicians."

"If I remember correctly, charges were dropped due to a mix of not enough evidence and Senator Hawthorn has been extremely helpful into our investigation."