Chairman threatens Nielsen

House chairman threatens Nielsen with subpoena if she doesn't testify

By ANDREW DESIDERIO

A key Democratic House chairman is threatening to issue a subpoena to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen if she doesn’t appear before the House Homeland Security panel before the end of February.

“I hope she sees the value in talking to the committee of jurisdiction for her agency,” Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said. “But if it comes to the fact that we can’t get [her testimony] any other way, it would not be a problem for me to do it.”

Thompson’s subpoena threat comes a day after he sent a strongly worded letter to Nielsen, calling her refusal to testify before the panel on Feb. 6 “unreasonable,” “unacceptable” and “outrageous.”

Thompson wants to question Nielsen on migrant family separations and other border- and immigration-related issues.

Tyler Houlton, a spokesman for Nielsen, called Thompson’s letter misleading and said the department proposed alternative dates for a hearing, which Thompson had initially scheduled for next week.

On Wednesday, Thompson said one of the dates Nielsen proposed was during a congressional recess. Adam Comis, the committee’s communications director, said that Nielsen and her staff “were officially aware of our intentions to have her come testify before the Committee since Jan. 4.”

Nielsen and Thompson were supposed to meet this week, but, according to Comis, Nielsen “never confirmed the meeting.” Thompson told reporters that he has not communicated with Nielsen since “August or September of last year.”

“I think not having any communication with the secretary is not where we should be,” Thompson said. “She’s the head of the agency. Members of Congress need to hear from her.”

Nielsen isn’t the only Cabinet secretary to resist congressional testimony since the House flipped to Democratic control.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has refused to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the Trump administration’s controversial family-separation policy, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has sidestepped the House Ways and Means Committee, according to Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.).