Contempt of Congress is the act of obstructing the work of the United States Congress or one of its committees. Historically,the bribery of a U.S. senator or U.S. representative was considered contempt of Congress. In modern times,contempt of Congress has generally applied to the refusal to comply with a subpoena issued by a congressional committee or subcommittee—usually seeking to compel either testimony or the production of requested documents.
Elijah Eugene Cummings was an American politician and civil rights advocate who served in the United States House of Representatives for Maryland's 7th congressional district from 1996 until his death in 2019,when he was succeeded by his predecessor Kweisi Mfume. The district he represented included over half of the city of Baltimore,including most of the majority-black precincts of Baltimore County,and most of Howard County,Maryland. A member of the Democratic Party,Cummings previously served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1983 to 1996.
The Hatch Act of 1939,An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities,is a United States federal law. Its main provision prohibits civil-service employees in the executive branch of the federal government,except the president and vice president,from engaging in some forms of political activity. It became law on August 2,1939. The law was named for Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico. It was most recently amended in 2012.
The United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a permanent independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency whose basic legislative authority comes from four federal statutes:the Civil Service Reform Act,the Whistleblower Protection Act,the Hatch Act,and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). OSC's primary mission is the safeguarding of the merit system in federal employment by protecting employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices (PPPs),especially reprisal for "whistleblowing." The agency also operates a secure channel for federal whistleblower disclosures of violations of law,rule,or regulation;gross mismanagement;gross waste of funds;abuse of authority;and substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. In addition,OSC issues advice on the Hatch Act and enforces its restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees. Finally,OSC protects the civilian employment and reemployment rights of military service members under USERRA. OSC has around 140 staff,and the Special Counsel is an ex officio member of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE),an association of inspectors general charged with the regulation of good governance within the federal government.
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is an independent quasi-judicial agency established in 1979 to protect federal merit systems against partisan political and other prohibited personnel practices and to ensure adequate protection for federal employees against abuses by agency management.
Kohn,Kohn &Colapinto is a Washington,D.C.-based international whistleblower rights law firm specializing in anti-corruption and whistleblower law,representing whistleblowers who seek rewards,or who are facing employer retaliation,for reporting violations of the False Claims Act,Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform,Sarbanes-Oxley Acts,Commodity and Security Exchange Acts and the IRS Whistleblower law.
David Keith Colapinto is an attorney for Kohn,Kohn &Colapinto,a Washington,D.C.,US,law firm specializing in employment law.
The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989,5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(8)-(9),Pub.L. 101-12 as amended,is a United States federal law that protects federal whistleblowers who work for the government and report the possible existence of an activity constituting a violation of law,rules,or regulations,or mismanagement,gross waste of funds,abuse of authority or a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. A federal agency violates the Whistleblower Protection Act if agency authorities take retaliatory personnel action against any employee or applicant because of disclosure of information by that employee or applicant.
The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) is a nonprofit,nonpartisan,tax exempt,educational and advocacy organization based in Washington,D.C. It was founded in 1988 by the lawyers Kohn,Kohn &Colapinto,LLP. As of June 2021,Siri Nelson is the executive director. Since its founding,the center has worked on whistleblower cases relating to environmental protection,nuclear safety,government and corporate accountability,and wildlife crime.
Robert Hunter Biden is an American attorney and businessman. Biden has also worked as a hedge fund principal and a venture capital and private equity fund investor. He formerly worked as a banker,a lobbyist,and a legal representative for lobbying firms.
The All Circuit Review Extension Act is an Act that extended for three years the authority for federal employees who appeal a judgment of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to file their appeal at any federal court,instead of only the U.S. Court of Appeals. This was a pilot program established in the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 to last only two years.
Henry John Kerner is an American lawyer who served as the Special Counsel in the United States Office of Special Counsel from 2017 to 2023,and has served on the three-member Merit Systems Protection Board since 2024.
David Charles Weiss is an American attorney. He was nominated by President Donald Trump to be United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the District of Delaware,and was retained by President Joe Biden. He has served in that office since February 22,2018.
The Trump–Ukraine scandal was a political scandal that arose from the discovery of U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to coerce Ukraine and other countries into providing damaging narratives about 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden and giving misinformation relating to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. Trump enlisted surrogates in and outside his administration,including personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr,to pressure Ukraine and other governments to cooperate in supporting conspiracy theories concerning US politics. Trump blocked payment of a congressionally-mandated $400 million military aid package,in an attempt to obtain quid pro quo cooperation from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Contacts were established between the White House and government of Ukraine,culminating in a call between Trump and Zelenskyy on July 25,2019.
The Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory is a series of false allegations that Joe Biden,while he was vice president of the United States,improperly withheld a loan guarantee and took a bribe to pressure Ukraine into firing prosecutor general Viktor Shokin to prevent a corruption investigation of Ukrainian gas company Burisma and to protect his son,Hunter Biden,who was on the Burisma board. As part of efforts by Donald Trump and his campaign in the Trump–Ukraine scandal,which led to Trump's first impeachment,these falsehoods were spread in an attempt to damage Joe Biden's reputation and chances during the 2020 presidential campaign,and later in an effort to impeach him.
In October 2020,a controversy arose involving data from a laptop that belonged to Hunter Biden. The owner of a Delaware computer shop,John Paul Mac Isaac,said that the laptop had been left by a man who identified himself as Hunter Biden. Mac Isaac also stated that he is legally blind and could not be sure whether the man was actually Hunter Biden. Three weeks before the 2020 United States presidential election,the New York Post published a front-page story that presented emails from the laptop,alleging they showed corruption by Joe Biden,the Democratic presidential nominee and Hunter Biden's father. According to the New York Post,the story was based on information provided to Rudy Giuliani,the personal attorney of incumbent president and candidate Donald Trump,by Mac Isaac. Forensic analysis later authenticated some of the emails from the laptop,including one of the two emails used by the Post in their initial reporting. Later assertions by Twitter owner Elon Musk and others that the government had ordered the company to suppress the Post story to favor Joe Biden in the weeks leading to the election were not supported by a Twitter Files examination authorized by Musk.
The United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government is a select subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee created by the House on January 10,2023. Established to investigate alleged abuses of federal authority,including collusion between federal agencies and private sector entities to suppress conservative viewpoints,the committee has broad authority to subpoena law enforcement and national security agencies,including with regard to ongoing criminal investigations.
The United States House Oversight Committee investigation into the Biden family is an ongoing investigation since January 2023 by the United States House of Representatives into US President Joe Biden and his family. The investigation was initiated on January 11,and includes examination of the foreign business activities of Biden's son,Hunter,and brother,James,as well as Twitter's involvement in the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.
The Weiss special counsel investigation is an ongoing criminal investigation into Hunter Biden,the son of U.S. President Joe Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of David Weiss,U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware,as the special counsel on August 11,2023,three days after Weiss requested such authority.
