When Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani decided to flat-out ignore a Tuesday deadline for a congressional subpoena related to House Democrats' impeachment inquiry, he did so with dismissive bravado. "If they enforce it, then we will see what happens," Giuliani said of the congressional subpoena, shrugging it off.
Now Democrats are reportedly "torn" over enforcing the subpoena that Giuliani just swatted away like a pesky fly. Some in leadership believe Giuliani's refusal to comply only strengthens their obstruction case, and they would rather leave well enough alone since other witnesses are abiding by Democrats' subpoenas. One House Democratic aide argued that House investigators "already have the Watergate tapes," so leadership is likely to just let Giuliani slide.
But it's a matter of principle—just letting people slide now is absolutely setting a future precedent for anyone to simply ignore congressional subpoenas. “You don’t get to say no to a congressional subpoena,” Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, told the Daily Beast. “That’s not a thing. That is a crime. He’s gonna show up, or he’s going to get fined, or he’s going to go to jail.”
Exactly. Ignoring a subpoena isn't a thing unless Democrats allow it to be one.