White House Openly Mocks Darrell Issa’s Latest Dumbass Subpoena

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is at it again, although he never really seems to stop. Stripped of his Benghazi blankie by the House select committee, and having already exhausted every other branch of the Scandalabra™, Issa is on to a brand new investigation that has the White House openly mocking him.

The IRS scandal won’t pan out no matter how hard the media tries to get it to, and no one even remembers why there was something called an “AP scandal,” so Issa has now moved on to an investigation that even Alanis Morrissette could correctly identify the irony of, and the White House is rather amused. At Friday’s daily briefing, The Hill‘s Justin Sink followed up his LeBron James question by asking about Issa’s latest subpoena, but he prefaced it by saying “And then a little more seriously, I guess, Darrell Issa has subpoenaed Dave Simas to appear…”

Simas, whom you may remember from the Obamacare website-fixing dream team, was appointed to head the newly-formed Office of Political Strategy and Outreach in January.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest interjected, with a smirk,

“Yes, I’m not sure that’s very serious.”

Earnest followed that zinger with a few minutes of the congressional investigation boilerplate that he gets to use so often, promising cooperation without consenting to a legislative colonoscopy, and briefly explaining the problem with Issa’s probe.

“In responding to questions from reporters and from Congress, we’ve explained that the office operates in full compliance with the Hatch Act [which prohibits non-elected executive branch officials from engaging in partisan activity], and to date, there’s not even any suggestion let alone evidence that we’ve deviated from the requirements of the Hatch Act. In fact, the Office of Special Counsel recognized in its 2011 report the propriety of having an office in the White House to provide the President with information about the current political environment and political issues nationwide. So I’d encourage you to check out that report if you’re as interested in this topic as Darrell Issa apparently is.

We have provided substantial information to Congress and we’re going to continue to cooperate with Congress to demonstrate our continued compliance with the Hatch Act. And the fact is that there’s not really any evidence to indicate that there’s a reason for Mr. Simas to appear before Congress. But for years there have been efforts between members of Congress and the White House to resolve these kinds of differences and to allow the legislative branch to perform the necessary function of oversight. So we’re going to continue our dialogue with Congress and do our best to make sure that they’re getting the kind of information and answers that they need when it comes to this matter.

But again, I just want to remind you and everyone else who’s covering this that there’s not even a shred of evidence to indicate any cause for concern.”

Earnest’s little zinger, while highly amusing (mostly because of how completely nuts it will drive right-wingers), isn’t even the funny part. The funny part is…READ MORE

By: Tommy Christopher

Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.