The House of Representatives recently convicted Alejandro Mayorkas of contempt of Congress. It remains to be seen whether the DOJ will follow up with a prison sentence, but I believe that such an outcome is highly unlikely.

In the meantime, Peter Novarro and Steve Bannon are awaiting imprisonment on charges by the House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack that they had inteferred with the 2020 election. Following those charges, The DOJ sentenced each of these men to prison terms.

I contend that the January 6th Committee was a fraudulent committee, and its charges should have no weight. Indeed, I say that this committee is the modern equivalent of a star chamber.

The original star chamber was a special English court created by King Henry VII in the late 15th century. The term star chamber is now used to refer to secret or closed meetings held by a judicial or executive body or to a court proceeding that seems grossly unfair or is used to persecute an individual.

The allocation of majority party and minority party representation on committees in the House of Representatives is normally determined through negotiations between the majority and minority leadership. Based on precedent, the party representation on standing or select committees should reflect the relative membership of the two parties in the House as a whole. Sometimes, however, where bipartisan deliberations are considered essential, the membership of a committee is equally divided between the majority and minority parties.

In establishing the January 6th Committee, Nancy Pelosi ignored precedent. She would not accept the minority leader’s recommendations. Instead, she chose all the committee members herself and eventually decided on seven Democrats and two Republicans The Republicans appointees were known to be fervent opponents of former President Donald Trump.

It was soon evident that the proper name of the select committee should have been “The Get Trump Committee.” Negative reporting on Trump’s role in the 2020 presidential campaign and its aftermath was highlighted. Exculpatory evidence was ignored. The entire proceedings were an affront to fairness. It was referred to as a bi-partisan committee, but that was a lie. There was nothing bi-partisan about it.

I troubles me that the media and the courts gave the committee and its report any credence. It also disturbs me that the DOJ was all too willing to enforce the committee’s citations for contempt, unlike DOJ’s failure to act when a Republican led House convicted Eric Holder of contempt a decade earlier.

Finally, I was profoundly disappointed when Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger betrayed their party and the American people by participating in such a farce.