A House Appropriations Committee staffer who worked on the panel for former Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) announced Thursday that he would not cooperate with a subpoena that apparently was issued in an ongoing investigation of his former boss.
Greg Lankler, a staffer on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, reported to the House last week that he had been served with a subpoena for testimony and documents before a California grand jury.
On Thursday, he wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to declare that he would not to comply with the subpoena because it sought legislative material that would be covered by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. Lankler also said the subpoena sought records that were “not material and relevant.”
For more than a year the Justice Department has been probing Lewis’ relationship with ex-Rep. Bill Lowery (R-Calif.) and his now-defunct lobbying firm, Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White. The firm had a lucrative business obtaining earmarks from Lewis for defense clients and for towns in Lewis’ California district.
Rep. Bill Cassidy has his blood drawn by Alesha Barbour during a free hepatitis screening in the Rayburn House Office Building hosted by the Congressional Viral Hepatitis Caucus to recognize "National Viral Hepatitis Testing Day."
Roll Call has launched a new feature, Hill Navigator, to advise congressional staffers and would-be staffers on how to manage workplace issues on Capitol Hill. Please send us your questions — anything from office etiquette, to handling awkward moments, to what happens when the work life gets too personal. Submissions will be treated anonymously.
