With their investigative authority in the House the Democrats are going to run smack into witnesses who have NDA’s with Donald Trump. This practice is nothing more than preemptive witness tampering. The Democrats need to make law that specifically restricts any Federal office holder or employee from preparing or requiring any prohibition on communication or sharing of information which has not been expressly approved by Congress.
The Democrat’s Bill need only reference the existing mechanisms which exist for such purposes, such as security clearances and communication policies, and that the responsibility and oversight for such practices lies with Congress. The Bill should establish that any NDA’s and all other such similar agreements which establish any penalty on a Federal employee to be void and illegal.
The Bill should also establish that any Federal employee that may be subject to attempted enforcement of such an agreement is to be defended by the Department of Justice, as well as that the fees of any outside council Counsel retained by the employee shall be paid by the Federal Government, and that any current Federal employee seeking to enforce any such agreement is subject to termination, or similar disciplinary action if an elected official.
Federal employees, current and former, must never be bound by any such agreement which threatens any legal actions by the Federal government or by any current or former Federal employee or office holder, unless the provisions for such have been expressly established by Congress
Such a Bill should easily pass in the House, and then the Republicans in the Senate can defend why these NDA’s are allowable with no oversight, no disclosure as to terms and penalties, no establishment of primacy from legal proceedings or Congressional testimony, no restrictions on what officeholders can require them as conditions of employment, etc., etc.
The fact that that Trump has already required NDA’s of Federal employees is outrageous. The fact that high level officials may already have ignored or refused to answer questions from Congress because of these NDA’s is proof they need to be abolished legally and permanently.
The practice and pattern established by Trump has no formal policy, no legal guidelines or limits, and could be replicated by any member of Congress or any agency of the Federal government.
Until the cloud of a NDA is eliminated, every single witness going before Congress who signed an NDA can be evasive or non-responsive without having to disclose or explain why, knowing that they will be shielded from perjury charges because of the existence of the NDA.
This cannot stand.
It is one thing for Trump to call people who tell the truth under oath Rats; nothing much can be done about that. But NDA’s can and must be stopped in their tracks.
Until such time as this is done, every single Trump Administration employee called before Congress must be asked if the were requested to sign or have signed any agreement that in any way limits any aspect of answering any question, and asked whether there is any agreement of any kind, written or an understanding of what they can and cannot say, or any form of agreement which will present the potential of penalty for how they answer.