title:  GOP Sent Armed Agents To Harass Clinton Aide And Used Your Tax Dollars To Do It
text: Republicans in Congress used tax dollars to send armed agents to harass a former aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton as part of the never-ending fishing expedition into Clinton s emails.Bryan Pagliano was a tech aide who helped to set up the server for Clinton s emails, and has made top Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee angry because he is asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refuses to testify.It is unclear why they need his testimony. The FBI and Department of Justice have already determined that Clinton s use of the email server does not warrant prosecution.But Republicans on the committee decided to flex their muscle anyways:But when the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed Pagliano last week, his lawyers said he would again assert his Fifth Amendment rights. They added that he was willing to meet with the committee in private to make that assertion, but was unwilling to do so under the glare of television cameras in a public event.That prompted Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) to dispatch the armed marshals with a fresh subpoena last Friday, Chaffetz revealed in Thursday s hearing. To clear up any ambiguity created by Mr. Pagliano s six lawyers about whether they would confirm service of the prior subpoenas   which they refused to do   we had the U.S. marshals personally serve him,  Chaffetz said.The political stunt was slammed by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) who said,  This served no purpose but to harass and intimidate Mr. Pagliano. The chairman ordered this action in secret, without even notifying Democratic committee members of his plan.  No consultation, no debate, no vote. Republicans have sought to use their control of congress as a government funded super PAC to attack Clinton. In addition to her emails, Republicans have created multiple committees investigating the attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi. All of these committees have cleared Clinton and President Obama of wrongdoing, but the GOP leadership insists on wasting more and more money on these cases.And it is all financed by taxpayers.Featured image via Flickr