What if someone lied to Congress while testifying under oath?  Or what if someone intentionally interfered with Congressional oversight required by law?  These are explicitly offenses against Congress, not just offenses against the United States.  How would Congress begin the process to investigate and then prosecute the offender?

Recently, some members of Congress concluded that Hillary Clinton had intentionally lied under oath to Congress.    In one such hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Congressman Jason Chaffetz was clearly unfamiliar with the process for initiating an investigation to determine the nature and extent of Clinton’s lies under oath.  Chaffetz seemed surprised that the Feebs couldn’t just plunk their magic twanger and start an investigation into Clinton’s deception.

Recognizing that some, many, most, or all members of Congress might be knowledge-deficient when it comes to prosecuting offenses committed against their own institutional body, the CRS published a two-page CRS Legal Sidebar entitled Prosecution of Criminal Offenses Against Congress.  It was released to Congress on July 26, 2016.