House Republicans are compelling Arlington’s top prosecutor to testify next week in a pair of ongoing disputes over politically charged topics.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is requiring Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti to appear for a deposition on Thursday, July 16. This caps months of written clashes between the two officials — first over Dehghani-Tafti’s handling of a criminal case involving a political activist, and later over her policies restricting contact with immigration enforcement.
Both sides have accused each other of unjustified political interference.
“As an officer of the court and a law enforcement officer, I will respect the service of process as I expect others to do,” Dehghani-Tafti said in a statement to ARLnow. “My compliance with the subpoena is not, and should not be read, as an acknowledgement of the Committee’s authority to question the work of my office or interfere in the local affairs of the people of Arlington County and the City of Falls Church.”
Unlike a similar dispute in Fairfax County, in which Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano recently testified at a public hearing before the Judiciary Committee, Dehghani-Tafti’s deposition will be transcribed at a closed-doors meeting at the Rayburn House Office Building. Dehghani-Tafti has challenged that setting, calling it an “illegitimate proceeding” and raising concerns about transparency in recent communications with Jordan, who has doubled down.
“As federal courts have explained, it is the prerogative of the Committee — and not you — to determine how and in what manner it conducts its oversight,” Jordan wrote to Dehghani-Tafti on July 1. “The Committee has determined, and has indicated to your counsel multiple times, that its oversight is best effectuated by obtaining your testimony in a transcribed interview setting.”
Jordan’s most recent letter references a case involving an activist at the former Arlington home of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller. The Judiciary Committee has accused Dehghani-Tafti of “politically motivated actions” in the case, in which the prosecutor secured limitations to authorities’ ability to search the activist’s cellphone after seizing it.
Jordan also referred to “sanctuary policies” at Arlington’s Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, which has for years stood behind policies that restrict or prohibit contact with immigration authorities unless expressly required by law. Jordan targeted Dehghani-Tafti, along with similar policies at the Arlington County Police Department and Arlington County Sheriff’s Office, in separate letters back in May.
The chairman provided the following justification for subpoenaing Dehghani-Tafti:
As the Committee has previously explained, it seeks information regarding your politicized interference in a doxxing investigation and your preferential treatment of illegal immigrants accused of criminal conduct in your district. Your answers on both of those subjects will inform the Committee’s oversight and legislative obligations. For example, your testimony will help the Committee assess whether legislative reforms are necessary to bolster federal efforts to safeguard senior federal government officials, and if so, what those reforms should be. Your testimony will also inform the Committee’s consideration of potential legislative reforms to address sanctuary policies.
Dehghani-Tafti’s counsel, Abbe Lowell, fired back, defending her actions and questioning why the Judiciary Committee won’t agree to a public hearing:
The Committee is now requiring a closed-door compelled appearance because, apparently, it is too afraid of the answers Ms. Dehghani-Tafti will give before an open and public hearing. That is a shame, especially when you have invited other prosecutors and local officials to testify at a public hearing concerning the main topics about which you seek to question Ms. Dehghani-Tafti. As we indicated previously to you, a complete picture (literally and figuratively) of the Committee’s inquiry involving important issues that you allege threaten local communities is thus warranted. No respected Committee Chair should be afraid of a public airing of these issues so that the public could learn for itself just how foolish and absurd this perceived oversight inquiry really is.
The Judiciary Committee previously subpoenaed Dehghani-Tafti for documents in the search and seizure case.
Jordan has accused the prosecutor of “political bias” and endangering the public through her policies around immigration enforcement, while Dehghani-Tafti has accused Jordan of trespassing on state and local sovereignty “with no legitimate federal interest.”
