david simas, director of the office of political strategy and outreach is in fact not here today. he was invited to speak to give the american people the chance to hear from the head of an office that has under several administrations misused the funds given to that office. you failed to appear on the 16th, and he has failed to appear again. the white house has informed my staff for the first time this morning at 7:30 a.m. that mr. simas would not be present at today's hearing. we continue to work with the white house staff on proposed ways to resolve this, however, two days failure to appear is noted for the record and is not excused. mr. cummings, do you have any remarks? >> a brief statement. just one question. i just wanted to highlight the letter, the last correspondence that we just put in the record for the members. the want to draw your attention to it. it is very brief, delighted july 24 -- dated july 24. my staff has reached out to your us to discuss this in good faith, i am sure they will work with you. and be helpful to review and withdraw the subpoena as we work to re

the clerk -- >> on that vote, 19 ayes, 14 nos. >> the resolution, rejecting the claim that david simas is immune to being compelled to testify before congress on matters relating to his official duties is approved, and we stand adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> next, the house debate on future u.s. military troops in iraq. after that, members of house leadership discuss next week's agenda. then a house committee hearing on campaign finance. month on book tv's "indepth" former republican from texas and president candidate ron paul, written more than a dozen books and history, with his latest, the school revolution. join the conversation as he calls, e-mails and tweets, live for three hours, sunday august 3 at noon eastern, next month for author, historian and activist mary francees berry. selling author michael cord guest in december. and arthur brooks. on book tv. television for serious readers. >> the house passed a resolution that would bar president obama from sending forces to iraq in a sus

david simas is the director of the white house office of political strategy and outreach. simas his office is being investigated for violating a law that forbids federal employees from engaging in political activity. a house committee subpoenaed simas to testify today, but the white house says he is immune from testifying about his official duties. but committee chairman, congressman darrel issa, says previous court rulings found that advisers don't have that immunity. taking a look at the *other top stories this morning. a day after a proposed cease- fire between israal and hamas collapsed, israel has resumed its airstrikes against hamas targets in gaza. already, at least seven more palestinians have been killed in the new strikes. and the home of a top hamas political leader was blown up. prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the militant group will suffer, for its decision not to halt its rocket fire into israel. cook county board president toni preckwinkle says she won't run for mayor of chicago... even though a new poll makes her an almost prohibitive favorite agains

the clerk -- >> on that vote, 19 ayes, 14 nos. >> the resolution, rejecting the claim that david simas is immune to being compelled to testify before congress on matters relating to his official duties is approved, and we stand adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> a conversation with president obama's senior adviser dan pfeiffer. live at 7:00 a.m., your calls and comments on "washington journal." senior adviser to president obama dan pfeiffer says he would not discount the possibility of republicans pursuing the impeachment of the president if he takes executive action on immigration reform. pfeiffer made those remarks at a christian science monitor event. he also discussed sanctions against russia, unaccompanied immigrant children, and the 2014 in 2016 elections. the bureau chief is the moderator of the one-hour event. ok. here we go. the christian for science monitor, thanks for coming. the assistanty is to the president and the senior advisor. he was here exactly a year ago. he is a wilmington,

david simas, director of the office of political strategy and outreach and assistant to the president is, in fact, not present at the hearing today. mr. simas was invited to testify to give committee members and the american people an opportunity to hear from the head of an office that has, under several previous administrations, misused government resources for political purposes. despite being under subpoena, mr. simas failed to appear at the hearing on july 16. i gave him a second chance to appear today to fulfill his obligation under a lawful subpoena. at this point i'd like to put on the record the cooperation of the white house on this matter. the white house has informed my staff for the first time this morning at 7:30 a.m. that mr. simas would not be present at today's hearing. we continue to work with the white house staff on proposed ways to resolve this, however, today's failure to appear is noted for the record and is not excused. mr. cummings, do you have any remarks? >> mr. chairman, a brief statement. just one question. i just wanted to highlight the letter, the last co

elijah cummings in this brief gathering to hear from the office of political oversight and outreach, david simas. he's been offered to testify by deposition. it's unclear whether mr. simas will respond in that way. this was to be his second appearance on capitol hill before this committee. he failed to show last week when he was called. the white house council has said mr. simas is immune to testify about matters relate to go his official duties and will not appear. the company, as you heard, going into recess for now. they will return for a business meeting at about 10:15 eastern. we're likely to hear more about this during today's white house briefing. that is said to begin at 1:00 p.m. eastern and you'll be able to hear that and watch it on c-span2. the house judiciary committee's task force is holding another in a series of hearings this morning regarding the overfederalization of the criminal justice system according to a new report from the congressional resource service, there were 103 statutes created, making 500 statutes with criminal hearings. veterans issues remain a hot topic on capi

the white house asserting immunity for david simas.mber five the director for centers for disease control is scheduled to appear before a congressional panel today. he'll have to answer tough questioning about the mishandling of dangerous pathogens. we update those five things to know so visit our website for the latest version. >>> for the first time since her son's funeral we're hearing from the mother of the toddler who was left to die in that hot suv. her name is leeanna harris. newspapers, television and online media have fostered a hostile atmosphere. please allow her the dignity to mourn her son in private. what does this statement mean? will it satisfy? will it raise more questions? to discuss lonnie koombs, sunny hostin. sunny, you're here. your reaction. >> i think it makes sense. i've often said, i've interviewed so many victims of crimes. i've interviewed a lot of defendants, and you never know how someone is going to react after a tragedy. so i don't think you can read too much into her reaction. she has reacted suspicious