Last November, the day after Democrats flipped 29 Republican seats to take control of the House, Donald Trump had a televised meltdown, likely inspired by the fact that the results of the election meant he could no longer rely on a G.O.P. majority to do his bidding, or protect him from subpoenas related to deeply corrupt, if not criminal acts. Threatening to retaliate if lawmakers came after him, Trump told reporters, “They have nothing. Zero. You know why? Because there is nothing . . . they can play that game, but we can play it better.“ (For the people in the cheap seats he later tweeted, “Two can play that game!”) Fast-forward six months, and Trump has indeed used the full weight of the executive branch to stonewall investigations into various aspects of his life and presidency. Both his treasury secretary and his attorney general have refused to comply with requests to turn over his tax returns and the full Mueller report, and his lawyers are busy suing the financial institutions that have been subpoenaed to turn over his financial records. To be clear, in the case of Trump’s tax returns, Steven Mnuchin is literally breaking the law in rebuffing Congress’s request. And while he may not be hauled off to prison, he and his fellow Trump groupies might be forced to pay some not-insignificant fines until they cooperate.

In an interview with Axios on Friday, Representative Adam Schiff told Mike Allen, “Much as I like the visual of [throwing people in jail], I think it’s far more practical to consider levying individual fines on the person—not the office—until they comply. You could fine someone $25,000 a day until they comply. You can do that. We’re looking through the history and studying the law to make sure we’re on solid ground.” As ABC News notes, Congress hasn’t attempted to enforce subpoenas through “inherent contempt power” in almost 100 years, but, per Schiff, the current situation may force them to “consider any remedy.” Obviously, $25,000 a day is chump change for a former foreclosure tycoon whose hobbies include posing with money, but for others, it adds up!

On the other hand, it’s not clear that Mnuchin & Co. would actually pay the fine, given their pointed contempt for Congress/the law. At which point, some wonder, “does Congress really jail a Cabinet secretary until he pays?” The odds seem low, though higher than zero. Last month, before Mnuchin officially decided to sacrifice his last shred of dignity, legal experts told Roll Call that failure to comply with a congressional subpoena could indeed lead to jail time. “To me the person who’s most vulnerable to this is Mnuchin because, of course, the statute directs Mnuchin to do something,” said George K. Yin, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. “So if he doesn’t comply then he’s the one in violation . . . The statute is very clear . . . he might not care if he gets fired, but I think he would care if he gets sent to jail.”

Speaking of which!