Why do members of Congress in committee hearings ask witnesses the same question multiple times?












2















I must've seen at least 3 Congressmen ask Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, who Individual 1 was, despite the fact that in the beginning he had already said it was Donald Trump, and despite the fact that previous members had already asked him that question, as well.



What is the reason for this? What benefit does it have when the statement is already in the record?










share|improve this question





























    2















    I must've seen at least 3 Congressmen ask Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, who Individual 1 was, despite the fact that in the beginning he had already said it was Donald Trump, and despite the fact that previous members had already asked him that question, as well.



    What is the reason for this? What benefit does it have when the statement is already in the record?










    share|improve this question



























      2












      2








      2








      I must've seen at least 3 Congressmen ask Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, who Individual 1 was, despite the fact that in the beginning he had already said it was Donald Trump, and despite the fact that previous members had already asked him that question, as well.



      What is the reason for this? What benefit does it have when the statement is already in the record?










      share|improve this question
















      I must've seen at least 3 Congressmen ask Michael Cohen, President Trump's former personal attorney, who Individual 1 was, despite the fact that in the beginning he had already said it was Donald Trump, and despite the fact that previous members had already asked him that question, as well.



      What is the reason for this? What benefit does it have when the statement is already in the record?







      congress






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 1 hour ago









      Michael_B

      7,35242128




      7,35242128










      asked 2 hours ago









      MehrdadMehrdad

      519414




      519414






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          5














          You're assuming that the questions are asked solely for the public record.



          Here's another reason...



          Members of Congress want video of themselves asking good questions that will be broadcast by their local news media and / or used in campaign commercials.



          And another...



          Often times you'll notice that committee seats are empty during hearings. That's because members come and go during the hearing. It's possible that one member asks a question that was asked by another member earlier in the day before the first member arrived. (Although I don't think that was the case in the Cohen hearing, as the entire committee seemed to be present for the duration.)






          share|improve this answer





















          • 2





            I'm going to +1 this because I think it's true, or at least an extremely plausible reason to invalidate OP's assumptions. It's too bad there probably aren't many Congressmen that just straight up admit this, though.

            – zibadawa timmy
            1 hour ago











          • Asking the same question in a hearing where everybody knows it's been asked before is admission enough. They don't care about the people in that room (politically speaking). They answer to their constituents and they want their sound bite.

            – Michael_B
            1 hour ago











          Your Answer








          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "475"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });














          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fpolitics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f39129%2fwhy-do-members-of-congress-in-committee-hearings-ask-witnesses-the-same-question%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          5














          You're assuming that the questions are asked solely for the public record.



          Here's another reason...



          Members of Congress want video of themselves asking good questions that will be broadcast by their local news media and / or used in campaign commercials.



          And another...



          Often times you'll notice that committee seats are empty during hearings. That's because members come and go during the hearing. It's possible that one member asks a question that was asked by another member earlier in the day before the first member arrived. (Although I don't think that was the case in the Cohen hearing, as the entire committee seemed to be present for the duration.)






          share|improve this answer





















          • 2





            I'm going to +1 this because I think it's true, or at least an extremely plausible reason to invalidate OP's assumptions. It's too bad there probably aren't many Congressmen that just straight up admit this, though.

            – zibadawa timmy
            1 hour ago











          • Asking the same question in a hearing where everybody knows it's been asked before is admission enough. They don't care about the people in that room (politically speaking). They answer to their constituents and they want their sound bite.

            – Michael_B
            1 hour ago
















          5














          You're assuming that the questions are asked solely for the public record.



          Here's another reason...



          Members of Congress want video of themselves asking good questions that will be broadcast by their local news media and / or used in campaign commercials.



          And another...



          Often times you'll notice that committee seats are empty during hearings. That's because members come and go during the hearing. It's possible that one member asks a question that was asked by another member earlier in the day before the first member arrived. (Although I don't think that was the case in the Cohen hearing, as the entire committee seemed to be present for the duration.)






          share|improve this answer





















          • 2





            I'm going to +1 this because I think it's true, or at least an extremely plausible reason to invalidate OP's assumptions. It's too bad there probably aren't many Congressmen that just straight up admit this, though.

            – zibadawa timmy
            1 hour ago











          • Asking the same question in a hearing where everybody knows it's been asked before is admission enough. They don't care about the people in that room (politically speaking). They answer to their constituents and they want their sound bite.

            – Michael_B
            1 hour ago














          5












          5








          5







          You're assuming that the questions are asked solely for the public record.



          Here's another reason...



          Members of Congress want video of themselves asking good questions that will be broadcast by their local news media and / or used in campaign commercials.



          And another...



          Often times you'll notice that committee seats are empty during hearings. That's because members come and go during the hearing. It's possible that one member asks a question that was asked by another member earlier in the day before the first member arrived. (Although I don't think that was the case in the Cohen hearing, as the entire committee seemed to be present for the duration.)






          share|improve this answer















          You're assuming that the questions are asked solely for the public record.



          Here's another reason...



          Members of Congress want video of themselves asking good questions that will be broadcast by their local news media and / or used in campaign commercials.



          And another...



          Often times you'll notice that committee seats are empty during hearings. That's because members come and go during the hearing. It's possible that one member asks a question that was asked by another member earlier in the day before the first member arrived. (Although I don't think that was the case in the Cohen hearing, as the entire committee seemed to be present for the duration.)







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited 28 mins ago

























          answered 1 hour ago









          Michael_BMichael_B

          7,35242128




          7,35242128








          • 2





            I'm going to +1 this because I think it's true, or at least an extremely plausible reason to invalidate OP's assumptions. It's too bad there probably aren't many Congressmen that just straight up admit this, though.

            – zibadawa timmy
            1 hour ago











          • Asking the same question in a hearing where everybody knows it's been asked before is admission enough. They don't care about the people in that room (politically speaking). They answer to their constituents and they want their sound bite.

            – Michael_B
            1 hour ago














          • 2





            I'm going to +1 this because I think it's true, or at least an extremely plausible reason to invalidate OP's assumptions. It's too bad there probably aren't many Congressmen that just straight up admit this, though.

            – zibadawa timmy
            1 hour ago











          • Asking the same question in a hearing where everybody knows it's been asked before is admission enough. They don't care about the people in that room (politically speaking). They answer to their constituents and they want their sound bite.

            – Michael_B
            1 hour ago








          2




          2





          I'm going to +1 this because I think it's true, or at least an extremely plausible reason to invalidate OP's assumptions. It's too bad there probably aren't many Congressmen that just straight up admit this, though.

          – zibadawa timmy
          1 hour ago





          I'm going to +1 this because I think it's true, or at least an extremely plausible reason to invalidate OP's assumptions. It's too bad there probably aren't many Congressmen that just straight up admit this, though.

          – zibadawa timmy
          1 hour ago













          Asking the same question in a hearing where everybody knows it's been asked before is admission enough. They don't care about the people in that room (politically speaking). They answer to their constituents and they want their sound bite.

          – Michael_B
          1 hour ago





          Asking the same question in a hearing where everybody knows it's been asked before is admission enough. They don't care about the people in that room (politically speaking). They answer to their constituents and they want their sound bite.

          – Michael_B
          1 hour ago


















          draft saved

          draft discarded




















































          Thanks for contributing an answer to Politics Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fpolitics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f39129%2fwhy-do-members-of-congress-in-committee-hearings-ask-witnesses-the-same-question%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          How to label and detect the document text images

          Vallis Paradisi

          Tabula Rosettana