History Main / HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee

* [[AllThereInTheManual Supplemental material]] for ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' reveals that [[MissionControl The Administrator]], [[PerkyFemaleMinion Miss Pauling]], and [[ArmsDealer Saxton Hale]] are subjected to this after [[MegaCorp Mann Co.]]'s attempt to launch [[ApesInSpace a monkey into space]] for the government ends [[StuffBlowingUp poorly]]. [[spoiler: [[TheChessmaster The Administrator]] stole the rocket's [[AppliedPhlebotinum Australium]] fuel source for [[ManipulativeBastard her own needs]], and said needs [[TheUnreveal (whose explanation is censored)]] apparently shock the Senators into [[KarmaHoudini letting are and her associates go unpunished]].]]

* Steve Rogers (ComicBook/CaptainAmerica) faces the Committee on Super Human Activities, who demand that he work only for them since the U.S. government legally owns the CA identity. He quits instead. (And his replacement, John Walker, is such a jerk, he nearly ruins the reputation of Captain America; still, Walker later becomes a somewhat decent hero later as U.S. Agent.)

* ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'': Several of the original Minutemen are dragged in front of the ([[TruthInTelevision once-real]]) House Un-American Activities Committee. Hooded Justice refuses to participate and vanishes without trace. To the story's modern day (1985) nobody knows who he was.
** The prequel, ''ComicBook/BeforeWatchmen'', eventually reveals [[spoiler:he was framed for several crimes by The Comedian and killed in battle with the other Minutemen.]]

* In ''ComicBook/DastardlyAndMuttley'', General Harrier gets hauled before a Senate committee in order explain his part in the chaos surrounding the [[GreenRocks Unstabilium]].

[[folder:FanWorks]]
* ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'': The Black Project Evangelion is overseen by a Senate committee. Gendo and Fuyutsuki often appear before the committee to report about the progress and state of the project, answer queries or assuage concerns, since [[ObstructiveBureaucrat the committee's members are always complaining about funding, the state of the program… and some of them would love an excuse for shutting it down]] (although to be fair, their concerns are not without merit).

[[folder:Film]]

* ''[[Film/TheReturnOfCaptainInvincible Captain Invincible]]'' is called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to answer charges of Communist sympathies (based upon the fact he provided super-powered air support for the invading armies' march on Berlin- and the Russian forces were closer to Berlin than the US/UK), impersonating an officer of the United States Armed Forces (as there was no record of him receiving a captaincy or even a commission in any service), and showing his UnderwearOfPower in public.

* At the end of ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'', Ward Abbott goes before a subcommittee to tie off Operation Treadstone. This receives a CallBack at the end of its second sequel, ''The Bourne Ultimatum'', as Pamela Landy goes before a subcommittee to blow the whistle on Operation Blackbriar, which was Treadstone's offshoot.
** After Abbott finishes testifying about Treadstone, he begins briefing the committee on [[CallForward Blackbriar...]]

* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', Senator June Finch summons Comicbook/{{Superman}} to a Congressional hearing to discuss whether he's a [[BewareTheSuperman threat]] or not, and whether he is responsible for the destruction caused in his [[Film/ManOfSteel fight with Zod]]. During the hearing, [[spoiler: Comicbook/LexLuthor blows up the building, killing everyone inside but Clark, sending him into a HeroicBSOD, and making the public more suspicious of the Man of Steel.]]
* ''Film/RoboCop2014'': Raymond Sellars, CEO of Omnicorp, is introduced speaking before a senate subcommittee regarding his plans to bring robots to American law enforcement.

[[folder: Literature ]]
* Most of the plot of ''[[Literature/KittyNorville Kitty Goes To Washington]]'', the second book of the series. In the first book, [[BrokenMasquerade the Masquerade was broken]], revealing the existence of vampires and werewolves to the general public, in large part by Kitty herself. In the second book, the Senate wants details straight from the source.

* Mentioned by Creator/DaveBarry in a column about kid's toys.
--> The little boy on your list can have hours of carefree childhood fun with this Franchise/GIJoe set, engaging in realistic armed-forces adventures such as having G.I. Joe explain to little balding congressional committee figures how come he had to use his optional Action Shredder accessory.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]
* This happened to Rat in a ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' arc when he marketed a "weight loss method" that consisted of climbing into a cardboard box and remaining inside until they lost weight.
* Also happened to Opus in ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty''; he ends up literally getting labelled a liberal (multiple times..)

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]
* In ''Super TabletopGame/{{Munchkin}}'', one of the curse cards ("traps" in ''Super Munchkin''[='s=] terminology) is a congressional hearing, which is rather costly on the victim.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' animated series has Dogbert persuading Congress to consolidate all holidays into a single holiday - Dogbert Day. It happened in the comic strip a few times too, namely when Dogbert became a Supreme Court nominee.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* The UK has public inquiries, the UK equivalent. While it's often used for planning large-scale construction like highways, the more notable handle the same duties as the Senate Sub Committees, such as public transport disasters (mostly notably the [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic sinking of the]] ''[[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic Titanic]]'') or outbreaks of E-Coli.
** Perhaps most spectacular was the Leveson Inquiry, into News International's[[note]]A part of News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch[[/note]] culture of phone hacking and wider journalistic ethics. Since several celebrities and other public figures were hacked, they were called on to give evidence; everybody from Creator/JKRowling to Creator/HughGrant to the parents of Madeline [=McCann=].
*** Of course, the biggest part of this inquiry was how it was the CreatorKiller of ''News Of The World''[[note]]Long story short, journalists hired a private investigator to hack the voice mail of a missing teenager who later turned up dead which essentially tampered with the police's investigation[[/note]].

* ''Hoffa'' dramatizes Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa's testimony before the Senate Rackets Committee, and his feud with Bobby Kennedy in particular.

* In ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, the director of the Republic Intelligence Service is called to testify before a closed session of the Intelligence Committee. He tells them very little, much to the chagrin of the politicians involved.

* Near the beginning of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'', senior members of Monarch are called before a congressional committee to explain why their organization's activities should be kept secret, and why the military shouldn't just hunt down and kill all the Titans.

[[folder: Truth In Television ]]

* The modern TropeCodifier in the United States is probably the House Un-American Activities Committee, whose hearings on alleged Communist infiltration of American government and society were widely televised and played a major role in shaping the RedScare of the '40s and '50s.[[note]]While UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy has become the modern poster-child for the era's Red-baiting, and also made use of televised hearings to boost his profile, he was a Senator and officially unaffiliated with HUAC - though he was friend and mentor to several of its hatchet-men.[[/note]] Notably, their investigations into Communist presence of Hollywood led to a great deal of attention, if only due to the well-known movie stars, directors and writers called to testify. More substantially, their hearings on State Department aide Alger Hiss for espionage proved a major career boost for UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, then an obscure Congressman from California.

-->-- ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger'' (film version)

* Happened to Colonel Stanislav Petrov after [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident infamous near miss with nuclear war in 1983]]. His being relieved of duty and placed on administrative leave is sometimes mistakenly interpreted as his being punished, but in fact the closest he came to that was a semi-formal reprimand for improperly recording the incident in his duty log. (The official reward he was promised by his CO never materialised either, but c'est la vie.) Regardless, the committee ultimately concluded that that Petrov had acted properly and he was reinstated.

* In ''Film/IronMan2'', Tony Stark is facing down a senate subcommittee because his Iron Man suit isn't being shared with the United States government (and the minor detail of him being an unstable billionaire with unrestricted access to a superweapon), which they see as a big no-no. They order Stark to hand it over. Tony says no, saying that because he is Iron Man and "the suit and [he] are one", doing so is akin to indentured servitude and/or prostitution. He ''is'' building a suit for [[BlackBestFriend Col. Rhodes]], so it's more of a matter of principle than any lack of goodwill. In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:one of the committee members is also loyal to HYDRA]].

[[caption-width-right:350:The British Defense Ministry works too.]]

* The ''Series/{{Dilbert}}'' animated series has Dogbert persuading Congress to consolidate all holidays into a single holiday - Dogbert Day. It happened in the comic strip a few times too, namely when Dogbert became a Supreme Court nominee.

-->'''Shepard:''' You brought me here to confirm what you already know. The Reapers are ''here''.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' opens with Commander Shepard in lockdown for their actions during ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. These include working with a terrorist group and (if the last DLC mission was purchased) [[spoiler: destroying an entire batarian star system]] for the purposes of delaying the invasion of genocidal AbusivePrecursors. By the time the actual "tribunal" rolls around, however, said invasion is well underway and the Committee spends what screentime they have begging Shepard for answers. [[spoiler: Then a Reaper appears practically on top of them...]]
-->'''Shepard:''' You brought me here to confirm what you already know. The Reapers are ''here''.

* M in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' is required to testify before a Defence Ministry hearing about MI6's effectiveness. It's rendered moot when Silva and his henchmen attack the hearing [[spoiler:and M is eventually killed before they come to any decision.]]

* In ''Film/IronMan2'', Tony Stark is facing down a senate subcommittee because his Iron Man suit isn't being shared with the United States government (and the minor detail of him being an unstable billionaire with unrestricted access to a superweapon), which they see as a big no-no. They order Stark to hand it over. Tony says no, saying that because he is Iron Man and "the suit and [he] are one", doing so is akin to indentured servitude [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments and/or prostitution]]. He ''is'' building a suit for [[BlackBestFriend Col. Rhodes]], so it's more of a matter of principle than any lack of goodwill. In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:one of the committee members is also loyal to HYDRA]].

* "Testimony",the penultimate episode of ''Series/{{Veep}}'''s fourth season, is told in ScrapbookStory style through recorded legal depositions and C-SPAN segments of Selina's crew in front of a congress hearing, shuffling the blame around for a government data breach that's been season's PlotArc.

--> The little boy on your list can have hours of carefree childhood fun with this Toys/GIJoe set, engaging in realistic armed-forces adventures such as having G.I. Joe explain to little balding congressional committee figures how come he had to use his optional Ation Shredder accessory.

* The modern TropeCodifier in the United States is probably the House Un-American Activities Committee, whose hearings on alleged Communist infiltration of American government and society were widely televised and played a major role in shaping the RedScare of the '40s and '50s.[[note]]While UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy has become the modern poster-child for the era's Red-baiting, and also made use of televised hearings to boost his profile, he was a Senator and had nothing to do with HUAC.[[/note]] Notably, their investigations into Communist presence of Hollywood led to a great deal of attention, if only due to the well-known movie stars, directors and writers called to testify. More substantially, their hearings on State Department aide Alger Hiss for espionage proved a major career boost for UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, then an obscure Congressman from California.

* In ''[[FanFic/SovereignGFCOrigins Origins]]'', a ''MassEffect''[=/=]''StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''[=Borderlands=]''[=/=]''[=Halo=]'']] MassiveMultiplayerCrossover, the director of the Republic Intelligence Service is called to testify before a closed session of the Intelligence Committee. He tells them very little, much to the chagrin of the politicians involved.

* One of the later Diet Pepsi commercials featuring Music/RayCharles saw him and the Raylettes in front of a subcommittee trying to figure out what the "secret ingredient" is that gave Diet Pepsi an unfair advantage. The only answer given is "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdIYli8qRDY Uh-huh!]]"