Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi sent a letter Wednesday to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to convey their dismay about a Democrat-free DOJ briefing on the FBI informant planned for Thursday with the White House.
“This meeting is completely improper in its proposed form and would set a damaging precedent for your institutions and the rule of law,” the letter reads. “We can think of no legitimate oversight justification for the ex parte dissemination – at the direction of the president – of investigative information to the president’s staunchest defenders in Congress and, ultimately, to the president’s legal defense team.”
The meeting, brokered by Chief of Staff John Kelly, is meant to provide information on the FBI informant President Donald Trump claims infiltrated his 2016 campaign. Currently, attendees will be Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, DOJ official Ed O’Callahan, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC).
Schumer and Pelosi, the leaders of Senate and House Democrats respectively, go on to urge Wray and Rosenstein against holding the meeting at all, due to the possibility of distorted leaks and interference with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
They conclude: “However, if you have determined in your best judgment that Justice Department participation in the meeting is the only way to prevent this situation from devolving into an outright constitutional crisis, then we believe you must insist on the only appropriate mechanism for highly sensitive briefings that might implicate intelligence sources and methods – a bipartisan Gang of Eight briefing that involves congressional leadership from both chambers.”
Democrats have a simple way to fight back, if they have the backbone: Tie Congress in knots. Not so much in the House, but the Senate does most of its business by unanimous consent. Just have a Democratic senator on the floor at all times, to object to unanimous consent whenever it is requested. The Rethuglicans will knuckle under within a few days. Maybe hours.
Schumer, Pelosi, Warner, and Schiff should go to the White House for the meeting, with press on hand. They should invite McConnell, Ryan, and Burr to join them and make clear that they have done so. Get the message out that this meeting is way outside the bounds of responsible oversight. Don’t keep their disapproval a secret. The battle for the Constitution is being fought on television and the media. Get into the game. Play to win.
Walk out, dammit! Walk out noisily and with plenty of cameras around.
So, Trump’s goons deny access to a public hearing to two legitimate, bona fide news organizations with capitol credentials, physically shoving one reporter from the room, then inviting only GOP members of Congress to another ‘briefing’. See a pattern here?
From today’s WaPo. Leslie Stahl recounting an interview with Trump and the subject was his repeated attacks on the press:
“I said, you know that is getting tired, why are you doing this — you’re doing it over and over and it’s boring,” Stahl said. “He said you know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.”
Substitute Rule of Law, FBI, Justice Department for ‘Press’ and you have Trump in a nutshell.
Register people to vote. Get to the polls. A Congress with a spine and a conscience could rein in most of this! And it is clear this Congress only wants to placate Trump.
It feels like things are going to get so much worse, before the system can begin to right themselves. The GOP in Congress are craven, cowardly, and in the long-run - sunk as a party.