TPM Reader RM …
I was a bit surprised (and disappointed) that Tim Russert and Sen. Leahy let Sen. Hatch’s false “there isn’t a shred of evidence” of impropriety canard on MTP go unchallenged, when discussing purge-gate. A Republican former U.S. attorney testified to Congress (under oath, if I recall correctly) that two Republican congressmen called him in an attempt to influence his prosecutorial discretion to benefit one of those congressmen. That’s definitely at least a “shred” and more.
I didn’t see this myself. But Sen. Hatch (R-UT) has shown pretty clearly that he doesn’t have enough respect for the proper administration of the Justice Department to even be on the Judiciary committee. None of his Republican colleagues on the committee have been so exclusively focused on carrying the White House’s water on this one at the expense of the rule of law.
