I mentioned this yesterday on the Chris Hayes show. We can see how President Trump has united the GOP behind his openly and aggressively racist attacks on four freshman congresswomen of color. Yesterday all but four Republican members of the House voted against a formal criticism of the President’s attacks. Two of those are retiring. So they barely even count. What jumps out to me though is this. I suspect if any Republican member of Congress said exactly the same things he or she wouldn’t have survived the controversy. At a minimum they would have been roundly denounced and forced to apologize.
We’ve been debating back and forth over recent weeks, impeachment vs aggressive oversight and then further debating: can this really be as fast and as hard as we can go at this? As we discussed yesterday with TPM Reader MA, the cold reality is that Democrats just don’t have much power, not enough to meet the big expectations of their supporters and those terrorized or angered by all of Trump’s transgressions and criminality. In an unprecedented fashion, the White House has adopted a policy of massive resistance to ALL oversight. That’s forced the House to rely on the Courts to enforce even the most basic compliance. But can they really not up the pace?
We held a briefing yesterday on this question. We had on a former longtime General Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee. I think it really captured for me that yes, they really are hanging back. The additional things they could be doing might not work. They could also fall prey to administration slow-walking and delays. But there are things they could be doing and which they are not doing.
If this is a question that interests you and you missed the briefing, you can watch a taped version here. It’s available to all Prime members. Just make sure you’re logged in. Here’s the link.
We’ve got a few more seats open for our Briefing and Q&A on the upcoming Mueller testimony this afternoon at 2:30 PM Eastern. I’ll be joined by TPM’s Tierney Sneed and Ted Kalo, former longtime General Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee. This is a good opportunity to get our questions answered about why the pace of investigations up on the Hill seems to be going so slowly. If you’re a Prime member and you’d like to join us, join me after the jump.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has ordered the Census Bureau to offer states information to institute a redistricting plan the architect of which described as intended to bolster the electoral power of “Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites.”
If you’re a Prime member I’d like to invite you to join Tierney Sneed and me tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 PM eastern for a video conference briefing and Q&A on Robert Mueller’s upcoming testimony: what to expect from the committees, from Mueller and what questions remain to seek clarity on from the report itself. If you’d like to join us, join me after the jump for how to sign up.
If you missed it over the weekend, take a look at this. The chain of events preceding what appears to be the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan dropping the Trump Organization investigation with no charges really requires some scrutiny. Dropped requests for executive interviews, Deputy US Attorney departing, Barr getting sworn in – all come together in a disquietingly close timeframe.
TPM’s Josh Kovensky reports on the beginnings of a high dollar donor revolt at the NRA centered on allegations of corruption and cronyism against longtime NRA chief Wayne LaPierre.
Let’s discuss this. There’s too little evidence here to support any clear theory. But given the current leadership of the Department of Justice, a hermeneutic of suspicion is called for. But consider these dates.
On Friday CNN reported that the US Attorneys Office in Manhattan appears to preparing to close its main investigation into the Trump Organization without filing any charges. Not every probe finds wrongdoing or chargeable offenses. But look at these two paragraphs …
One of the theories circulating about Jeffrey Epstein makes a certain logical sense on its face and yet, in practice – as something that really could be case as opposed to merely possible – it just seems too far-fetched. It goes like this. Running a procurement ring can’t make you billions or even hundreds of millions of dollars. Even an extortion ring couldn’t really put together those numbers. But maybe it worked something like this. Epstein does have some kind of money management fund. Maybe it’s not very successful. Maybe it’s just invested in an index fund or treasury bonds. But what if Epstein has the goods on a bunch of high rollers and for Epstein to stay silent they invest in his fund?