The Democrats have only begun to absorb the implications of their historic win in the House of Representatives in yesterday’s midterm elections, but with Trump’s move today firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatening to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the administration, they’ve found themselves flexing their muscles even sooner than they expected to.
Faced with the potential of the newly appointed acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker either firing Mueller and shutting down his investigation or simply defunding the probe so he can’t effectively carry out its mission, senior Democratic leadership announced their ingenious strategy to counter any move to impede the Special Counsel from completing his work, according to an article on The Hill.
If Mueller is fired and can’t complete his inquiry, Congressional Democrats plan to invite him to testify publicly in front of Congress about his findings to date and televise the proceedings for the whole world to see.
“I think you could expect Democrats to take pieces of what they shut down and expose it publicly,” a senior aide close to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Politico. “This is a report paid for with taxpayer dollars. So taxpayers would have a right to know what Mr. Mueller found.”
Whether Trump has the temerity to actually fire Mueller at this point remains to be seen, but his behavior when he’s discovered himself backed into a corner usually resembles the actions of a wounded animal, so it’s difficult to predict exactly how he’ll try to wriggle free of any findings of criminal behavior by himself or his immediate family that the Special Prosecutor may find.
Remember also that the Democrats will soon control the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee under Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) who will surely be revisiting the aborted hearings hampered up until now by the fact that the current committee chairman, Congressman Devin Nunes, has been sitting squarely in Trump’s pocket.
Schiff seems unconcerned about the chances of the president firing Mueller, believing that the Special Counsel will actually be able to conduct his investigation more easily now that the Democrats have taken the House back.
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“I think that the chances that Bob Mueller will be able to finish his work improved for the reason that our committee and others like the Government Reform Committee and the Judiciary Committee, which under Republican leadership served as basically surrogates for the president in their efforts to batter down the Justice Department, to give the president a pretext … to fire people in the Justice Department, all of that tearing down of the independence of these institutions is going to end,” Schiff said on MSNBC.
“Now that doesn’t mean the president can’t still act in ways that are antithetical to the rule of law and the interest of justice, but it does mean that we’re better able to protect our institutions and see this investigation, I hope, complete.”
"I think that the chances that Bob Mueller will be able to finish his work improved."
Rep. Adam Schiff is poised to become chairman of the House Intelligence Cmte. when Democrats take control of the House. https://t.co/2ykZi8eQlM
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 7, 2018
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For the American people, the completion of the investigation will only be meaningful if it results in the prosecution of any and all crimes discovered in the course of the inquiry. That’s why it’s so crucial that Mueller not only is allowed to complete his investigation but that he’s given the resources and support that he needs to see that anyone who violated the law is held accountable for their actions.
If it turns out that Trump himself has any criminal liability related to the results of the investigation, it may be the first time in his life that he’ll be held accountable for any of his misdeeds. Now that’s something that needs to be televised publicly for all to see!
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Original reporting by John Bowden at The Hill and Darren Samuelsohn at Politico.
