Like any criminal operation worth its salt, the Republican Party is trying to do what it can to protect itself from paying the consequences for its years of corruption and lying under former President/unindicted criminal/crime boss Donald Trump.
It took a big step toward that goal last week when Republicans in the House approved something called the “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” accurately tagged by one Democratic congressman as the “Republican Committee to Obstruct Justice.”
The subcommittee – which will consist of eight Republicans and five Democrats -- will be “empowered to investigate any federal agency that collects information about Americans, even in cases of an ongoing criminal investigation,” – such as the Justice Department and our intelligence agencies -- the Washington Post reported.
That means it can try to investigate/interfere/sabotage ongoing cases, like the probes into the Jan. 6 insurrectionist attack on the Capitol and Trump’s theft of classified documents.
Why do I call it theft when Trump hasn’t been charged at this time? Well, if you take something and then refuse to cooperate in returning it then you’re stealing it. If you accidently take something and give it back right away when called out on it – like President Joe Biden did with classified documents found in his office and home – then you’re not a thief. You’re just careless.
One piece of good news is the Justice Department has a long-standing practice of not providing information on ongoing investigations. One congressional investigator predicted that the fight over that information will end up in the courts.
But here’s a piece of scary news: This clown show is authorized to seek access to highly classified information provided by intelligence agencies to the House Intelligence Committee. This includes extremely sensitive information with contents that, if widely shared, could damage national security and endanger the lives of American intelligence officers and their assets.
I don’t know about you, but the thought of a bunch of GOP hacks running around with that kind of information isn’t going to help me sleep at night.
The subcommittee will be run by Rep. Jim Jordan, a yapping, bullying, slimeball whose background as a former state and NCAA wrestling champion proves the adage that sports doesn’t build character, it reveals it. And character is one thing that’s pretty much nonexistent in Jordan’s DNA.
This new subcommittee will be provided similar resources as was afforded the Jan. 6 committee, which was faced with the serious and arduous task of investigating an historic attack on our democracy, as opposed to protecting mob boss Trump and some of his underlings, like this latest group will try to do.
Here’s how unserious the GOP is about conducting legitimate oversight: The Post reports that some lawmakers who are currently under investigation by the Justice Department may be taking part in the examination of federal investigations.
For instance, Rep. Scott Perry, sadly from my home state of Pennsylvania, who had his phone taken as part of the investigation into the use of illegitimate electors in efforts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory, has refused to recuse himself from possibly sitting on the subcommittee.
“Why should I be limited, why should anybody be limited, just because someone has made an accusation? Everybody in America is innocent until proven otherwise,” Perry said, echoing the sentiments of every criminal who ever thought he should be allowed to oversee the police’s investigation into his alleged crimes.
That’s not all the GOP is doing to keep the DC swamp full and operating. It also approved changes to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics. The OCE is an independent body that investigates complaints about sitting members of Congress – hardly the most ethical bunch to come down the pike.
Ethics? We don’t need no stinkin’ ethics.
Republicans imposed term limits of eight years for the OCE’s eight board members. Any who have exceeded that period of time would be removed. Also, the board is required to appoint staff within 30 calendar days, and those hirings and compensation of those staff members would need to be approved by at least four board members.
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist with the liberal think tank Public Citizen, said the first provision is a way for Republicans to remove long-standing Democrats from the OCE board, and the second is to make it difficult for the OCE to staff its office.
“This is a very smart way to do it,” Kedric Payne of the Campaign Legal Center, a former OCE deputy chief counsel, said. “Because it looks as though the office still lives, but in fact it doesn’t.”
Why is this a big deal, other than making it harder to deal with the run-of-the-mill political corruption in Congress? Well, the Jan. 6 committee had recommended that the House Ethics Committee investigate the refusal of several Republican members of Congress to respond to requests for information the committee had sent.
Now that the House committee is chaired by a Republican, expect that request to go nowhere. The OCE could look into the matter, so damaging it makes sense for anyone trying to protect those GOPers.
Looks like that’s the end of that.
This all should make newly-minted Congressman/documented pathological liar George Santos happy. The liberal super PAC American Bridge 21st Century had filed a complaint with the OCE alleging he falsified information on his financial disclosure reports, the Post reported.
So, what are we looking at here? The GOP is positioning itself for two years of phony investigations, undermining Department of Justice probes and the intelligence community, gaslighting the country about alleged Democratic misdeeds, and discrediting the Biden administration, all while it continues to raise the bar for corruption by a political party.
Hunter Biden, who has nothing to do with the federal government, will be crucified, while Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump will get a wink and a nod over their dealings with foreign governments while actually working in the White House. Investigating the investigators, all in service to Trump, will be the subcommittee’s marching orders.
And the public opinion of Congress as a serious, functioning, governing body will continue to sink lower and lower. How low can it go?
We’re about to find out.
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Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody.