While the Washington Post headlines the idea that Never-Trumpers are joining a bipartisan call for a Trump investigation, we’re not talking about Paul Ryan remembering his pre-election semi-scruples. We’re not even talking Lindsey Graham in a between-juleps snit.
Stand Up Republic, a nonprofit organization led by former independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin and his running mate, Mindy Finn, is launching a public campaign aimed at building support among Republicans for consolidating the various congressional Russia-related investigations into one empowered and fully funded select committee. The organization’s ad, which goes live Tuesday with a six-figure television ad buy, makes the case that the Russia issue is too important not to investigate fully.
Stand Up Republic isn’t just led by McMullin and Finn, it is McMullin and Finn. And while they are occasionally handy in the “look, a sane Republican!” category, the truth is that their sanity train seems to have neither an engine nor passengers.
The actual actions to promote an investigation are dependent on Democrats pushing for something to happen. ...
Ranking Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin (Md.) introduced legislation in January with other top Democrats that would establish a formal commission similar to the 9/11 Commission, to investigate all aspects of the Russia scandal.
That legislation has essentially zero support from the Republican side of the aisle, and even if it did squeak through, it faces another problem.
The likelihood of a special commission being established is very low, considering that Trump would be able to veto Cardin’s legislation if it ever reached his desk.
Though Republicans have occasionally voiced the idea of a select committee or a special prosecutor, that idea hasn’t gained any traction. In fact, the most vital Republicans in such an effort have been actively cooperating with Trump to keep a lid on any stories.
After the FBI rebuffed the administration's request, the Trump administration also reached out to members of Congress to counter the stories, The Washington Post first reported.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was one of the lawmakers involved in those conversations. The California lawmaker had already been disputing the reports with journalists when he spoke to the White House, and at its request, he reached out to an additional reporter to discuss the reporting, a Nunes spokesman told The Washington Post.
The FBI investigation continues—so long as the Jefferson Sessions-led Department of Justice allows it to continue. But any investigation by Congress is likely to be restricted to cursory hearings by existing committees in which the goal of almost every Republican present will be to praise Trump and dismiss the whole idea as a witch hunt.
McMullin and Finn are running an ad, which is visible on their site, making the case for an investigation. It’s a case that might have some effect if Republicans were still holding open a gap between their party and Donald Trump, the way that Ryan was pretending to do up until a few weeks before the election, but that gap no longer exists. Trump is the Republican Party—which makes the idea of any real bipartisan effort to investigate Trump extremely unlikely.