GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz suddenly discovered this week that a 12-year-old injury needed urgent attention and announced he would be leaving town by Friday for a multi-week sabbatical. Assuming no scandalous details emerge to claim credit for Chaffetz's quick exit and imminent retirement from Congress, he is arguably the progressive grassroots' biggest prize yet related to investigations of Donald Trump.
It was the spellbinding town hall of nearly 1,000 people chanting "Do your job!" at an ambitious congressman with a plum committee chairmanship that laid the groundwork for Chaffetz's retreat. After an unusual show of bipartisanship at a Tuesday press conference with his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Elijah Cummings, and the stunning assertion that ousted Trump adviser Michael Flynn probably violated the law, Chaffetz had no good options. He simply hadn't signed up to be a central player in an investigation that threatens to take down a Republican president and perhaps a cadre of his GOP colleagues. In a separate press conference Thursday, Cummings even went a step further to say the White House was "covering up" for Flynn.
Columnist E.J. Dionne marveled this week that despite Russia-related headlines peppering Trump's first 100 days, the pr*sident himself has emerged mostly unscathed from those repeated bombshells.
Recall that just a little over a month ago, FBI Director James B. Comey told the House Intelligence Committee that the bureau was investigating possible cooperation between Trump’s team and Russia’s hacking and disinformation campaign to undercut Hillary Clinton. As the New York Times wrote, Comey’s testimony “created a treacherous political moment for Mr. Trump.” Yet the president slipped by.
In mid-February, the administration should have come under sustained inquiry when Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, was forced to resign because he misled White House officials about the nature of his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States.
If you think about it, Russia scandals have dominated Trump’s first 100 days. Though Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation and Trump’s erratic foreign policy forays have long-term implications, the only story that has rivaled Russia’s persistent pervasiveness has been the administration’s bumbling attempt to pass Trumpcare, Trumpcare 2.0, and finally, Trumpcare 3.0 (may they all RIP forever).
Yet Team Trump just keeps gliding along. In an ultimate show of hubris, White House press secretary Sean Spicer claimed this week that blame for the failure to properly vet Flynn should be laid at the Obama administration’s doorstep. It's beyond preposterous—it's infuriating. President Obama fired Flynn; Trump gave him a national platform while he was literally working as a foreign agent, then hired him into the most sensitive national security post in the White House—either failing to update his security clearance or ignoring the content of that update. And now they’re claiming that’s Obama’s fault?
Watching Chaffetz’s retreat this week just after he and Cummings called out Flynn’s failing made me begin to wonder why we haven't seen more Chaffetz moments, where lawmakers finally feel so much constituent urgency that they actually do their jobs or cut and run. It's true that Jeff Sessions and Devin Nunes both recused themselves from the Russia investigations after sustained pressure, but it was mainly a series of well-reported news articles that damaged both men, forcing them into trying to save their hides.
Chaffetz doesn't yet appear to have committed an obvious error like Sessions or Nunes (unless it simply hasn't come to light), which suggests he simply couldn't stand the heat in the kitchen so he got out.
We now have other lawmakers who appear to need the same type of constituent push—and it doesn't have to be limited to Republicans. The Senate Intelligence investigation into Trump's Russia ties, once seen as the grownups’ effort, is showing signs of stalling. If that's true, then ranking Democrat Mark Warner bears as much responsibility for pushing forward as committee chair Richard Burr does. And if the investigation is adrift, every member has a responsibility to sound the alarm bells. Independent Sen. Angus King, in particular, has called the work some of the most important of his life and vowed not to be party to some Mickey Mouse effort.
"I'm going to be a real loud problem if I see any evidence of trying to avoid digging into this," King told NPR in February. In the last several days, King has gone on record saying he doesn't see signs Burr is slow-walking the investigation.
Yet Huffington Post reported Thursday that there’s disagreement among committee members about how much funding and staffing is necessary to get the job done and whether the investigation would benefit from someone with prosecutorial experience.
With a two-year budget of $1.2 million and [a staff of nine], the resources devoted to the Senate intelligence committee’s Russia investigation pale in comparison to those of other high-profile probes. The House Select Committee on Benghazi, for example, had 46 staffers and spent as much as $3.6 million a year. [...]
Asked how Republicans react in private when Democrats push for an expanded staff, the Senate aide said their response has been mixed. “They have at various times been receptive to the idea when pushed, but I do think when approached you will find them saying, ‘We’re fine, this is all on track.’”
The aide’s prediction was correct.
With good reason, health care has taken up the bulk of resistance energy, followed by interest in Trump’s tax returns, Russia, and other issues. This Politico article recounting resistance successes and prospects for continued influence suggested that progressive groups have also prioritized health care and other legislation over Russia.
While the ongoing probes into Trump's ties to Moscow are among the chief concerns of voters packing rowdy town hall meetings, they hold little promise of bearing fruit soon, making the issue an elusive target for activists.
Organizing for Action, the successor to former President Barack Obama’s signature advocacy nonprofit, has opted to focus not on the Russia inquiries but instead on legislative campaigns against the GOP's health care bill and funding for Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall.
“While I may be personally concerned about Russia, it's not the place where grass-roots action is going to have the most power,” OFA spokesman Jesse Lehrich said in an interview.
In many ways, that was a good bet. The resistance has proven wildly successful at stalling harmful GOP legislation and motivating Democratic lawmakers to oppose all things Trump. So this is in no way a critique of where people and organizations have placed their efforts. Frankly, the resistance has been nothing short of awesome.
That said, Trumpcare may have died once and for all this week (or maybe not!) while the Russia scandal simmers on. It’s an issue that seemingly should take on more of the rolling boil that put Jason Chaffetz on the spot. The fact that Sean Spicer is trying to pin Flynn's vetting on Obama is a sign that Trump’s White House believes it can get away with virtually anything—no matter how ludicrous, incoherent, or audacious.
So just a note to all those resistance readers out there: It couldn't hurt for Republican and Democratic investigators alike to feel the urgency of constituents at their backs. Too much is at stake to let these investigations falter.