Republicans won’t have control of the House for much longer, but by gum they’re going to use their final weeks to stir up as many far-right conspiracy theories as possible. The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to subpoena former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. But don’t expect to learn anything from their appearances, other than what media outlets will bite on strategic Republican leaks:
The source said the committee chairman, Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, plans to issue the subpoenas on Monday for Comey to appear for a closed-door deposition on November 29 and for Lynch to appear on December 5. The interviews are part of the House Republican investigation into the FBI's handling of the Clinton email probe and the Russia investigation.
Comey has previously rejected the committee's request for him to appear privately before the GOP-led inquiry, saying he would rather testify publicly instead.
But Republicans don’t want Comey or Lynch appearing publicly, since that sort of thing hasn’t gone well for them the last few years. No, this way they can make Comey and Lynch as uncomfortable as possible. They can keep the Republican base whipped into a froth over Hillary Clinton’s emails (yes, in late 2018) and whatever the Trumpist anti-Comey theory of the week is. And they can do those things without any danger that a lunatic Republican question or a particularly sharp answer from Comey or Lynch will go viral.
It’s a last raging stand by Republicans to prove how little they care about substance, about Russian election hacking or Trump campaign collusion with Russia or corruption within the administration or any of dozens of other things that actually matter and might survive as issues past the Republican ability to issue subpoenas. It’s a simultaneous reminder of how dangerous they are and how pathetic they are.