How do you keep Donald Trump’s basket of fragile eggs from being cracked on national TV? The first step, and actually the only step, is a simple one: Keep them off of TV.
Frustrated Democrats now say they’ve all but given up on their past vows to question the younger Trump before a national audience. The same goes for several other key Trump insiders whom, Democrats complain, Republicans have hidden from the klieg lights in order to protect the president.
Why did Dianne Feinstein have to release the Fusion GPS transcripts? Because Republicans made sure that the Fusion hearing, though not classified, was held out of sight, under lock and key, where no one could get a peek at the proceedings and they could have complete control over what information squeaked out to the public … that is, until Dianne Feinstein ripped off at least that one blindfold and let a little light into an investigation that Republicans have been very careful to hide.
When it comes to Trump’s campaign staff and transition team, Republicans have readily agreed to terms that kept them out of the public view and shielded them from the embarrassment of airing their idiocy for all to see.
Despite lawmakers’ pledges last year that other top Trump associates would also be questioned in open hearings before the cameras, none have done so — and, given talk among congressional Republicans of wrapping up their investigations, it looks increasingly likely they will not.
Those “lawmakers’ pledges” came from not just Democrats, but Republicans. Of course, that was before all the Republicans reviewed their “Bread, which side is buttered?” files. So we’ve yet to see the top members of Trump’s team spend a minute answering questions in public.
Considering the huge difference between what Republicans had claimed about the Fusion GPS hearings and what was really on the transcripts, that should be a massive cause for concern. And a big reason for Democrats to act on their own.
Republicans have repeatedly demonstrated that when it comes to protecting Trump, they’re willing to burn the last shreds of regular process and ditch any illusion that tradition and something called “rules” still affect their actions. In this environment, Democrats have been reluctant to surrender following the patterns that have protected genuine debate and discussion for more than a century.
But it’s time for them to get over it.
Democrats are going on the offensive on Russia.
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday ramped up pressure on the Trump administration to slap new sanctions on Russia, releasing a massive report — written without GOP involvement — that details President Vladimir Putin’s alleged electoral meddling around the world.
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, frustrated by Republicans not only refusing to act but refusing to even admit the ongoing threat of Russian interference in upcoming elections, decided to simply act without them. Following Feinstein’s move to release the transcripts of Senate interviews with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, these two moves show that Democrats are increasingly ready to stop waiting on the sidelines for Republicans to do the right thing.
Democrats, frustrated by conservative attempts to undercut the investigation into Trump’s ties to Moscow and growing convinced that Republicans aren’t taking electoral security seriously, are increasingly tired of waiting on their colleagues in the majority to act and are taking their concerns public.
How long until some Democratic leader drags the completely unclassified transcripts of Donald Trump Jr. or some other Trump associate out of the darkness, and lets us see how far they differ from the story Republicans have been telling?
As recently as September, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, told CNN she wanted Trump Jr. — who has met with both House and Senate committees behind closed doors — to testify in public “come hell or high water.”
You have the technique down now, senator. We’re waiting.