Walter Einenkel for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Rep. Jim Jordan held one of the weaponized circus House Committee hearings Wednesday, featuring Attorney General Merrick Garland. Superficially, the hearing is supposed to get to the bottom of … nothing. It is a chance for the Republican Party, made up of Trump sycophants, to muddy the waters around the disgraced former president’s four indictments, while getting a chance to say the name “Hunter Biden” a few times.
Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell decided that enough was enough, and used their time to break down how much of a cow-pie circus this entire Republican enterprise is. Schiff painted the big picture: “We meet today at a momentous time in our history. The country is about to go through a great trial. By this, I do not mean any of the several trials of the former president, but rather a trial of the proposition that we are a nation of laws committed to the rule of law and that no one is above the law.”
Schiff then broke down how this “essential ingredient” of any democracy was under threat by Jordan, whom Schiff said was “trying to use the committee's power of subpoena to compel criminal discovery—in effect, making the committee a kind of criminal defense firm for the former president.” What Jordan is trying to accomplish, according to Schiff, “would establish the principle that the rule of law should apply to almost everyone, just not the leader of his party.”
RELATED STORY: Jim Jordan unable to stop Democratic lawmakers from dissecting his farce hearing
Continuing his remarks, Schiff said, “According to this alternate proposition, if you were the president of the United States and you lose your reelection, you can violate the law and Constitution to try to stay in power. And if you are successful, well, then maybe you get to be president for life. And if you fail, there is no repercussion. This proposition is also well-known to the world, and it is called dictatorship.”
At one point, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie suggested the attorney general could be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about ongoing investigations—something Garland reminded Massie would fly in the face of our Constitution’s separation of powers. Swalwell jumped off of this during his time, reminding everyone that “the guy who's leaving the hearing room right now, Mr. Jordan, is about 500 days into evading his subpoena, about 500 days.”
Swalwell didn’t let up on Jordan, “So if we're going to talk about contempt of Congress, let's get real. I mean, are you serious that Jim Jordan, a witness to one of the greatest crimes ever committed in America, a crime where more prosecutions have occurred than any crime committed in America, refuses to help his country and we’re going to get lectured about subpoena compliance in contempt of Congress?” He continued, saying that there is no credibility coming from Republicans on the committee, and that Jordan and his fellow House Republicans were busy holding these “clown show” hearings instead of passing gun safety laws and helping support Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Swalwell used the rest of his time to detail how many of those investigating Hunter Biden were appointed by Trump, and how Garland has bent over backward for conservatives in this matter.
Every pathetic conspiracy theory being peddled by the likes of
Jordan is so easily refutable by the most basic logic at this point. One
wonders if just the sound of conspiracy is all MAGA-Kool-Aid drinkers need in order to throw another $5 down the toilet of Republican fundraiser emails.
No comments:
Post a Comment