Our friend Jennifer Rubin, columnist for the Washington Post, whom we quoted earlier in the week as a conservative no longer tolerating any Trump supporter, has a piece documenting some fast-moving developments pertaining to Trump’s troubles.
Undeniable signs jump out of a story gleaned from the Washington Post According to Rubin, the House Judiciary Committee has gone to federal court seeking an order to compel former White House counsel Donald McGahn’s testimony. McGahn, as you likely recall, seemed ready to testify to congress, but faced serious threats from a White House claiming “executive privilege.”
This matters, because according to the story, House Democrats consider McGahn their most critical witness. McGahn witnessed firsthand Trump’s most desperate attempts to rid himself of that meddlesome “people’s House.”
It’s right there in the complaint: “The Judiciary Committee is now determining whether to recommend articles of impeachment against the President based on the obstructive conduct described by the Special Counsel.”…
…Let’s dispense with the nonsense that Pelosi is still blocking impeachment. “That process is underway,” the complaint plainly states.’
Wait, what?
Pelosi blocking the impeachment process is nonsense? The process is well underway? That might well qualify as news. Of course, the fact that the House wants Executive privilege – as claimed in total by the Trump administration – sent to its room, which in this case is a courtroom, never to return – is not news. But …
Let’s analyze.
I have told everyone who would listen that litigation takes a tortuous length of time. It also requires several pre-litigation steps, including “oh so reasonable letters” that get mocked by the left as “worthless.” Believe me, nothing is worth more to some judges, whose attitude is often: “What in the ever-living hell are you doing here? (looking at the president’s defense council). “The Committee set out the law plainly in a letter to you and offered reasonable accommodation. Yet here you are, wasting my time.” In other words, those loathed letters matter. Judges actually do not like people who rush to court when the problem may have been solved by … well, a letter.
The other thing that matters? Getting your damn ducks in formation prior to litigation. You do not file your complaint until you possess everything you believe you will need to succeed. Only then do you file the initial documents, which allows you to quickly file your “Motion to Win.” (Which don’t exist, except inside giggling lawyers’ heads. Little inside humor there.)
The thing that matters most is the news of the day. Pelosi is on board with an impeachment inquiry? Fascinating, since she has done a marvelous job keeping that hidden, to the point where I am still unsure if it is actually true, or a courtroom tactic. Though, I gotta tell you, lying to a judge about your motivations or the facts behind it, is the quickest way to find yourself handed an “Order to lose” signed by a judge pondering whether you need further sanctions.
I do not think they’re fcking around here.
I find that appropriate, since it seems to me that Trump has been ffff, messing around the entire time.
There IS a legitimate reason for executive privilege. A president must be able to discuss policy with his advisors without fear that those advisors will be forced to yak it up all over congress. Executive privilege is not, however, a blanket privilege to hide everything embarrassing, including volcanic toddler-like behavior, or covering up a crime. I might note that the above two are not mutually exclusive.
If Trump succeeds in his claim for the breadth of this privilege, we are not all equal under the law anymore.
This feels real. Is there a crack in the earth between the hill and the White House? I would volunteer work a jack hammer to widen it, if so.
Anyone want to volunteer to bring chips and drinks while we have at it?
****
Peace, y’all. It is nice to have some good news, finally.
Jason
- My usual disclaimer. An impeachment inquiry is not useful as a tool to remove Trump prior to an election. It is highly useful in dumping his trash all over the headlines and forcing him to run against it. Such a tactic enhances the odds that he will be removed from office, in an election, which couldn’t matter more.
At last!
I THINK THIS MAKES SENSE !!, The rumbling we are beginning to hear, are the armored cars rolling into and out of the big banks that are sending out reams of factual docs that tell the real story of the huge failure Trump really IS … Oh, a little case of money coming and going from Putin, et, all …. file that with one of Trump’s biggest supporters, the NRA ….
My metaphor is that of an opening tremor right before the volcano blows its top. But yours works too!
Of course we both know, Jason, that in the event this thing turns into a full-fledged impeachment, the naysayers will yap about how it took too goddamn long. The analogy I’ve been using for this process is an exhaustion argument. It’s what cops use to get judges to authorize wiretaps and cloned pagers. To wit, all other means of investigation have been tried and found wanting. As you say, judges love that stuff.
What disturbs me about this firebrand argument for impeachment is that it’s little better than lynch mob logic. Strip out the justifications for speeding things up and you’re left with that old cliche “the ends justify the means”…and the hell with how much additional damage we do to society as a result. The course of the French Revolution shows how badly such an approach can backfire.
I think your analysis is right on…this feels very different.
I mean…I suspect Pelosi planned this move like eighteen moves back when Trump was talking about how the bishop piece looks like breasts…but it feels like the board has significantly shifted.
A refrain I’ve been saying since the start of this “presidency”: we didn’t get here overnight, so we’re not getting out of here overnight. I understand wanting off this crazy train ASAP. But that’s not how it works.
Well said, Jason.