Columnist Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post urged Democrats to use GOP-style tactics on the new subcommittee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to investigate the Justice Department and other agencies of the executive branch.
She made reference to the major gaffe committed by former Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) when he failed to nominate any Republicans to the Jan. 6 committee. This Monday, New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler told Raw Story that Democrats will be included on whatever committees Jordan forms, including his inquiry of investigations Republicans, have resisted.
To overturn the 2020 election, Rubin urged that the committee members utilize the evidence they have gathered about House Republicans who may have helped insurrectionists in the days preceding January 6.
To wit: “Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), for example, had his phone confiscated by the FBI last year as part of its investigation into plans to overturn the 2020 presidential election,” as written by Rubin. “In spite of the fact that Perry claims he has been assured he is not a target of the inquiry, he was clearly instrumental in the scheme to promote then-Justice Department employee Jeffrey Clark to the position of acting attorney general. The warrant for his phone shows that authorities had reason to believe he was hiding incriminating information inside.”
Perry wants to join the committee, despite the fact that he is now being investigated by the very people he wants to bring to justice.
Furthermore, Rubin said that the Democrats may use their authority to carry on the unfinished business of the January 6 committee. She pointed the finger at the inability of agencies like the FBI and DHS to communicate with one another about the oncoming violence.
She said that the committee “also did not discover why the Pentagon failed to swiftly sanction mobilization of the National Guard” or why the U.S. Secret Service “apparently destroyed” correspondence from that day. “The Democrats ought to demand clarification on these issues. Key figures, such as former acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller, should be subpoenaed to testify.”
Democrats could investigate former Attorney General Bill Barr’s role in some of his prosecution decisions, such as why there was a dramatic change with prosecutors in the Roger Stone trial, while Republicans try to take down Attorney General Merrick Garland for investigating those who made death threats to local officials. Moreover, she wants an explanation for why former special counsel John Durham squandered $2 million on an investigation that yielded no results.
Rubin also believes the details of the political pardons given to people like Steve Bannon, Joe Arpaio, and others in Trump’s final days in office should be made public.
She concluded by urging the Democrats to counter the Republican accusations. Donald Trump’s legal team contended that the tax records were being sought for no legitimate legislative purpose. Democrats have stated that they will be included in any legislation that would mandate a presidential audit. The judge accepted it as valid. However, the Republican committee might face charges of violating the separation of powers and being purely partisan.
Because of this, “any subpoena of material from the Justice Department’s investigations may and should be contested for breaching [the] separation of powers and for [the] absence of a valid legislative purpose,” Rubin concluded.