Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare has little patience for President Trump’s antics, especially when it comes to important pieces of legislation related to surveillance:
President Trump took a brief break from his busy schedule of bungling the federal response to coronavirus and modeling disasterous presidential leadership in a crisis to, once again, make a fool of his attorney general.
At 10:44 am on March 12, with the Dow Jones having shed nearly 2,000 points since the markets had opened, the president tweeted:
Many Republican Senators want me to Veto the FISA Bill until we find out what led to, and happened with, the illegal attempted “coup” of the duly elected President of the United States, and others!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 12, 2020
Trump did not mention Attorney General Bill Barr in issuing this veto threat concerning the bipartisan compromise bill to reauthorize expiring FISA authorities. He didn’t need to. The day before, on behalf of the Trump administration, Barr had issued a statement that described the bill as follows: …
Where AG Barr states that he’s been working carefully with Congress on the issue and approves the result. See the link if you enjoy careful lawyer talk, but that is what it says.
This is all about keeping the base all stirred up about an alleged witch hunt. Keep shouting out the lie, deny the Mueller report found anything, keep attention focused on some minor issues which may have needed correction, but were, by the government’s own admission, not disqualifying of the actual Page investigation. It’s all about outrage and victimization.
And that’s not how to run a government.
