The fifth televised meeting of the Panel went over material with which I was mostly familiar: the story at the DoJ in the days after the election was done and the votes counted, involving the tawdry and possibly illegal actions of the former President. The following points came to mind as I watched:
- The three witnesses, Acting AG Rosen, Deputy AG Donoghue, and Assistant AG Engel, were outstanding advocates for the DoJ, both then and now. They communicated its mission and operational requirements, and why Trump’s frantic attempts to corrupt it were intolerable.
- Midway through, it became clear that the Trump, his allies, and his minions were, and are, a pack of fourth-raters, going up against first raters.
- While it was never a mystery why senior Trump Administration officials have complained that they can’t find the jobs that are normally available to former staffers of their seniority, this really threw into vivid relief why they can’t – fourth-raters, and that’s what many of them turn out to be, are not desired by top law, lobbying, and other firms with a stake in the business of Washington. Trump promised the best and delivered mediocrity. I expect that their counterparts in the House and Senate will have similar problems when they leave, or are thrust out of, Congress: Gaetz, Cawthorn, Greene, Gohmert, Biggs, Gosar, and many others show all the signs. My bet is they’ll start their own firms and scratch a living off their reputation as former members of Congress, but do nothing significant.
I’m looking forward to the next hearing.
BTW, there was news today that Jeffrey Clark, a former Assistant AG who was amenable to Trump’s plans in return for promotion to AG, had his home searched today by the FBI.
Keep in mind that the Panel has no authority to order such a search. The FBI is an arm of the DoJ, not Congress.
That means AG Garland, or FBI Director Wray, is paying attention and managed to convince a judge to OK the necessary paperwork to conduct such a search. The news on this should be very interesting. How long will we have to wait for its disclosure? I don’t know.
