The calm before the storm

| 1:01 pm EST January 2, 2019
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After a predictably quiet Christmas to New Years stretch in the political world, we’ve now arrived at the first day of 2019 that’s not a holiday – and yet January 2nd is thus far turning out to be nearly as quiet as January 1st. That’s not necessarily a surprise either, because tomorrow is when the storm arrives and begins landing on Donald Trump’s head.

It’s not just that the new Congress is in session as of tomorrow, and the Democrats will officially take control of the House; it’s what all comes with it. Even as the House uses its first few days to go through formalities such as electing Nancy Pelosi as Speaker and finalizing committee chairmanships, we’re going to see other things put into motion outside of Congress.

If anyone with dirt on Donald Trump has been holding off from going public for fear that it wouldn’t go anywhere due to the Republican Congress, we’ll see those people come forward now. If any news outlet has been researching a major Donald Trump scandal behind the scenes and was holding back from publishing it over the holidays for fear that no one would notice it, this is the week it’ll be published. If Robert Mueller has been waiting to make certain legal moves until there was a Democratic House to give him cover, now is the time.

So even if the most visible moves coming out of the first few days of the new Democratic House end up being more procedural than prosecutorial, we can expect the mere existence of the Democratic House – and the timing involved – to put other things quickly in motion. And keep in mind that House committee chairs are about to send subpoenas flying, which will set the stage for wall to wall nationally televised hearings exposing Trump’s scandals and crimes.