James Comey threw open the Trump-Russia dossier floodgates, and now here come the subpoenas

| 7:49 pm EDT June 9, 2017
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Among the other numerous things it accomplished, James Comey’s testimony has thrown open the floodgates on the infamous Trump-Russia dossier and the allegations made in it. Wolf Blitzer referred to Russian “hookers” on CNN so many times yesterday, it was difficult to keep count. But more than merely embarrassing Donald Trump, it’s also thrown open the legal floodgates when it comes to the dossier.

In the months since former MI6 agent Christopher Steele’s Trump-Russia dossier has leaked, everyone involved has had access to the dossier itself. But now a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is demanding access to any relevant documents from the private firm that hired Steele to work on the dossier to begin with, and he’s threatening subpoenas (source: The Hill). Moreover, the Senator in question is Chuck Grassley, one of the more powerful Republicans in the Senate.

Even as certain Trump puppets in Congress are still trying to play minor roles in distracting from the Trump-Russia investigation (including Marco Rubio, John Cornyn, and maybe John McCain, if we can ever figure out what he was trying to say yesterday), the more relevant thing to watch for is signs of smarter Congressional Republicans taking steps to ensure they’re seen as being on the right side of things when Trump ultimately goes down for this. How many Republican politicians are betting on Trump surviving this? How many of them are now betting on his downfall being inevitable?

Based on James Comey’s testimony, it abundantly clear that Donald Trump is petrified of the notion that more details might surface regarding the Trump-Russia dossier, or that he might be further tied to Russian hookers or the alleged “Pee Pee Tape.” And yet Chuck Grassley’s response a day later is to squarely take aim at bringing more details about the dossier to the surface.