Chuck Grassley calls Donald Trump’s bluff, breaks out the subpoenas
The Resistance will never fully trust Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, because he’s a conservative Republican and because Trump has repeatedly tried to influence him in the Russia investigation. But Grassley has routinely signed off on whatever Trump-Russia measures his Democratic counterparts have wanted. Now that Trump and Jeff Sessions are refusing to make certain FBI employees available as witnesses, Grassley is calling Trump’s bluff in aggressive fashion.
Grassley is drafting subpoenas for the two FBI agents in question, after Trump and Sessions tried to block them from testifying, according to Ali Rogan of NBC News (link). In so doing, Grassley is ensuring that they’ll end up having to testify one way or the other. Trump appeared to believe that Grassley wouldn’t pursue the subpoena angle. This can arguably be seen as the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Trump and the Republican Party, along with the GOP’s increasing unwillingness to risk being seen as complicit in the Trump-Russia scandal. So what will this latest testimony bring?
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is zeroing in on the obstruction of justice that Donald Trump committed when he fired FBI Director James Comey to try to sabotage the investigation into the Russia scandal. The two FBI employees in question can testify as to the circumstances of that investigation and firing, potentially incriminating Trump in the process. Hauling them in for questioning serves to increase the odds of the obstruction case successfully being made. It’s why Trump and Sessions fought so hard to try to block their testimony.
Even with Chuck Grassley forcing Donald Trump’s hand on this, it won’t win him many fans among the Resistance. He’s consistently voted to repeal ObamaCare, among other inexcusable infractions. But Grassley keeps demonstrating that he’s eager to get to the bottom of Trump’s Russia scandal, no matter ugly it gets for the president from his own party.
