A nation of laws, or of men?
Congress has a Constitutional duty to execute its role as a co-equal branch of government, and act as a check on the Executive. One of its most important functions is conducting oversight and investigations to consider pending legislation, to investigate issues that may require legislation in the future, and to investigate and oversee federal programs.
That role could not be more important given the abuses of this historically corrupt administration — from foreign governments bribing the president and his family, to hundreds of lobbyists working as heads of the organizations that regulate the industries that once paid their salaries, to the horror of Trump and Roger Williams’ policy of separating children — even infants — from parents seeking asylum at the border.
And then there’s what we know from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s exhaustive report:
1. That a hostile foreign government attacked the bedrock of our democracy — our ability to hold democratic elections — explicitly to help Donald Trump. That Russian military intelligence succeeded in hacking both political parties’ computer infrastructure, as well as states’ voting infrastructure. That they succeeded in 2016, in 2018, and will try again in 2020.
2. That Donald Trump and those around him welcomed that help.
3. And that once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack.
But instead of submitting that report immediately to Congress, as Mueller intended, Attorney General Bill Barr engaged in a weeks-long PR campaign to confuse and deceive the American people and suppress what the Mueller report shows. That’s not what a credible head of federal law enforcement with a commitment to the rule of law does — it’s what tin pot dictators do.
The Attorney General has shown us who he is. He has failed in his responsibility to our country. He should resign.
Mueller’s report is clear — it is Congress’ responsibility to investigate obstruction of justice by the President. It is the House of Representatives’ job as outlined in Article I, Section II of the US Constitution.
I understand the political reality of having a Senate made up of Republicans who have abdicated their duty to the Constitution because they are only obsessed with their own re-election and they’re afraid of standing up to Trump. My friends, my family, and everyone on my team knows that discussing impeachment isn’t something I take pleasure in or spend a lot of time on. I did not campaign on it in 2018, and I don’t really discuss it without being prompted.
My preference is to work on pushing for the priorities that I believe Congress can absolutely achieve: ending the healthcare affordability crisis in this country, instituting common sense gun safety legislation, fighting the existential threat of catastrophic climate change, unrigging our economy so that working Americans have a voice in Congress. These are big problems, but with smart solutions, I believe we can pull together as a country and get it done.
But we can’t turn away from the truth. This president has put his own interest over the interest of the country, again, and again, and again. He has engaged in criminal conduct, he has obstructed justice, he is unlawfully refusing to comply with subpoenas, and at this point, he and his Attorney General are willfully breaking the law.
The Department of Justice report explicitly names Congress in determining obstruction of justice.
I cannot see a reason for Congress to abdicate its constitutionally mandated responsibility, unless we are willing to turn into a government of men, and not of laws.
Attorney General Barr should resign — and based on the actual facts in the Mueller report, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the President.
