Just when you might have given up hope that there would be consequences for MAGA Republicans’ anti-democratic, radical conduct, we got small bursts of sunshine, evidence that perhaps the pro-democratic forces are moving the needle toward truth, the rule of law and — dare we hope? — sanity.
First, we’ve witnessed severe sentences for the militia ringleaders at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio got 22 years. Oath Keepers head Stewart Rhodes received 18 years, and several other militia members received between 10 and 17 years. If the foot soldiers must serve time, what excuse would there be to spare the instigator of the insurrection if he, too, is convicted? (And former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro also was convicted on two counts of contempt of Congress.) The legal process might not be fast, but it does still work.
Second, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision has become such a political fiasco for Republicans that some want to drop the “pro-life” moniker. No, really. Imagine: This crowd thinks the real problem is “rebranding.” No matter what they call themselves, the forced-birth crowd has endangered women’s health and lives and driven doctors out of red states. Dobbs has shaken millions of women to their core. A marketing stunt would reveal conservatives’ contempt for Americans’ intelligence but also put them on the spot. If they want to be “pro-baby,” where are the proposals for maternal care, family leave, day care and the like? Well, at least they have dispensed with the fiction that they care about women’s health and lives.
Third, some sanity has returned to presidential children. The Justice Department, free from White House meddling, is considering indicting Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges, dashing the GOP talking point that the president’s son is the beneficiary of special treatment.
Meanwhile, someone finally has gone after real familial corruption. Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to the hapless chairman, James Comer (R-Ky.), pointing out that even Comer admits “what [Jared] Kushner did crossed the line of ethics” in seeming to profit from his role in government. (Kushner’s investment fund received $2 billion from the Saudi investment fund six months after his father-in-law, former president Donald Trump, left office.)
Explaining in granular detail that Republicans had not shown President Biden to have received anything from his son’s business activities, Raskin wrote: “I urge you to pursue a serious and objective investigation by issuing a subpoena to Affinity [Kushner’s firm] and requiring the firm to comply with my February 15, 2023, request for documents regarding its receipt of billions of dollars from Gulf monarchies shortly after Mr. Kushner left a senior White House position he used to reshape U.S. foreign policy toward Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in Saudi Arabia’s favor — a request you have thus far allowed Mr. Kushner to ignore and defy.” Yes, real conflict of interest, foreign corruption and noxious nepotism deserve examination.
Meanwhile, Politico reports: “Sen. Richard Blumenthal, chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, will hold a hearing on Sept. 13 concerning investments by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in the U.S., such as the PGA Tour.” He shouldn’t ignore the kingdom’s investments in Kushner’s business.
Distinguished person of the week
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) earns a shout-out not only for his call to investigate Jared Kushner but also for his takedown of Republicans’ baseless, insanely partisan impeachment stunt. Reneging on his promise to hold a floor vote, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) “officially” started an impeachment inquiry against the president. But Raskin was already one step ahead. “Instead of working on legislation to promote the common good or even just keep the government running, House Republicans are weaponizing their offices and exploiting congressional power and resources to promote debunked and outlandish conspiracy theories about President Biden,” he declared in a highly detailed, well-documented written statement released on Monday.
Raskin continued: “This is a transparent effort to boost Donald Trump’s campaign by establishing a false moral equivalency between Trump — the four time-indicted former president now facing 91 federal and state criminal charges, based on a mountain of damning evidence for a shocking range of felonies, including lying to the FBI, endangering national security by illegally keeping classified documents, and conspiring to subvert the U.S. Constitution — and President Biden, against whom there is precisely zero evidence of any wrongdoing whatsoever.”
He then demonstrated how the bogus investigation actually disproved that the president had benefited in from his son’s activities:
None of the bank records Comer has released shows any payments to President Biden.
None of the [suspicious activity reports] the Committee reviewed alleges, or even suggests, any potential misconduct by President Biden, nor do the SARs show any involvement by President Biden in Hunter Biden’s financial or business relationships.
Not one of the witness accounts provided to the Committee has shown any evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden, including accounts from two IRS agents and a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent, who were involved in the DOJ’s investigation of Hunter Biden.
Former business associates of Hunter Biden who have been interviewed by the Committee—Eric Schwerin and Devon Archer—explicitly stated that they have no reason to believe President Biden had any involvement in Hunter Biden’s business deals, much less any reason to believe President Biden took any official action on behalf of his son’s business ventures.
Mr. Schwerin, who performed bookkeeping and other administrative tasks for then Vice-President Biden and therefore had access to his bank records, stated that he was not aware of any involvement by President Biden in the financial conduct of his relatives’ businesses, much less any transactions into or out of the then-Vice President’s bank account related to business conducted by any Biden family member.
Two IRS agents who testified before the Committee affirmed that they do not have any evidence of political interference by President Biden or Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The Former FBI Supervisory Special Agent interviewed by the Committee rejected Republicans’ claims that prosecutorial decisions by U.S. Attorney David Weiss or his team were the result of any political interference.
Raskin went on to list Comer’s serial misrepresentations and cite statements from Republican lawmakers and media personalities acknowledging that Comer had found nothing to implicate the president. Raskin concluded: “Republicans’ lust to move forward with an impeachment inquiry on the basis of this utterly failed investigation is a transparent effort to boost former President Trump’s reelection prospects and distract from the overwhelming evidence of his criminal and corrupt conduct during his term of office.”
If this reads like a legal brief, it likely is — or a preview of the damning rebuttal Raskin and other House (and, if need be, Senate) Democrats will deliver if Republicans go forward with this egregious weaponization of government. At least voters will understand a vote for any Republican representative is a vote for Trumpist authoritarian rule and abrogation of the rule of law.
The White House in an extraordinary rebuke of both-sidesism in coverage released a detailed memo to the media listing the various Republicans who have decried an impeachment based on nothing at all. Attaching a 14-page appendix debunking GOP lies, the memo said:
When even House Republican members are admitting that there is simply no evidence that Joe Biden did anything wrong, much less impeachable, that should set off alarm bells for news organizations. For years, Republicans in Congress have tried to muddy the waters by attracting media coverage of their allegations, and as they choose to move forward with impeachment, it is the responsibility of the independent press to treat their claims with the appropriate scrutiny.
Covering impeachment as a process story – Republicans say X, but the White House says Y – is a disservice to the American public who relies on the independent press to hold those in power accountable.
Now, we’ll have to see whether the media resists the urge to normalize and domesticate the GOP by giving the impeachment effort even a smidgen of credence. Let’s see whether news reports level with the public: This is a reckless and baseless Trump-inspired scheme to help Trump’s reelection.
At sundown tonight, Jews around the world will begin to observe Rosh Hashanah, the anniversary of the world’s creation, and the ensuing 10 days, culminating in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, are known as the Days of Awe or Days of Repentance. This time is bittersweet for many of us — filled with happy memories of times with family, thought-provoking rabbi sermons and the delicious traditional foods shared with loved ones. But it is also tinged with sadness as we recall those no longer with us, the horror of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on erev (eve of) Rosh Hashanah three years ago.
For me, the words of Britain’s esteemed late chief rabbi, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, are particularly moving. “Judaism is an extraordinary set of disciplines for living a meaningful life – and it is meaning, not fame or success, that lies at the heart of happiness,” he wrote in 5770/2009. “It invites us through the blessings we say every morning to give thanks for simply being alive in a universe full of beauty and wonder.” He went on to say, “We can lose material possessions, but spiritual possessions — the good we do, the love we inspire — we never lose, and that is why they are the greatest investments we can make. May we, in this coming year, spend more time on the things that matter, the things Judaism teaches us to value, and may God write all of us in the Book of Life.” Amen.
Every Wednesday at noon, I host a live Q&A with readers. Read a transcript of this week’s Q&A, or submit a question for the next one.
Guest: How long will it take for the media to start employing bothsidesisms on the impeachment hearings? Now that Republicans are starting their totally baseless impeachment hearings, will the media start highlighting that both sides have yelled “witch hunt”? Is that, in fact, the real goal of the MAGA Republicans?
Jennifer Rubin: Less than a day. The goal of authoritarian movements is not necessarily to get the public to agree to what they are spinning, but rather to confuse them about what is true or not. The media seem totally incapable of resisting this. Just as the mainstream media indulges the right by mulling the baseless accusation that Biden is mentally unfit, too many outlets will cover this impeachment as a legitimate exercise rather than a blatant weaponization of government. We do not have the media we need when democracy is under assault.
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