Republicans teamed up with Russian intelligence to smear Joe Biden; they inflicted serious political damage on him over YEARS; Democrats can't let bygones be bygones
I am hoping Daniel Goldman will step up. Also the other Dem members of the Comer and Jordan committees such as Crockett, Garcia, Moskowiitz, etc. who can attest to how corrupt the investigation was and demand more accountability. They are all good at commanding attention.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Joe Biden talk about all this more now that he has some cover to not be seen as just protecting his son.
Oh, and maybe it's time we all reread the Mueller Report, maybe this time with a lot more attention to what it actually says.
I agree, and with the tweet Brian quoted above, I think Goldman gets the subject right. This scandal (for once) is not about Trump, or even about Biden. It's about Grassley, Comer, Jordan, et al. and their abuse of Congressional inquiries. As long as Ds are in the minority in the House (don't get me started on Jeffries' fecklessness), this might be the only way to keep R venality in check.
It just seems so insane that this isn’t the biggest news of the year. Can you imagine if it turned out the Trump whistleblower in the first impeachment case was a lying Russian asset? Dems have gaslit themselves into believing that the Russia connections were spurious or overblown. They should re-read the Mueller report. They should rewatch the first impeachment hearings. Hell, they should listen to the NPR series from like 2017 about Trump’s long history with Russia. The entire GOP is in bed with Putin now, no two ways about it.
The more realistic (I think) option that I saw floated is a special counsel. Garland could do it today and, if he wanted to make a ballsy, un-Garland-like move, he would pick a politician, one with a really loud mouth who could just performatively jerk around (and I mean this not in a bad way) by making everything public, hyping every tiny suspicion, openly antagonizing Comer and Jordan, so on and so forth while just barely pretending to act like any actual prosecution will happen.
Let Republicans complain it'd be all just a political exercise.
There's really no such thing as a special counsel who publicly harangues witnesses, subjects, and targets. There SHOULD be a special counsel, but it should work in parallel with a congressional investigation, just like Mueller did.
As usual, I share your irritation with Dem timidity. But here's my conundrum: I'm not withholding support for Biden or other Dems just because their position on Israel, or climate, or SCOTUS, or anything else isn't as aggressively lefty as I wish it were. Doing so would be foolish as long as Trump, McConnell, and Leonard Leo breathe. But I fear the feckless Dem leadership will read that as a reward and will never change. This is not a question, I guess, so much as a lament.
(Also: "Jagoffs, Smirnov"? Oy. Maybe "Smirnov on ice"?)
The Republican Party used to care about national security and foreign threats, so we were led to believe. It was the Democrats who were the commies, the ones who always blamed America first! That's not the whole truth of course. Ronald Reagan colluded with Iran to win election! Then he sold arms to Iran to fund his drug war in Latin America! The Bushes always had a cozy relationship with the Saudis. But this is madness beyond compare--Trump is a straight up traitor and the whole party is corrupt through and through and they've duped their supporters into supporting dictators and hating not just on Democrats but democracy itself! What the actual fuck is happening? Maybe the Dems are just too stunned to believe it's really happening again, that the GOP is doing Putin's bidding, or rhat an authoritarian thug is favored to win the election because Americans don't really understand wtf is happening. They have a limited amount of time to make sure Americans get educated about the epic scale of Republican betrayal. All in the name of gaining power and turning this country into another kleptocratic theocracy. Does it sound crazy to talk like that in public? Well it's the frigging truth! If America falls into this trap we may never recover. Democrats and media gatekeepers are failing to stop it! I'm not yet at the point of resignation to this awful fate but boy is it getting close.
I think the Democrats are just being cautious. They don't want to get ahead of themselves. The charging document and subsequent filing don't say Smirnov's stories of contacts with Russian intelligence were corroborated.
The FBI might have more evidence we don't know about, of course. But for now, it's not quite there. There's a lot of "according to Smirnov" and "Smirnov claims" language:
Of course he had contact with Russian intelligence sources. He was a paid informant for the FBI. He was doing what he was paid to do.
But somehow the Republicans are culpable because they accepted information from someone that the FBI trusted enough to pay him? If Smirnov were actually a Russian agent, then it’s the FBI that’s culpable.
To me, the question is not what Democrats will do, but what small-R republicans will do. I severely doubt that very many in government & its agencies, conservative or liberal, are pleased with these embarrassing antics. And that is what these antics are - colossally, acutely, brutally embarrassing. One liar in foreign pay can rope in a whole party!
Anyone taken in by this needs to be excised from power - and I bet I'm far from the only smoking guy to think so. (Grass, don't worry.) If I were any of these Republicans, and I had any real skeletons in my closet, I would be making my peace.
I wonder if Democrats realize how weak and pathetic they look. They lose the respect of voters with their refusal to stand up to Republican bullying. Nobody wants leaders who are afraid to speak or act.
I share your ire, completely, Brian, but I think Raskin's response can be seen in a different, less "we're disappointed" light. He might well believe, in a good faith disagreement with your opinion of how to address the issue politically, that his time and media exposure are better spent on more presidential campaign issues directly. I have to believe you find him to be an intelligent guy; not giving him *any* credit for his tactics is to dismiss that. We can disagree with allies about how to achieve our goals without slagging every one of them who doesn't do exactly what we think is best.
I’m of the mind that Dems won’t dig too deeply into their colleagues. I hope it’s because the DOJ or IGs are handling it but my instincts say otherwise.
Either because they, too, directly benefit from their relations in other countries OR because they’re *still* following “norms” that shouldn’t apply in the current era.
We know that the House isn’t the Senate, but the Senate isn’t immune from this same sort of influence, at least as I saw from watching how D’s failed to pursue the NRA-Russian-RNC-Manafort-GOP-Bannonite shenanigans that changed their platform and empowered the extremism against human rights and ethical behaviors.
A global economy, or U.S. companies with offshore presence that dictates foreign policy in government, opens the door to capitalist corruption in every single branch. We’re screwed.
Neither the Smirnov indictment nor the bail hearing memorandum establish that Smirnov was a Russian agent. He was, in fact, a paid informant to the FBI since 2010.
Now, if he were a Russian agent then either a) the FBI failed to detect this fact; or b) knowingly kept a Russian agent on their payroll, and failed to divulge to the Republicans that he was not a reliable source (albeit a paid one).
How exactly were the Republicans supposed to know what a) the FBI failed to detect; or b) deliberately kept secret? Are the Republicans presumed to have an intelligence capability equal to or greater than the FBI? That would say more about the FBI’s incompetence, or malfeasance, than the Republicans.
In any case, there should be an investigation, but of the FBI, to determine their culpability in this fiasco. There is a scandal here, but not the one you think.
Losing is never an option for the radical right which, obviously, is the Republican Party. How much convincing do we need? The Republican Party is a menace to our democracy. We need some heroic actions from the Democrats to stand up for us.
I am hoping Daniel Goldman will step up. Also the other Dem members of the Comer and Jordan committees such as Crockett, Garcia, Moskowiitz, etc. who can attest to how corrupt the investigation was and demand more accountability. They are all good at commanding attention.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Joe Biden talk about all this more now that he has some cover to not be seen as just protecting his son.
Oh, and maybe it's time we all reread the Mueller Report, maybe this time with a lot more attention to what it actually says.
We need to demand it be fully unredacted.
I agree, and with the tweet Brian quoted above, I think Goldman gets the subject right. This scandal (for once) is not about Trump, or even about Biden. It's about Grassley, Comer, Jordan, et al. and their abuse of Congressional inquiries. As long as Ds are in the minority in the House (don't get me started on Jeffries' fecklessness), this might be the only way to keep R venality in check.
It just seems so insane that this isn’t the biggest news of the year. Can you imagine if it turned out the Trump whistleblower in the first impeachment case was a lying Russian asset? Dems have gaslit themselves into believing that the Russia connections were spurious or overblown. They should re-read the Mueller report. They should rewatch the first impeachment hearings. Hell, they should listen to the NPR series from like 2017 about Trump’s long history with Russia. The entire GOP is in bed with Putin now, no two ways about it.
But comity!
The more realistic (I think) option that I saw floated is a special counsel. Garland could do it today and, if he wanted to make a ballsy, un-Garland-like move, he would pick a politician, one with a really loud mouth who could just performatively jerk around (and I mean this not in a bad way) by making everything public, hyping every tiny suspicion, openly antagonizing Comer and Jordan, so on and so forth while just barely pretending to act like any actual prosecution will happen.
Let Republicans complain it'd be all just a political exercise.
There's really no such thing as a special counsel who publicly harangues witnesses, subjects, and targets. There SHOULD be a special counsel, but it should work in parallel with a congressional investigation, just like Mueller did.
"There's really no such thing as a special counsel who publicly harangues witnesses, subjects, and targets"
...Then what was John Durham's job? 😉
...and Ken Starr?!
The problem is Garland is gop, his job is to protect gop not prosecute.
As usual, I share your irritation with Dem timidity. But here's my conundrum: I'm not withholding support for Biden or other Dems just because their position on Israel, or climate, or SCOTUS, or anything else isn't as aggressively lefty as I wish it were. Doing so would be foolish as long as Trump, McConnell, and Leonard Leo breathe. But I fear the feckless Dem leadership will read that as a reward and will never change. This is not a question, I guess, so much as a lament.
(Also: "Jagoffs, Smirnov"? Oy. Maybe "Smirnov on ice"?)
The Republican Party used to care about national security and foreign threats, so we were led to believe. It was the Democrats who were the commies, the ones who always blamed America first! That's not the whole truth of course. Ronald Reagan colluded with Iran to win election! Then he sold arms to Iran to fund his drug war in Latin America! The Bushes always had a cozy relationship with the Saudis. But this is madness beyond compare--Trump is a straight up traitor and the whole party is corrupt through and through and they've duped their supporters into supporting dictators and hating not just on Democrats but democracy itself! What the actual fuck is happening? Maybe the Dems are just too stunned to believe it's really happening again, that the GOP is doing Putin's bidding, or rhat an authoritarian thug is favored to win the election because Americans don't really understand wtf is happening. They have a limited amount of time to make sure Americans get educated about the epic scale of Republican betrayal. All in the name of gaining power and turning this country into another kleptocratic theocracy. Does it sound crazy to talk like that in public? Well it's the frigging truth! If America falls into this trap we may never recover. Democrats and media gatekeepers are failing to stop it! I'm not yet at the point of resignation to this awful fate but boy is it getting close.
When there is kompramat on everyone, no one seeks exposure.
I think the Democrats are just being cautious. They don't want to get ahead of themselves. The charging document and subsequent filing don't say Smirnov's stories of contacts with Russian intelligence were corroborated.
The FBI might have more evidence we don't know about, of course. But for now, it's not quite there. There's a lot of "according to Smirnov" and "Smirnov claims" language:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24436244-smirnov-release-filing
Of course he had contact with Russian intelligence sources. He was a paid informant for the FBI. He was doing what he was paid to do.
But somehow the Republicans are culpable because they accepted information from someone that the FBI trusted enough to pay him? If Smirnov were actually a Russian agent, then it’s the FBI that’s culpable.
To me, the question is not what Democrats will do, but what small-R republicans will do. I severely doubt that very many in government & its agencies, conservative or liberal, are pleased with these embarrassing antics. And that is what these antics are - colossally, acutely, brutally embarrassing. One liar in foreign pay can rope in a whole party!
Anyone taken in by this needs to be excised from power - and I bet I'm far from the only smoking guy to think so. (Grass, don't worry.) If I were any of these Republicans, and I had any real skeletons in my closet, I would be making my peace.
I wonder if Democrats realize how weak and pathetic they look. They lose the respect of voters with their refusal to stand up to Republican bullying. Nobody wants leaders who are afraid to speak or act.
I share your ire, completely, Brian, but I think Raskin's response can be seen in a different, less "we're disappointed" light. He might well believe, in a good faith disagreement with your opinion of how to address the issue politically, that his time and media exposure are better spent on more presidential campaign issues directly. I have to believe you find him to be an intelligent guy; not giving him *any* credit for his tactics is to dismiss that. We can disagree with allies about how to achieve our goals without slagging every one of them who doesn't do exactly what we think is best.
I’m of the mind that Dems won’t dig too deeply into their colleagues. I hope it’s because the DOJ or IGs are handling it but my instincts say otherwise.
Either because they, too, directly benefit from their relations in other countries OR because they’re *still* following “norms” that shouldn’t apply in the current era.
We know that the House isn’t the Senate, but the Senate isn’t immune from this same sort of influence, at least as I saw from watching how D’s failed to pursue the NRA-Russian-RNC-Manafort-GOP-Bannonite shenanigans that changed their platform and empowered the extremism against human rights and ethical behaviors.
A global economy, or U.S. companies with offshore presence that dictates foreign policy in government, opens the door to capitalist corruption in every single branch. We’re screwed.
Before embarking on such a rash strategy, I think Democrats ought to check first with Maureen Dowd's brother.
Neither the Smirnov indictment nor the bail hearing memorandum establish that Smirnov was a Russian agent. He was, in fact, a paid informant to the FBI since 2010.
Now, if he were a Russian agent then either a) the FBI failed to detect this fact; or b) knowingly kept a Russian agent on their payroll, and failed to divulge to the Republicans that he was not a reliable source (albeit a paid one).
How exactly were the Republicans supposed to know what a) the FBI failed to detect; or b) deliberately kept secret? Are the Republicans presumed to have an intelligence capability equal to or greater than the FBI? That would say more about the FBI’s incompetence, or malfeasance, than the Republicans.
In any case, there should be an investigation, but of the FBI, to determine their culpability in this fiasco. There is a scandal here, but not the one you think.
Losing is never an option for the radical right which, obviously, is the Republican Party. How much convincing do we need? The Republican Party is a menace to our democracy. We need some heroic actions from the Democrats to stand up for us.
Q