It’s either that or knowing they were going to lose anyways they chose not to lose AND look bad.
Who knew Zapp Brannigan was a member of SD.
Higgins is a piece of work. Extreme right winger and conspiracy theorist. Married four times.
Or he might be trying to win a Jeannette Rankin Award.
It just passed the Senate by unanimous consent. Now on to Trump’s desk.
So Trump gave the Republicans permission to vote for release so it won’t harm their reelection bids. He will sign the bill claiming that he always wanted transparency. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing Summers investigation, the DOJ will be unable to release any material. Such a shame since Trump and the Republicans wanted so badly to release the files.
Another Checkers speech?
After only 218 signed the discharge petition. The other 209 courageous Representatives have principals that could be carried away by a gentle breeze.
That sounds like it might backfire. I’m not counting on it, but telling people you are totally releasing them and then coming up with an excuse not to seems like a big risk.
MAGAs will believe anything if it fits with their broken world view. Anything.
I think you forgot that they’re the ones who seem to be yelling the loudest for the files to be released. For nearly any other subject that might be true, but not this one. And the Republicans seem to realize this, which is why they were going to defy Trump and vote for release before Trump suddenly “changed his mind” so he can pretend this is at his order.
Or a Trump Command.
I’m surprised the Senate acted so fast. In his press conference today Johnson was practically begging them to either let the bill die or water it down to the point of uselessness.
Is there anyone here who works in government who can confirm whether or not this is a risk? I would assume that materials under Congressional subpoena have some form of document control. I always thought it was silly on 24 when there was just one copy of some damaging information and it was Jack Bauer’s only lead and the terrorists end up winning because dammit, there’s not enough time! But when it comes to this, I assume Kash Patel can’t just saunter into Congress with a Sharpie and start making “corrections”. Trump and co. can put out their own version of the files but I’d assume an unaltered original continues to exist somewhere (and hopefully in many places).
I was thinking along these lines too. And that others have seen and documented these, including those not part of the Trump administration. If something is altered or redacted, there is likely a way to prove that, and people will know. It’s not like the chain of custody is Epstein => Trump => Public.
Precisely because he did.
Trump either has a plan to stop the release later or he has been convinced that his deeds have been sufficiently purged and the deeds of Democrats have been sufficiently fabricated, that he can bullshit his way through it. Of course, the lies will be clumsy and stupid but who is MAGA going to believe? It worked for him for the Russia investigation, the 2020 election and Jan. 6. No reason he won’t try the same blunt force approach here. He can absolutely convince MAGA that it was all Democrats involved by flooding the zone with those lies 24/7.
The quick collapse of Republicans on this is an example of how all power is unitary - Trump has been looking a bit weaker in recent weeks, since the election blowouts, as well as his wild flailing on Epstein and other issues. A weaker Trump is suddenly less scary to Republicans in congress - on any issue.
This is why Democrats should not let up, on this or any other issue, including fascism. Every blow they land makes Trump a little bit weaker - not just on a particular issue, but overall.
IMO, of course.
No, it’s simpler than that. Trump saw the vote was going to go against him, which in his mind would make him a “loser”. This was he gets to pretend releasing the files was his idea all along and they did it because he told them to.
Honestly, I’m even more surprised that it was Chuck Schumer who got it passed. Who knew he was actually capable of accomplishing something besides rolling over and playing dead? What about the NORMS, Chuck?!
I guess when the stakes are low, and an issue isn’t controversial, and you aren’t going to get much resistance from the other side, Chuck is the man to get it done!