To hear MAGA Republicans tell it, the indictment of Donald Trump for mishandling national security secrets is one of the most grotesque injustices in U.S. history. They have called for mass protests, vowed “war” in retaliation and even hinted that his supporters should rise up in armed rebellion.
So surely the GOP-controlled House will exercise maximal tactics to sabotage Trump’s prosecution as it gains steam in the coming months, right?
We’ll see about that.
Rep. Jim Jordan went on CNN Sunday and offered a tortured defense of Trump that suggests a coming split among Republicans over how aggressively to fight for the former president. MAGA Republicans will expect the House to do everything within its power, but it’s not clear that the House can do all that much — or that many non-MAGA Republicans will even want to.
Gary Abernathy: Indicting an ex-president and leading candidate requires more than this
“This is as political as it gets!” Jordan raged on CNN about the indictment. The Ohio Republican insisted that the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, will “get to the bottom” of what he believes is the fact that “federal agencies have been turned on the American people.”
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Jordan’s willingness to defend any and all of Trump’s alleged misconduct appeared absolute. Pressed on extraordinary charges that include willful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice, Jordan kept insisting that Trump had declassified the documents, which allegedly included information related to U.S. nuclear programs and vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies.
Worse, Jordan strangely suggested that Trump can keep “declassified” information “wherever he wants,” dismissing concerns about it being left in the bathroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Yet Jordan admitted he doesn’t actually know whether Trump declassified any of it, saying he takes Trump at his word.
Someone willing to offer such ludicrous spin will presumably be willing to use his committee to derail the prosecution by any means necessary. So what can Jordan do?
First, he can harass the prosecution by casting a wide net for documents. On Friday, he sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding internal communications about the FBI decision to search Mar-a-Lago, apparently untroubled by the indictment’s striking allegation that Trump hid reams of documents from his own lawyer before the search.
The Justice Department will most likely respond that divulging sensitive information related to ongoing investigations and prosecutions is against department policy, as it did to a similar GOP demand earlier this year. Whereupon Jordan’s committee will probably issue a subpoena, which the department will most likely fight.
Then what? Presumably the House will come under pressure to hold Garland in contempt. But would that pass? Does House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) really want Republicans representing districts that President Biden carried in 2020 to vote for such a naked effort to derail an apparently damning prosecution? Moderate Senate Republicans have been muted, a possible tell about where their House counterparts will land.
If the case against Trump keeps marching forward and Jordan’s antics produce little, it’s plausible that MAGA Republicans could demand the threat of a government shutdown to defund or otherwise hobble the prosecution.
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Republicans could theoretically try to add an amendment to that effect to one of this fall’s spending bills, says Brookings Institution scholar Sarah A. Binder. But it would probably lack the votes to pass the House. “I’m highly skeptical such a move would succeed,” Binder told me.
Of course, Republicans can employ all these moves merely to spin up a miasma of generalized corruption around the prosecution.
“They’re going to want to sabotage the credibility of the case in the minds of the jurors,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told me. Swalwell suggested that the goal is a “cloud over the case” and a jury “tainted in favor of Donald Trump.”
In this, Jordan can count on the right-wing media, which will treat any and all bits of information he generates about the prosecution as damning proof of its irredeemable corruption. These sources are already smearing the indictment with deranged conspiracy theories.
Ruth Marcus: Who is not implicated in the Trump indictment? Hillary Clinton.
To be clear, congressional oversight of law enforcement is an essential component of the rule of law. Republicans could theoretically conduct this in good faith and possibly produce genuine evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.
But Jordan’s track record is awful. He has relied on FBI “whistleblowers” who peddle conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He has issued subpoenas designed to persuade conservative parents to feel like FBI targets when they aren’t. He has harassed academics who study disinformation to pretend that conservatives are being silenced.
Above all, Jordan’s committee seems devoted to creating the impression that he is striking great blows against the Biden administration on behalf of MAGA nation and its persecuted masses, and especially on behalf of Trump himself.
But if the prosecution of Trump advances, MAGA Republicans might demand not performative strikes but real results. If so, the GOP split will deepen between those who want to go through the motions of defending Trump without aligning themselves too firmly against the rule of law, and those who want the House to treat the fantasy of Trump’s persecution as a genuine MAGA emergency, and act accordingly.
So surely the GOP-controlled House will exercise maximal tactics to sabotage Trump’s prosecution as it gains steam in the coming months, right?
We’ll see about that.
Rep. Jim Jordan went on CNN Sunday and offered a tortured defense of Trump that suggests a coming split among Republicans over how aggressively to fight for the former president. MAGA Republicans will expect the House to do everything within its power, but it’s not clear that the House can do all that much — or that many non-MAGA Republicans will even want to.
Gary Abernathy: Indicting an ex-president and leading candidate requires more than this
“This is as political as it gets!” Jordan raged on CNN about the indictment. The Ohio Republican insisted that the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, will “get to the bottom” of what he believes is the fact that “federal agencies have been turned on the American people.”
ADVERTISING
Jordan’s willingness to defend any and all of Trump’s alleged misconduct appeared absolute. Pressed on extraordinary charges that include willful retention of national defense information and conspiracy to obstruct justice, Jordan kept insisting that Trump had declassified the documents, which allegedly included information related to U.S. nuclear programs and vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies.
Worse, Jordan strangely suggested that Trump can keep “declassified” information “wherever he wants,” dismissing concerns about it being left in the bathroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Yet Jordan admitted he doesn’t actually know whether Trump declassified any of it, saying he takes Trump at his word.
Someone willing to offer such ludicrous spin will presumably be willing to use his committee to derail the prosecution by any means necessary. So what can Jordan do?
First, he can harass the prosecution by casting a wide net for documents. On Friday, he sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding internal communications about the FBI decision to search Mar-a-Lago, apparently untroubled by the indictment’s striking allegation that Trump hid reams of documents from his own lawyer before the search.
The Justice Department will most likely respond that divulging sensitive information related to ongoing investigations and prosecutions is against department policy, as it did to a similar GOP demand earlier this year. Whereupon Jordan’s committee will probably issue a subpoena, which the department will most likely fight.
Then what? Presumably the House will come under pressure to hold Garland in contempt. But would that pass? Does House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) really want Republicans representing districts that President Biden carried in 2020 to vote for such a naked effort to derail an apparently damning prosecution? Moderate Senate Republicans have been muted, a possible tell about where their House counterparts will land.
If the case against Trump keeps marching forward and Jordan’s antics produce little, it’s plausible that MAGA Republicans could demand the threat of a government shutdown to defund or otherwise hobble the prosecution.
Skip to end of carousel
Ongoing investigations involving Donald Trump
Republicans could theoretically try to add an amendment to that effect to one of this fall’s spending bills, says Brookings Institution scholar Sarah A. Binder. But it would probably lack the votes to pass the House. “I’m highly skeptical such a move would succeed,” Binder told me.
Of course, Republicans can employ all these moves merely to spin up a miasma of generalized corruption around the prosecution.
“They’re going to want to sabotage the credibility of the case in the minds of the jurors,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told me. Swalwell suggested that the goal is a “cloud over the case” and a jury “tainted in favor of Donald Trump.”
In this, Jordan can count on the right-wing media, which will treat any and all bits of information he generates about the prosecution as damning proof of its irredeemable corruption. These sources are already smearing the indictment with deranged conspiracy theories.
Ruth Marcus: Who is not implicated in the Trump indictment? Hillary Clinton.
To be clear, congressional oversight of law enforcement is an essential component of the rule of law. Republicans could theoretically conduct this in good faith and possibly produce genuine evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.
But Jordan’s track record is awful. He has relied on FBI “whistleblowers” who peddle conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He has issued subpoenas designed to persuade conservative parents to feel like FBI targets when they aren’t. He has harassed academics who study disinformation to pretend that conservatives are being silenced.
Above all, Jordan’s committee seems devoted to creating the impression that he is striking great blows against the Biden administration on behalf of MAGA nation and its persecuted masses, and especially on behalf of Trump himself.
But if the prosecution of Trump advances, MAGA Republicans might demand not performative strikes but real results. If so, the GOP split will deepen between those who want to go through the motions of defending Trump without aligning themselves too firmly against the rule of law, and those who want the House to treat the fantasy of Trump’s persecution as a genuine MAGA emergency, and act accordingly.
