Who Will Go To Prison Sooner, Nunes Or Trumpanzee, Jr.?

Currently, Buddy Carter is in a fierce competition with Louie Gohmert to be recognized as the most clueless member of Congress. Yesterday he told NPR has "every State of the Union that the president has given has gotten better and better" and went on about how he's become one of the great presidents of all times. The "president" has given two of those addresses, but perhaps Carter has dreamed of being at dozens of them. Earl Leroy "Buddy" Carter, a pharmacist, represents the southeast corner of Georgia. In his recent reelection bid, he was trounced in the 2 counties where people graduate high school-- Chatham (Savannah) and Liberty (Hinesville), he just owned all the counties where the average education doesn't go beyond the 4th grade (Glynn, Camden, Bryan Effingham, Ware, Wayne, Pierce, Brantley, McIntosh, Long, Bacon, Charlton, Clinch, Lowndes and Echols).

Luckily, Earl Leroy Carter is not on the Intelligence Committee. Republicans on that committee are Devon Nunes (CA), Mike Conaway (TX), Mike Turner (OH), Brad Wenstrup (OH), Chris Stewart (UT), Rick Crawford (AR), Elise Stefanik (NY), Will Hurd (TX) and John Ratcliffe (TX). Nunes is dumb enough without having to drag Carter into it. How dumb? Dumb enough to be the subject of an investigation by the committee he used to chair! It's hardly news that Nunes routinely obstructed justice and sabotaged his own committee's investigation into Russian interference with the U.S. elections, all that being done to protect Trump. When the new chairman, Adam Schiff announced how the committee would conduct its investigation into Russian interference, there was a special paragraph that has Nunes' name all over it: "Whether any actors-- foreign or domestic-- sought or are seeking to impede, obstruct, and/or mislead authorized investigations into these matters, including those in Congress." That likely also spells trouble for one non-committee member, Dana Rohrabacher, who was defeated for relection in 2018, largely because his constituents came to see him as a Kremlin operative. Mueller has already been investigating both Nunes and Rohrabacher.

Wednesday, in its first act since the Democrats have taken over, the committee voted to send interview transcripts from its Russia investigation-- including the deceitful, sworn testimony from Donald Trump, Jr.-- to Mueller, who could use them to prosecute perjury. Schiff: "The special counsel’s office, the Justice Department and its elements will now have access to those transcripts for any purpose which will facilitate justice."

When Republicans controlled the committee last year, then-Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) ended the panel’s Russia investigation and concluded that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

But Democrats said they would press on with the probe, arguing that key witnesses had not been interviewed. Schiff is reviving the investigation, placing a focus on potential money laundering and pledging to dive into The Trump Organization’s finances, among other issues.

On Wednesday, the committee announced the parameters of its investigation, which Schiff said will “go beyond Russia” and “will allow us to investigate any credible allegation that financial interests or other interests are driving the decision-making of the president or anyone in the administration.”

In a statement, Schiff said House investigators will broaden the scope of the Russia probe by looking into whether Trump or his associates “have sought to influence U.S. government policy in service of foreign interests” and “whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates.”

In response, Trump lashed out at Schiff, accusing the chairman of unfairly singling him out.

“Under what basis would he do that? He has no basis to do that. He’s just a political hack,” Trump said Wednesday from the White House. “He’s trying to build a name for himself. And I think that’s fine because that’s what they do. But there would be no reason to do that. No other politician has to go through that. It’s called presidential harassment. And it’s unfortunate. And it really does hurt our country.”

Trump will, no doubt, soon be learning that Schiff can tweet too. "I can understand why the idea of meaningful oversight terrifies the President. Several of his close associates are going to jail, others await trial, and criminal investigations continue. We’re going to do our job and won’t be distracted or intimidated by threats or attacks."