Program Note
[No full column today, as once again I was too busy with outside life. Instead, here is the outline of the column I would have written, after a rather extraordinary day in Washington.]
Wow, that was fast!
Congress can indeed move quickly, when they want to. The House speaker could have delayed the vote until just before or after Thanksgiving, but instead he scheduled it for today. After this weekend's about-face from Donald Trump, almost the entire Republican Party (with only one vote against in either chamber) passed the bill through both houses in one day.
When will we see the files?
Will the Trump administration attempt to hide behind the excuse that "there is an ongoing investigation," or will they release the files on the timeline the bill demands? Last week, Trump sicced the Justice Department on prominent Democrats mentioned in the files, and the attorney general leapt to open investigations -- even after she had (earlier this year) said there were no grounds for any further investigations. So will they now use these investigations as an excuse to refuse to release the files? Stay tuned....
Can Trump be trusted to release all the files?
Will the files mysteriously only mention prominent Democrats? That would be one glaring sign that something fishy is going on. Will Trump's name be scrubbed from all files? The Justice Department already combed through everything earlier this year with that precise goal, so this is a very pertinent question. If there is any attempt to release some files while withholding others, the only way we will find out about it is if someone at the Justice Department or F.B.I. blows the whistle. So that's something to be looking out for too....
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Yes, that was a head-spinner all right. From the president hauling in Representatives to the Situation Room to browbeat them into voting against the bill, to endorsing the bill and in return getting a near-unanimous House vote for it, in less than a week.
And with very few commentators or congresspeople noting the irony that, if Trump wanted his people to vote for the bill, then the bill had suddenly become unnecessary because it was all about forcing him, against his previous declared stand, to release the files.
"Yes, I want you all to vote for this bill that will make me do something I don't want to do. I mean, that I didn't want to do but I want to do it now. Wait, I mean..."
i still maintain that such a quick reversal only makes sense if Donald has been protecting someone other than just himself. if it were personally damaging to himself he would have lobbied, vetoed, gaslit, sued and played chicken until Congress backed off or the end of his term, whichever came first.