Republicans’ Antics Are Debasing Congress
Hearing on anti-Trump texts messages took a wrecking ball to the legislative branch’s oversight role.
An august body no more.
Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
If you support a strong, effective Congress, the hearing Thursday on the Hillary Clinton email investigation was deeply depressing.
To summarize: Congressional Republicans pressed FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok for explanations of his actions during the Clinton investigation and in Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russia and the Trump campaign. The lawmakers focused on text messages Strzok wrote in 2016 that derided then-candidate Donald Trump. In several instances, Strzok refused to answer on the grounds that the FBI had not authorized him to disclose information from ongoing investigations. Republicans then threatened to hold him in contempt.