Chuck Schumer is leading the Democrats’ charge of Russia conspiracy theories.
Now he’s tied this fever dream to the confirmation of the next FBI Director.
Schumer is insisting that no new FBI Director be confirmed until a special prosecutor is named to investigate the Russia conspiracy theory.
CNN reports:
“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that the Senate should refuse to confirm a new FBI director until the Department of Justice appoints a special counsel to lead a probe into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“I think there are a lot of Democrats who feel that way,” Schumer said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We’ll have to discuss it as a caucus, but I would support that move.”
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, proposed the idea after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey last week.
Trump has yet to name his choice to replace Comey, for which interviews have taken place this weekend, and the Justice Department thus far has declined to appoint a special prosecutor. Republicans leading Congress have also declined to compel a special prosecutor or create an independent investigative commission.”
No Trump associates are accused of committing a crime.
And Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein have stated nothing they heard from former Director Comey contradicted Trump’s statement that he would was not under investigation.
So it’s not clear what exactly a prosecutor would investigate.
And with Republicans holding the majority, they can confirm Trump’s pick with just a party line vote.
Democrats have no one to blame for that but themselves.
In 2013, Schumer joined Harry Reid in voting to change the Senate rule to allow for nominations of all appointments except Supreme Court nominees to proceed with just a majority of Senators.
Democrats – and many in the media – are demanding a special prosecutor only for the sake of political embarrassment.
A prosecutor could drag the investigation on for years – and create a crowd of scandal that hovers over Trump as he runs for re-election in 2020 – and charge Trump associates with process crimes or file charges on issues unrelated to the main investigation.
There is no suggestion anyone associated with Trump broke the law, but a prosecutor would feel obligated to justify their existence and come up with a crime to prosecute.
So far, Republicans are wisely rejecting the Democrats and the media’s calls.
And thanks to rule changes pushed through by none other than Chuck Schumer, they can dismiss his threat of holding up the FBI Director’s confirmation until a special prosecutor is named.