FOR INDEPENDENT ELECTION PROBE
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are embarking on a campaign to grind legislative business to a halt in an effort to force GOP colleagues and the Justice Department to heed their calls for an independent Russia probe after President Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey.
Democrats forced the cancellation of several hearings yesterday, and signaled the slowdown could last for days or longer — including potentially delaying confirmation of key Trump administration nominations pending in the upper chamber.
“We will be pursuing several things in the coming days and weeks, and we’ll have more to say about those next steps in the days ahead,” said Democratic Minority Leader U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.) after a closed-door meeting with party members.
On the Senate floor, Schumer called for a special prosecutor to be appointed by the highest ranking career civil servant in the Justice Department, not by Attorney General Jeff Sessions or his deputies.
Schumer also called for Comey to testify before Congress and for Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to brief senators in a closed-door meeting on the decision to fire Comey.
The stalled hearings angered some Republicans as well as President Trump.
“Dems have been complaining for months & months about Dir. Comey,” he tweeted. “Now that he has been fired they PRETEND to be aggrieved. Phony hypocrites!”
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) blasted Democrats for halting a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on U.S. law enforcement data collection, accusing them of “obstructing normal business in the Senate.”
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, (R-Maine) took to the Senate floor to vent her anger over the cancellation of a Senate Aging Committee hearing on the effect of isolation on seniors, noting that several witnesses traveled to Washington at their own expense to testify.
“This is nothing to do with the firing of Jim Comey,” she said.
But some GOP lawmakers have begun to join Democrats in calling for an independent probe, including U.S. Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-Calif.), Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) and Justin Amash (R-Mich.).
U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is the only Republican in the upper chamber so far to back an independent special committee, but several GOP members have expressed concern about the manner Comey was dismissed.
Whether the Democrats’ move will be successful will depend on how many Republicans they can move, said Christopher Schroeder, a Duke University law professor and former U.S. assistant attorney general. He noted that the Watergate crisis ended only after Nixon realized he’d lost the support of his own party.
“Today, will enough Republican leaders take the same perspective, or will they see this as a battle between Democrats and Republicans to win or lose, and circle the wagons?” Schroeder said, saying the answer will come in the days and weeks ahead.