Finally, a check on Trump
The countdown of the year’s most significant stories continues with the Democratic takeover of the House.
There is a real possibility that President Trump will shut down all or part of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation in 2019.
Trump appears to have picked the acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, largely for his hostility to the investigation. And although Trump’s nominee to be the next attorney general, William Barr, is a more serious figure than Whitaker, Barr too has also criticized the investigation on dubious grounds. Holding those views was probably a prerequisite for getting the job: Trump forced out the last attorney general, Jeff Sessions, because he refused to interfere in the investigation.
If you find this situation alarming — and you should — take a minute to imagine how much worse things would be if the Democrats had not retaken control of the House of Representatives.
While congressional Republicans have had control, they showed almost no willingness to hold Trump accountable for his actions. Were they still in charge next year, Trump would have had close to complete authority to make the investigations go away. He would have been able to serve as his own judge and jury, and we all know how he would have ruled.
Democratic control of Congress changes almost everything for the many Trump investigations. Ultimately, any inquiry into a president is a political matter as much as it is a legal one. Most experts believe a sitting president cannot be indicted, which means the remedy for an unfit or criminal president is impeachment and trial — an inherently political process.
If Trump were to fire Mueller, it would be an outrage deserving of immediate protest, from Congress and citizens alike. But it would not halt the Russia investigation. House Democrats would be able to continue that investigation, with subpoena power at their disposal.
That’s why the Democratic takeover of the House is No. 3 in my countdown of the year’s most important news stories.
The takeover has its roots in a larger progressive movement that began after Trump’s victory. If you haven’t read Lara Putnam’s and Theda Skocpol’s long piece — “Middle America reboots democracy” — in the journal Democracy about the movement, I recommend making time before the year ends. You can also check out Ryan Grim in The Intercept; and Charlotte Alter in Time.