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IMPEACHMENT, CONTINUED: THE MUELLER WARS GO ON AND ON. House Democrats have been trying to get a look at the secret grand jury material inside the Mueller report. Doing so requires a court order, and the case quickly rose to the Supreme Court. On Wednesday night, SCOTUS temporarily denied the Democrats’ request, at least until further review.
House Democrats told the Court they needed the undisclosed grand jury material in case they wanted to make another run at President Trump. “If this material reveals new evidence supporting the conclusion that President Trump committed impeachable offenses, the [House Judiciary Committee] will proceed accordingly — including, if necessary, by considering whether to recommend new articles of impeachment,” Democrats wrote.
The impeachment of Donald Trump ended on February 5, when the president was acquitted. That was 106 days ago. Now it appears Democrats are already thinking about doing it again. Fortunately for the public, the Supreme Court case will take some time. So an impeachment rerun will have to wait for a second Trump term, if there is one.
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MEANWHILE, MORE NEWS IN THE INVESTIGATION OF THE INVESTIGATION: It turns out Susan Rice, President Obama’s last national security adviser, wrote her infamous January 20, 2017 “by the book” memo-to-self on the advice of the White House counsel. The memo stated — out of the blue, it seemed to some observers — that Obama assured the participants of a January 5, 2017 Oval Office meeting at which the Michael Flynn wiretap was discussed that he wanted them to handle everything “by the book.” Rice used the term three times, just in case readers might have missed it.
Now we know Rice’s lawyers informed a group of Senate Judiciary Committee members back in 2018 that, “Given the importance and sensitivity of the subject matter, and upon the advice of the White House Counsel’s Office, Ambassador Rice created a permanent record of the discussion.” But given that the meeting was on January 5, and Rice wrote her memo-to-self on January 20, why did Rice wait two weeks to get around to it? “Because that was the first opportunity she had to do so, given the particularly intense responsibilities of the national security adviser during the remaining days of the Administration and transition,” her lawyers wrote.
And what about the time? The Rice memo was dated 12:15:33 p.m. on January 20. That just happened to be Inauguration Day, and it just happened to be 15 minutes and 33 seconds after Donald Trump became president. So what gives? Rice’s lawyers said there must have been some sort of mistake. “Ambassador Rice memorialized the discussion in an email sent to herself during the morning of January 20, 2017,” they wrote. “The time stamp reflected on the email is not accurate, as Ambassador Rice departed the White House shortly before noon on January 20.”
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany addressed the Rice memo Wednesday. The whole thing is “so peculiar,” she said. “It’s inauguration day. You’re moving out of the White House. This is the most powerful building on planet Earth. Susan Rice is moving out, reflecting on her time here and what is she doing? She’s not packing her boxes. She’s not being nostalgic about her time in the White House. What she’s doing is writing an email where three times she writes that President Obama emphasized to conduct the investigation against Michael Flynn ‘by the book, ‘by the book,’ ‘by the book.’ She writes it three times. As Shakespeare said, thou ‘doth protest too much,’ Susan Rice.”
So now, what if a Republican lawmaker wanted to learn more about the memo? Given the fact that White House counsel advice was involved, it seems likely there would be more documentation about either the Rice memo, or the January 5 meeting, or both. But taking a look at such papers would probably involve going through the National Archives and probably the Obama presidential library. Let’s just say it seems unlikely such a request would be granted anytime soon.
