House Republicans left Washington Thursday night relatively optimistic that they’d be able to shake off former FBI Director James Comey’s dramatic testimony and refocus on their agenda, confident that so far at least, no evidence has surfaced showing that President Trump was colluding with the Russians as they tried to influence the 2016 election.
That’s leaving many of them hopeful that they can start making progress on issues like tax reform, while their Senate colleagues continue to write a healthcare reform bill.
“That is an ongoing battle,” Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said this week about the Russia probe and efforts by Democrats to tie Trump to the controversy. “Of course the Democrats are going to take everything they possibly can and use it as a weapon.”
Brooks, who is running in the GOP primary for the seat held by Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., said he thinks Republicans so far are winning on the substance.
“I think we are winning,” he said. “I think the ultimate outcome is going to be, from the investigation, that there was a Russian attempt to impact the election. I don’t think there will be any evidence that the Russians were successful in changing any one person’s vote.”
“The big fish that the Democrats are trying to catch … is the president himself,” Brooks said. “They’re going to lose on that across the board.”
Trump came out firing at Comey early Friday in a tweet and claimed “total and complete vindication” after the former FBI director testified that he told Trump on three occasions that he personally was not under investigation. Other similarly cheered that result.
“Was this an overall better day for the president than it was those who want to impeach him? By far, better for the president,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who chairs the House Freedom Caucus. “I think what we have here is truly is a president who has been vindicated for many of the things that he has said.”
That sentiment is important for the GOP, especially in the face of several important elections coming up in the next few weeks and months. That includes three House contests, the Alabama Senate special election and the Virginia gubernatorial contest, which could be the real prize of all the contests.
Most immediately, Republicans are playing defense in the Georgia 6th Congressional District race where Democrat Jon Ossoff holds a slight advantage over Republican Karen Handel in the race to replace Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
Democrats are doing their best to keep the Comey testimony at the forefront as those elections take place. Some Republicans, however, were downplaying Comey’s claim that Trump pushed for the FBI to stop investigating former national security adviser Mike Flynn as old news that won’t affect the polls.
“I don’t think we heard anything new that we haven’t heard before,” said Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky. “To my knowledge, it’s not affecting the polling at this stage.”
Ultimately, GOP lawmakers believe the main political winner for them is if they deliver on their campaign promises, including on healthcare and tax reform. However, in order for that to happen, the noise from the White House needs to be tamped down and former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s investigation has to deliver a positive result.
“The only political winner out there has nothing to do with Russia. Has nothing to do with the president’s exoneration from yesterday. It has more to do with are we actually delivering on the promises that the president and many members of Congress campaigned on,” Meadows said. “And each week that goes by where we haven’t delivered on those has more of a political liability than any plus or minus that might have come out of yesterday’s testimony.”
