Trump in Lindsey Graham's Cross Hairs in Russia Probe

I have often been less than kind to Sen. Lindsey Graham who I often refer to as the "Palmetto Queen" given the wide suspicions that Graham is a closeted gay.  Despite such criticisms, unlike so many in the Republican Party, there are moments where Graham puts America ahead of the GOP and actually seems to care about the nation and its citizens.  We may get to see this loyalty to nation over loyalty to party as the Senate investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election - and possible Trump/Putin collusion - gets underway.  I continue to believe that Trump has dirty secrets that he doesn't want revealed.  The man has always seen himself above the law and, as a man suffering from malignant narcissism, thinks that anything that furthers his interests and/or inflated ego is perfectly acceptable.  Thus, it is no stretch to see him colluding with a hostile foreign power and a dictator he longs to emulate.  Highlights from Politico look at the likely coming clash between Der Trumpenführer and Graham:

Lindsey Graham lacks the resources and access that the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have to investigate Russia’s meddling in the presidential election.  But his Senate Judiciary subcommittee has something the intelligence panels don’t: a Republican chairman viewed not as a Donald Trump ally but as a fierce critic, who has no qualms with bucking party leaders to unravel the mystery of Russia’s interference in the election.

Graham and his Democratic partner, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, will seize the spotlight Wednesday during a public hearing on Russia’s election interference, to be held by Graham’s Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, which has jurisdiction over the FBI.

Graham and Whitehouse plan to use their perch to help ensure the public gets a full accounting of Russia’s intrusion and any possible ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

The bipartisan duo already has its first target: getting the FBI to clear up Trump’s claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in the run-up to the 2016 election. They sent a letter last week to the Justice Department asking it to turn over information that would confirm or refute Trump’s accusation — including warrant applications and court orders. The House Intelligence Committee is seeking the same information and so far neither has been unable to shake it loose.

Graham suggested Tuesday there would be consequences if the FBI continues stonewalling Congress — and said he plans to make an announcement at the start of the hearing on Wednesday warning the bureau to comply.

“If they don't honor this request and give us an answer, then I would say that we need a joint select committee because the regular order is not working,” Graham told reporters. “They’re about to screw up big time if they keep running to the Intel Committee and not answer that letter.”

Whitehouse appears more optimistic that he and Graham will get answers. In an interview with POLITICO, he said the senators got some clarity on the FBI probe after meeting with Comey privately earlier this month . . . . “I think he implicitly confirmed that they are looking at this and he said he’d get us a clearer explanation by [the Wednesday hearing]. That was satisfactory to both of us.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) indicated Tuesday he would not object if Graham’s panel decides to issue subpoenas to force the FBI to turn over the requested information.

In an interview, Whitehouse said there are key advantages to his joint investigation with Graham, more limited though it may be. For one, their subcommittee can operate in public, freed from the constraints of dealing with classified information. And the scope of their investigation is broader than it may appear at first blush, considering the FBI’s central role in federal probes looking into Russian connections.

“I do think it’s important that there be a public effort so that people can understand that Congress is in fact doing its job, and there is a forum where an investigation or information that can be discussed publicly has its day,” Whitehouse said. “We have oversight over the FBI and the FBI is all over this. So wherever they can go, we can go.”

The South Carolina senator has emerged as one of Trump’s top GOP critics on Capitol Hill, along with his close friend, Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.). . . . Graham is not up for reelection again until 2020, so he has no need to fear a primary challenge any time soon.

“I know that these kinds of — if the word is right, scandal — these kinds of investigations always lead to more information,” McCain said. “I just think there are more questions out there that haven't been answered.”

 As the investigation proceeds, one can expect crazy statements/behavior from Trump as he tries to change the subject and distract the media.  I hope Graham stays on target and takes down Trump - and many in the GOP potentially who have tried to protect his foul regime. 

The Anti-Trump GOP Stampede Begins

Try as I might to not write about Donald Trump, the man and his campaign are such a shit storm that it is nearly impossible to not mention the man multiple times a day.  Moreover, if it is not a post about Trump himself, then the flight of Republicans from his standard or the ridiculous, disingenuous statements of his supporters/sycophants illicit a reaction.  The good news is that - absent some "October surprise" via Wikileaks (for whom I have lost nearly all respect) or other source - Trump seems to be in a free fall in terms of support from what sane and morally decent Republicans are left in the party.  Yes, the fetid swamp of the GOP base of Christofascists and white supremacists who are as morally bankrupt as Trump will never leave his foul standard, but as a conservative columnist notes, others are stampeding away from Trump.  Here are column highlights:

Already this week, a letter from 50 respected Republican foreign-policy gurus announced that they would not support Donald Trump; Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) wrote an op-ed declaring that she would not vote for Trump; and Trump once again roiled the race when he told a packed rally: “By the way, and if [Hillary Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. The Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.”

The Clinton team, not surprisingly, took this as an invitation to commit violence. Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency and the CIA, told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “Well, let me say if someone else said that outside of the hall, he’d be in the back of a police wagon now, with the Secret Service questioning him.”

Whatever Trump meant, it was confirmation that he has never “pivoted” to become a credible presidential candidate. Collectively it has been a horrible start to another week of agony for Trump apologists. 

Big-name Republicans, smaller-name Republicans, conservative foreign-policy gurus, you name it — they are racing to the exits, no longer willing to maintain the fiction that Trump could be president.

The grass-roots group of Republicans who will be voting for Hillary Clinton, R4C16.org, has posted its endorsement. It is signed by a raft of Republicans who have served in GOP administrations, in the military and on GOP campaigns:

We are proud members of the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, a party rooted in liberty and respect for the individual.

Donald Trump betrays our values and beliefs. His campaign has been marked by isolationism, nationalism, vulgarity, and ignorance of serious policy matters. Supporting Mr. Trump forsakes Republican history, harms the Republican brand, and breaks the trust of millions of current and future Republican voters.

In the 2016 election, we will vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump for President of the United States. Secretary Clinton is a more qualified candidate and would make a better president. Voting for her is best for our country.

We will not allow Trumpism to become the new Republican party.

Co-founder Ricardo Reyes explained in a press release, “Republicans recognize it’s a binary option, Trump or Clinton. . . . . We are Republicans who believe our party’s nominee is a disaster.”

In the vicious Trump campaign environment, it is not an easy thing to speak out against one’s party; those Republicans who speak their minds are bombarded with insults, threats and ridicule. There is nothing personally to be gained for those like the R4C16 co-founders who have left politics to re-engage at the expense of their private careers. Even if Trump loses — which seems likely — they will face accusations of disloyalty from the party regulars. 

Cynics who dismiss Trump opponents as careerists might want actually to talk to those who have spoken out. We have spent months talking to #NeverTrump activists, Free the Delegate members, foreign-policy figures, political operatives and others who refuse to join the Trump bandwagon. Virtually all have voted consistently for Republicans for president. Many have never voted for a Democrat for any national office. They are mostly foreign-policy hawks. They are sincerely concerned that the GOP as currently constituted is not a viable national party. They are personally affronted by Trump. 

That process of organizing Trump defectors is now underway. Reyes explains, “We will be releasing more names as Republicans come around to endorsing Clinton. We will be organizing and participating in swing district events.” The impact of these efforts will be hard to measure in November, but keeping the percent of GOP support for Trump in the low 80s means millions of Republicans will have stood up to Trump. If, as Reyes says, their “goal is to provide a voice for Republicans who aren’t with Trump but distinct and separate from the official campaign,” they may have already succeeded.

I encourage readers to check out the Republicans for Clinton website.  While Hillary is hardly my ideal candidate, it is encouraging to see that at least some Republicans have not totally thrown morality and decency and the good of the country out the window in favor of blind partisanship.  Indeed, these Republicans are akin to some that once made me proud to be a Republican - before the Christofascist cancer began to metastasize in the GOP.