The Patriot Post® · 'Constitutional Crisis'? Democrats' Faux Scandal

“Not one of the six Democrats granted access to what amounts to 99.9 percent of volume II of the Mueller report, which details the president’s behavior as it relates to obstruction of justice, have taken the opportunity to examine it,” writes National Review’s Jack Crowe. But according to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), there’s a “constitutional crisis” after President Donald Trump, at the request of the Justice Department, asserted executive privilege to protect Attorney General William Barr from being held in contempt of Congress. Undeterred, Democrats maintained their vacuous assertion that Barr is hiding something and voted to hold him in contempt anyway.

Spare us the hand-wringing over constitutional fidelity and the Rule of Law. This is nothing more than pure Democrat political theater meant to advance their manufactured faux scandal. Nadler peddles a myth when claiming that Barr is “not being truthful with Congress.” How has Barr not been truthful? In fact, the AG went above and beyond the requirements of law in order to get as much of Robert Mueller’s report to the American public as is legally possible. Anyone can get a copy, and key Democrats even have access to all but a few lines of redacted material.

But that’s not enough for Democrats. Their demand is that Barr break the law by presenting the report fully unredacted. As Hans von Spakovsky of The Heritage Foundation explains, “Unless Congress’s request for Rule 6(e) grand jury material falls squarely into one of the statutory or court-created exceptions, the attorney general — any attorney general — is prohibited from disclosing that material to Congress. And the congressional request doesn’t fit any of the exceptions.”

Why are Democrats making this demand, since Mueller’s team, which consisted of mostly Democrat lawyers, determined after nearly two years of investigation that no crime was committed? Because, as Mark Alexander notes, “It’s not about the substance of the Mueller report. It’s about keeping the fake narrative alive.” Democrats will not be satisfied with anything short of removing Trump. So, if there is a “constitutional crisis,” it’s not coming from Trump and the executive branch.

Nadler’s claim that the executive branch has somehow overstepped the Constitution’s delineation of powers is a charge that is nonsense on its face. Using the term “co-equal,” Nadler and the Democrats act like that means the executive branch is fully answerable to the legislative branch’s every petty demand. Clearly, Democrats believe their political position and interests are “more equal” than Trump’s.

Recall that it was the same Jerry Nadler who back in 2012 touted that he “just joined the #walkout of the House chamber to protest the shameful, politically-motivated GOP vote holding AG [Eric] Holder in contempt.” When it was a Democrat sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Nadler was singing a completely different tune. But it’s 2019 and Trump is president…

The truth is, Democrats know that there is no “smoking gun” to be found in any of the redacted portions of the Mueller report. They just want an excuse to claim that Barr is engaged in “obstruction.” And they’re trying to tar Barr as a biased Trump stooge who is so politically compromised that he cannot be trusted as the nation’s number-one lawman. The real play? Self-protection. As Victor Davis Hanson observes, “Progressives are terrified that a number of Trump’s critics — Brennan, Clapper, Comey, McCabe — may soon be indicted. They apparently seek to preempt such indictments by attacking Barr, a seemingly no-nonsense prosecutor who will likely follow up on any criminal referrals from any inspector general that reach his desk.” Those coup co-conspirators pose the real constitutional crisis.