Let me get this straight. Chairmen of the House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy met with the FBI counsel before questioning Peter Strzok, and knew exactly what types of questions he would be permitted to answer in public regarding ongoing investigations. (That was made clear by Rep. Jerrold Nadler in later questioning...)
Gowdy began the hearing by asking exactly one of those questions he knew Mr. Strzok would not be allowed to answer. When Mr. Strzok replied that he is unable to answer that question, per FBI instructions, Gowdy proceeded to badger him and Goodlatte threatened Strzok with Contempt.
Got that?
Democrats tried to come to Strzok's defense with a barrage or points of order and motions, all of which were either denied or not recognized as valid by Goodlatte who was behaving very much like Lucy in a Peanuts cartoon and Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, making up the rules of CalvinBall as he went along. Finally, in a beautiful move laced with Karma, Rep. Swalwell made a motion to request that they consider Contempt for Steve Bannon, who also refused to answer Trey Gowdy's questions when he came before the same committee.
No one is holding their breath for that one.
Thank god for decent people like Rep. Jerrod Nadler from NY, who made the completely obvious and irrefutable point that this entire shitshow is an opportunity for Congressional Republicans to hammer a Federal employee for his personally held, private political beliefs. He elucidated that the Hatch Act prohibited the government from questioning prospective federal employees about their political preferences for exactly this reason - it should and does have no bearing whatsoever on whether they are able to perform their jobs, or uphold the law.
Federal employees are guaranteed the right to hold their own private political beliefs - just like every single other American citizen. Period. The end. It is not something for which they can be paraded in front of the House Judiciary Committee and questioned, badgered, humiliated, and/or fired. The texts in question were texts sent privately, to another private citizen, in a capacity never meant to become public, outside of their working hours.
I dunno...is it me, or are Republicans are starting to sound more and more Russian every day?
