David Manney jokes at PJMedia.com that a Democratic US senator’s recent comments might mark a sign of the apocalypse.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has admitted that Republicans may have found a real problem. Washington remains standing, the sun rose on schedule, and no trumpet has sounded from the heavens, but the moment still feels unusual.
Blumenthal said Republicans are “rightly concerned” about a possible breach of Justice Department norms and improper access to communications gathered during former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of President Donald Trump. …
… He called for more facts and an investigation, while several other Democrats preferred silence. …
… Blumenthal’s response became more striking beside his colleagues’ reactions. Sen. Cory “Sparticus” Booker (D-N.J.), whose messages were among those collected, offered no comment. Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also declined to discuss the records. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he hadn’t closely followed the dispute. …
… Acknowledging possible misconduct inside a Biden Justice Department investigation carries a different political cost.
Blumenthal validated Republican concerns about an investigation aimed at Trump, the subject on which his party has treated skepticism as disloyalty. One cautious sentence disturbed a comfortable partisan arrangement.
His background may explain the brief outbreak of judgment. Blumenthal served as U.S. attorney for Connecticut and spent 20 years as the state’s attorney general before entering the Senate. He knows why prosecutors separate investigators from potentially privileged evidence.
I would love to blindly state that I think Blumenthal’s actions were completely above board, 100% altruistic. But I can’t give you that. I’d probably argue the broken clock adage. Who knows what Blumenthal is thinking?
He also knows a failed safeguard can’t be waved away because the target was Trump.
The apocalypse can wait; Blumenthal hasn’t joined the “normal” Democratic Party, condemned Smith, or even endorsed a Republican candidate. He merely admitted the evidence raises legitimate questions, which counts as an event in modern Washington.
