In what may very well turn out to be fake news itself, Bloomberg reported this weekend that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are planning to launch several probes into President Donald Trump, including one where they will investigate the president’s tendency to call out the media for their biased, lying reporting. According to an anonymous House official quoted in the story, “House Democrats are opening an investigation into what they say are abuses of power by President Donald Trump through his attacks on the courts, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the media.”
One can hardly describe the irony of accusing the president of violating the First Amendment…but attacking him for exercising his First Amendment rights. But then, the Democrats have never been all that good about avoiding hypocrisy.
From Bloomberg:
Topics for the inquiry will include Trump’s public humiliation of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his attacks on actions by the liberal Ninth Circuit Court and his abuse of reporters as “dishonest” and “enemies of the people,” said the person, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The Judiciary Committee led by Democrat Jerrold Nadler of New York will announce the probe in days, the official said. There are plans to hold public hearings with witnesses, but it’s not immediately clear who will be summoned. A spokesman for Nadler said he had no immediate comment.
Presidents have wide leeway to use their bully pulpit to attack foes and get their way. But the effort comes amid a broader push by Democrats now controlling the House to investigate actions of the president and his administration.
The official said there are questions about whether Trump, through some of his actions, is going too far and undermining the rule of law, a reference to established and defined limits on the arbitrary exercise of power.
We can almost tolerate it when people like the publisher of The New York Times or your average liberal pundit claims that President Trump is making it dangerous for “truth-tellers” in the media. We can almost tolerate it when Jim Acosta gets on Twitter and claims that Trump has endangered journalists through his attacks on the press. These people are in love with themselves, and they have fallen for their own hype. It happens.
But it’s another matter entirely for our federal lawmakers to waste taxpayer dollars “investigating” this nonsense. Presidents long before Trump have had their issues with the media, and they are protected by the very same constitutional amendment as the newspapers themselves. There is nothing to “investigate” here. This is a political campaign masquerading as official congressional business. Hopefully, the American people will see it as such. But then again, Democrats will have the same fake news media watching their backs in a vicious, pathetic circle of liberalism.
