Last Friday on TRMS, Rachel had a big story about how the GOP was refusing to appoint its members of the intelligence committee. The jist of her argument was that, by failing to do so, the committee would be unable to meet, and therefore unable to authorize Chairman Adam Schiff from releasing more transcripts to the Special Counsel’s Office. Without the official transcripts, Mueller can’t charge witnesses like Erik Prince and Carter Page with lying to Congress, the way he just did with Roger Stone.
After Rachel presented her piece, she then brought Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who is on the intelligence committee, who downplayed the Republican inaction (this is my transcript from watching the video, as MSNBC hasn’t issued the official transcript yet):
They can sit on their hands and not name people to the intelligence committee; this will be the last gasp of Republican obstructionism.
This morning on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd raised this issue with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Here’s the exchange:
CHUCK TODD:
— you have not appointed all members of the House Intelligence Committee on the Republican side. Why?
REP. KEVIN McCARTHY:
I will next week.
CHUCK TODD:
Some people think you’re trying -- it's helping to delay the transcripts that could get sent to Mueller.
REP. KEVIN McCARTHY:
No, nothing of the sort. The reason why committees weren't already reported, the Democrats were not organized. They waited until after the speaker race, which Republicans would never do, to give us the ratios. I have just now met —
CHUCK TODD:
Intel is always the same ratio, though, in fairness —
REP. KEVIN McCARTHY:
No —
CHUCK TODD:
— on that front.
REP. KEVIN McCARTHY:
No, we had negotiations with the speaker changing. I just, I just met with every single individual that I'm going to appoint on Friday. So it'll come out next week. MTP transcript
So, first of all, I need to retract my earlier diary, There IS a Functioning House Intelligence Committee, at least to the extent that I argued that the posting of a fresh list of 9 Republican members was evidence that the full committee had been appointed.
Next, I want to point out that the first indication that Schiff plans to release the transcripts came on Friday, after Stone had been arrested:
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Friday that the House Intelligence Committee will release all interview transcripts from its Russia probe to special counsel Robert Mueller. The Hill
though Schiff has been saying since last March that he wants to do this: Democrats May Seek Prosecution of Witnesses Who Misled House Intelligence Committee (Mother Jones Mar 16 2018) and Nunes kept stalling him.
Now, it is always possible that the Republicans are deliberately stalling in order to keep Mueller from getting those transcripts (joanreports suggested in this diary that “McCarthy may be stalling until Bill Barr gets confirmed as AG. Because Barr may have power to overrule Mueller that Whitaker may not have”). However, Barr has promised (for what it may be worth) to let Mueller do his job, so if Mueller is blocked from using these transcripts, word WILL get back to the House.
Coming from that perspective, it is odd that McCarthy told Todd he wouldn’t be naming the Republican members until next Friday. On the other hand, I think we have to concede two points: first is that, in normal times, it takes a new Congress a while to get its act together and get up and running. Second, these are not normal times: Congress has been consumed by the shutdown, and I would assume short-staffed, so that delays things even more.
(H/T to Laughing Gravy, who points out in a comment that McCarthy’s mention of Friday could mean that he met with the committee members on Friday, not that he plans to wait until next Friday to announce them. That makes more sense, and if true AND he nominates them all on Monday, then this really was a tempest in a teapot.)
For instance, on the House committee calendar meeting for the month of January 2019, there are a total 16 meetings of all committees. In January 2018, there were something like 30 committee meetings (the webpage makes it hard to count). In other words, things are just getting started.
It is also true that Schiff’s offer of all transcripts is different from Mueller’s request for one official transcript. But it’s also true that the committee voted (unanimously) last December — when Republicans were still in control — to give Mueller that transcript, and everyone knew at the time that this was the next step in preparing an indictment:
WaPo Dec 19, 2018: Mueller seeks Roger Stone’s testimony to House intelligence panel, suggesting special counsel is near end of probe of Trump adviser
NY Daily News: Dec 20, 2018: House hands over Roger Stone's interview transcripts to Mueller, indicating special counsel is ready to indict him
There’s been a certain amount of panic here that, by refusing to appoint their side of a committee, the Republicans can prevent that committee from functioning. Let me point that if this tactic would work, they would have done it a long time ago. No way would the rules allow the minority to prevent the House from functioning at all. If there IS a loophole, the Speaker can get it closed; in the House, the majority runs the show.
Also, because Nunes is a former chairman, he is automatically a member of the current committee, so there is already one Republican on it. Schiff can call a meeting any time, as I see it. If he’s waiting, it’s because Democrats still believe in comity. (And there have been any number of committee meetings where most or all of one side doesn’t bother to show up.)
Bottom line:
- There will be a House Intelligence Committee fully formed by the end of the week.
- Schiff will get the transcripts to Mueller by early next week.