Grassley pulls Russiagate bait-and-switch
Remember those headlines from earlier in the week that stated that Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley was going to call Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr. to testify before the committee? Well, in light of the refusal of both men to testify in public the generous decision of both men to provide documents and materials to the committee along with a promise to be interviewed by staffers – not to mention the monsoon of bad news for Grassley’s fellow traveller Donald J. Trump this week – it looks as if the good chairman has pulled a bait-and-switch.
The Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena Friday to the co-founder of the firm that commissioned the now-infamous dossier of unsubstantiated allegations about President Donald Trump after he declined to testify before Congress next week.
Glenn Simpson’s lawyer said he is on vacation and traveling overseas through early August, prompting Chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein to compel his attendance. The senators said Simpson’s attorney has asserted that his client will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights in response to the subpoena.
In an earlier letter to the committee, Simpson’s lawyer made clear his objections to the Wednesday hearing on the Foreign Agents Registration Act go well beyond his vacation schedule.
“This hearing’s purported focus on FARA is pretext for an exploration of Fusion GPS’ reported work, on behalf of other clients, to investigate the ties of Donald J. Trump, his campaign and their associates to Russia,” the letter says.
Here’s the deal: Grassley is trying to cook up a narrative that Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are somehow behind Fusion GPS’ now-legendary dossier on Donald Trump (including the explosive “pee party” allegation). Expect Feinstein and the Dems to make mincemeat of the theory.
