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The Republicans' “investigate the investigation” tactic is utilized so frequently that it’s become something of a running joke in some political circles. For several GOP lawmakers, most notably House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, it’s become a reflexive, go-to response to probes the party finds politically inconvenient for one reason or another.
The GOP found the investigation into Donald Trump’s Russia scandal to be problematic, so Republicans investigated the investigation. The party didn’t care that Hillary Clinton was cleared in her email controversy, so Republicans endorsed investigating the investigation. Much of the party opposed the bipartisan investigation into the Jan. 6 attack, so Republicans are investigating the investigation.
Jordan and his cohorts were outraged by the former president’s indictment in New York, so they launched an investigation into the investigation. Congressional Republicans are incensed by special counsel Jack Smith’s probe, so the party is investigating the investigation. GOP officials have all kinds of concerns about Hunter Biden’s case, so the party is — let’s all say it together — investigating the investigation.
And in Fulton County, Georgia, Trump and a striking number of his associates have now been indicted as part of an investigation into interference in the 2020 election. Take a wild guess what the Ohio Republican leading the House Judiciary Committee wants to do now. Politico reported this afternoon:
House Republicans are replaying a familiar script: playing political defense in former President Donald Trump’s legal battles. The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday launched an investigation into Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, hours before Trump is expected to turn himself in following his indictment on racketeering charges related to his push to overturn the 2020 presidential election in that state.
In a written letter to the local prosecution, Jordan said the “indictment and prosecution implicate substantial federal interests, and the circumstances surrounding your actions raise serious concerns about whether they are politically motivated.” To that end, the far-right congressman directed Willis to hand over information on her federal interactions — including work with Smith’s office — by Sept. 7, which is two weeks from today.
Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California, also a member of the House Judiciary Committee, described Jordan’s latest gambit as “stupid,” and it’s worth understanding why.
At the heart of the Republican’s newest investigation is a conspiracy theory of sorts: Jordan and his allies apparently believe there are powerful federal officials who are secretly pulling the strings, helping orchestrate these prosecutions. By way of evidence, the Judiciary Committee chairman points to ... nothing in particular.
But Jordan keeps launching investigations, sending letters, making demands, and setting deadlines, hoping that someday, he might uncover imagined proof that almost certainly doesn’t exist.
Indeed, as Lieu noted, federal law enforcement works with local law enforcement “all the time.” It’s “totally irrelevant if they did that [in the Fulton County matter], or not.”
What’s more, as Jordan really ought to have learned after his foray into the case in Manhattan, the House Judiciary Committee doesn’t have jurisdiction to insert itself into criminal prosecutions at the state and local level.
Or put another way, Willis is free to put the Ohio congressman’s letter in the circular file.