Bwa-hahahahaha. [breathes] Bwa-hahahahaha:
Ahead of President Joe Biden’s meeting Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, congressional Democrats said they are no longer seeking records of former President Donald Trump’s private meetings with the Russian leader, despite previous concerns Trump tried to conceal details of their conversations.
“The Biden administration is looking forward, not back,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., whose panel once considered subpoenaing Trump’s interpreter to testify about his July 2018 meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, where only an American interpreter was also present.
Gee, I wonder why House Democrats suddenly lost interest in setting precedents for intruding in presidential diplomacy? I’m stumped. Does anyone else have any thoughts about their sudden lack of desire in making presidential translators answer to Congress about summit meetings?
Could it be that they’re worried about a Republican majority going on a similar fishing expedition in 2023 regarding Joe Biden’s discussions with Vladimir Putin today? Naaah, that can’t be it. It must be that they just want to “look forward, not back.”
Or that their claim to require those records was nonsense in the first place:
While Bruen said any gaps in the government’s record of Trump’s conversations with Putin could create “major blind spots” in Biden’s preparations, there’s been no indication that the questions have disrupted Biden’s preparations.
In March, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters she was “not aware” of any “deep dive” into finding out what Trump and Putin discussed during their one-on-one meetings. The White House declined to comment on whether the topic was revisited before Wednesday’s summit.
The truth was that this was an unprecedented intrusion by Congress into presidential diplomacy in the first place. It took place during the Russia-collusion hysteria, which House Democrats both fueled and manipulated to their political benefit. The Helsinki summit was a PR disaster for reasons that had nothing to do with Trump’s private conversations with Putin; it was his public statements that created problems. In the end, though, the summit itself was meaningless, a bad idea from the start for the same reasons today’s Geneva summit is ill-advised. But the intrusion into Trump’s private conversations by attempting to subpoena his official translator was a radical step that would have severely undermined future presidents in their constitutional role in shaping foreign policy and dealing with other heads of state and government. Had they succeeded, what foreign leader would ever have a frank conversation with an American president, at the risk of having that information leaked by members of Congress?
Now that the shoe has begun to transfer to the other foot, House Democrats realize that this precedent could make life difficult for their own current president. Perhaps especially for their own current president, considering how undisciplined Biden gets when conversing publicly and privately. That’s why they’re dropping this just as this summit begins and hoping everyone buys the “looking forward” excuse.
This article was originally published by Hot Air. Read the original article.
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