Dick Durbin Warns Failure to Investigate Trump is a Failure to Defend Democracy

Observing former President George W. Bush’s answering questions about the importance of an independent media this morning on NBC’s Today show, Mika Brzezinski said, “Well, that about sums it up.”

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Democratic whip and a member of the Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin (D-ILL) applauded Bush’s past and current defense of Islam, for saying terrorists are corrupting the religion of Islam.

Watch courtesy of MSNBC:

Brzezinski said Trump’s attacks on the media are “somewhat disturbing,” prompting Durbin to say, “It’s beyond that.”

“It’s troubling, because he’s questioned the integrity of our judiciary, so-called judges and judges you can’t trust because of their ethnic background, and then he goes in and goes after the media…The fact is, this is a tenuous moment in American history. We’re being tested, we will be tested on some very fundamental constitutional principles.”

Asked by Mark Halperin if he thought Republicans would “do a thorough apolitical investigation,” Durbin answered,

Durbin: “I can tell you I sat on the intelligence committee for four years. You couldn’t find the room we met in. Our meetings were in secret. They were classified…we need an independent and transparent investigation.”
 
Halperin: “But do you trust Mitch McConnell…and other Republicans to do that?”
 
Durbin: “No, I think that we need a special prosecutor or an independent commission.”
 
Halperin: “Is that because you don’t trust your senate Republican colleagues?”
 
Durbin: “I believe the venue they have chosen guarantees the American people will not know what is said and ultimately months from now, maybe years from now, they will produce a classified report which they’ll say is available to the American people if approval is gained from the White House.”

And he warned that this is bigger than just its effect on Americans: by failing to take Trump’s Russian scandal seriously we are perplexing and worrying our allies, causing them to question whether, since we won’t defend ourselves, how can we be trusted to defend them?

Durbin correctly pointed out that Republicans feel like they should be investigating the Affordable Care Act, not other Republicans. The GOP cannot be trusted to investigate Donald Trump in an apolitical and transparent manner. As President Bush said this morning, we need answers. And by we, he meant the American people.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.