Washington D.C., has been asleep for a very long time. It is where great ideas and innovative thinking go to die. But suddenly, as the investigations by House Democrats into Trump's suspect activities, prior to and after his election as president, heat up, the chances of a massive eruption taking place in our nation's Capitol grow exponentially.
The main objective of House Democrats is, as we keep hearing, to obtain a full Mueller report with no redactions, that is, except for areas of highly classified intelligence. They have said they will not accept a heavily redacted report by which Attorney General William Barr will try to cover up various damning evidence against Trump. And there is no question but that he will do exactly that unless he is stopped.
Barr
Barr is what is typically referred to as a manipulator, a master of cover-ups. It is a well known fact that he worked very hard and was entirely successful in pulling off his now famous cover-ups in the cases of Irangate and Iraqgate that took place almost three decades ago. I find it absolutely astounding that this shady part of his career is never discussed on liberal TV news channels; seems like it some kind of no, no.
In the April 9 hearing before the House Appropriations Committee Barr refused to answer the question of whether the president had seen the report or had been briefed on its key elements. Key question: can this person be trusted? Answer: NO!
When Barr appeared before Congress in his confirmation hearings he could not have been more evasive in his answers to the questions he was asked. He said he would act on the Mueller report based on Justice Dept. policy, depending on what was in the report; and he would not promise to let this report be provided to Congress and the American people exactly as Mueller produced it.
He now indicates that he will redact key areas involving individuals' privacy, as well as intelligence and grand jury matters. We can be sure that Congressional committees, when they receive the report, will dig very deeply into it to determine if he redacted important elements of the reports constitute a means of cover-up.
If it is determined that the honorable Barr deliberately redacted key evidence that involves Mueller's puzzling decision to purposely not provide a specific conclusion to the matter of obstruction on the part of Trump.
Mueller and his team
If the unhonorable Barr dares to, in any way, distort or cover up any part of the Mueller report he presents he might be in for big time trouble, because the appropriate House Committee will call upon Mueller to assist them in reviewing it. And, if he and one or more members of his team agree they could act as judges who have the best knowledge about every facet of what is in the report.
They would see any attempt by Barr to hide key key evidence from the Congress. They, together with House committee members, would pass judgment on the report and declare it to either fully acceptable, partly acceptable, or totally unacceptable.
If not fully acceptable then the appropriate committee would need to call Barr in for another hearing to explain his motives for what he did; and why he decided to cover up certain parts of the report. This is when we could see a massive eruption take place; when Barr is up against the wall, when he has been caught once again in a cover-up, he will not be able to run and hide and anything can happen at that point.
Tax Returns
Now let's talk about the Democrats objective of obtaining Trump's tax records and how the Republicans will use every tactic at their disposal to obstruct every thing that the Democrats try to do. The Democrats absolutely need to get their hands on Trump's tax returns but that is easier said than done because the head of the IRS, Charles Rettig, is a loyal Republican. Indications were that he would most certainly refuse to issue them to Richard Neal, the chairman of the House Ways and Means committee. What then happened is covered below.
House Democrats will use existing law to obtain these tax records. The Internal Revenue Code states that, "Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request."
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