The GOP is currently up in arms that their presumptive 2024 presidential nominee is being held accountable for his actions. On Tuesday, Donald Trump received his third indictment since March, this one concerning his actions in regard to the Jan. 6 riot. This one has frazzled conservatives even more than the other two, possibly because special counsel Jack Smith is a seasoned pro whose past involves calmly taking on war criminals (and the assigned judge is definitely not one Trump wants). The news broke the already very broken Rudy Giuliani. And it did the same to Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz says Republicans should demand Jack Smith testify in 15 days, subpoena him if he doesn’t, hold him in contempt if he ignores the subpoena, impeach Garland if he doesn’t enforce that contempt, and immunize Trump while doing all that pic.twitter.com/9hPSqURuCe
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 2, 2023
As per The Daily Beast, he Florida representative went on Newsmax Wednesday, where he dropped his foolproof, multi-part, 4-D chess plan to sabotage Smith’s case. It begins with the House Judiciary Committee, of which he’s a part, should “immediately demand that Jack Smith present himself for a transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee in the next 15 days.”
What, pray tell, next? “If he does not do that, we should send a subpoena,” he explained. “If he ignores the subpoena, we should hold him in criminal contempt of the Congress,” so that he is “the first prosecutor in American history to be prosecuting a case while himself under criminal contempt.” (That couldn’t possibly be a first.)
But wait, there’s more! Should Attorney General Merrick Garland not “enforce” that contempt of Congress charge, then they should impeach him.
And yet Gaetz still wasn’t done. He had a plan to “functionally immunize” Trump from past and future charges. He even rattled off some arcane rule about how Congress can protect someone they’ve subpoenaed.
It’s crazy but it might just work! Or maybe not. Anyway, on Thursday Trump is scheduled to be arraigned for a third time in Washington. Gaetz and team still have another few weeks to “functionally immunize” him, or else he might finally wind up with a mugshot.
(Via The Daily Beast)