so we know now that republicans are going to get control of the house next year barely. and because it is barely, because their majority is so small, that means any small group of republican members of congress, even sometimes a single member of congress will have the opportunity to monkey wrench things for the republican leadership. over the past few days, we have just learned that one of the things republican leader kevin mccarthy had to promise to do in order to get one particular republican to vote for him to be speaker was that he had to promise her that once he becomes speaker, he will launch congressional investigations of the u.s. justice department over their prosecutions of people who participated in the attack on the capitol last january 6th. so the republicans now say they will launch congressional investigations of the justice department for prosecuting the people who attacked the capitol. that is a promise kevin mccarthy will to motorcycle to marjorie taylor greene who ha
out of pursuing the the prosecutions. to make it seem like the prosecutions themselves were a scandal. which is exactly what the republicans are promising to do now with the january 6th investigations. back in the 1940s, when this happened then, senator burton wheeler was successful in his political pressure campaign when he threatened the attorney general that he would investigate the justice department if they didn t fire the prosecutor in this sedition case. attorney general francis biddle caved to those threats. the justice department fared that prosecutor. and then when another prosecutor took his case, and his investigation fell devastating further evidence, including in the nazi s own files, evidence that the sedition defendants were working with the nazis. evidence that senator wheeler himself was more up to his neck in that plot than anyone had previously known, well, senator wheeler turned on the jets again. this time he didn t go just to the attorney general.
nazi propaganda into american homes. lots of members of congress were implicated in that plot with that convicted nazi agent. lots of members were even being paid in various ways to take part in that plot. the agent they had been working with to do it was now part of this mass sedition indictment with the justice department. when that came together, implicated members of congress, some of them decided to lean on the justice department to try to kybos had $that investigation. basically to save themselves. in fact a senator named marjorie sim sorry, burton k wheeler, a senator from monday tan, a he threatened the justice department that unless they fired the prosecutor who led that investigation, he would launch congressional investigations over the whole justice department over their prosecutions of these seditionists. so that s pressure on the justice department to scare them
transcripts of the nixon tapes. he wanted the tapes themselves. he gave a long press conference where the public could see him and evaluate him and judge him, the man, instead of just reading a brief. so he was defending that decision and why it was a priority to him. exactly. it was long and in very plain language. and as the medium, he did it on television. wasn t just a written brief. if you re trying to counteract the forces of congress, the forces in donald trump and his allies in already spinning what is happening with jack smith and the justice department, it is useful to take your opportunities where appropriate to explain what you re doing. to have more of an educational communicative function as the special counsel. so robert mueller and the
you find these actors? no, no. this is all archival tape. you can t believe this stuff is, i guess, also, you want it to be ancient history. you can t wreef there is time of them. the 40s is tape we can reach to. there were people alive when it happened. there aren t that many instances in history where we get people charged with sedition. so the points on the number line, there aren t that many to connect. i have to ask you. i don t want to assume because you just said those nice things, that you agree with every point of it. let me ask if you agree with that basic thesis. the justice department clearly has a role but they shouldn t be seen as the silver bullet. there have been real weaknesses in the way they ve approached it in the past. there s one thing. you point this out, a lot of activity we re talking about, up until the point where people are committing sedition or other