Circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter. This Appointment Underscores for the public the departments commitment to both independence and accountability and particularly sensitive matters. And to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law. Lets bring in Wall Street Journal columnist Dan Henninger and kim strassel do you think Merrick Garland had a choice here or was he boxed in and really had to appoint a special council or is he just trying to build in some political insulation here for the hard choices that may come . Well i would say all of the above, paul. [laughter] for sure. I mean, really consider that one week ago today, we were all sitting here discussing that fiasco of Kevin MccarthyHouse Speakership Roll Forward nearly one week we have a spectacle of a special council appointed to investigate the sitting president of the United States after one has already been appointed a special council to investigate the former president of the United States both for doing the same thing keeping classified documents in their private residence. This is no joke people robert heard that federal prosecutor put a Defense Contractor in prison for nine years for holding many more documents than this. But nonetheless, it can be a crime. Well never quite know i suppose what is in these classified documents. But we now have the possibility of a two special councils hanging over the heads of the political system in this country for at least a year. Waiting for other shoes to drop either on the head of joe biden who probably is going to seek his parties nomination and donald trump, who is declared for the presidency. So Merrick Garland has really put this Country Politics into a deep mess i would say, paul. Paul yeah. Kim, i just i really cant quite believe this. We have the Justice Department of the United States investigating now the sitting president to whom the Attorney General reports. Who is going run for releanings also donald trump who is going to run who is running against that president. How in the world did the Justice Department and Merrick Garland let get dragged into being a major factor into and the next president ial election campaigns after the fbi in 2016 and 2022 . Glim right againen i know this is most amazing thing did they learn nothing . I keep going back to statement where he talks about extraordinary circumstances. Well, the reason we have those extraordinary circumstances is because of Merrick Garland look all the way back when it came out that there was a Document Dispute with donald trump there were many ways that department of justice could have handled this. They could have simply continued to negotiate to get those documents. They could have even gone to court to get an order for the orderly transfer of those documents and instead Merrick Garland decided to do this unprecedented fbi raid on maralago and then he escalated even further by appointing special council and thats what got us where we are now. Because when it came out that joe biden had the same problem he had no choice in essence politically if he didnt want to look like was endwaijing in a double standard but to appoint another special council so this goes back to his initial decisions. Thats where we are. Yeah thats one of the rules of management is once you make a bad decision you usually have to make some more because they lead you down a very bad, bad place. So kim how much political vulnerability here is there for President Biden with these documents . Well, look, theres the immediate one which is that were all talking about this at the moment as dan was saying. But look, in some ways, there are bigger questions legally around the fact biden has these documents and there are trump. You know, trump had Declassification Authority as president , and the president ial records act which he likely is violated in some way has only minor penalties attached to it. There is less flexibility in the maneuvering of Vice President has to maintain classified documents outside of secure facilities, and so well have to see how that plays out because that is a big and important distinction between two scenarios. Paul but theres no chance biden would be indicted for that. I cant imagine that. I dont think so consider the fallout paul, no matter what is decided here half of the country is going to consider that politics is involved whatever happens to either of these men and special councils. Paul speaking to about half of the country, dan, the obvious comparison to donald trump handling of the documents, the press is that pains to say that this very different case, joe biden. But if youre looking at this from outside as average citizen, its going to be very, very hard for independent council to indict donald trump for something and have joe biden cleared is it not . Yeah. I think so. Though, i would doubt that mr. Smith and mr. Heard will be exchanging notes that would be improper. Again, you know, the responsibility falls back on Attorney General garland to well would have faulten on him to shut this thing down and difficult to see that at this point. Bear in mind we have the House Of Representatives james comer looking into the Hunter Biden Issue is asking for documents related to these Classified BidenClassified Biden documents and no doubt he would like to know whether it has to do with ukraine or comien so politics of this joust going spin completely out of control. Paul what a mess all right when we come back 118th Congress Gets underway with a bipartisan vote to establish a committee to counter the china threat. Well talk to the chairman of that committee from a republican congressman Mike Gallagher, next. They customize your car insurance. So you only pay for what you need whoo we gotta go again. Only pay for what you need. Liberty Liberty Liberty liberty oh, whats this . The Sofia Vergara collection at americas best . Wow, amazing styles and unbelievable prices . Now thats quite the duo. Get two pairs of Sofia Vergara frames plus a free exam for 89. 95 for a limited time at americas best. 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And may worsen ibd such as Crohns Disease or ulcerative colitis. bridget now, im ready to be seen again. vo visit mytepezza. Com to find a t. E. D. Eye specialist and to see bridgets before and after photos. Identify heard my colleagues on both sides say that the threat posed by Communist China is series. I fully agree. This is an issue that transcends our Political Parties and creating the select committee on china is our best avenue for addressing it. Paul 118th Congress is underway and after last week speaker fight there was a rare note of bipartisanship tuesday with house voting overwhelmingly to create a select committee to investigate the military, economic, and technological threats posed by china. Republican congressman Mike Gallagher of washington is the chairman of that new committee. He joins me now. Welcome, mr. Chairman. So look, a lot of government investigates china right now. Weve got the pentagon does a military assessment, wall street and others all look at the economy of china. Whats the value added for your committee . Why have this committee . I think there are at least two areas where we can have a unique impact. One is elevating the urgency of the situation and communicating directly to both the American People and the chinese as to why they should care about this. For example, we on the Arm Service CommitteeTalk About Helping Taiwan defend itself but it is my observation that eve with a long way to go in terms of explaining why taiwan matters why should someone in northeast wisconsin care about cross straight deterrents in the indo pacific region. So explaining the why to the American People, communicating the stakes is going to be essential. Also, for the very reason you mentioned that china is spread across multiple Committee Jurisdictions you need to have a committee with representatives from all of those committees that ensures good ideas for policy and legislation does not slip through the cracks. That is injecting sense of urmingt city into things that we want to get done in this congress and i believe in divided government, even with a narrow republican majority, theres a lot we can get done in order to better protect ourselves from the threat posed by the Chinese Communist party. Okay now you have talked yourself, recommended the u. S. Ban tiktok for example the tiktok app because it is a threat to privacy and american security. Are you going focus at all on chinas Economic Impact to the United States, for example, it is purchases of land its investment in companies. The degree to which it tries Influence Operations through Confucius Institutes is that part of your in addition to tiktok ban which are on our agenda and tiktok ban is the wild whes it comes to Cross Border Data flows theres really no coherent regulatory structure as we try to protect ourself it is from china we need poirg out how to work closely with allies on a cooperative Data Sharing Framework before he died Prime Minister abe in data free flow with trust which is a good model. Thats an issue you mention chinese Land Purchases happening in the midwest it is happening in florida. We have various governors like Governor Desantis taking action we want to do Field Hairings where this is happening near military bases to understand whats going on and what the right Legal Framework is to protect ourselves against us. The other thing when it comes to cocoercion and we see them pop up here in america that doesnt seem right to me we would to do Feet Hearings in new york and tiewk local Law Enforcement officials talk to the fbi. And understand how do we prevent the ccp from having effectively Police Stations on american soils that they can use to harass either our citizens or members of the chinese deaspra. A lot of interrelated commerce, huge enormous hundreds of billions of dollars in cross border trade. Do you think that the is one of your part of your thinking here Going Forward that maybe there needs to be a decoupling here significant decoupling economically between the two countries . Yes. First i think we need to recognize a little bit of humility this make this is competition so complex in some ways, the new cold war is more complex than old because we were never economically entangled with soviet union we didnt have to consider decoupling. I think whats reasonable for legislators like myself to Ask Wall Street is, why is it that Tax Advantage Identities be the University Endowment or state and local Pension Funds allowed to invest in Chinese Industries that facility the yen side of Uighur Muslim and china modernization we dont want in other words the health of millions of american retirees to be dependent on chineses military ambitions being successful. So i do believe we can consider a framework that is still respects free enterprise, still respects the beauty of our Capital Markets here in america while at the same time make sure that we are not wittingly fight ing modernization. You spoke about lack of u. S. Military preparedness to defend taiwan if it would ever come to that. How does that square with desire by republican colleagues to cut the fence by 75 billion in thefection fiscal year . That doesnt seem to square at all. It doesnt. It doesnt square i can guarantee you wont Passing Budget Resolution that cuts defense. I think where people that are on the more hawkish side of the equation need to do a better job, however, is explaining how were going ensure that every dollar we spend on defense goes towards hard power, goes towards enhancing war fighting capable and doesnt go towards an ever more bloated Pentagon Bureaucracy how do we get our tooth to tail ratio what it is called in better balance and figure out how we put hard power in particular west of the international dateline. I guess in other words how do we make sure that the failure of deterrence that we saw in ukraine doesnt happen in taiwan and there i think my committee can play a supporting role with the Foreign Affairs committee to ensure that the 18 to 19 Billion Dollar back log of Defense Items that weve approved for sale to taiwan but havent been delivered that that gets cleared in the next go years were not acting with the sense of urgency and unless we change course, were going stumble into a war the likes of which we havent seen since world war ii. Paul all right congressman Michael Gallagher thank you for coming in well be watching closely much more on the first week of the 118th Congress when we come back. Republicans are wasting no time ramping up their informations and from the biden family eetion Business Dealings to origins of covid19 well tell you what they have planned. Port my familys immune health, i choose airborne. Unlike some others, airborne gives you vitamin c and so much more. 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