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Members of the January 6 committee hold one of their many media events of the 117th Congress.
Photo:
Tom Williams/Zuma Press
If the average American voter cared about the Capitol riot committee, she might wonder whether the committee’s members or its targets are more loathsome. All along, citizens have had to either laugh or cry at the spectacle of federal election deniers leading an investigation of federal election denial. But is the partisan congressional committee now interfering in a state campaign?
As for the deniers conducting these proceedings, committee Chairman
Bennie Thompson
(D., Miss.) was among the 31 Democrats who sought to prevent the certification of the re-election of President
George W. Bush
in 2005.
Committee stalwart Rep.
Jamie Raskin
(D., Md.) has a long history of refusing to accept Republican wins. He recommended dismantling the Electoral College after the 2000 election and after the 2016 election he attempted to prevent the certification of
Donald Trump’s
victory and then boycotted the inauguration.
And who could forget Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), who helped poison our politics by spending years falsely claiming to have “more than circumstantial evidence” of Trump campaign collusion with Russia?
After this season’s final hearing was rescheduled to avoid competing for television viewers with hurricane coverage, one might have thought the partisan shenanigans were finally drawing to a close for this oddball committee comprised exclusively of Democrats and Democrat-approved Republicans. But now there’s a question involving the surprisingly tight gubernatorial race in New York.
A Journal editorial sets the scene in the Empire State, where GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin is challenging Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul:
New York is among the nation’s most Democratic states, and President Biden took 60% of the vote in 2020. The fact that Mr. Zeldin appears competitive is a sign of frustration with Democratic policy excesses and their demonstrable damage to the city and state.
A Quinnipiac survey this week showed Ms. Hochul up by only four points. Notably, 28% of voters said crime is the top problem facing the state, and 20% said inflation. These are good issues for Mr. Zeldin, who promises to repeal cashless bail, fire rogue prosecutors, and cut taxes to rev the economy.
But not everybody wants this election to be decided on the issues that most concern voters. This week a New York Sun editorial states:
Congressman
Lee Zeldin’s
jump in the polls in the New York Governor’s race looks to have spooked the Democrats — including the solons of the January 6 Committee. How else to explain the committee’s apparent attempt to intervene in a gubernatorial election by leaking Mr. Zeldin’s texts with President Trump’s chief of staff? The leak comes as the race has tightened to the degree that RealClear Politics reckons it to be a toss-up.
Far from a bombshell, the leaked exchange draws no blood. Yet what is the January 6 committee doing, issuing any leaks calculated to sway a state election contest for governor?
Joshua Solomon of the Albany Times Union reports:
The Hochul campaign recently highlighted new leaked text messages, which apparently were obtained during the Jan. 6 Commission’s investigation, that show Zeldin texting
Mark Meadows,
Trump’s chief of staff, in November 2020 about political messaging strategies regarding “vetted voting irregularities.” In comments to the Times Union, Zeldin’s campaign did not dismiss the texts but said his opponent is focused on issues that are not pressing to the voters of New York.
One can’t say for sure whether the committee leaked the information, but it’s an extremely good bet that neither Mr. Zeldin nor Mr. Meadows is the source. The New York Sun opines:
This attempt to influence the outcome of a state election… falls outside the scope of the panel’s enabling resolution. After all, the committee was asked “to investigate and report upon the facts, circumstances, and causes” — including “the influencing factors” — leading up to the January 6 attack…
Nor is it the first time that the Democrats have strayed from the committee’s resolution. The Republican National Committee, after getting a subpoena from the panel, challenged it in federal court because the committee’s members hadn’t been appointed in accordance with the terms of the resolution. Rather than risk defeat on that head before the riders of the District of Columbia Circuit, the Democrats dropped the subpoena.
The Republicans had also raised doubts whether the committee’s subpoena was constitutional because it wasn’t “in furtherance of a legitimate task of Congress” — i.e., lawmaking. The Circuit riders seemed almost reluctant to drop the case, noting that the January 6 panel had “deprived us of the ability to review” what they saw as “important and unsettled constitutional questions.” This lack of resolution casts a shadow over the panel’s legal validity.
You can say that again.
***
In Other News
Bernie’s Bestie
“A top priority for Mr. Sanders this year has been electing Mandela Barnes, the Democratic Senate nominee in Wisconsin. Mr. Sanders has allowed the Barnes campaign to use his name to send out fund-raising emails, reaping at least $500,000, according to a Sanders adviser,” New York Times, Oct. 19
There’s No I in Team
“College Wrestler Jumps On Grizzly To Save Friend,” Cowboy State Daily, Oct. 17
Bottom Story of the Day
“New Zealand farmers protest proposed tax on cow burps,” Associated Press, October 20
James Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival.”
***
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