On Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) thought he’d try and distract from the fact that Donald Trump is being impeached by calling Michael Horowitz, who serves as inspector general of the Department of Justice, to testify just two days after Horowitz released his report on the Russia investigation conducted by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The report Horowitz filed on Monday completely debunked conspiracy theories from the White House and its right-wing allies who had alleged there’d been an attempt to launch a politically biased investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign:
“Horowitz … reported that there was no evidence of political bias at the root of the investigation — rebuffing President Donald Trump’s repeated claims about a concerted effort to undermine his campaign being led by “deep state” Washington bureaucrats.”
During his testimony on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Horowitz was asked about remarks Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, had made during the 2016 election, NBC News reports:
“Two days before then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was reopening an investigation into Clinton’s email practices as secretary of state, Giuliani, then a surrogate for President Donald Trump’s campaign, said help was on the way for his candidate.
“‘I think he’s got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises,’ the former U.S. Attorney told Fox News.”
That led Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to ask the inspector general:
“Rudy Giuliani and others appeared to receive highly sensitive leaks from the New York FBI field office, leaks that likely contributed to director Comey’s public announcement he was reopening the Clinton investigation days before the election. What can you tell us about the New York field office’s leaks to Rudolph Giuliani and others?”
Horowitz said his investigation into the matter was “ongoing,” which suggests that Giuliani is far from in the clear, and it also means that Giuliani is now under multiple federal criminal investigations, including ones related to the 2016 campaign and the more recent Ukraine scandal which has led to Trump’s impeachment.
At some point, Rudy may have no choice but to tell what he knows to both prosecutors and Congress unless he wants to spend the rest of his miserable life in federal prison.
Remember how Trump said he would hire the “best people” if he was elected? As is clear from the clowns this president surrounds himself with — i.e. Rudy Guiliani — he can really pick ’em, can’t he?