WASHINGTON — Since taking control of both chambers of Congress in January, Republicans have grappled with newfound pressure to govern. But the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday got back to basics: drumming up conservative outrage with a fresh, flimsy scandal.
During a hearing that lasted roughly two hours, Republicans repeatedly suggested that the Department of Justice was illegally funneling money to “activist groups” using sham transactions embedded in legal settlements with two big banks.
The event was essentially an exercise in dog-whistling to unsavory elements of the GOP base. In his opening statement, Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) ominously name-checked both the defunct ACORN and the Hispanic civil rights advocacy group La Raza. One expert witness Republicans called to testify is a filmmaker currently collaborating with an anti-Islam conspiracy theory author on a movie that will purportedly show “how the government’s crusade against alleged lending racism” caused the financial crisis.
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“You can expect that this will escalate if you do not provide the documentation that we requested two months ago,” Goodlatte told DOJ’s Geoffrey Graber, a deputy associate attorney general, at Thursday’s hearing.
It almost makes you miss Benghazi.
CORRECTION: An earlier version misidentified Rep. David Trott’s party affiliation. He is a Republican.
