Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has manged to come up with a clever way to ensure the appointment of an independent, special prosecutor in the ongoing Trump-Russia investigation: by holding the FBI seat hostage.
Schumer indicated that he and the rest of the Democratic party may refuse to hold hearings on any FBI director nominee unless the White House and the Republican legislature agrees to appoint a special prosecutor in the ongoing investigation.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Schumer said,
“I think there are a lot of Democrats who feel that way. We’ll have to discuss it as a caucus, but I would support that move.”
Outside of the possible hostage situation, Schumer also has strict rules on who he would consider as the new head of the FBI.
“The nominee should be not a partisan politician, not part of either party. This demands a serious, down-the-middle investigation. Second, it ought to be somebody who is experienced. You need a really good prosecutor here, somebody who knows how to do it. And third, it should be someone with courage. If there is interference or attempted interference to shut down the investigation, to misdirect it, you need somebody who is going to stand up.”
It is a relief to hear that Schumer and the Democratic party are still interested in such a deal, as it appeared that the call for a special prosecutor might be one of the many issues slipping through the cracks during this tumultuous administration.
Democrats in the Senate must unite in this issue in order to ensure that the Russia investigation is fairly conducted through an independent investigator. Putting people immune to Trump’s political pressure in key positions is the only way that we can ensure justice.
