Well, he hasn’t said that in so many words, but I’ve been asking for a while whether he would vote for impeachment if Trump were to murder someone who was investigating him.
He hasn’t answered.
And when I say “a while,” I mean since June 4th.
That’s seven-and-a-half weeks ago. 52 calendar days. Or Day 38 if we take June 4th as Day 1 and count only work days.
Here’s today’s conversation (earlier ones are linked at the end of the post).
Last week Mr. Faso issued a statement criticizing the president’s handling of the press conference after the Helsinki summit.
Since then, we’ve heard hints from the Russian side about what was agreed to in the summit itself, and sometimes we get confirmation from the White House, sometimes we get silence.
And the president apparently agreed to some very dangerous things, like ratifying the Russian seizure of Crimea and potentially ratifying the occupation of eastern Ukraine.
In dealing with this, we have no coherent report from the American side, and no coherent response within the U.S. government, because the president ignored everyone’s advice beforehand and went in one-on-one—the only other American in the room was his translator.
This is not mishandling a press conference. This is, at best, massive incompetence in the conduct of foreign policy. But it also looks like subservience to a foreign dictator.
Is Mr. Faso doing anything about this threat to our country?
What you like him to do?
Is he doing anything other than criticizing a press conference?
I want to know, first, what he thinks of the deeper, more serious issues about the summit itself.
And he could perhaps have hearings, ask to talk to the Secretary of State or others involved in foreign policy.[Takes name and contact info, promises to pass along my concerns.]
While I have you, I just need to follow up on another question that I’ve been trying to get an answer on since June 4th. That’s seven-and-a-half weeks ago. If I’ve spoken to you before, you probably know what it is.
The president’s lawyer says he could kill James Comey and it would still be illegal to indict him, because the only remedy for a president is impeachment. So I want to know: If the president were to kill someone who was investigating him, would Representative Faso vote to impeach him?
I have not spoken to the Congressman as to whether he would vote to impeach if the president were to murder someone investigating him.
Well, as I said, I’ve been asking this question for seven-and-a-half weeks, and everyone I’ve spoken to about it has said that they would see that the Congressman got the question, so presumably someone has spoken with him about it, but I guess it wasn’t you.
This is the first I’ve heard of it.
And this is not some bizarre hypothetical. The president’s own lawyer brought it up.
This is an absurdly easy question. If you don’t support impeachment for a president who murders investigators, then you support dictatorship.
It’s beyond pathetic that Mr. Faso can’t answer this question.
The question is basically, Can the president murder his opponents without being impeached? Can the president murder his opponents without being impeached?
Why is that even a question?
You should be able to say, “Of course Mr. Faso doesn’t believe the president should be able to murder his opponents without being impeached.”
But you can’t say that, because Mr. Faso hasn’t seen fit to answer the question.
And that is simply absurd.
I will certainly see that he gets asked this question.
Do you personally interact with the Congressman?
Yes.
Do you think you personally could put this question to him?
Yes, I can do that.
And can you convey to him how absurd it is that he can’t answer it?
Yes, I will do that.
And perhaps at some point in, oh, the next two years, I might get an answer, but by now I fully expect not to get one. Though I will keep asking.
Mm-hm.
What kind of world is this, where a congressman can’t answer this question?
I don’t know.
You have a good day sir.
I would have a better day if my elected representative believed in democracy. You have a good day, too.In case you're in John Faso's district, the number for his D.C. office is (202) 225-5614. He'd love to hear from you!
Earlier calls:
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