"They want to unleash the feds on a private citizen." Shareblue writer nails GOP cover-up

Congressional Republicans, with the approval of House Speaker Paul Ryan, have launched not one but two investigations into old, debunked conservative conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton.

Yes, Hillary Clinton.

Trump has repeatedly called for investigations into Clinton, absurdly insisting that her actions years ago as secretary of state somehow deserve greater scrutiny than his actions as the current occupant of the Oval Office. It’s a shameless and transparent stunt, but Trump’s enablers in Congress and in right-wing media are happy to oblige by yet again harassing, smearing, and investigating Clinton for absolutely no reason other than to draw attention away from the growing evidence about Trump.

As Shareblue Media senior writer Eric Boehlert told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Wednesday night, “They want to unleash the power of the federal government to prosecute a private citizen in Chappaqua.”

This is a cover up. They are covering up the Trump Russia investigation by concocting these new investigations to look seven years back. You know, it’s baffling, but it’s also deeply disturbing and authoritarian. They want to unleash the power of the federal government to prosecute a private citizen in Chappaqua. We’ve said this before a hundred times since Trump was elected, but this is not how the United States functions in any sense of normalcy.

For Trump to try to drag Clinton into his scandals is atrocious and unpresidential — but exactly what anyone would expect of him.

But for Republicans in Congress to go along with it — to abuse their power by targeting a private citizen, instead of doing their job of holding the actual president accountable for his possible crimes — is even worse. And, as Eric said, deeply disturbing.