Public Hearings

So Sally Yates is supposed to testify Monday before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism. I've pointed out it's a little weird that her first time testifying isn't before one of the intelligence committees. What exactly is the point of all these congressional hearings anyway? I mean, the FBI is doing all the behind-the-scenes legwork, right? It's not like congress is going to crack something that the FBI doesn't, right?

So doesn't it make sense that the primary purpose of these hearings is to act as a conduit between the intelligence community and the public, and to inform us as much as is possible with sensitive, ongoing investigations about what's happening?

Well, we're not getting any hearings out of the House next week, because they're already on vacation again for a week. What about the Senate? Besides that subcommittee hearing, not much for the public. The Senate Intelligence Committee just updated their calendar for next week, and here it is:

Yeah, that's right. Three closed-door hearings. The optimist in me would hope that this committee is just ripping along and doing a lot of good work behind those closed doors. But like I said, are they really doing anything the FBI is not? Shouldn't we be having at least one open hearing a week?

They do appear to finally be sending out requests for information from former members of the Trump team, and threatening subpoenas. They sent out a request to Carter Page, and though he was initially all oh, I want to clear my name and cooperate fully and show there's nothing there, blah, blah, blah...he has now changed his tune.

Former Trump adviser Carter Page has declined to provide records of his communications with Russians to the Senate intelligence committee, saying that anything of note has already been recorded by former President Barack Obama’s administration.

In the last few days, he's also said he's the victim of a hate crime perpetrated against him by the Obama administration motivated by his Catholic faith. Uh huh.

Anyway, while the SIC appears to now be doing things, we're still not getting any public hearings. One report I read indicated that any upcoming hearing where Page is called as a witness would likely be behind closed doors.

Again, the FBI has most likely interviewed Carter Page multiple times by now. Is the SIC really going to learn something behind closed doors that the FBI didnt? What we need from congress is that public reassurance that things are moving forward and that answers and explanations are being found. We don't get that from closed-door sessions. I'd rather have open sessions where half the answers are either people taking the fifth or saying they can't answer such things in a public forum than closed door sessions. The light of day is the best disinfectant, and right now there's a whole lot of stink. We need to see and hear as much as we can.