The letter states that members can review the documents in person, provided they give the DOJ 24 hours’ notice. The option at this point is only available to members of Congress — and not their staff. They may take notes but can’t bring in any electronic devices, the letter said.
The review will only be of the 3 million files currently available to the public, not the extensive trove of more than 6 million documents in total that the DOJ says it has in its possession.
I’m trying not to get too excited or expect too much, but this is REALLY good, right?
It’s not nearly enough. But remember how representatives started flipping on the release after meeting with victims? Then it became (nearly) unanimous.
I hope that 4 or 5 republicans see something in those documents horrifying enough to shock them into action again.
No. It’s bullshit. They can view the files…in person…in a room…without any means to record…by appointment only.
AND they are probably all collaborationists anyway.
There needs to be a way for them to review the unredacted documents while ensuring they’re not leaking anything sensitive.
they can properly redact any victim information and release the rest unredacted to the public. arent these the same government folks who say if you have done no wrong you have nothing to hide?
That would be a better solution but that’s not on the table.
Time to flip the table.
It sounds very fair, and exactly the scenario I had concocted in my head. Which leaves me extremely skeptical.
E: anything they find would likely be inadmissible in court.
I don’t think it’s fair at all. They’re being allowed to read the documents:
There is absolutely no way in this scenario to verify the integrity of the documents, or cross reference them with the redacted versions. Anything they find will need to be notated by hand and will not be verifiable with any other organization.
Not to mention the fact that actually going through these documents with any level of rigor would be the work of an entire team of people working around the clock for months.
This is less than useless.
We will have motivated people who will know exactly who is implicated in the files. That’s nothing resembling useless.
While I definitely think this is a move they forced into and hoping to use it later to say “stop pestering us about these files, we even let you see them all!”, I also think it might have some value there. If at least a few of them come prepared and genuinely care, they might come across information such as money trails involving client names, codes, global banks, etc. and then use that information to pressure those institutions.
Obviously the DOJ is complicit, but it can be ammunition for more pressure regardless.
Also, wouldn’t be surprised to hear members of congress complain to the media later that they were kicked out, or prevented from taking notes when they came across something worthwhile enough.
There are 259 dems in congress. Without looking them all up, I’ll pessimistically say half of them are young and lucid enough to actually do research on a computer. If those 130 people go in each with a handful of specific questions (redacted documents that look hella suspicious but need details filled in), I think they could get a lot of useful information.
None of this is to say “we’ve got trump this time!” But they could get information that concretely shows how the DOJ is covering for child rapists and violating the law. This will make a lot of news going into the mid terms and prompt numerous investigations, hopefully impeachments and resignations.
It’s not enough, but it does have some value.
We already have motivated people, who already know who is implicated in the files; but without hard proof we will be stalled forever.
Who are you referring to that knows who’s implicated, and why aren’t they talking about it?
Ah, ok, you’re just a troll.
Ah ok you just made that up.