In the late 19th and early 20th century, men often worked in factories, where they wore boots and other heavy shoes. After work, they’d return to tenements with hard-wood floors, take off their boot, which landed with a loud thud.For people living below and alongside those residents, that sound tended to be jarring, and after hearing that initial smack of the shoe against the floor, people became accustomed to waiting anxiously for the inevitable sound that soon followed from the other foot.In other words, many Americans of that era became accustomed to waiting for the other shoe to drop.It’s a helpful idiom generations later. Politico reported this morning:
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told House Democrats Tuesday that the recent revelations about former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn’s conversations with the Russians are only the beginning, and more information will surface in the coming days, according to multiple sources in a closed party meeting.Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, also said that any conversations that Flynn had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Donald Trump took office would not be covered by executive privilege, potentially making some information subject to congressional investigations. Republicans have so far balked at probing this matter.
The phrase of the day in Republican circles is “move on” — as if Flynn’s resignation effectively ends the White House’s scandal. That doesn’t make sense in its own right — there are still far too many questions in need of answers — and it’s especially misguided if there’s additional information related to the controversy on the way.Schiff’s point about executive privilege may prove to be especially important. If there’s a congressional investigation into the scandal, Trump is likely to say conversations he had with his then-National Security Advisor are protected from lawmakers’ scrutiny.And while that’s likely to be tested, the key detail to remember here is that pre-inauguration and pre-election conversations between a president-elect/candidate and an advisor on his team are not protected by executive privilege. I’ll have more on this in about 90 minutes.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."