As the 118th Congress reaches its ignominious end, there’s no shortage of reasons to see it as an embarrassing failure, though its focus on misguided impeachment efforts is high on the list. This is, after all, the first Congress to ever impeach a sitting Cabinet secretary without cause — before also launching an impeachment inquiry against a sitting president without cause.
It was also a Congress in which House Republicans introduced impeachment resolutions targeting Vice President Kamala Harris, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and FBI Director Chris Wray, among others.
But there was always one name on the GOP’s impeachment list that stood out as odd, not just because he hadn’t done anything wrong, but also because his name was unknown to most Americans: Matthew Graves.
Graves may have been the least recognized of the Republican Party’s impeachment targets, but in some far-right circles, the lawyer was very important, indeed: He was the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, which put him in a position of prosecuting criminal cases against accused Jan. 6 defendants. It’s precisely why Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — and four other GOP lawmakers — introduced an impeachment resolution going after the federal prosecutor.
Not surprisingly, the crusade against Graves was largely ignored, and it’s poised to become a moot point: Like most of the Biden administration’s U.S. attorneys, Graves is poised to step down from his position after more than three years on the job.
But the prosecutor’s most rabid Capitol Hill critic isn’t prepared to let her preoccupation go. Earlier this week, Greene appeared on a conservative media outlet called Real America’s Voice and declared, “[Graves resigned], but this is not the end for him. Because we are about to take over and we’re going to be in charge, and he should pay for what he’s done to [Jan. 6 criminal defendants.]” The Georgian added:
He doesn’t get to resign and run away. He should be held accountable for the absolute misery and lives that have been destroyed from these Jan. 6 defendants and their families. We’re talking about marriages have been destroyed, families have been destroyed, careers have been destroyed, and these people have spent time — years now — in prison.
In other words, to hear the GOP congresswoman tell it, a federal prosecutor should be punished for prosecuting criminals, some of whom were found to have committed violent crimes, and many of whom pleaded guilty. In a news release issued earlier this week, the Justice Department noted, “Because politically motivated violence and destruction rip at the fabric of our society, Mr. Graves made federally prosecuting such crimes a priority.” Oddly enough, it’s also why Greene wants to go after him. It’s too soon to say with confidence what, if anything, House Republicans intend to do with regard to Graves in the new Congress, and it’s at least possible that Greene’s interest won’t amount to much of anything. After all, her impeachment resolution was ignored. But amid talk of GOP enemies lists and pre-emptive White House pardons, it’s worth keeping Graves’ name in mind in the coming weeks and months.
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."
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