Sen. Chuck Grassley is one of the longest-serving senators in American history, and during a career in the chamber that’s already spanned more than 44 years, the Iowa Republican has earned a reputation for one thing: He champions the interests of whistleblowers.
There’s nothing especially partisan or ideological about the issue. Sometimes, those who work in federal agencies will see some kind of wrongdoing — corruption, mismanagement, inefficiencies, fraud and misuse of resources, etc. — and it’s in everyone’s interest to have a system in which such witnesses are able to come forward, confident in the knowledge that they’ll be heard and respected, without being punished.
With this in mind, Wednesday was National Whistleblower Day in the United States, and given that this is Grassley’s signature issue, the Iowan appeared eager to honor the occasion, recognizing and celebrating those who “expose the truth.”
The longtime Republican senator’s timing could’ve been better. As The New York Times reported just one day earlier:
Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, has been known for decades as a champion of whistle-blowers. But critics say he has retreated from his signature issue, smoothing a path for a Trump loyalist who was confirmed on Tuesday to a lifetime appointment on the federal bench. The battle over Emil Bove III, the Trump ally and a top official at the Justice Department, some argue, has chilled the very efforts that Mr. Grassley, 91, has spent more than 40 years fostering.
There’s some debate as to exactly how many whistleblowers have come forward with credible concerns about Donald Trump’s former defense attorney, whom the president indefensibly nominated to the federal appellate bench, but the total is either three or four. Either way, each of these witnesses presented senators with important information about Bove, his highly controversial professional background and his alleged indifference to the rule of law.
It would’ve been bad enough if Grassley had simply shrugged with indifference, but the Republican senator actually went further, accusing the whistleblowers of being pawns in some sort of partisan plot — or as the Iowan put it, “a coordinated political strike.”
The accusations were at odds with the available evidence, and just as importantly, they also represented a rather dramatic departure from Grassley’s traditional role as someone who defends whistleblowers. The Times reported that the GOP senator’s treatment of Bove’s whistleblowers “is discouraging others from talking to Congress, say lawyers and others representing government workers fired or demoted by the Trump administration.” David Laufman, a former Justice Department lawyer who represents current and former government workers, told the Times, “Now more than ever, whistle-blowers need a champion among congressional Republicans who will listen in good faith to their claims of government abuse and work in a bipartisan fashion to hold culpable officials accountable. For many years, Senator Grassley was that champion. But under the current administration, he has shied away from doing what’s right.” The Iowan has pushed back against such accusations, but recent events would appear to speak for themselves.
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."
Latest Post
Recommended
