As the race to the bottom among Donald Trump’s prospective running mates continues, it was apparently House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik’s turn to try to impress the former president and his political operation. Evidently, the New York congresswoman took the cue. NBC News reported:
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has filed a complaint against New York Attorney General Letitia James over her multimillion-dollar civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump, NBC News has exclusively learned.
As part of the congresswoman’s complaint, sent to the New York Committee on Professional Standards, the state attorney general is “conducting a biased investigation and prosecution” of the former president. Stefanik added that she believes James made “highly inappropriate and prejudicial comments on social media.”
NBC News’ report noted that, as part of the complaint, the House Republican Conference chair wants the Attorney Grievance Committee to investigate James and issue consequences, “such as disbarring or suspending her.”
Does Stefanik’s complaint have merit? Not really. Will it likely lead to meaningful consequences for the New York AG? Probably not.
But the point isn’t to punish James, it’s to impress Trump and his team. The former president hates the state prosecutor with the heat of a thousand suns, and through her actions, Stefanik appears to be effectively sending a message to Mar-a-Lago: “See? I’m going after the Democrat you hate.”
This comes on the heels of Stefanik’s incoherent criticisms of a judge who’d just granted Team Trump’s request for a postponement in a civil case.
Which came on the heels of Stefanik claiming with a straight face that Trump hadn’t confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, even after everyone saw him do exactly that.
Which came on the heels of Stefanik echoing Trump’s rhetoric about Jan. 6 rioters being “hostages” — a claim that even some in her party were not comfortable with.
Which came on the heels of Stefanik responding to Trump’s classified documents scandal by criticizing the National Archives, helping launch an effort to “expunge“ Trump’s impeachments, and joining a partisan crusade against federal law enforcement. Which came on the heels of Stefanik filing an ethics complaint against the judge overseeing Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York and pressing the Justice Department to prosecute Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer who has since become a fierce critic of the former president. I continue to believe that no one should want to be vice president this badly. This post revises our related earlier coverage.
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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