Republican Never-Trump Group Releases Ad Encouraging House GOP to Take Allegations Against Trump Seriously

The Group, Republicans for the Rule of Law (RRL), has produced an ad which asks Republican members of Congress to stand up for the rule of law. By this, they mean Republicans must take the allegations of obstruction of justice against President Trump as seriously as House Republicans took President Nixon’s obstruction of justice.

RRL’s ad, which can be viewed below, was shared with The Hill prior to being aired this morning on Fox & Friends.

I suppose the group thought this was a fitting day to debut the ad because House Democrats have invited none other than John Dean of Watergate fame to appear at their hearing. Have they forgotten that Dean was as involved in Watergate as anyone? He himself was a criminal. The only reason he became a witness for the prosecution was to escape punishment. Yet, the Democrats trot him out with such pride.

Anyway, the narrator says, “When Nixon was alleged to have obstructed justice, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee took these allegations seriously.” The ad shows Republican members of the Committee speechifying during the Watergate hearings.

Rep. M. Caldwell Butler (R-VA), for example tells fellow lawmakers, “It is we, not the Democrats, who must show we are capable of enforcing the high standard we would set for them.”

Rep. Lawrence Hogan (R-MD) chimes in, “For our system of justice and our system of government to survive, we must pledge our highest allegiance to the strength of the law and not the common frailties of men.”

You get the idea.

Then, mercifully, it ends with the narrator saying, “Republicans stood for the rule of law then. Republicans should stand for the rule of law now.”

I must confess I’ve never heard of this group. Clearly, its membership must consist of a group of anti-Trumpers. I wouldn’t be surprised if political analyst Bill Kristol and Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) are among it’s members. RRL defines itself as “a group of life-long Republicans dedicated to defending the institutions of our republic and upholding the rule of law. We are fighting to make sure that the laws apply equally to everyone, from the average citizen to the president of the United States. We believe in fidelity to the Constitution, transparency, and the independence of prosecutors from politics.”

Spokesman for RRL, Chris Truax, told The Hill that their new ad is a “reminder of what patriotism and political bravery can look like.” He said:

Congressional Republicans are more than happy to admit in private that they are troubled, disappointed, and disturbed by President Trump’s abuses of executive power.

When none of their constituents can hear them, they speak frankly about their moral qualms and objections about their roles in undermining the original design of our Constitution. Their constituents — and all Americans — deserve to hear the same in public.

So far, Rep. Justin Amash has been the only Republican member of Congress to call for Trump’s impeachment. At the time he made his announcement, he indicated that “other Republicans have privately raised concerns to him about Trump’s conduct.”

To all members of the RRL:

Where have you been for the past few years as senior officials at the FBI, the DOJ, the CIA and the State Department have trampled the rule of law in their efforts to remove a duly elected president?

And I ask all of you the same thing I asked of the Democrats last week. How, specifically, did the President violate the law?

Name the crime.

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