AMERICAN politics has no superior practitioner of the old Soviet art of “whataboutism”, which aims to deflect criticism by pointing out that other people elsewhere have done bad things, than President Donald Trump. At a now-infamous press conference, when asked about the murderous violence of far-right marauders in Charlottesville, Virginia he snapped, “What about the alt-left”? When an interviewer noted that Vladimir Putin, whom Mr Trump said he respected, killed political opponents, Mr Trump responded, “We’ve got a lot of killers. What, you think our country is so innocent?”

Congressional Republicans are following their leader. On October 24th Bob Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy, chairmen respectively of the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees, announced they would open joint investigations into actions taken by the Justice Department during the 2016 campaign, including James Comey’s decision to publicise its investigation of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails (the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which Mr Comey headed until Mr Trump fired him in May, is part of the Justice Department). What they could gain from this, other than distracting the public from Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation, is unclear.

Also on October 24th Devin Nunes, who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said his committee would open a joint investigation with Mr Gowdy into the 2010 sale of an American uranium firm to a Russian company. The deal gave Russia control over 20% of American uranium-production capacity. Because America considers uranium a strategic asset, multiple federal agencies—including the State Department, which Mrs Clinton then headed—had to approve the deal. In 2015 the New York Times reported that several men linked to the new firm made large donations to the Clinton Foundation. A former spokesman for Mrs Clinton denied any quid pro quo, and multiple sources say she was not personally involved in the approval.

Mr Trump has repeatedly tweeted about both the uranium deal and Mr Comey’s behaviour. Elijah Cummings and John Conyers, the top Democrats on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, called the investigation “a massive diversion to distract” from the Trump campaign’s Russia ties. Mrs Clinton’s spokesman accused Republicans of “throw[ing] sand at the eyes of the public.” House Republicans certainly seem more eager to investigate Mrs Clinton and Barack Obama than Mr Trump—or indeed to legislate.