There was a briefing on Tuesday for the members of the House of Representatives and the Senate delivered by administration* officials on the subject of election security, an issue that will become increasingly important as this year goes on, as I think we can all agree. Well, except for the president*, who seems to have concocted yet another alternative universe in his head. From: The Hill:

“There is another Russia, Russia, Russia meeting today,” Trump tweeted “It is headed up by corrupt politician Adam “Shifty” Schiff, so I wouldn’t expect too much!,” tagging acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf in the tweet.

We’re off to a fine start.

Schiff, who was one of the key players in the impeachment inquiry into Trump, pushed back against the president, tweeting that Trump was incorrect “as usual.”

“Mr. President, you are wrong. As usual,” Schiff tweeted. “Today’s briefing for all House Members focuses on the threat of foreign interference in our election. The briefers are agency heads and senior officials. They are your own people. We will insist on the truth, whether you like it or not.”

Of course, not all of His Own People bestirred themselves to conduct the briefings on this very important issue, because this shit is just not normal. From CNN:

[Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard] Grenell had been due to appear alongside the other senior officials in a pair of classified briefings to all members of the House and Senate. A list of top agency officials obtained by CNN from two congressional sources and a person familiar with the plans listed Grenell alongside National Security Agency Director Gen. Paul Nakasone, FBI Director Christopher Wray and others. As of late Monday night, the list and guidance circulated to Congress had not changed. However, Grenell and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence denied that he would be briefing.

Grenell’s office would not explain why his name was on the list sent around by multiple congressional offices, and did not respond to requests for comment until after CNN reported Grenell was expected to appear. “ODNI did not communicate to Congress at any point that ADNI Grenell would participate in election security briefings scheduled for Mar. 10,” agency spokesperson Maura Beard said in a statement Tuesday. In a message Monday night, Grenell told CNN the expectation was “fake info” and said the intention was always to send “experts.”

Nice to know that the acting DNI doesn’t consider himself an expert. This gives him something in common with practically everyone in the intelligence field. This is positively crazy-making. And right now, the problems with the previous election are back at the top of the news again. First, Judge Reggie Walton took Attorney General William Barr to the woodshed on the latter’s handling of the Mueller report.

The Court has grave concerns about the objectivity of the process that preceded the public release of the redacted version of the Mueller Report and its impacts on the Department’s subsequent justifications that its redactions of the Mueller Report are authorized by the FOIA. For the reasons set forth below, the Court shares the plaintiffs’ concern that the Department “dubious[ly] handl[ed] [ ] the public release of the Mueller Report.”...

Here, although it is with great consternation, true to the oath that the undersigned took upon becoming a federal judge, and the need for the American public to have faith in the judicial process, considering the record in this case, the Court must conclude that the actions of Attorney General Barr and his representations about the Mueller Report preclude the Court’s acceptance of the validity of the Department’s redactions without its independent verification.

That was as fine a bit of chin music as a federal judge ever has played on someone. And on Tuesday, a federal court ruled that the House was entitled to see the grand-jury testimony gathered during Mueller’s investigation. From the AP:

The three-judge panel said in a 2-1 opinion that the House Judiciary Committee's need for the material in its investigations of President Donald Trump outweighed the Justice Department's interests in keeping the testimony secret. The opinion authorizes access to information that Democrats have sought since the conclusion of Mueller's investigation, giving lawmakers previously-undisclosed details from the two-year Russia probe.

Writing for the majority, Judge Judith Rogers said that because Mueller himself "stopped short" of reaching conclusions about Trump's conduct to avoid stepping on the House's impeachment power, the committee had established that it could not make a final determination about Trump's conduct without access to the underlying grand jury material.

Of course, this could be the treasure of Sierra Madre for people who have been chasing this story for three years. Almost all the principal actors in the drama testified before that grand jury. What is becoming clear is that certain elements of the federal judiciary are fed up with all the tap-dancing and micro-parsing and outright defiance on the part of what increasingly looks like a mob family in retreat. There are still judges who love their work.

Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io