House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) is making way for new Democratic Party leaders in the upcoming Congress. On Friday afternoon, shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) issued a statement praising Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Katherine Clark (D-MA), and Pete Aguilar (D-CA) as a “new generation” of leadership whose “time has come,” Clyburn’s spokesperson Hope Derrick issued a statement to Talking Points Memo announcing that he was running for the fourth ranked spot in the caucus.
I’m encouraged by the Democratic Party’s succession planning. I’m assuming they’ve picked talented, young stars to take leadership positions while still having old hands like Pelosi and Clyburn available for advice and consultation. There’s nothing under the sun Pelosi and Clyburn haven’t seen, especially after four years of Trump.
And it was done without public in-fighting or friction, unlike in the Republican Party.
Personally, I’d rather that Garland make the call on prosecuting Trump instead of punting it to a special counsel. He signed up for this in his confirmation hearing.
This appears prudent to me (channeling GHW Bush). I admire Nancy for NOT quitting the House in toto. I remember when Gingrich bounced HE quit (could not BEAR not being the Big Kahuna any longer) and then Livingston bounced HE quit because of the opprobrium for even putting his name up for SOTU knowing he had a long-term affair (all these guys going after Clinton were doing the same thing! talk about hypocrites on display!!!)
So no special elections for the taxpayers to pay for. They will just stay around to give ‘assistance’ as needed.
Nancy was always de facto party whip – at least to some extent. It makes sense that as she steps down, the whip position would also adjust. Glad that Clyburn will remain in a leadership role. He’s an important voice in the party
The appointment of a special counsel was a way for the Justice Department to insulate its investigations against Mr. Trump from political considerations. While special counsels can be fired from their positions, the process is much more arduous than removing ordinary prosecutors from a case.
Special counsels are semi-independent prosecutors who by Justice Department regulations can be appointed for high-level investigations when there can be a conflict of interest, or the appearance of it. They exercise greater day-to-day autonomy than regular United States attorneys, but are ultimately still subject to the control of the attorney general.
