Lewandowski Lowers the Bar in Unprecedented Limbo

Hunter DeRensis

Politics, Americas

Was Corey Lewandowski's congressional circus show a prelude to a bid for a U.S. Senate seat?

Yesterday Corey Lewandowski testified before Congress for the fourth time. He went in front of the House Judiciary Committee, and hewing to the White House-instructed line, proved a difficult, and unhelpful witness to the Democratic majority.

“Corey Lewandowski vying to be for Trump-Russia hearings what Pat Buchanan was to Watergate hearings and Ollie North was to Iran-Contra hearings,” tweeted James Antle, editor of The American Conservative.

Lewandowski was no doubt inspired by such performances but failed to live up to them. Both Buchanan and North broke expectations by their aggressiveness, going on the offense against congressional questions and twisting their opponents with rebuttals. While Buchanan and North testified at the peak of their respective investigations, and their performances held real political consequences, the Trump-Putin espionage conspiracy is already a dead letter. Hearing Lewandowski testify is just sweeping up.

The official reason for Lewandowski testifying was a June 19, 2017, event described in the Mueller report. Lewandowski dictated a message from President Donald Trump that he was instructed to give to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It was the content of a speech Sessions was to give, explaining his regret over recusing himself from the special counsel investigation, how Trump was innocent of all accused wrongdoing, and that Sessions would limit the investigation to only future election interference. Due to scheduling conflicts, Lewandowski was unable to deliver the message immediately. A month later, on July 19, Trump followed-up and asked about the message. Lewandowski reiterated that it was in transit, before giving it to White House staff member Rick Dearborn. Dearborn decided not to deliver it to Sessions.