HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR
WEEKEND ANCHOR: The first public
testimony of former FBI Director
Jim Comey since his firing by
President Trump captured the
Capitol's attention this week,
but there were other significant
developments on the Hill
outside of that spotlight.
"NewsHour Weekend"
special correspondent Jeff
Greenfield joins me from
Santa Barbara, California,
to discuss that.
So, what did we miss?
JEFF GREENFIELD, NEWSHOUR
WEEKEND SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT:
Well, the entire political
universe was focused
on the Comey testimony.
Up on Capitol Hill in the
Senate, Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell took the Republican
repeal and replace
Obamacare bill and put it
on a so-called fast track.
That means it can go right to
the floor of the Senate with
no committee meetings, no
hearings, virtually no
debate, and it would only
take 50 votes to pass it.
There were some
concessions to moderates.
It's not clear that the most
conservative senators will
sign on, but it represents a
significant step
in that direction.
On the other side of
the Capitol, the House
passed significant
cutbacks of the Dodd-Frank
bill.
That's legislation that puts
significant caps on what big
banks can do in the wake of the
financial meltdown in 2008.
That faces some tough sledding
in the Senate, but what it
indicates is that the Republican
majorities in the House
and Senate are determined
to press ahead with the
core Republican agenda
on matters ranging from
financial regulation
to the role of health
in the government and
beyond.
SREENIVASAN: Is there a
pattern here on how they are
going to pursue this agenda?
GREENFIELD: Well, I think the
pattern extends beyond Capitol
Hill, and it indicates why
some congressional Republicans
who might have a lot of problems
with Trump's behavior are
not going to be that willing
to step away from him.
The executive branch has done
all kinds of regulatory changes.
They've granted a lot
of exceptions to the
energy industry, to
for-profit colleges.
They've appointed into positions
of government representatives
from various interest groups
and have given them exemptions
from conflict of interest rules.
They've clearly appointed some
-- or trying to appoint staunch
conservatives to the federal
bench.
And that suggests that for
congressional Republicans
looking at Trump,
there's a thought that,
well, he may have problems, but
he seems to be pursuing what
we conservatives have wanted
the government to do for some
time, which is why I think
that they will be less inclined
than otherwise to take sides
against him in, say, a fight
with the former director of the
FBI.
SREENIVASAN: So, where does
this leave the president then?
On Thursday, we heard basically
Jim Comey say that the
president in some ways lied,
and then Friday, we explicitly
heard the president refute that.
GREENFIELD: Well, you know, I
think in the short run -- and
we've talked about this before
- - the whole impeachment
idea is a nonstarter.
We don't have a lot of history
about impeachment, but one thing
is as long as the president
retains the support of his
or her party, removal from
office is almost impossible.
But when the president said
publicly he'd be willing to
take -- to testify under oath
before special counsel Mueller,
he may have bought himself
a world of trouble because
once you testify under oath,
anything you say that's false
can be used as either a source
of a criminal indictment
or in the case of a
president, impeachment.
And under those
circumstances, I think you
would see congressional
Republicans, particularly
from those in the swing
districts, begin to
move away from him.
The fact of the matter is,
right now, whatever his overall
poll numbers are, he is hugely
popular within his party.
SREENIVASAN: Yes.
GREENFIELD: But I do think he
set himself up for a potential
problem with that statement
about testifying under oath.
SREENIVASAN: All right.
Jeff Greenfield, thanks so much.
GREENFIELD: Yes.