Republican fanfare and new levels of capitulation from House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell marked former President Donald Trump‘s return to the Capitol yesterday — his first visit there since he left the presidency and since MAGA rioters stormed the building on January 6, 2021.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) castigated the Republican conference for delaying the start of House business in order to accommodate Trump’s visit, saying that Republicans chose “a felon over helping families.”
Swalwell had been questioning Norm Eisen, an attorney, legal analyst and a former Ambassador, when he broached not just Trump as a newly convicted felon, but the long list of Trump associates who have been convicted in courts.
.@RepSwalwell: Do the terms of probation for a convicted felon allow you to hang out with other felons? pic.twitter.com/TyRSox7xKK
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) June 13, 2024
Swalwell’s point in questioning Eisen was to surface the fact that under the standard terms of probation, felons are prohibited from associating with other felons, a prohibition, Swalwell asserts, that will be hard for Trump to abide since the former President’s inner circle is densely populated by other felons.
As Trump’s “friends,” Swalwell lists “criminals like” Roger Stone, Rick Gates, Allen Weisselberg, Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro, Paul Manafort, and demoted Gen. Michael Flynn — all of whom have been convicted.
Swalwell says of Trump: “This is the person who you all chose to hang out with this morning, delaying the original start time of our hearing because rather than getting work done for people who need us to work, you chose a felon over helping families.”