There will have to be a reckoning at DOJ: The FBI-Mueller probe on Russia collusion is rotten to the core
Dec 14, 2017 14:42:21 #
12/14/2017 The FBI-Mueller probe on Russia collusion is rotten to the core
Buck Sexton
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/364949-buck-sexton-the-fbi-mueller-probe-on-russia-collusion-is-rotten-beyond
Whatever faith the American people have had in the fairness of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is rapidly evaporating, as it should.
We now have strong indicators that the special counsel is at its core an anti-Trump effort, if not to undo the results of the last presidential election, then to exact some form of vengeance against the victors.
Everything about the Robert Mueller-led probe —
a. From the choice of investigators to their conduct and motivations —
b. Everything is suspect.
The latest blow to Mueller’s team’s credibility came in the form of DOJ-released text messages between two senior FBI officials formerly involved with the Russia collusion investigation, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Strzok, a senior counterintelligence agent in the bureau, referred to Trump in an August 2016 text to Page as a “loathsome human” and wrote “F Trump” in another message.
The anti-Trump media’s response to unveiled texts has focused on the obvious fact that everyone has opinions, even FBI agents.
This is manifestly true, but still a disingenuous defense under the circumstances.
The Mueller probe is not a standard criminal justice investigation.
Partisan politics don’t matter much if at all when prosecuting drug kingpins or human traffickers.
Mueller’s operation, however could bring down a presidency.
Even without overt bias, it is a hyper-political exercise, and so the ethical standards applied to those involved should be higher than normal investigations.
Recusal exists for a reason.
NEW: Rosenstein on hot seat as parties allege FBI bias — The Hill (@thehill) December 13, 2017
But the texts go beyond profane government employee opinions.
By far the most damaging was the following exchange between Strzok and Page on August 15th, 2016:
1. “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office (Deputy FBI Director Andy McCabe) that there’s no way he gets elected, but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
2. To be clear: Here we have a very senior FBI agent (who also happened to have led the criminal probe into Hillary Clinton’s email server) apparently stating to another senior FBI official that, in the office of the deputy FBI director, there was some plan B under discussion in case Trump became president.
3. In law enforcement circles, they would call this “motive,” and it could help explain how this entire Russia collusion mess got started.
This is outrageous.
If over the course of the Benghazi investigations under the Obama administration, a DOJ official involved in that effort texted anything that implied a desire to remove Obama from office or undermine him, the Democrats and the media would have gone into the political equivalent of DefCon 1.
When you add this into the already obvious partisan undertones of the Mueller probe, the whole thing looks like a politicized sham.
With each passing week, another bombshell revelation drops about the inescapably partisan composition and ties of the Mueller squad.
FBI agent removed from Mueller probe called Trump "an idiot, loathsome human" in texts: reports — The Hill (@thehill) December 13, 2017
At least eight attorneys involved in the Mueller probe all supported Clinton or Obama.
They are thick with ties to the Clintons, Obama, the Clinton Foundation and even Fusion GPS, which produced the opposition research dossier that may have been the basis for the entire Russia collusion counterintelligence investigation.
Are we really supposed to believe that all of this is a coincidence?
Special counsel Mueller couldn’t find (or randomly pick) a lawyer who wrote a check for former Gov. Jeb Bush or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)?
Or that didn’t publicly support any political candidates?
There are plenty of qualified people, at DOJ and elsewhere, who would fit those criteria.
On the contrary, Mueller has stacked his team with partisan Democrats, and the entire Russia collusion investigation effort at DOJ has been riddled with conflicts of interest and concerning outside ties from the start.
We have to evaluate the work of the special counsel not just based on the possibility of biased opinions, but in the context of a history of overtly biased DOJ actions.
This whole probe began because former FBI Director James Comey leaked a memo to the New York Times specifically to undermine President Trump.
Comey and Mueller are close friends and former associates.
Comey rewrote a statute to clear Hillary of charges in the email case, and then stood before the American people instead of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, whose duty it was to take the heat for bailing out Madame Secretary.
None of these actions are normal, or defensible — absent politics.
Conservative watchdog head suggests FBI may need to be "shut down" because Clinton "compromised" it — The Hill (@thehill) December 14, 2017
Simply put, there has been high-level political favoritism and corruption at the Department of Justice, as litany of recent events indicates.
Despite all this, the Mueller probe should be allowed to conclude, not because it deserves to finish, but because it would be unfair to the Trump administration to end it.
If Mueller is fired, Trump will be blamed. It’s better to let it play out.
When Mueller finally has nothing to show for months of interrogations and millions of dollars spent, other than a few process crimes, there will be many questions asked about this enormous witch hunt, and Democrats and the media won’t have good answers.
Few things are more corrosive to a free society than law enforcement that seeks political ends over justice.
Unfortunately, as we see from DOJ actions in the Russia collusion investigation, that is a legacy of the Obama administration that still pollutes our institutions.
There will have to be a reckoning at DOJ, it is just a question of when.
Buck Sexton
http://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/364949-buck-sexton-the-fbi-mueller-probe-on-russia-collusion-is-rotten-beyond
Whatever faith the American people have had in the fairness of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is rapidly evaporating, as it should.
We now have strong indicators that the special counsel is at its core an anti-Trump effort, if not to undo the results of the last presidential election, then to exact some form of vengeance against the victors.
Everything about the Robert Mueller-led probe —
a. From the choice of investigators to their conduct and motivations —
b. Everything is suspect.
The latest blow to Mueller’s team’s credibility came in the form of DOJ-released text messages between two senior FBI officials formerly involved with the Russia collusion investigation, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Strzok, a senior counterintelligence agent in the bureau, referred to Trump in an August 2016 text to Page as a “loathsome human” and wrote “F Trump” in another message.
The anti-Trump media’s response to unveiled texts has focused on the obvious fact that everyone has opinions, even FBI agents.
This is manifestly true, but still a disingenuous defense under the circumstances.
The Mueller probe is not a standard criminal justice investigation.
Partisan politics don’t matter much if at all when prosecuting drug kingpins or human traffickers.
Mueller’s operation, however could bring down a presidency.
Even without overt bias, it is a hyper-political exercise, and so the ethical standards applied to those involved should be higher than normal investigations.
Recusal exists for a reason.
NEW: Rosenstein on hot seat as parties allege FBI bias — The Hill (@thehill) December 13, 2017
But the texts go beyond profane government employee opinions.
By far the most damaging was the following exchange between Strzok and Page on August 15th, 2016:
1. “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office (Deputy FBI Director Andy McCabe) that there’s no way he gets elected, but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
2. To be clear: Here we have a very senior FBI agent (who also happened to have led the criminal probe into Hillary Clinton’s email server) apparently stating to another senior FBI official that, in the office of the deputy FBI director, there was some plan B under discussion in case Trump became president.
3. In law enforcement circles, they would call this “motive,” and it could help explain how this entire Russia collusion mess got started.
This is outrageous.
If over the course of the Benghazi investigations under the Obama administration, a DOJ official involved in that effort texted anything that implied a desire to remove Obama from office or undermine him, the Democrats and the media would have gone into the political equivalent of DefCon 1.
When you add this into the already obvious partisan undertones of the Mueller probe, the whole thing looks like a politicized sham.
With each passing week, another bombshell revelation drops about the inescapably partisan composition and ties of the Mueller squad.
FBI agent removed from Mueller probe called Trump "an idiot, loathsome human" in texts: reports — The Hill (@thehill) December 13, 2017
At least eight attorneys involved in the Mueller probe all supported Clinton or Obama.
They are thick with ties to the Clintons, Obama, the Clinton Foundation and even Fusion GPS, which produced the opposition research dossier that may have been the basis for the entire Russia collusion counterintelligence investigation.
Are we really supposed to believe that all of this is a coincidence?
Special counsel Mueller couldn’t find (or randomly pick) a lawyer who wrote a check for former Gov. Jeb Bush or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)?
Or that didn’t publicly support any political candidates?
There are plenty of qualified people, at DOJ and elsewhere, who would fit those criteria.
On the contrary, Mueller has stacked his team with partisan Democrats, and the entire Russia collusion investigation effort at DOJ has been riddled with conflicts of interest and concerning outside ties from the start.
We have to evaluate the work of the special counsel not just based on the possibility of biased opinions, but in the context of a history of overtly biased DOJ actions.
This whole probe began because former FBI Director James Comey leaked a memo to the New York Times specifically to undermine President Trump.
Comey and Mueller are close friends and former associates.
Comey rewrote a statute to clear Hillary of charges in the email case, and then stood before the American people instead of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, whose duty it was to take the heat for bailing out Madame Secretary.
None of these actions are normal, or defensible — absent politics.
Conservative watchdog head suggests FBI may need to be "shut down" because Clinton "compromised" it — The Hill (@thehill) December 14, 2017
Simply put, there has been high-level political favoritism and corruption at the Department of Justice, as litany of recent events indicates.
Despite all this, the Mueller probe should be allowed to conclude, not because it deserves to finish, but because it would be unfair to the Trump administration to end it.
If Mueller is fired, Trump will be blamed. It’s better to let it play out.
When Mueller finally has nothing to show for months of interrogations and millions of dollars spent, other than a few process crimes, there will be many questions asked about this enormous witch hunt, and Democrats and the media won’t have good answers.
Few things are more corrosive to a free society than law enforcement that seeks political ends over justice.
Unfortunately, as we see from DOJ actions in the Russia collusion investigation, that is a legacy of the Obama administration that still pollutes our institutions.
There will have to be a reckoning at DOJ, it is just a question of when.
Dec 14, 2017 15:00:52 #
Crayons
Loc: St Jo, Texas
Klintock's Bagman "the Mule" should have been locked up
long ago for delivering uranium samples to the russians.
long ago for delivering uranium samples to the russians.
Dec 14, 2017 15:31:58 #
Yup, how those slime-ball's, e.g. Justice Attorney General Sessions, FBI director Comey and Former Justice Attorney General Mueller ever remained in D.C politics is beyond me.
Trumps error and mistake . . . Can't trust the Swamp . . .
[quote=11r20
Klintock's Bagman "the Mule" should have been locked up a long ago for delivering uranium samples to the Russians.
[/quote]
Trumps error and mistake . . . Can't trust the Swamp . . .
[quote=11r20
Klintock's Bagman "the Mule" should have been locked up a long ago for delivering uranium samples to the Russians.
[/quote]
Dec 14, 2017 17:22:31 #
Crayons
Loc: St Jo, Texas
Doc110 wrote:
Yup, how those slime-ball's, e.g. Justice Attorney General Sessions, FBI director Comey and Former Justice Attorney General Mueller ever remained in D.C politics is beyond me.
Trumps error and mistake . . . Can't trust the Swamp . . .
Trumps error and mistake . . . Can't trust the Swamp . . .
it's a top mgmt uniparty protection racket, real cloak n' dagger stuff.
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