James Comey was freed (mostly). But the ruthless coup of the Republicans continues



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The highly anticipated report of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice on whether former FBI director James Comey had broken the law by sharing some of his memos with the media was made public yesterday. The report did not reveal that Comey had broken the law or issued confidential information, which was certainly a terrible disappointment for the right-wing swamp, who hoped to see Comey get scammed. He however found that he had defied the FBI's policy after being sacked by the president and had strongly criticized the judgment of the former director, causing a lot of joy and excitement among his detractors.

The president's tweet that follows the news reflects the general reaction of the right:

Almost all the facts about this are known since Comey testified before Congress in the summer of 2017. He explained at that time that his motivation was to prompt a special council to investigate the situation. 39 and he told the investigators of the Inspector General He did not pass his decision to the Ministry of Justice because he did not want officials to be involved in it. what he believed to be a situation of denunciation.

Although the IG did not discover that Comey had released classified information, the report reveals that some other actors in this drama, such as former deputy director Andrew McCabe and the agent Special Peter Strzok, reviewed the memos of Comey and found information was ranked at the lowest level of "confidential", for which Comey was not held accountable.

The irony in all this is thick. After all, it is Comey's disregard for Justice policy in the summer and fall of 2016 that likely led to Donald Trump's electoral victory. First of all, Comey went to the press to apparently clear Hillary Clinton of any wrongdoing in the email, while reproaching her for being irresponsible and irresponsible. He then made the even more dubious decision to reopen the case in October, just days before the presidential election.

Clinton had to pour some pictures of Jameson when she read this report. As David A. Graham pointed out in The Atlantic:

Few of us can imagine what it has done for Clinton to be laundered from both criminal and public offenses, but today, Comey probably has a pretty good idea of ​​what that makes.

It's hard not to say "what's going on around us," but it would trivialize a very serious situation. The poorly crafted statements of Comey in 2016, which no doubt tipped the decision in favor of Trump, constitute what could be called his original sin. The results were catastrophic. This error in judgment then led directly to the dismissal of Comey, who did not show Trump the blind loyalty that the president is asking of all members of the government.

Comey's further refusal to help Trump to conceal the series of questionable interactions between the Trump campaign and agents or agents of the Russian government has now led to a very confusing policy of the Department of Justice. Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare says so:

The Inspector General of the Department of Justice determined that it was the fault of a law enforcement officer to publicly disclose an effort to terminate his investigation.

I would add that the effort, in this case, was made by a person who was involved in this investigation – and who happens to be also the most powerful person on earth – which adds to an obstruction of justice. These facts were clearly stated in the Mueller report. Essentially, this policy adds an extra layer of impunity to the presidency.

It might have been supposed that the Republicans would be happy to drop all these outstanding pieces of the seemingly dying inquiry about Russia, but they seem determined to keep it alive. To our knowledge, Attorney General Bill Barr's internal investigation into intelligence agencies continues at a steady pace. And the case of Andrew McCabe also remains open, with information suggesting that the government plans to indict him for providing the press with negative information about Hillary Clinton and then lied to the FBI about it.

By all accounts, McCabe has every intention of fighting to the end and will produce all the tweets and comments of the President claiming his trial as evidence that his dismissals and the indictment were of a political nature. Since this is an offense that is normally the subject of a reprimand or a shooting, which has already taken place, a charge against him would certainly seem unusual. It seems that the Attorney General and his fellow Trumpists want a show trial.

They are not the only ones. Among enthusiastic Republicans, no one is more excited than Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He appeared on Sean Hannity 's Fox News show Wednesday night to announce that he was hoping to open his own "investigation survey" from one day to the next. Graham has a whole list of witnesses he should call, including McCabe, former CIA director John Brennan and former National Intelligence Director James Clapper. But he thinks the most important question regarding the investigation of Russia is what the president knew and when he knew it – the president in question being Barack Obama.

Graham told Hannity: "I can not imagine that an investigation into the Republican presidential candidate – a counterintelligence investigation into his campaign – has not been approved at the highest level. I can not imagine that happening without someone in the White House knowing about it. Hannity asked if this would imply swearing in former President Obama Graham replied, "Absolutely. "

Just this week, Trump treated the G7 summit in France as an infomercial for his Florida private golf club and offered his pardon to anyone illegally appropriating land at the border to build his wall. . tips on the top. If this level of medieval fantasy, flagrant corruption and abuse of power does not deserve a charge of indictment, then literally nothing is worth it. Yet Republicans have the courage to tear their clothes and claim scented salts on James Comey's Justice Department policy violations, and launch an investigation campaign on Barack Obama.

Many people were hoping for some exciting public hearings on the investigation in Russia, but I do not think that's what they had in mind. At the present time, it seems like a Republican show-trial is all we have. The persistent inability of Democrats to understand the extent of the GOP's unbridled quest for power is staggering.

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