Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Russiagate on the Run

The bags are packed, we're ready to go. Oh, yeah. Scott Johnson at Power Line call Spygate Watergate x 10,000 
In my notes on Andrew McCarthy’s Ball of Collusion in “All the president’s men, Obama style” and “Trump was FBI target,” I asserted that the Obama administration’s “collusion” caper constitutes “the biggest scandal by far in American political history.” McCarthy himself does not make this point, but he does something more valuable. He proves the elements of the scandal beyond a reasonable doubt and furnishes the reader with the means to draw his own conclusions.

I had meant to say in each of those linked posts that the “collusion” caper is Watergate x 10, but I knew that would understate matters considerably. In his interesting and useful American Greatness column “Comey Escaped This Time But His Day Should Come,” Thomas Farnan puts it this way and gets it right: “The attorney general has already noted that it is unusual for the FBI to conduct investigations based on opposition research which ‘on its face had a number of clear mistakes and a somewhat jejune analysis.’ That is Watergate times 10,000.”
while John Hinderacker wonders Will IG’s FISA Report Spur Criminal Charges?
Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona, a member of the House Judiciary Committee who presumably has seen some of the evidence relevant to the FISA investigation, said yesterday that he expects criminal indictments in the wake of that report:
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona made the prediction on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, discussing Horowitz’s report last week FBI Director James Comey’s mishandling and leaking of memos on conversations he’d had with President Trump to spur the appointment of a special counsel. Biggs accused Comey of “dodging and weaving” in the wake of the revelations, and said Horowitz’s next report on FISA abuse would be even more devastating.
“I anticipate that we will see some very stark revelations of manipulation of the whole system for political purposes,” Biggs said. “When you see that happen, that’s when I think you’re going to see references or referrals for indictments, and I think you are going to see some indictments.”
Let’s hope so. The Obama DOJ/FBI/CIA scandal is Watergate x 10,000. Someone needs to wind up in a federal penitentiary.
At AmThink, Clarice Feldman foretells Coming Legal Attractions
Two matters are likely to reveal more of the machinations of the FBI and intelligence agencies in the past presidential election and since. First there’s the Department of Justice’s Inspector General’s inquiries. The first inquiry resulted in a devastating account of former FBI Director James Comey’s conduct. Many were disappointed that Attorney General William Barr chose not to indict him based on the record IG Michael Horowitz presented, but bear in mind, this inquiry did not cover what will be a larger report on the abuse of the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) in which it seems Comey played a significant role.

While Comey, as is his self-deluded wont, claims the report vindicated him, it most certainly did not.
. . .
As you may recall, although General Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, he has yet to be sentenced. He recently changed lawyers and his present counsel, Sidney Powell, dropped a bombshell pleading last this week.

In it, she charges that the prosecution has repeatedly failed to produce Brady (exculpatory) evidence to the defense, despite a clear court order that they do so, and in violation of their legal and ethical responsibilities. It’s an unusual motion to be filed at this stage of the proceeding, and it seems to me -- though others have a different interpretation -- that Flynn is arguing that all the evidence against him was illegally obtained, and the government’s failure to disclose proof in their possession that this is so ultimately requires the case against Flynn be dismissed. (From my point of view, if this evidence is tainted, as Powell asserts it is, it’s hard to imagine how any other evidence in the government’s possession would not be.). . .
 Here's hoping. But, Like NeoNeo, I doubt it. Will anyone behind Russiagate be prosecuted?
I have to say right upfront that I doubt it.

It just seems to go that way. The state agencies are reluctant to charge their own bureaucrats, no matter what the violation, and the higher up the person is the less likely that person is to be prosecuted, no matter how shocking and blatant the violation. Lois Lerner and Hillary Clinton, cases in point.

And yes, it seems to be mostly Democrats who skate. The two-tiered system of justice described by Andrew C. McCarthy here is very real.

However, some people feel that Comey and company will ultimately be indicted (for example, see this). I hope they are right, because if it is possible to get away with what they tried to do, then we are far far far down the road to banana republicdom.
And this should be the position of every American no matter what the party being targeted. But of course it is not.

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