“The lubricants of a Democratic system are faith, trust and belief. Vladimir Putin is attacking that…he has no greater ally in this effort than the President of the United States.” – Steve Schmidt, Republican Strategist, April 5, 2018
On Oct. 28, 2016 the FBI Director sent a letter to Congress releasing damning information about Clinton’s emails days before the presidential election. Although the FBI has a general rule not to make news near the time of an election, Comey said he was complying with an assurance he made to Congress – if new information arose, he promised to inform them. Lousy timing for her but a gift from the gods for Trump. Turned out there was nothing new; the emails discovered were replicas. But by the time that announcement was made – ‘nothing to see here, folks,’ – the election was 2 days away, early voting had been going on in earnest, and thanks to James Comey, Clinton’s campaign was seriously wounded. Two days later, Trump praised Comey for releasing the letter to Congress.
But here’s what voters didn’t know. Since July of that year, the FBI had also been investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 election. The Bureau, however, did not share this information with Congress or the public. Voters were completely unaware of any investigation or the extent of Russian involvement in the Trump campaign.
Two months after the inauguration, on March 20, 2017, the FBI finally announced it was investigating whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the election. On May 9 Trump fired Comey – the person who may have been partially responsible for Trump’s election. The stated reason was that Comey mishandled the probe into Clinton’s private email server. To quote John McEnroe, “you cannot be serious!”
Here’s what’s for sure. The release of information about one investigation (but not the other) and the clear documentation of interference by the Russians – made public long after the fact – made it more likely that Trump would gain votes and Clinton would lose. The extent that either of these events made the winning difference for Trump and the lethal difference for Clinton, we’ll never know. But it strains credulity to assume neither impacted the outcome. If Comey was out to get Trump, as Trump later asserted, he sure had a funny way of showing it.
Actually, Trump had every reason to send Comey, who by now he should have considered his BFF, chocolates and roses but instead he fired him. Why?
Even the most ardent Trump supporter cannot believe that Trump was upset about reopening the Clinton investigation. While the FBI couldn’t have been pleased about Comey’s actions so close to the election, only Trump had the authority to fire him. The only logical explanation was that Trump wanted to put a stop to the Russian investigation. One day after the firing, on May 10, Trump told two Russian diplomats, “I just fired the head of the FBI…I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” And he admitted, during an interview with Lester Holt one day later on May 11, that “the Russian thing” was on his mind when he fired Comey.
The definition of obstruction of justice is “impeding those who seek justice in a court.” Just a guess, but firing the head investigator for the purpose of stopping an investigation might meet that requirement.
One week later, on May 18, Trump claimed he was a victim of a “witch hunt,” a term he now uses continually to discredit the Russian investigation.
There are two issues at stake. One is trying to determine exactly what Russia did to intervene in the election and presumably to develop strategies to prevent future attacks. The second is to determine the extent Trump campaign operatives were involved in assisting with Russian interference.
Here’s something else we know for sure. Repeating something ad nauseam does not make it true. This is not a witch hunt. It’s a real investigation with real results. Thus far, and this is only what’s known, 4 campaign staff have pled guilty or made plea deals on charges ranging from lying to the FBI to conspiracy, money laundering, tax and bank fraud. 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies were indicted on conspiracy changes related to Russian propaganda efforts designed to interfere in the 2016 election. Two others have also been indicted for a total of 19 individuals.
Given the secrecy of the Mueller investigation, there’s much more that has not been revealed. And speaking of that, ‘witch hunt’ is a euphemism for things that don’t exist. Interference in our election by Russia exists. What also exists is significant evidence, indictments and plea deals involving key members of the Trump campaign and governing team that suggests Russia had help and support in accomplishing their objective.
No matter how the Mueller investigation ends, Russia is achieving their goals; Donald Trump was elected president and with that has come the steady attacks on American institutions and values.
Russia has shown that you don’t need a conventional war to destroy a country. All you need is a power hungry vengeful narcissist without a conscience, desperate for attention and sycophants to do his bidding. Steve Schmidt describes him as Russia’s ‘useful idiot’ – “when Trump attacks the intelligence community and Justice Department, when he attacks and undermines institutions he is doing Putin’s bidding, his work for him.”
Witch hunt? He wishes.
Marsha Shearer is a frequent contributor to Villages-News.com