Well, I guess I might as well put in my two cents on General Flynn’s case. With the release of the latest withheld notes between the various FBI and DOJ actors in this tragedy it is now obvious to anyone but the willfully blind that this was a takedown without any crime to justify it.
Strzok, McCabe and Comey engineered the prosecution as part of their strategy of undermining faith in the Trump administration and crippling its effectiveness by removing a competent man. This was part of the whole Russian collusion myth. Now every man on the street can read the details of how they did it. The only question is what will be done to punish those who perpetrated it?
Will these criminals be allowed to walk away scot free? Between this and the Mueller investigation, three years of the Trump presidency was bombarded with false innuendo by the hostile media and the various partisan deep state actors who leaked the fake news to the press. These unelected tyrants hijacked our country and held hostage the workings of our government. Strzok, McCabe and Comey should pay a heavy price. They need to go to jail.
And there are other parties that had a direct hand in this conspiracy. John Brennan and James Clapper are up to their elbows in this thing. Letting them walk away unscathed would be a travesty of justice. With respect to the echelons above them, I assume they’ve insulated themselves and only a confession by Comey, Brennan or Clapper could shed light on higher level culpability. I’ll leave that for later consideration if we ever see justice reach as far as the mid-level criminals.
Strzok, McCabe and Comey should go to prison. But will they? Six months ago, I would have said yes. But it’s six months later and nothing has happened. Barr made a lot of noise about spying and the inappropriate actions taken by the FBI. He appointed Durham in May 2019, a year ago, to look into all aspects of the Russian collusion scam. And what has happened? As far as I can tell, nothing. My belief is that Barr and Durham are collecting evidence and waiting to see who wins the 2020 election. If Trump wins maybe they’ll slap a few wrists and publish a report about how to stop such atrocious things from ever happening again. If the Dems win, they’ll publish a report saying that everything was done by the book and the system works beautifully.
I had thought that I was as cynical as it was possible to be. I was wrong. I now believe that the deep state is basically immune to reform. Barr is an insider. He has done nothing and that is all he intends to do. It will take an outsider who tears it down with a wrecking ball to make it change. I only hope that when President Trump is re-elected that he appoints a new attorney general whose background is in the military and this man demolishes the alphabet bureaus from the top down and rebuilds them with honest men. But that is probably a fantasy that will never be realized.
Understand, I would like nothing better than to be proven completely wrong about Barr’s intentions. If I looked at the news tomorrow morning and it had a photo of Comey being frog-marched out of his house in his pajamas at 3 a.m. I would be the happiest man in the world. Hearing that Peter Strzok was turning state’s evidence and had implicated his boss McCabe in treason would make me giddy with delight. But with every passing day I think it’s more and more clear that President Trump is the only honest man in Washington. And because he is, I guess that the only honorable treatment that General Flynn will experience in this whole travesty is a pardon from the President when everyone else fails to serve justice.
The thing is the FBI has been quite partisan from its beginnings. Hoover, although great at catching German spies during WWII was a very political animal and kept blackmail evidence on all the major players in government.
I would take away the FBI’s policing duties and revert them back to evidence processing and data collection and storage. Fingerprints, DNA, weapons, bombs, all the sorts of things they actually do well and get them out of policing and give that back to the US marshals.
I believe the rot runs too deep to fix it, just start over.
Yes, defang them for sure. As a general policy I’d reduce the headcount for almost every government agency by a fraction every year. I would exclude the military because they have an actual reason for being. But all the rest of the flying circus should be reduced by sixty percent the first year and five percent every following year until either they run out of people or people notice an actual reason for them existing.
And far too many government agencies have police powers and are armed. Why does the library of congress need armed workers? Why is the IRS armed? Tax avoidance is a civil crime. Why is the treasury inspector general’s office for tax administration armed? Tax ADMINISTRATION. Not enforcement. The Department of Education’s office of the inspector general? Department of Agriculture inspector general’s office? US Postal Inspection service?
Too many tin gods with a badge and a gun.
IG of the Department of Agriculture. Sounds like a rip snortin’ job you’d need Wyatt Earp to fill. I guess I should be grateful for all the opportunities for satire. But honestly any satire I try pales in comparison to reality. America sheltering in place, quaking in their bedroom slippers over the flu.
When did Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria become director of the NKVD, Er, FBI? This bunch was definitely working under the premise of “Show me the man, I’ll find you the crime”. I hope the General sues all those involved down to their navel lint, and then Federal prosecutors send them to Kansas for a nice long, working vacation, manufacturing gravel.
I doubt there will be any convictions. Look at Ruby Ridge. An FBI sniper murdered a woman holding a baby in her arms. As a former sniper, I will say he was not justified in taking that shot and that he should have been tried for murder. He was not tried for anything.
Satan protects his own.
Ed, maybe I’m just getting old but I’ve been waiting for some payoff from the Barr people for a really long time. I feel like they’re just going through the motions. I know that sounds defeatist but it’s where I’ve gotten to. I think at some point President Trump is going to need a new AG. Hey maybe Michael Flynn would like the job. I think he would bring a unique perspective to the position.