Update
To add to the judicial abuse, Congressional Republicans want the FBI to investigate Christopher Steele for the Russian “dossier”.
A veteran prosecutor, Peter Zeidenberg, said he had never heard of anything like the Grassley-Graham complaint and labeled it “nonsense” designed to detract from ongoing inquiries in to Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“The FBI doesn’t need any prompting from politicians to prosecute people who have lied to them,” said Zeidenberg, a federal prosecutor for 17 years. While members of Congress make criminal referrals from time to time, they are usually related to independent congressional investigations, not to material already known to the FBI. “They should stay in their lane,” Zeidenberg said of the Grassley-Graham effort.
Earlier
I was astonished to see Clinton Foundation trending on Twitter. Even more so to read that yet more investigations have been opened into the Clinton Foundation and Clinton’s emails. This, following the DOJ’s and FBI’s capitulation to Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes, related to Russian investigative documents.
Ryan’s deal with Rosenstein apparently lets Nunes eyeball though not take with him or copy the most sensitive FBI documents. Even letting that troll look at (& of course report to Trump) the raw material is just outrageous. 👇🏼 https://t.co/xyFLnz697g
— Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ (@tribelaw) January 5, 2018
Never before has our system of laws been so abused. Never before have we had a White House and a Congress so lost to duty and decency that they don’t even attempt to justify their actions—they just take them, and let Fox News and Sarah Huckabee Sanders play the liars for a willfully gullible populace.
1. Trump says Huma should be jailed; calls DOJ to take action
2. DOJ looking into Hillary’s emails, again.
3. FBI Little Rock launches new Clinton Foundation investigation.
4: U.S. Attorney is former Huckabee aide.2 days, 12 hours, 57 minutes.
GOP isn’t even hiding it anymore. pic.twitter.com/VBAFW1HHUV
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) January 5, 2018
If for no other reason, these latest legal abominations are a reason to vote every Republican out of office. Every single one. Not to protect Clinton: she’s a private citizen, and it’s apparent none of these investigations will end up in court. Not to defend Robert Mueller, who is a big boy and can hold his own. We need to vote Republicans out to stop them from abusing their power and their privilege. Congressional and White House Republicans undermine an already undermined FBI, have perverted the DOJ, and willfully tossed aside the rule of law. And no Republican, from mayor to Governor to Congressional member, seems to be willing to stand against these actions.
In the meantime, while we lurch from revelation to revelation over these investigative shenanigans, our oceans are being plundered, our coasts threatened, and our environment and too many species are harmed. We’re discussing the real possibility of nuclear war, and good people are being ignored in their crises (Puerto Rico) or deported (Dreamers). The Republican tax cut deliberately adds to the deficit for no other reason than to make the rich even more wealthy, while gathering ammo to harm citizens of modest means. Ryan and his ilk want nothing more than to dismantle our safety net, and they didn’t wait for the ink to dry on their tax cut before rumbling about welfare reform.
A tax cut for the middle class? We’re tossed scraps and told to make a meal.
Now, the Republicans taint our system of justice. Too many Republicans in leadership positions undermine the principles on which this nation was founded. They lie directly to our faces and demonstrate disdain for our welfare. When their supporters become restless, they evoke hatred and fear of the other to rope the willing back in.
They do so for the most venal and unprincipled reasons—because it gives the Republican Party power. It gives them power.
Justice by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images