Updated: Trump and GOP Allies Effort to Discredit Mueller, the FBI, and Russian Probe

Always has been the GOP strategy

Trump-GOP attacks on protective service agencies

(So, old wise one: What's our future)

First this historical point: John Dean reveals Nixon's “enemies list” in sworn testimony:

Trump's Nixon-style enemies list

This update supplements the post that follows this post.

The term “we may be facing a constitutional crisis” about the outcome of the Trump-Russia Mueller probe into the 2016 election may be more real than ever  now since it also speaks to the entire mechanics about the “Congress of People.”

The story from The Hill here is very good and worthwhile reference right now. A few key highlights I want to emphasize – setting the scene with my emphasis:

Republicans, mostly of the conservative stripes on Capitol Hill, are wary of a deal struck by Trump that allows for unspecified access to documents related to the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign re: [“The so-called FBI informant (or as Trump says “the spy, the plant, or a mole” and as he now says: All part of Spygate.]

The DOJ appeared to stave off a crisis by agreeing to allow lawmakers “to review highly classified and other information they have requested” about an informant who had contacts with the campaign (that we now know if retired Cambridge professor Stefan Halper (that story is here), but the precise terms of that access have yet to be negotiated.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) will meet Thursday with senior Justice Department, FBI and intelligence officials to hash out the details, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

“There’s a lot of confusion about this,” said Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), an ally of Nunes who also sits on the Intelligence panel. “[We] don’t want to be briefed on the documents, we want to see the documents, and I don’t trust the Justice Department to merely brief lawmakers on the documents. To say that Rosenstein is going to soft-roll this is a gracious understatement.”

The White House deferred questions on the terms of access to the Justice Department, which declined to comment. At the center of the gathering storm is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose handling of the demands has drawn fire from all sides. 

Key Element: Critics of the GOP push for information have warned that by ceding any access to the documents at all, Rosenstein is setting a dangerous precedent for political meddling in open investigations.

The House conservatives seeking access to the files, meanwhile, say Rosenstein hasn’t done nearly enough to comply with their requests, like saying: “The proof is in the pudding,” from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said he was when asked if he was satisfied by the deal. “I’m not holding my breath — this is like the little boy who cried wolf.” 

The agreement was the product of an extraordinary meeting at the White House on Monday between Trump, Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. Rosenstein and Wray have both pushed back on lawmakers’ demands, arguing that giving them the information they seek would cross a red line in intelligence by exposing a clandestine source.

But Trump has backed Nunes, whom he praised on as “courageous” and Trump allies have seized on the revelation of the informant as evidence that the FBI was trying to entrap the Trump campaign, something they say shows that the investigation should be shut down.

My 2 Cents and Summary: First of all, GOP conservatives are rabid partisans about this issue and now especially for not including key DEMS in the meeting discussed above – it’s like a GOP campaign strategy meeting and NOT anything about seeking the facts or finding out the truth about things related to this whole Trump-Russia probe. 

Shame on the GOP for their style of dictatorship and bullish thuggery. 

Also, re Rep. Nunes: Reflect here his scandal and here. Nunes is not a nice decent or honorable man – not one bit. FYI and for the official record: The FBI commonly uses confidential informants in counterintelligence investigations as was the case here (e.g., Americans from any place meeting with any foreign officials and especially Russians). 

Plus, and a huge plus: There is NO credible public evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing by either the informant (professor Halper) or the FBI in this matter. 

The GOP’s move and actions to shame and belittle the FBI, a few other intelligence agencies, and respectable Americans are despicable and quite frankly un-American.

– if individuals or small groups are out of line – then nail them NOT the agencies as a whole and smear everyone with a wide brush – that is not equal or fair justice under law and certainly is not our established values, which I might add many in this congress have totally lost sight of – at least in my lifetime of examining these events. Hopefully you agree, too. 

We still have a long way to go and the precedents not be set are dangerous and damaging in the long term – we need to reset or moral compass. 

Thanks for stopping by.