GOP Dimwits Want 2nd Special Counsel to Probe the Dept of Justice – Why Dems Should Go Along

For months Donald Trump has been attacking special counsel Robert Mueller as hopelessly biased and bent on driving him from the White House. Never mind that he is a life-long Republican who was appointed by the Republican Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein. And both them work closely with Trump’s Republican Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, and his Republican FBI Director, Chris Wray.

Donald Trump GOP

Despite that one-sided, right-wing assembly of the top law enforcement officials in the country, Trump continues to whine that he’s a victim of some clandestine, Democratic cabal that’s aligned against him. Clearly he is suffering from a severe case of paranoia, and the deep-seated fear that his criminality will be exposed. That has led to his frantic tweets accusing the FBI of spying on him (they weren’t) and demanding that the Department of Justice investigate:

That “demand” is typical of Trump’s disregard for the independence of the justice system and his compulsion to abuse the power of his office. Not surprisingly, his comrades in the Republican Party are all too willing to go along with this un-American assault on the institutions that protect our nation’s laws. A collection of wingnut GOP’ers have banded together to insist that the Department of Justice appoint a second special counsel. This would be be tasked with investigating the investigators currently investigating the President.

Among those making this demand are Freedom Caucus members of the House, Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan who adamantly declare that “The DOJ cannot investigate itself.” So these GOP truthseekers, who have long opposed the very concept of special counsels, are now calling for one of their own. And they should get one.

Think about what they are proposing. They want someone to probe the inquiries regarding Russian collusion with Donald Trump. Therefore, AG Sessions, who recused himself due to his involvement with the Trump campaign, would have to recuse himself from this matter as well. So Deputy AG Rosenstein would be the person to appoint the new special counsel. But these congressional Republicans are already convinced that Rosenstein is part of the “Deep State” conspiracy against Trump.

What’s more, since Rosentstein chose, Mueller, a staunch Republican, to lead the Russia probe, he might be compelled to choose a Democrat for the new counsel post probing Mueller and the FBI. How do you suppose the Freedom Caucus would react to that? Too bad. It’s not their job. Of course the party affiliation of the new counsel wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) guarantee any particular outcome. However, the new counsel would have the authority to probe all matters that involve, or stem from, the operations of the Mueller probe.

The thing that the Republicans demanding a new special counsel are not anticipating, is the possibility that such an investigation would produce even more evidence of wrongdoing by Trump, his family, and his associates. All of that would fall within the scope of the new counsel’s authority. And even if there weren’t new legal pitfalls for Trump, the likelihood that they would find any misconduct on the part of Mueller’s team is minuscule. Which means the new counsel would probably end up validating Mueller’s conclusions.

Of course, any result that proved to be detrimental to Trump would be immediately dismissed by the GOP and attacked for being biased. Even though the whole project was the result of the GOP’s whining in the first place. They could hardly complain that the investigation that they demanded should then be set aside and forgotten. But, of course, they would do just that. So it might be fun to let them have their way with the request and see what a new counsel would turn up. It couldn’t be any more ridiculous than everything that’s happened since Trump announced his candidacy.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

HUH? DHS Secretary Says She’s ‘Not Aware’ of Intelligence that Russia Tried to Help Trump

The United States was the victim of a concerted cyber attack by Russia throughout the 2016 presidential campaign. That fact is undisputed by every U.S. intelligence agency with jurisdiction over the subject. Even the Republican-run Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Putin preferred Donald Trump and was deliberately aiding his candidacy while working against Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump Vladimir Putin

So it comes as some surprise that Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, responded to reporter’s inquiries at a House briefing on election security by saying that she wasn’t aware of any such assessment (video below):

“I don’t believe I have seen that conclusion – that the specific intent was to help President Trump win. I’m not aware of that,” said Nielsen. She said that, in her opinion, Russia was only trying to “disrupt our belief and our own understanding of what’s happening.”

Seriously? This is the top domestic security official in the U.S. government. She is responsible for maintaining the safety and integrity of the nation’s voting systems and the confidence of the American people that their votes count. But she claims not be aware of established facts that expose severe flaws in our electoral processes and pose an existential threat to our democracy.

The conclusion that Russia sought to aid Trump is not in dispute. It was confirmed as far back as January 2017 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a report that unambiguously stated that:

“We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump. We have high confidence in these judgments.”

If Nielsen is actually unaware of these undisputed facts regarding Russia’s election interference, then she is either lazy or incompetent. There is no excuse for her not knowing about this fundamental report or the serious threats to Homeland Security that are enumerated in it.

If Nielsen is merely feigning ignorance on behalf of her boss, then she is complicit with his propaganda and criminal negligence. Trump has repeatedly denied the reality that Putin was helping his campaign. He surely doesn’t want members of his cabinet contradicting him. That could lead to further erosion of his denials regarding his collusion with Russia and financial improprieties by himself and his family.

But Nielsen, like all federal officials, took an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” She works for the American people. She did not swear allegiance to a wannabe dictator who insists that all of his minions kowtow to him and protect him from bad publicity or criminal liability. And if she doesn’t understand that she should resign and stop helping Trump to soft-pedal Russia’s hostilities against the United States.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.