Posted on 03/11/2018 4:30:21 PM PDT by EyesOfTX
The Evening Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends)
There isn’t much worth reading in the #NeverTrump enclave that is The National Review anymore, but there are exceptions to this rule. Anything written by the great Victor Davis Hanson is one such exception. Anything written by Andrew C. McCarthy is the other.
McCarthy, who is himself a former federal prosecutor, published a very interesting piece at National Review on Saturday. It’s long, but well worth the read, as he provides an excellent synopsis of alleged FBI and DOJ abuses in both the Clinton email scandal and the whole Trump-Russia “collusion” fantasy play, and concludes with a strong and interesting recommendation on how Attorney General Jeff Sessions should proceed to have both matters investigated and, if warranted, prosecuted.
In brief, McCarthy is no fan of the special counsel law in general or of the specific and growing calls from an array of congressional Republicans for the appointment of a second special counsel to “investigate the investigators”. He believes the special counsel law is structured in a way that pretty much ensures out-of-control investigations with no investigative sidebars or budgetary restrictions, ones that inevitably end up causing an amazing amount of political and societal disruption, ruin lives, and whose end results tend to be a handful of convictions of minor functionaries for process violations that may or may not have any relation to the supposed reason why the investigation began in the first place. See the results of the Robert Mueller investigation thus far as a primary example.
Rather than repeat this prosecutorial circus with the appointment of another special counsel, McCarthy proposes the following approach:
Here is what should be done. Attorney General Sessions should assign a U.S. attorney from outside Washington to conduct a probe of how the Clinton-emails and Trump-Russia investigations were handled by the Justice Department and FBI…
…the designated U.S. attorney would handle this investigation along with the rest of the work of his or her office — this would not be a prosecutor whose only assignment is to pursue a single target or set of targets, and who thus faces great pressure to file charges, no matter how far afield from the original focus of the investigation, in order to justify the appointment. Unlike the inspector general, the U.S. attorney would have full jurisdiction to convene a grand jury; investigate any crimes attendant to the Clinton-emails and Trump-Russia probes; issue subpoenas and seek other court process (such as search warrants) to secure evidence; and prosecute any violations of law by persons inside or outside of government.
I find this specific recommendation, coming on this specific weekend to be fascinating, because McCarthy’s recommendation for investigating DOJ/FBI conduct in these two scandals/non-scandals essentially amounts to an endorsement to the approach Sessions himself told Fox News’s Shannon Bream on Wednesday that he is already pursuing in looking into alleged DOJ/FBI abuses of the FISA process (Jeff Sessions Dropped a Bomb – Hardly Anyone Noticed).
To quote Sessions:
“I have appointed a person outside of Washington, many years in the Department of Justice (DOJ), to look at all the allegations that the House Judiciary Committee members sent to us; and we’re conducting that investigation.”
And, as I pointed out in that piece on Thursday:
Unlike [DOJ Inspector General Michael] Horowitz, this unidentified special prosecutor would have the power to convene a grand jury – and may have already done so – and quickly begin issuing subpoenas based on the recommendations contain in the Horowitz report.
Let’s also remember that, over the course of three weeks in December and January, Sessions let it be known that he has taken a similar approach to forming DOJ investigations into the following Clinton/Obama era scandals:
Uranium One; The Clinton Foundation; Felony leaks coming out of DOJ and the FBI; The Obama/Hezbollah “Project Cassandra” scandal. Combine all of those investigations with the OIG Inspector General investigation, along with multiple other likely ongoing investigations we don’t even know about yet, and you have a very busy Justice Department indeed.
What’s so interesting is the way in which Sessions has gone about letting all of this be known, always casually mentioning the existence of this investigation or that in the middle of interviews, almost as an afterthought in response to a question. He’s done it in a way that has prevented the media from engaging in feeding frenzies around any of them, and has also prevented any leaking to the press around any of them.
He’s done it so quietly that it has led many to accuse him of being a do-nothing, lazy or even compromised in some way by people who are simply unaware of everything that is going on. I was one of those people up until last November, in fact. Even as astute an observer as Andrew McCarthy appeared, in his piece from yesterday, unaware that the method he was suggesting for investigating one scandal was in fact the method Sessions has been employing all along related to other investigations.
Boiling the frog. That’s what they call it in the DC Swamp when one side is inexorably turning up the heat on the opposition so slowly that the opposition doesn’t notice until the time has passed to take any effective defensive action.
If that really has been the strategy, it’s been amazingly effective. Hopefully, the IG report will finally drop soon, and we’ll begin to find out.
That is all.
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How long does it take to get the measure of a man?
The ones getting screwed are the taxpayers. He's got pay dirt and he's sifting through sand.
I sowed the seed. I'll let others expand on it.
“So, would they rather Eric Holder or Janet Reno? Sheesh.”
Might just as well be...at least so far.
Are you sure this is 'no reason' ?
“Im waiting for the IG report for the big BOOM!!!! and waiting....waiting....still waiting....maybe October..thats it ! a October surprise!”
What year are we talking about?
“Screw all you Sessions bashers. Hope you choke on crow.”
How dare you!
“What was the nickname for Sessions when he was in AL ... ‘The Silent Executioner’?”
Now its “the recuser”.
I think most feel that way right now.
I thought that Sessions had a plan all along. Imagine how it would have been received if he had appointed a special counsel at the beginning. Duelling Banjos? If Sessions were younger and had political ambitions, I would be worried. But this is it for him. He wants to go out in a blaze of glory. For those who question his motives, remember that he was the first Senator to support Trump. Without that support, it is doubtful that Trump could stay in the race. I actually agree with McCarthy’s suggestion and believe that it is a brilliant plan. I also believe that Trey Gowdy is part of the plan. However, you are correct. Patience is a hard sell on this forum. If we are wrong, then we will gladly admit it when something actually happens. I believe that The IG is about to release his report and Gowdy knows what is in it. When released, Sessions, Gowdy and Nunes will have all of the cover that they need. As I said, it could be a brilliant plan. I hope I am right.
Lobsters. The anecdote should have been about lobsters.
Mmmm with some Siriachi sauce too.
You're hired. You have three hours.
Sessions foolishly set himself in time out, let Trump down, effectively turning over the barn to Rubenstein, keys and all. Trump and most of his base paid the price for Sessions personal tribute to his conscience and were flabbergasted.
What makes you think this apparent epiphany of Sessions is his work and not that of Rubenstein?
The fact is Sessions has, for well over a year, been reduced to the club parrot, in charge of announcements. His congressional testimony was an embarrassment, briefed only by Rubenstein to speak, and turning to aides to answer. He firmly heard, saw and spoke no evil and was convinced he had seen nothing to warrant a Special Counsel for anything.
Certainly, we can hope his time out is ending, but the PRICE has been already paid and was steep. He owes us, and of course Trum, that’s for
sure.
“Sessions has been the biggest bust of all of Trump’s appointments - “
He didn’t exactly hit the deck running.
Plate it Jeff.
There may be a reason but I disagree with the strategy. UNLESS he has better timing and plans to beat Mueller for the election surprise.
Mueller will indict Trump right before midterms. Sessions has to combat that...if he thinks dragging this out is better then I disagree. But we shall see.
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