Democrats are getting desperate as Mueller stalls
DNC Chairman Tom PerezGetty Images
It’s not just Hillary Clinton who can’t quit Russia. The whole Democratic Party keeps going back to 2016.
In a move that reeks of desperation, the DNC filed a civil suit Friday against President Trump’s campaign, Russia and WikiLeaks, alleging a vast (right wing!) conspiracy to tip the election to Trump.
The suit’s flamboyant charges made headlines, but that only served to obscure the real meaning. Namely, that top Dems are giving up their fantasies that special counsel Robert Mueller will deliver them from political purgatory by getting the goods on Trump.
The trashy suit is their way of trying to keep impeachment and Russia, Russia, Russia alive for the midterms in case Mueller’s probe comes up empty.
Truth be told, party leaders are right to be disheartened by setbacks in the War against Trump. For the second time, the president was told he is not a target of Mueller, this time by Rod Rosenstein, the deputy assistant attorney general who created Mueller.
While Trump could still become a target, the odds of that happening decline by the day.
The probe started in the summer of 2016 by the FBI, and was taken over by Mueller nearly a year ago. Despite a large, secret budget and a squad of seasoned gunners, many of them Clinton supporters, Mueller hasn’t produced any evidence of a crime by the president.
If he had, Trump would be a target.
In a more reasonable era, Rosenstein would blow the whistle and declare, “Time’s up.” As I wrote two weeks ago, he or Mueller should at least end the guessing game and tell the public where the probe stands, where it is going and when it’s going to get there.
To keep it going endlessly suggests Mueller and Rosenstein have their jobs backwards. Instead of trying to find who committed a known crime, they put a target on Trump’s back and are going through his entire life with a fine-tooth comb, determined to find him guilty of something.
That’s why it was refreshing to hear Rudy Giuliani’s remarks when he signed on to the president’s team. “I’m going to join the legal team to try to bring this to a resolution,” Giuliani said. “The country deserves it.”
A Trump surrogate during the campaign, Giuliani has known Mueller for many years. Before he became New York’s mayor in 1994, Giuliani was the Manhattan federal prosecutor and, before that, served as associate attorney general under President Ronald Reagan.
His goal of a settlement within weeks seems optimistic, but there is no denying that significant developments are tilting in Trump’s favor. Top among them is that the Justice Department finally seems to be getting serious about misconduct by government officials during the presidential campaign.
The news that Inspector General Michael Horowitz is probing whether former FBI director James Comey mishandled classified information with memos he wrote and leaked is the second bombshell in two days. It follows the IG recommendation of criminal prosecution against Comey’s former top deputy, Andrew McCabe, on charges that he lied repeatedly to investigators.
These are not secondary issues. Getting the truth of biased actions against Trump by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the Obama administration is as critical as the Mueller investigation. To let Comey and others get away with abusing their power for partisan purposes would further damage public trust in law enforcement.
Comey, of course, is on a book tour that has served a dual function: making him rich while also making him less trustworthy to both Democrats and Republicans. He and McCabe are trading accusations of lying, which is remarkable when you realize how many ordinary Americans they prosecuted for lying to them.
Comey is also attacking former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who responds by accusing him of making up a conversation.
Mueller, if he’s the straight arrow he purports to be, can’t be happy that his chief witness against Trump is now the star of a traveling clown show.
McCabe reportedly has a book deal of his own, which suggests a new career path for disgraced G-men. Dishonor the FBI — and make a killing by bashing the president.
What a country.
Alas, the civil war among anti-Trumpers doesn’t stop there. A New York Times reporter who covered the Clinton campaign with kid gloves, Amy Chozick, has a book out in which she accuses male members of the campaign of rampant sexism and harassment. She also confesses to crying after Clinton lost.
In response, one of the Clinton “boys” she accuses, Philippe Reines, says he’s going to spill the beans about The Times’ lack of ethics. He told a website “there are tapes” to prove his points.
The crack-up on the left would be fun to watch if the stakes weren’t so high. But as long as Mueller is digging for any and all dirt on Trump, the potential remains that the government will be paralyzed. It would be a tragedy if, say, the chance to denuclearize North Korea were a casualty of Washington dysfunction.
Yet until the probers give up the ghost — or are ordered to stand down- — America will be haunted by the investigation that won’t die.
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