“Suspending disbelief” is defined as temporarily allowing oneself to believe something that isn’t true.
That’s what you’re going to have to do if you want to believe that the demands of 18 Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee for materials related to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago are an honest attempt at oversight.
This is a party steeped in corruption, that has done everything in its power to stop, disrupt, and discredit the work of the Jan. 6 Committee, that has made protecting former President/unindicted criminal/cult leader Donald Trump it’s near-singular mission.
Now they want the truth?
A letter to FBI Director and Trump appointee Christopher Wray opens by calling the FBI’s court-approved search for classified documents Trump took when he left office “a shocking escalation of the Biden Administration’s weaponization of law-enforcement resources against its political opponents.”
I think that’s referred to as the pot calling the kettle black.
You need look no further than the incendiary tone of the letter and the immediate attacks by Republicans on the FBI and the Biden Administration as soon as the search was reported to know that this is nothing more than a politically driven dog-and-pony show with no interest for the facts.
After more attacks, the letter gets down to what its authors are looking for:
Documents and communications of the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Secret Service, the Executive Office of the President, and the National Archives pertaining to the decision to seek a search warrant, its execution, and the use of confidential human sources.
In other words, they want everything the DOJ has so far in a possible case against Trump. Letters have also been sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.
If you believe these Republicans are on the level then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Maybe if the GOP hadn’t long ago shredded its last little bit of credibility in its brazen, dishonest drive to boost Trump and establish its pro-rich, anti-poor-and-middle-class, anti-environment agenda, a lot of which is opposed by a majority of people in this country, it would be easier to trust this bunch.
Maybe if the signees didn’t include guys like Jim Jordan, Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, and Thomas Massie, prominent members of the GOP clown car who have shown no indication of wanting to govern for the greater good of this country, such skepticism wouldn’t be so obviously justified.
Maybe if we hadn’t watched the Republicans’ relentless lying, their political calculations in dividing our country, their zeal to encourage violence, and their support and protection of domestic terrorists, it’d be possible to give them the benefit of the doubt.
See what I mean about suspending disbelief.
Republicans have only one reason to want this information: to wreck any case the DOJ has or will build against Trump or any possible co-conspirators. And that includes threats, intimidation, and violence by its base to reach that end.
You don’t think so? The verbal attacks and death threats have already started against the FBI agents involved in the search. The judge who signed the search warrant has been mercilessly harassed. Do you really think these actions won’t extend to anyone providing information to prosecutors? That’s where the “confidential human sources” come in.
Frightened witnesses sometimes don’t want to talk. Dead ones can’t.
To not believe in sinister ulterior motives on the part of the Republicans is to ignore facts and recent history. It’s to ignore our current reality. It’s like letting the wolf guard the hen house, or believing your brother-in-law, who cheats at poker every time you play, was following the rules when he cleaned you out again last week just because that’s what he told you.
The DOJ is opposed to releasing the affidavit in support of the search warrant, saying that could hurt the investigation and future probes, USA Today reported.
The agency said in a court filing that the affidavit contains “highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government; specific investigative techniques, and information required by law to be kept under seal,” and that releasing it is “highly likely to compromise future investigative steps” and could “chill future cooperation by witnesses” in this investigation and others in the future.
The Republicans want the DOJ to handle this case differently than it would if anyone else was under investigation. Keeping such paperwork under wraps until someone is charged with a crime not only protects the investigation, it protects any possible suspects from being unfairly tarnished.
The letter includes the line: “We will settle for nothing but your complete cooperation with our inquiry.”
I’d like to see Garland tell these idiots to go pound sand until the investigation is complete, or at least politely decline their corrupt intentions. However, I can see where the DOJ might instead try to compromise. If so, it will hopefully be judicious (no pun intended) in what it shares.
Is this too harsh an appraisal of the GOP? Not in my book. The cake is baked concerning this gang.
American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou said the famous line, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Republicans have shown us who they are over and over again. Don’t let them fool you.
This case is no exception.
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Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody.