Illegal Special Counsel?

Trump is tweeting that the Special Counsel is illegitimate because it was brought into being by the illegal leak of classified memos by former FBI Director James Comey:

James Comey illegally leaked classified documents to the press in order to generate a Special Council? Therefore, the Special Council was established based on an illegal act? Really, does everybody know what that means?

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

 

Though he has the chain of events right, I think his conclusion is weak.  The whole point of a special counsel is to investigate crimes where the DOJ has conflicts.  In fact, that statutes is stronger case for challenging the Special Counsel investigation.

 

Code of Federal Regulations, Title 28, Chapter VI, Part 600, Section 600.1

The Attorney General... will appoint a Special Counsel when he or she determines that a criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted...

 

What crime was Robert Mueller appointed to investigate?  Collusion?  That makes a great headline but what specific law was broken?  The indictments to date are not related to collusion between Russia and the Trump Campaign and, as such, should have just been handed back to DOJ.  Mannafort lobbied for Ukraine, a country essentially at war with Russia.  His indictments against Russians in Russia for trying to tinker with the US election is just stupid; does he expect Putin to extradite them?  Does anyone think we don't tinker in Russian politics?  If Putin asks, should we extradite our spooks to Russia?  Stupid but it put some numbers on the board, even if pointless.  The whole intent of this investigation - like the Plame Affair during the Bush Administration - is to catch someone lying to the FBI.  Interesting fact: James Comey appointed the Special Counsel in the Plame case even though he knew that Richard Armitage was the source of the leak.  However, Scooter Libby got caught lying to the FBI.  James Comey also sent Martha Stewart to jail for lying to the FBI, not the insider trading that had launched the investigation.  I see a pattern with Comey.

 

Comey is an admitted leaker and, according to recent claims by Andrew McCabe - another fired FBI Director, lied to Congress.  If Martha Stewart went to jail for lying, Comey should get her old cell for lying.  He needs a taste of the 'justice' he has meted out to others. 

Flynn Immunity Request

In July, 2003, Robert Novak noted that Joseph Wilson had been suggested for the job of confirming the Saddam Hussein yellow cake story in Niger by his wife, Valerie Plame.  The CIA requested an investigation to determine who had 'leaked' Plame's name to Novak.  The firestorm commenced with suggestions that the Bush Administration had leaked Plame's name for revenge against Joe Wilson's debunking the yellow cake story.  With that in mind, the targets of the ensuing investigation quickly became Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and VP Dick Cheney.  However, when all was revealed, the leaker proved to be Richard Armitage, Deputy Secretary of State, which the investigation knew almost from the beginning.  Therefore, almost right out the gate, Special Counsel Fitzgerald knew that Novak's leak came from Richard Armitage.  Armitage was charged with no crimes.  Ergo, the very act that was the impetus for the investigation was found not to be criminal.  $2.6 million spent on investigating something that was not a crime and resulted in no prosecutions?  Unthinkable.  Therefore, Scooter Libby, who demonstrably did not leak Plame's name, was charged with 5 crimes and convicted of 4 in association with the investigation.  Thus, Dick told Bob about Valerie and Scooter was blamed.

 

Libby was charged with perjury, making false statements, and obstruction of justice.  Why?  He wasn't involved in releasing Plame's name and had no reason to lie.  Fitzgerald announced that Libby had prevented the grand jury from determining if the leak had been a federal crime.  Huh?  The testimony of Libby was going to determine whether Armitage's leaking was a crime?  Libby was done in because his testimony did not match that of Judith Miller, who had taken notes of her conversations with Libby.  Fitzgerald viewed discrepancies as Libby lying and obstructing.  As he did not leak the name, Libby got a raw deal.  Unless Flynn is a dedicated diarist, his memory is going to be inconsistent.  Such could be judged criminal.

 

Seeing the fate of Libby, Mike Flynn may just be taking rational precautions.  Immunity is a tool to bypass the little fish and catch the big fish.  If Flynn can expose a bigger fish, why not give him immunity to do so?  Maybe he expose Trump's dealings with Russia, if there are any.  Maybe he can shed light on who is leaking to the media, such as who leaked Flynn's name.  Either of these would be blockbusters.  Of course, the former is unlikely or immunity would already have been offered; neither party likes President Trump.

Crime? It Depends on Your Party-Affiliation

Remember the Valerie Plame fiasco during the Bush Administration?  Richard Armitage had revealed Ms. Plame's name to Robert Novak.  Novak mentioned it in a column and scandal ensued.  Eventually, we had a Special Prosecutor to investigate this non-crime.  Armitage was never charged with releasing Plame's name because she wasn't a covert agent: no crime.  Still, it was a big deal and Scooter Libby - who did not reveal Plame's name to anyone - was convicted of a felony and fined $250,000.

 

Today, it is becoming increasingly clear that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had classified and top secret data on a private server located in a restroom closet in Denver.  Some of these emails had to be copied from secure servers and transferred to Ms. Clinton's far less secure server.  If someone of lesser status (or a Republican) had done this, there would be an immediate revocation of all security clearances and criminal charges filed.  Thus far, nothing.  Unlike Plame-Gate, crimes were clearly committed.  Where is the Special Prosecutor?

 

Former Governor Rick Perry of Texas is currently under indictment (by a Democrat Prosecutor) for using his veto when he was governor.  Apparently, using his veto - an integral power of his office - was a crime.  This has surely contributed to his failing presidential campaign, which was the point.

 

Lois Lerner of the IRS somehow only allowed one conservative group to get tax-exempt status in the 3 years leading up to the 2012 election.  When Congress sought to look into this anomaly, her emails from that window were reportedly destroyed in a hard drive crash.  When asked to testify on the matter, she invoked her 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.  No charges have been brought against her or anyone at the IRS.

 

Tom DeLay, former Republican Congressman and very effective Majority Leader, was indicted (by a Democrat) for violating election laws.  Because Republicans have standards, DeLay had to step down as majority leader while under indictment (Democrats have no such rules).  He was eventually acquitted in the appeals court (8 - 1 ruling) but his political career was long over by then (again, that was the point).

 

Vice President Al Gore attended a fundraiser at a Buddhist Temple in California where thousands of dollars were funneled from China to the Clinton-Gore reelection campaign (that's a violation of election laws, by the way).  Though some of the foreign fundraisers were charged and convicted, Janet Reno declined to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate the Clinton Administration's part in the crime.

 

A mere whiff of impropriety can torpedo a Republican but a city dump stench of scandal has little impact on Democrats.  This double-standard probably explains the spinelessness that I constantly attribute to Republicans.  However, this is also why - even as a Libertarian - I prefer Republicans.  The press will hammer them and the Democrats will oppose them tooth and nail.  When Democrats are in office, the press cheers them and the Republicans are too scared to oppose them lest they be called racists, sexists, homophobes. or whatnot.

Valerie Plame Redux

Remember when Robert Novak mentioned Valerie Plame, wife of Joe Wilson, in an article.  This mention soon became a national scandal that put Scooter Libby in jail and painted the Bush Administration as bullying Wilson's wife to get revenge for his contrary report on Nigerian yellow cake.  As the story goes, Plame was a CIA agent and releasing her name made her a target.  Also, it's illegal to reveal the identity of an undercover agent.  Of course, she wasn't undercover and the law didn't apply.  Also, it was eventually revealed that Richard Armitage - not Scotter Libby - leaked her name to Novak.  But, as mentioned, that wasn't illegal and thus he was never prosecuted.  This faux scandal spawned a movie (Fair Game, 2010).  What we can glean from this is that the press takes it extremely seriously if a CIA agent is revealed, even if that agent is not covert.

 

Last week, the Obama Administration revealed the name of the Afghan CIA station chief, a person who is (was) covert.  Unlike Plame, this is a real leak.  Where is Patrick Fitzgerald?  Clearly, someone in the Obama Whitehouse needs to be jailed and the rest of the administration needs to be harassed.  What, the story is over already?  Didn't the Plame story go on for months and years?  Did someone at least get fired?  No?

 

It is good to see the press showing balance in how they treat a Republican administration vs. a Democrat administration.