The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 3-27-2019

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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 3-27-2019
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The Patriot Post® · The Coup, Phase Two: Taking Trump Down
By Mark Alexander · Mar. 27, 2019
https://patriotpost.us/alexander/62037-the-coup-phase-two-taking-trump-down

“No compact among men … can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.” —George Washington1 (1798)
The special counsel’s investigation2 of President Donald Trump’s3 alleged collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 election has concluded. Attorney General William Barr released to Congress his “principal conclusions4” regarding Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year probe, noting most succinctly: “The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

According to Barr, “The Special Counsel issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records, issued almost 50 orders authorizing use of pen registers, made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses.” All that notwithstanding, Barr says Mueller “did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in these efforts, despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.”

In other words, the setup for this investigation was designed to derail Trump’s agenda and seek evidence that would lead to his impeachment. It has certainly been a distraction from his agenda. But while there is no evidence — zero evidence — of collusion regarding the 2016 election, Democrats did use the Mueller probe to influence the outcome of the 2018 midterm elections5.

President Trump responded to the investigation’s conclusion, noting, “It was a false narrative. It was a terrible thing. We can never let this happen to another president again.” He added, “There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things. Very bad things. I would say treasonous things against our country. And hopefully the people that have done such harm to our country … those people will certainly be looked at.”

Regarding Russian interference, I’ve stated previously that Russia has been trying to influence the politics of the United States since 19176. And as noted above, the Russians did so with great success in 2018, with the unwitting collusion of the Democrat Party7. The question this raises is whether Vladimir Putin baited the Demos into this inquiry, knowing it would hinder Trump’s agenda — most particularly his policy toward Russia and China. Is he that smart, or are they that dumb?

Seeding the Mueller investigation was Phase One of the Democrats’ attempted coup of Donald Trump. So where will they take it from here, and how will Republicans respond?

Before answering those questions, let’s briefly review the origins of and motives for the Mueller investigation8.

A coup d'état in a democratic republic refers to an effort by a political faction to seize power in violation of a government’s constitutionally prescribed electoral process for party transition. I have previously covered such a coup9 by key government officials who colluded to, in effect, overthrow the Trump administration by setting Trump up for investigation and impeachment.

In short, the conspirators were Barack Obama10 (with whom the plan originated11), Hillary Clinton12 and her DNC operatives, former FBI Director James Comey13 and his high-ranking co-conspirators14, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein15, former CIA Director John Brennan16, who repeatedly asserted Trump was guilty17, and a cast of less-corrupt characters.

There are two reliable and detailed open-source timelines on the government collusion against Trump. The first is the well-documented outline18 by Republican National Committee research. A second and more concise timeline19 was published by The Wall Street Journal.

So where to from here?

It appears that Republicans are going to go on the offensive20.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham is reiterating his call for the appointment of another special counsel: “I’m going to get answers to this [government corruption]. I’d like to find somebody [who] can look into what happened with the [Carter Page] FISA warrants, [and] the counterintelligence investigation. … What makes no sense to me is that all of the abuse by the Department of Justice and the FBI, the unprofessional conduct, the shady behavior — nobody seems to think that’s [very] important. Well, that’s gonna change. … I hope Mr. Barr will appoint somebody outside the current system to look into these allegations, somebody we all trust, and let them do what Mueller did.”

Referring to the abuse of the FISA warrant process, Graham said, “Was it a ruse to get into the Trump campaign? I don’t know but I’m going to try to find out.”

Likewise, Sen. Rand Paul declared, “Time to investigate the Obama officials who concocted and spread the Russian conspiracy hoax! I’m very concerned that it’s becoming more clear that the Obama administration was able to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on our campaign based on phony opposition research from the Clinton campaign. Having federal law enforcement spy on a presidential campaign based on phony campaign research is really distressing and the true untold story.”

Wall Street Journal political analyst William McGurn is calling out Obama intelligence chiefs21 who set Trump up: “In light of Mr. Mueller’s findings, there are only two ways to interpret these actions and statements from senior members of the intelligence community. The first is that they got played because they were incompetent… But there’s something even worse than an intelligence community that has been played. It’s an intelligence community that chose to play along simply because its members hated Donald Trump.”

Political journalist Sharyl Attkisson concurs22: “If [James] Clapper, Brennan, [Susan] Rice, [Samantha] Power, [and] Comey genuinely believed Trump ‘colluded’ with Russia and he didn’t, what does that say about the judgement of our one-time top intel types?”

Former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy concludes: “In sum, we have endured a two-year ordeal in which the president of the United States was forced to govern under a cloud of suspicion — suspicion of being a traitor, of scheming with a foreign adversary to steal an election. This happened because the Obama administration — which opened the probe of the Trump campaign, and which opted to use foreign counterintelligence spying powers rather than give Trump a defensive briefing about suspected Russian infiltration of his campaign — methodically forced its suspicions about Trump into the public domain.”

McCarthy is also calling the bluff of Trump’s Demo antagonists clamoring for the full Mueller report. “Let’s have full disclosure,” he says. “Mueller’s report in addition to the FISA applications; the memoranda pertinent to the opening and continuation of the investigation; the testimony in secret hearings; the scope memorandum Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein issued on August 2, 2017, after failing to cite a crime when he appointed Mueller — let’s have all of it.”

In addition to calls for another special prosecutor, we soon expect the second part of the report23 from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz — the part regarding the FBI’s abuse of FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign, as well as the Clinton campaign’s collusion24 with those FBI officials. The first part of the Horowitz investigation concluded that Comey and assorted deep-state operatives provided cover for Clinton25, using their offices to undermine Trump’s campaign.

As for the Democrats … it’s on to Phase Two.

Knowing full well that the Mueller report would be a dry well with no evidence to impeach Trump for colluding with the Russians, Democrats have been readying Phase Two of their charade — the assertion that Trump is impeachable for obstruction26. This will be a heavy lift, since Mueller has now concluded that there was no crime. And why would Trump (or anyone else) attempt to obstruct an investigation into a crime that never took place?

Comey has an “answer” for that: “The notion that obstruction cases are somehow undermined by the absence of proof of an underlying crime — that is not my experience in 40 years of doing this, nor is it the Department of Justice’s tradition. Obstruction crimes matter without regard to what you prove about the underlying crime.”

Of course he’d say that — he’s got books to sell.

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The Patriot Post - Alexander's Column 3-27-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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But Democrats don’t actually have to undertake impeachment proceedings to continue obstructing Trump’s agenda27; they just have to keep the collusion delusion alive28.

Rallying their reliable constituency of “true believer” dunces, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared: “Attorney General Barr’s letter raises as many questions as it answers. The fact that Special Counsel Mueller’s report does not exonerate the president on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice demonstrates how urgent it is that the full report and underlying documentation be made public without any further delay. … The American people have a right to know.”

They then issued a “one week” ultimatum for release of the report by April 2nd, knowing it will take Barr’s staff several weeks to redact sections of the estimated 7,000 page report so as not to reveal sources and methods, and summarize the report. The Demo demand is a set-up to assert that because the report will not be delivered on their timeline, Barr must be colluding with Trump to delay release in order to conceal evidence of obstruction. And, once released, all of the redacted sections about sources and methods will be fodder for the same collusion assertion.

In lockstep, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) parroted the Pelosi and Schumer complaint: “Your four-page summary of the Special Counsel’s review is not sufficient for Congress, as a coequal branch of government, to perform [its] critical work. The release of the full report and the underlying evidence and documents is urgently needed by our committees to perform their duties under the Constitution.”

They are also demanding that Barr testify before their committees: “We must hear from AG Barr about his decision-making and see all the underlying evidence for the American people to know all the facts.”

Of course, all this newfound Democrat concern that “the American people have a right to know” and about “duties under the Constitution” warrants endless eye rolls.

Nadler insists: “President Trump is wrong. This report does not amount to a so-called total exoneration. … There must be full transparency in what Special Counsel Mueller uncovered to not exonerate the president from wrongdoing. DOJ owes the public more than just a brief synopsis and decision not to go any further in their work.”

Recall that Nadler concluded, “It’s clear that the campaign colluded, and there’s a lot of evidence of that.”

Schiff insisted, “The Russians offered help, the campaign accepted help, the Russians gave help, and the president made full use of that help, and that is pretty damning.” He concluded there was a cover-up “of a size and scope probably beyond Watergate.”

My friend Rep. Mark Green29 (R-TN) is calling for Schiff to step down as House intel chairman: “Many, many times he mentioned that there was this credible evidence that he had seen and that he had verified, and after a two-year, lengthy investigation by a very respected prosecutor, we have no evidence of collusion. In fact, the only evidence of collusion has been between the liberal media and the DNC to throw the 2020 election.”

Watch Nadler and Schiff turn on Mueller, as they will on Barr.

Over in the Senate, Richard “Stolen Valor30” Blumenthal (D-CT) led the charge: “The evidence is pretty clear that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.” Days ahead of the Mueller report, he asserted, “There are indictments in this president’s future. They’re coming.”

The Senate 2020 Demo presidential candidates also got the Pelosi/Schumer memo31, all echoing similar accusations of guilt — much the same assumption of guilt members like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker applied in their effort to defeat Brett Kavanaugh32.

And predictably, a freshman Democrat, Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA), who was among the 2018 herd that was elected on the collusion lie, insists, “We have the evidence over the last two years that the Mueller investigation was not covering that is highly, highly suspicious.” I can’t wait to hear all about it!

All this, of course, amounts to a continuation of the Democrats’ “Hate Trump33” platform. They have nothing else to offer beyond their insistence that Trump stole the 2016 election, that he’s an illegitimate president, and that our nation’s very survival hinges on their retaking the White House in 2020.

But will Democrats outside the Beltway develop chronic collusion fatigue? Apparently some Demos are concerned about that.

Signaling a partial pivot from collusion to the so-called “Affordable Care Act34,” Pelosi says the House will return to the health-care debate. “We’ve never taken our focus off the ‘For the People35’ agenda,” she declared. “Never,” except for always. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) actually dismissed Mueller: “I believe that the Mueller report has been done. It’s a chapter that’s closed. This administration opened a new chapter when it moved to completely invalidate the Affordable Care Act.”

Beyond the Demo damage, the best collateral damage to come out of the Mueller report is that of the Leftmedia propagandists36, who’ve taken a huge hit for their brazenly biased reporting during this whole affair. As The Hill notes37, “The breathless coverage amplified the sense that Trump and some of his family members would go down for crimes, yet in the end, Mueller reported that he found no evidence of a conspiracy.”

The Wall Street Journal called it “A Catastrophic Media Failure38,” noting, “America’s blue-chip journalists botched the entire story, from its birth during the presidential campaign to its final breath Sunday — and they never stopped congratulating themselves for it.”

As National Review’s Rich Lowry correctly notes: “The 3 biggest losers from the Mueller report in order — the media, the media, the media.”

Since May of 2017, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC posted a combined 8,507 articles and reports citing Mueller’s investigation. That’s an average of about 13 articles every day.

Recall that the Times and WaPo shared the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for “award winning39” journalism, specifically “for deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.”

The Pulitzer Prize long ago lost its luster, however, just as has the Nobel Peace Prize. Both of these once-esteemed awards are now grossly tarnished partisan trophies for leftist political hacks.

Of the Leftmedia cable talkinghead platforms36, the most aggressively biased has been CNN. It repeatedly trotted out “experts” like Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein, who said with great authority, “We do know that Donald Trump Sr. has lied throughout the investigation, that many, many things he has said turn out to be untrue.”

Except he didn’t.

After the Mueller report dropped (and CNN’s viewership with it), Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani confronted CNN’s Chris Cuomo about his network’s bias: “You guys on this network have tortured this man for two years with collusion and nobody has apologized for it. Before we talk about obstruction, apologize for the overreaction of collusion… I’m outraged by the behavior of these networks. Collusion, collusion, collusion, collusion, collusion, collusion. No collusion, Chris. No collusion. Apologize!”

Good luck with that, Rudy.

Leftist Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz also called out CNN: “I have been right from day one… It’s time for them to fess up. It’s time for CNN to issue an apology. CNN banned me from their air because I was being too fair. I was trying to assess what the essential issue was, and I wasn’t being partisan. They didn’t want that.”

Good luck with that, Alan.

According to revered journalist Brit Hume: “We in this business need to look back and say how in the world did several major news organs, networks, newspapers and so on, devote so much time to what turned out to be utterly baseless speculation about the most serious crime you can imagine, mounting in some cases in the accusations we heard in some conversations to treason? It is the worst journalistic debacle in my lifetime. I’ve been in this business for about 50 years. I’ve never seen anything quite this bad last this long. It was a terrible thing. It needs to be investigated. There needs to be a lot of soul-searching among many members of the media today and going forward.”

I couldn’t agree more. But it won’t happen.

As to how a handful of high-ranking government officials, the Democrats in Congress, and the Leftmedia were able to perpetuate this bald-faced collusion lie for the past two years: All Americans of every political stripe should be gravely concerned about what happened here. And, as President Trump said, “We can never let this happen to another president again.”

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776