By Kathleen Knowles
The American people must ask themselves, are we a nation of laws? If so, do those laws apply to everyone? Shouldn’t the people who represent us, or those that are charged with protecting us, be held to the same standard, and held to account when they break those laws? It is shocking and disappointing the people in this country have become so use to corruption; they now accept it as the norm.
The memo released in January by Representative Devin Nunes, R-CA and his committee alleges the Hillary Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee were responsible, and paid for the unsubstantiated 35 page “Trump Dossier,” written by British spy, Christopher Steele. Furthermore, this memo states the dossier was used to obtain warrants from the FISA court for the purpose of spying on the Trump Campaign.
If you have not heard much about this, it is probably because the coverage by the mainstream media has been next to nothing. It should not make any difference whether abusers are Republican or Democrat, the news media is there to serve the American people. Instead, it seems they serve their political party. Is real journalism as we know it now dead?
If the news media was doing its job as they once did, they would be demanding answers, rather than burying what could very well be the biggest and most corrupt scandal Washington D.C. has ever known.
DO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW IF THEIR REPRESENTATIVES AND THE DEPARTMENTS CHARGED WITH THEIR PROTECTION ARE INVOLVED IN ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES?
Adam Schiff (ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee) released a rebuttal to Devin Nunes’s, (Republican chairman) memo this past weekend. This rebuttal claims that the “Trump Dossier” played little part in acquiring the FISA warrants. However, Andrew McCabe is quoted as saying the FISA warrants would not even have been applied for, let alone approved without it. Nowhere in the Democratic memo is there a repudiation of McCabe’s claim.
According to the Schiff memo, neither the Department of Justice or the FBI abused in any way the process to obtain the FISA warrants for surveillance on Carter Page, an ex-policy advisor to the Trump campaign, whom they claim to be a Russian agent. Yet, after more than a year of investigation, no charges have been brought against Mr. Page. In fact, he cooperated completely with the FBI when questioned.
The “Trump Dossier” is full of charges of Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. It is important to understand that the dossier has never been substantiated or proven.
Schiff’s memo fails to mention that the FISA court was not informed the “Trump Dossier,” which was used to obtain the warrants for surveillance, was paid for by the Hillary Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee. They only claim that the court was told Christopher Steele was hired by a politically-motivated group, and that Steele himself was anti-Trump. All of this seems to dispute the claim by the Schiff memo that nothing was omitted or abused in obtaining the FISA warrants. It is also noteworthy that this Schiff memo did not even identify the Clinton Campaign or the Democratic National Committee in their memo as the ones who paid for the “Trump Dossier.” They weren’t even mentioned.
If Schiff and his Democratic memo are to be believed, then why did he fight so hard to keep the Republican memo from being released. He claimed the memo would damage National Security. However, upon its release, there was nothing whatsoever in the memo having anything to do with National Security. It appears more to be a deliberate attempt to keep the American people from knowing about possible illegal behavior on the part of the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Those who were alive when Watergate took place in 1972, will remember how vigorous the news media was in pursuing the truth about the Watergate break-in and President Nixon’s role in it.
Where is that kind of scrutiny now? Are only Republicans subject to our laws? Why is the press giving Democrats a pass? It is time that citizens demand both parties be above the law. It is the job of the news media to inform them.
There did not seem to be a problem in appointing a special counsel to investigate Russian collusion into the 2016 presidential election. Yet, a year later there has not been one shred of evidence that the Trump Campaign colluded with the Russians.
So, why has a special counsel not been appointed to investigate abuse of the FISA process in the use of the “Trump Dossier?” It was announced by Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, the Department of Justice would be looking into possible abuses. Since the Department of Justice was involved, it makes much more sense to appoint a special counsel independent of the FBI, the Department of Justice and both political parties.
IT IS TIME THE AMERICAN PEOPLE STOP ACCEPTING CORRUPTION, AND DEMAND IT BE REVEALED AND PUNISHED REGARDLESS OF WHO IS RESPONSIBLE.