Bill Barr's alternate universe "investigation" has a goal: Right-wing authoritarian rule
https://www.salon.com/2019/10/25/bill-barrs-alternate-universe-investigation-has-a-goal-right-wing-authoritarian-rule/HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
OCTOBER 25, 2019 12:56PM (UTC)
excerpt . . .
On Thursday night the Times set the political world aflame with a report that Durham has officially opened a criminal investigation into the matter. No one is sure what basis there is for this, but reports over the past week or so suggest Durham's team is focusing intently on the people Donald Trump often rails against in his public statements, including former FBI agent Peter Strzok and possibly high-level intelligence community personnel such as former CIA chief John Brennan and former director of national intelligence James Clapper.
The timing of the story is obviously designed to counter the very bad news coming out of the House impeachment investigation in the House on a daily basis. This isn't surprising. We've been expecting that Senate Judiciary Committee chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would hold parallel hearings into the origins of the Russia investigation, as promised. Graham is now balking because the Senate rules would require that he allow Democratic participation. (The fact that the Senate Intelligence Committee has released two substantial reports on the 2016 election, making clear that they came to the same conclusions as the FBI and the intelligence community regarding Russian interference on Trump's behalf, also complicates matters for him.)
So Graham has been reduced to introducing a meaningless resolution saying that the House is being unfair, obviously hoping to appease Trump and keep his homegrown followers happy. According to the Daily Beast, it's not working. In fact, TrumpWorld wants Graham to call House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff to testify before Graham's Senate committee, which would be a serious violation of congressional norms. He seems reluctant for the moment, but who knows what he'll be willing to do as time goes on?
So for the moment the task of bringing the Fox News alternate-universe conspiracy theory to the mainstream falls to Barr and Durham. They have both reportedly been to Ukraine in recent weeks, presumably searching for that elusive "DNC server" that Trump constantly babbles about. Maybe they will manage to delight the Trump base by trying to prosecute some FBI and CIA personnel. Barr seems willing to push the boundaries beyond anything we could have imagined, so that's not as outrageous as it sounds.
The only remedy for this is for Congress to reassert its own prerogatives and impeach the president and, if necessary, his henchmen. If they fail to hold him accountable for the vast abuse of power and corruption of his office, the precedents will be set and the "unitary executive" will become the working model for all Republican presidents, just as Barr intends. The next one will no doubt be more efficient at using it than Donald Trump.
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)strict authoritarian rules for we lesser mortals and who loves him some "Father figure" which for him at least for the time being, is Dumpy.
SharonAnn
(13,766 posts)COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)are deep into it.
machoneman
(3,951 posts)his master happy and at bay for the time being. Just think, even if he knows this will go nowhere, with 'show' hearings and lots of hoopla, he's jetting about personally, very unusual for an AG btw, to amp up a very shallow investigation.
My questions are:
-is his family along on these trips? If so, did he reimburse the Federal government for their expenses?
-can we subpoena his travel records and conversations? Can the NSA or CIA give us any recordings of his conversations, especially call-backs to the Orange-haired Genius #1?
-can we determine who he met with in each foreign intelligence agencies
-was Ghouliani on board for each meeting?
We want to know!
machoneman
(3,951 posts)his master happy and at bay for the time being? Just think, even if he knows this will go nowhere, with 'show' hearings and lots of hoopla, he's jetting about personally, very unusual for an AG btw, to amp up a very shallow investigation.
My questions are:
-is his family along on these trips? If so, did he reimburse the Federal government for their expenses?
-can we subpoena his travel records and conversations? Can the NSA or CIA give us any recordings of his conversations, especially call-backs to the Orange-haired Genius #1?
-can we determine who he met with in each foreign intelligence agencies
-was Ghouliani on board for each meeting?
We want to know!
sandensea
(21,529 posts)Guided by the Powell Memo, inspired by James McGill Buchanan, and run by John Birchers.
The rest is window dressing.
SharonAnn
(13,766 posts)sandensea
(21,529 posts)Wherever they've taken over, disaster followed.
Especially in Argentina, where 4 years of a Opus Dei-aligned administration (a longtime Trump friend, Macri) has led to an economic and debt crisis.
They thought they'd govern "for 20 years." But yesterday, voters gave him the boot.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/110869204