Sunday, February 18, 2018

The Nunes Memo Doesn't Reveal an Abuse of Power. It Is One.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/02/03/nunes-memo-doesnt-reveal-abuse-power-it-one
"Trump has demanded loyalty from Department officials and asked who they voted for. He fired FBI Director James Comey on false pretenses, after Comey ignored his requests to drop an investigation into former Trump advisor Michael Flynn. He ordered Mueller’s firing (although he later backed down). He expressed fury at Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, and pressured him to resign. And he has expressed bewilderment that he can’t direct the investigations conducted by, in his words, the “Trump Department of Justice.” The White House also surreptitiously enlisted Nunes in a previous attempt to discredit intelligence officials (remember the short-lived “unmasking” scandal?). In short, there is every indication that the Nunes memo was designed to present a misleading picture that can serve as a pretext to end the Mueller investigation. This is simultaneously an abuse of the classification system, a betrayal of the public trust, a violation of longstanding norms shielding the Justice Department from political forces and — quite possibly — attempted obstruction of justice."