A Sad Day
Senator Corey Booker, referring to the the release of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) memo on the FBI Foriegn Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application to spy on Carter Page, said that today was “a sad day” in America. And I would fully agree. But NOT for the reason he thinks.
Mr. Booker seems to feel that it’s sad that America’s elected officials would besmirch the reputation of the FBI. This is a classic example of the new American ethos of victimization. He’s sad not that the FBI has engaged in partisan and illegal investigative methods. He’s said that they have been CRITICIZED for it! In other words, he’s NOT sad that the FBI broke the law. He’s sad because they GOT CAUGHT! In his mind, the poor dears at the FBI are VICTIMS!
Instead of standing up for TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY in government, he stands up for secrecy, partisanship, skullduggery and a coverup!
Although I’ve downloaded the full contents of the Committee’s memo, I have’nt been able to get texts of the three FISA applications themselves. I presume they are still designated “classified”. Regarding the memo itself, I must say that it was somewhat unnerving to download a document with the label “TOP SECRET” crossed out with a marking pen and a “UNCLASSIFIED” stamp next to it! Be that as it may, it is interesting reading to say the least.
The memo makes clear that the FBI director James Comey together with the FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe DELIBERATELY MISLED the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) regarding the need to spy on Carter Page, a voluntary Trump advisor.
This fact, taken together with the intercepted text messages between Special Prosecutor Mueller’s team member Peter Strzok and his mistress Lisa Page make it very clear that there was much more subterfuge going on than just this one revelation. These are very clever and very secretive people, so you KNOW that if they are caught with their pants down here, that there is PLENTY more that remains covered up. There’s no question that anti-Trump animus and extreme bias permeated the FBI and the DOJ in the twilight of the Obama presidency. A supposedly independent and nonpartisan crucial government agency was corrupted by Obama’s administration and ideology. Comey, McCabe, Loretta Lynch and probably Rosenstein have failed America and have disgraced the offices to which they were entrusted. Removal from office (already done for three of the four) is not enough. They should be prosecuted.
And the particularly ironic thing about this affair, aside from the memo’s revelations, is the nature of the Democrat’s REACTION to it. Much of their indignation, if analyzed, is actually aimed at things that they claimed to have championed for decades: governmental transparency, governmental accountability, governmental oversight of intelligence agencies, government nonpartisanship, government honesty and, finally, integrity in government. Their REACTION to the HSPCI memo flies in the face of the very principles they claim to believe in. ALL of them. They have, it seems, SOLD their soul. It IS a very sad day, indeed.