Suspend tainted Mueller investigation
Politically biased probe endangers presidency
The FBI has historically had a wellearned reputation for competence and integrity. But evidence is emerging that special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as the Hillary Clinton email investigations, have been compromised by naked politics.
The central figure in both probes is FBI agent Peter Strzok. Strzok helped interview Clinton, Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin in the email investigation, in which the latter two lied about their knowledge of the bootleg server. They were not charged. Strzok also helped change then-FBI Director James Comey’s draft language on Clinton’s use of her illicit server from “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless,” which is the difference between criminal behavior and an unconscious error.
Strzok promoted the “Steele dossier,” the sketchy anti-Trump document paid for by the Clinton campaign and compiled with input from Russian intelligence sources. This document was used to persuade a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to authorize surveillance of members of the Trump team during a political campaign.
Strzok reportedly led the interview of then-national security adviser Michael Flynn, who ostensibly told the lies that led to his firing and landed him in a plea bargain with investigators.
Judge Rudolph Contreras, who accepted Flynn’s guilty plea, has since inexplicably recused himself from the case. Contreras is a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge and might have been involved with authorizing surveillance against the Trump team.
In August, Strzok was quietly removed from the Trump investigation. It later emerged that he was trading antiTrump text messages with his mistress, Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer who was also assigned to the Mueller investigation. The FBI is now examining 10,000 of their texts, Fox News reports.
Rather than treating Strzok’s removal with transparency, the Mueller team hushed it up and began stonewalling congressional inquiries. It reached the point where House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes threatened FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with contempt.
Worse still, former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr was demoted days ago for unspecified contacts with figures behind the Steele dossier. It now appears that Ohr knew Steele and met with him while the tainted dossier was being written.
These are not the only suspect political ties between Mueller lieutenants and Clinton world:
Aaron Zebley, Mueller’s former chief of staff at the FBI and “right hand man” on the current investigation, had represented Justin Cooper, who set up Clinton’s unsecure server and destroyed her BlackBerrys.
Mueller team member and Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann wrote a fawning email to outgoing acting Attorney General Sally Yates, saying he was “so proud and in awe” of her for defying President Trump in enforcing his travel ban. Weissmann also attended Clinton’s election night party, The Wall Street Journal reported.
At least nine members of Mueller’s team have donated to the Obama, Clinton or other Democratic campaigns.
Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe is being investigated for possible Hatch Act violations during wife Jill McCabe’s failed 2015 Virginia Senate run. During this race, his wife received more than $700,000 in donations from Clinton-connected PACs.
It is dangerous to subject the office of the president to a biased investigation undertaken with a reckless spirit. Suspend the special counsel investigation until the Justice Department inspector general’s office can conclude their investigations into possible illegitimate or illegal actions taken by members of Mueller’s team.
The stakes are too high to allow a clique of politicized government agents to destroy the integrity of the investigative apparatus.