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The current political strategy of the Democratic Party is to maintain if former president Donald Trump is re-elected to the presidency, he will become a tyrant and our democratic republic will be changed to an autocracy. It’s ironic the Dems have made this very claim about the Donald that they have been guilty of ever since Donald Trump and his wife walked down the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy.
The thought of this bombastic, nevertheless, well-known political outsider, who never held any public office becoming President Trump was laughable to the main-street media and to the elite establishment in both parties. It was laughable until he started doing well on the debate stage and gained traction in the polls. Now the unthinkable could become a reality. Progressive democrats, people attached to our security apparatus like the FBI, and some in the media believed they had an obligation to do whatever it took to make sure their nightmare never became a reality.
Let’s start with the FBI. It was widely reported that Peter Strzok, an FBI agent, and his girl friend Lisa Page, an attorney for the Bureau, were having an illicit affair, and had exchanged numerous emails about their hatred of Donald Trump. Furthermore, they would do whatever it took to make sure he never got elected to the presidency.
Strzok, in his book, writes about his great counterintelligence successes in the early 2000s in Boston where he uncovered Russian sleeper agents who were living in the US. [1] Russian intelligence operations are “sophisticated and dangerous,” he wrote. He was worried about George Papadopoulos, a junior aide to the Trump’s campaign, who revealed while intoxicated he was approached by Russian operatives offering help with that year’s election. Ultimately, Strzok wrote he was just a cog in a machine that was designed so no one individual would have much influence. [1] Unfortunately, I will point out this machine was broad and very powerful.
The power of this machine goes as far up to President Obama, who was very aggressive in trying to suppress the freedom of the press in his efforts to plug leaks and prosecute leakers. “In May 2013, the Justice Department seized the records of phone lines that Associated Press employees used”. [2] These records were from personal home and cell phones for reporters and editors.
[1] Review, ‘Book Reviews’, September 5, 2020
[2] Cato Institute, “Barack Obama’s War on a Free Press”, by Ted Galen Carpenter, February 11, 2021
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In addition to the Associated Press, there was electronic surveillance of both the New York Time’s reporter James Risen and Fox News correspondent James Rosen to identify their sources. The government named Rosen as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in an espionage case against his sources. [3]
His administration believed they had the right to prosecute Rosen, but they chose not to do so. In my opinion, Rosen was a good and dogged reporter, who basically, dropped out of sight after his run in with the Obama justice department.
These incidents were so egregious that a letter of protest to Attorney General Eric Holder about the raid was submitted by 50 news organizations including the New York Times and the Washington Post. It stated they cannot remember an instance where the affected reporters were not given any notice or an opportunity to seek judicial review. {3} It’s ironic that President Trump was accused of waging a war against the press with his verbiage saying some news organizations are “the enemy of the people,” and yet, President Obama seemed to escape more public, wide-spread opprobrium he deserved for his abuse of power.
Incidentally, regarding Eric Holder, he was subpoenaed by the House of Representatives to appear before congress regarding the “Fast and Furious” scandal, which he blew off. Compare this incident to Peter Navarro, a former trade official in the Trump White House. He was sentenced to 4 months in prison for failing to comply with a subpoena to get records and testimony for the House Select Committee of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Another example of the abuses of power by the Obama administration were all the details surrounding James Comey’s investigation of General Flynn, who was National Security Advisor for Trump. Mr. Comey was appointed by Obama and later kept as FBI director by Trump. He bragged to the press about taking advantage of the Trump administration’s inexperience in order to entrap General Flynn in a so-called casual, off the record, conversation regarding his knowledge of Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election. The FBI, based on spied upon recordings, already knew that Flynn spoke to Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador in Washington. Flynn maintained he had numerous conversations with many people but failed to confirm this conversation and was charged with lying to the FBI.
[3] Cato Institute, “Barack Obama’s War on a Free Press,” by Ted Galen Carpenter, February 11, 2021
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General Flynn, a distinguished war veteran, was treated horribly by the FBI. The legal fees he needed to defend himself put him in financial jeopardy, and according to reports by Fox news, the FBI threatened to go after his son. [3a] Therefore, he decided to sign a plea agreement admitting in a federal court that he lied to the FBI and resigned from his post.
It is interesting to note when Trump announced his candidacy, many in journalism were openly hostile toward him. In fact, the New York Times actually reported that some in the press believed they had an obligation to discard objective journalistic standards of reporting the news regarding Trump. They believed he represented such a potential danger to this country, it was their duty to make sure he never became president. We realize journalists like all of us suffer with human frailty and will be jaded sometimes in their commentary. However, it was unheard of to have reporters write candidly about discarding objective journalistic standards.
Unfortunately, Trump “derangement syndrome” is a term which aptly describes an almost psychosis that afflicts not only the news media, but as I previously pointed out, the FBI as well. There was an overarching concern that Trump consorted with the Russians and was a secret Russian operative. This idea was promulgated by the Steele dossier.
Christopher Steele headed the Russian desk of British Intelligence MI 6, and had worked with the FBI in the past as a credible source. He became a private investigator, who gathered information for Fusion GPS, a company that specializes in opposition research. This is a euphemistic term for getting dirt on political opponents. He brought a fabricated story to the FBI that Trump was involved with Russia to overturn the 2016 election. It appears that the FBI should have realized this story was a fabrication since it was never corroborated. Furthermore, despite the fact that it was reported the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton hired Fusion GPS to spin this tale, the FBI decided to start an investigation of Trump called, “Crossfire Hurricane”.
Now, it became obvious there were two tiers of justice in the Obama justice department, one regarding the Trump investigation and the other pertaining to the Hillary Clinton investigation. Prosecutors had to ascertain whether she kept government-classified information on her private server.
[3a] Fox News, “Unjust Flynn prosecution shows Obama administration shattered rule of law” by Ben Shapiro, May 13, 2020
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This is a “violation of a federal statute making it a felony to mishandle classified information either intentionally or in a grossly negligent way or a second statute making it a misdemeanor to knowingly remove classified information from appropriate systems or storage facilities”. [4]
The Justice Department used the same FBI investigators for both investigations. She and her chief of staff received immunity for their testimony, and Hillary was not prosecuted for destroying subpoenaed emails and her phone. In addition, why didn’t the FBI charge Hillary for interfering with the election due to her part in the fabricated Steele dossier?
FBI director James Comey was an arrogant grandstander who was finally fired by President Trump. It was amazing at no time did Comey inform Tump that he was under investigation. After his firing, Comey arranged for a friend to leak to the press a memo he had written after a February 14, 2017, private meeting with the President, which said Trump had asked him to stop the investigation of Flynn. The firing of Comey and his subsequent memo caused a furor resulting in the decision by deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to name Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, as special counsel to take over the FBI “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation.
The Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller began investigating Trump and many of his supporters like Paul Manafort, who at one time ran the Trump campaign. He tried to link him and Trump with Russian collusion influencing the presidential election. After 22 months of this investigation, he was unsuccessful in this regard. Mueller concluded that there was no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. [5] However, Manafort was later charged with tax and bank fraud and was put into solitary confinement, which is unheard of for a white collar crime. While these charges are significant, what was the probable cause to investigate him other than his affiliation with Trump?
Furthermore, John Durham was appointed special counsel by then Attorney General William Barr to review the investigation of President Donald Trump. After four years of his probe, he concluded the FBI investigation was “seriously flawed” with no basic evidence of Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia. Also, he maintained US intelligence and law enforcement did not possess any “actual evidence” of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia prior to starting the “Crossfire Hurricane” probe. He also accused the FBI of treating Hillary Clinton’s investigation differently than the 2016 Trump probe. [5]
[4] FBI News July 5,1016 [An official website of the U.S. Gov’t]
[5] Reuters, “US Special counsel faults FBI handling of 2016 Trump-Russia probe,” by Sarah N. Lynch May 15, 2023
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She received defensive briefings about being the possible targets of foreign interference, and Trump got no such briefings. [5]
Unfortunately, the Democrats in the House of Representatives were not satisfied with this outcome and continued to harass President Trump with two impeachments. I used the word harass since no American president was ever impeached twice, which is suspicious in and of itself.
The first impeachment resulted from a call he made to President Volodumyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine in which he asked him to proceed with two investigations. The first was to investigate Biden, his political opponent, about corruption. The second into unsubstantiated allegations that entities within the Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election.
When Joe Biden was Vice-President he bragged to the press he had the prosecutor, who was investigating Burisma fired by threatening to withhold a billion dollars that was promised to the president of Ukraine.
Burisma was a large energy company in Ukraine that paid Hunter Biden, Joe’s son, a substantial monthly fee as a consultant. Hunter had no energy expertise, which raised a lot of questions about what service he was providing to warrant an exorbitant amount of money.
Why would this call by President Trump to Volodumyr Zelenskyy be considered unlawful and an impeachable offense? The President of the U.S. is, basically, our chief law enforcement officer. He appoints the Attorney General, who oversees the Justice Department, which oversees the FBI.
In the second impeachment, Trump was charged with inciting an insurrection at the Capitol building. A riot ensued where the Capitol building was breached. Some police were hurt, and the Senate proceedings were temporarily postponed. Since none of the rioters had guns, it seems to be an exaggeration to call what happened an insurrection.
These two impeachments of a sitting president had all the markings of government overreach. Alan Dershowitz, the famous constitutional law professor, has argued in the Washington Journal February 12, 2021, C-Span that the framers of the constitution required “high crimes and misdemeanors and other crimes” be the criteria for impeachment of a sitting president. He also pointed out, “High crimes and misdemeanors refer to treason and bribery and other crimes refer to crimes like treason and bribery.”
[5] Reuters, “US Special counsel faults FBI handling of 2016 Trump-Russia probe,” by Sarah N. Lynch May 15, 2023
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Furthermore, he made the point that dereliction of duty, obstruction of justice, and maladministration are not covered in the Constitution.
The incident at the Capitol raised a number of unanswered questions. Why wasn’t the National Guard called up in the first place since the Capitol Police force was ill prepared to handle this incident? When Christopher Wray, the FBI director, was questioned at a followup congressional hearing by Rep. Clay Higgins he parsed his words very carefully. He stated, “If you’re asking whether the violence that day at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, was part of some operation orchestrated by the FBI sources and /or agents…the answer is an emphatic no.” However, he failed to categorically deny that FBI informants might have been involved in the rioting. [6]
Moreover, Ashli Babbit, a retired Army veteran, who was unarmed, got shot and killed by a member of the Capitol Police. This was an unnecessary use of force that was quietly, insufficiently investigated and swept under the rug. In fact, Judicial Watch filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government on behalf of the family.
In addition, there was video footage of some parts of the Capitol breach showing police peacefully escorting people into the rotunda. It looked like a grandma selfie party.
Nevertheless, ex-President Donald Trump was ill advised to stage a protest during the certification process of the presidency taking place in the Senate. It had all the markings of a situation that could get out of hand, which is exactly what happened. The optics were extremely politically damaging to President Trump and the Republican Party, which the Democratic Party used as cannon fodder. Democrats screamed like their hair was on fire. We didn’t hear those Democrats, defenders of democracy, criticizing Hillary Clinton when she denied Trump was a legitimate winner in the 2016 election or when 31 Democratic House members attempted to stop the certification of Ohio’s electors on Jan. 6, 2005, to deny President George W. Bush’s re-election. [7]
It is interesting to note, regarding constitutional reasons for impeachment, President Joe Biden is in the crosshairs of the Republican Congress. This is not tit for tat since there is plethora of evidence to be investigated.
[6] C-Span, “FBI Director Rejects Claim that Agents Orchestrated January 6 Violence,” Nov. 15, 2023
[7] WSJ Review & Outlook, “NBC’s Ronna McDaniel Tantrum” dated March, 28, 2024
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For instance, why was a number of limited partnerships created for Joe’s family to receive money from various international sources like the Chinese government. Nevertheless, President Biden says he has nothing to do with his son’s business affairs.
However, Biden’s claim appears to be in conflict with the testimony of Hunter Biden’s business associates, Devan Archer and Tony Bobulinski before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. While Archer revealed, on about 20 occasions, Hunter put his father on a speakerphone to exchange pleasantries with Hunter’s business associates, he never discussed business. However, Archer said it was all part of Hunter’s plan to leverage his father’s brand. He also said, “My only thought is that I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it. That’s my, like, only honest opinion.” [8]
According to The Wall Street Journal editorial dated February 20, 2024, Tony Bobulinski testified before the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees that he met with Joe Biden, when he was Vice President in early May 2017, in Los Angeles, regarding the CEFC deal. CEFC is a Chinese energy firm with ties to the Communist Party. Tony Bobulinski served as a lieutenant in the Navy with high security clearance, making him a credible witness. Also, he mentioned he has electronic evidence to support his testimony. Moreover, he said that he approached the FBI with this evidence prior to the 2020 presidential election, which the FBI did not pursue.
In addition, he gave a C-Span presentation on October 22, 2020, in order to clear his name as he was being accused of being a Russian asset. He went into elaborate detail about his business dealings with the Biden family. Unfortunately, from early on, his damaging testimony was not widely covered in the left-leaning, mainstream media.
Another example of abuse of power pertains to how the FBI dealt with its informant Alexander Smirnov and the House Oversight Committee. At the time an FBI report was made public on July 20, Smirnov was an unnamed informant that said Mykola Zlochevsky, owner of Burisma, told him he was “pushed” to pay $5 million in bribes to both Hunter and Joe Biden. This payment was to make sure Viktor Shokin, the Ukrainian prosector investigating his company, gets fired. He went on to say that Zlochevsky told him, “He did not send any funds directly to the Big Guy,” which the informant believed was a reference to Joe Biden.
[8] Transcript P. 19 Oversight.house.gov
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When Republicans heard about this claim, the House Oversight Committee demanded the FBI hand over the informant’s testimony. However, the FBI initially refused stating, “Their source was too valuable to risk exposing … Repubicans say Director Wray also confirmed the FBI used Mr. Smirnov’s information in investigations until June 2023 [when the bribery claims went public].” [9]
Conveniently, we are now supposed to believe
Alexander Smirnov, who was FBI’s confidential informant since 2010 and had been paid roughly $200,000 for information and deemed highly credible, is now accused of lying about his information regarding these payments. The lesson here is, according to Kimberly Strassel of the WSJ, “If you are going to lie to the FBI, make sure it is lie it is willing to use.” Moreover, according to Kimberly, if this is true, it represents a major story that the FBI used this source for 13 years, who it now believes has “extensive ties to Russian intelligence.“ [9]
Another example of a two-tier justice system deals with how Trump was treated compared to President Biden regarding the Presidential Records Act of 1978. The FBI raided Trump’s home at Mar-a-Largo. He was charged with withholding and conspiracy to conceal top-secret documents he took with him after leaving the White House. This action was highly unusual since I do not believe any another American president was treated this way.
Furthermore, the Presidential Records Act of 1978, …“allows the incumbent President to dispose records that no longer have
administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value, once the Archivist of the United States has provided his written views on the proposed disposal.” In addition, according to ABA Legal Fact Check posted on Oct.17, … “presidents have broad authority to formally declassify most documents that are not statutorily protected while they are in office.”
All this poses the question, could the prosecutor and the Archivist have worked something out with the former president as opposed to treating him like a common criminal for obvious, political reasons?
On the other hand, Special Counsel Robert Hur found that Biden “willfully” disclosed classified documents from his time as Vice President, but concluded that no charges were warranted.
[9] WSJ “Sifting the FBI’s Garbage” by Kimberly A. Strassel Feb. 22, 2024
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His conclusion not to charge President Biden was startling since he stated the following, “We have also considered that at a trial Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury as he did during our interview of him as a sympathetic, well meaning elderly man with a poor memory”. [10]
In other words, his testimony would demonstrate he was a confused old man, who could not be successfully charged due to his mental lapses. President Biden is not fit to stand trial but he is mentally fit to be President. That statement is a non sequitur.
The most recent damaging bombshell regarding abuses of power was released in a report in ‘News Substack’ by Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger, and Alex Gutentag regarding the President Obama era. Jessie Watters, on his show ‘Jessie Watters Primetime,’ covered the report extensively, reporting John Brennan, CIA director under President Obama, placed 26 Trump-linked supporters improperly under surveillance without predication before the 2016 presidential election. These targeted individuals could be “bumped” or intentionally encountered to get incriminating evidence against them. The report stated that an intel consortium called the “Five Eyes,” composed of the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, were asked to share intelligence they acquired with U.S. agencies regarding the 26 people that were placed under surveillance.
According to Taibbi, the alleged cooperation with this consortium lies in a 10-inch binder in the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Va. If this is true, Taibbi maintained, “Espionage and election-related laws were broken.”
In still another example of abuse of power, we also know, presidential candidate Joe Biden’s assertion, in his first debate with Donald Trump that more than 50 former, senior intelligence officials have signed onto a letter stating, … “the disclosure of emails allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden have all the earmarks of Russian disinformation,” was a complete fabrication.
The emails were contained in Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was left on a Mac shop in Delaware. The owner said he brought it to the attention of the FBI, who was given a copy of the laptop’s hard drive. The FBI had this information for years and did nothing with it. Also, what is reprehensible, former CIA directors: John Brennan, Leon Panetta, Gen. Michael Hayden, John McLaughlin and Michael Morell signed this letter. [11] No one got punished or to my knowledge lost their security clearance as a result of being a signatory.
10] Special Counsel Robert Hur’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Mar 12, 2024
11] Politico, “Hunter Biden story is Russian Disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say,” by Natasha Bertrand Oct.19 2020
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The final insult to Trump and democracy pertains to all the court cases brought against him, which look very politically motivated in order to hamper his campaign and prevent him from running. There is no doubt in my mind that none of these cases would
have occurred if he was not running for the presidency.
For example, Attorney General for New York, Letitia James ran her campaign primarily based on promising her voters she would go after Trump. He wasn’t convicted of any crime at that time other than being Donald Trump, who was vilified by the mainstream, liberal media. That campaign pledge alone should have disqualified her from bringing this court case claiming he lied about his net worth in order to get favorable interest rates on his loans. In spite of the fact there were no victims, all the banks were paid on time and made money on these loans, he lost this civil case. He was fined $464 million, which he will have to pay while pending his appeal, and he cannot do business in New York.
Moreover, Jonathan Turley, a distinguished law professor, maintained this judgement was “extremely confiscatory,” making it difficult for Trump to appeal this decision” [12]
However, the New York Appellate Court recently ruled that former President Trump does not have to come up with $464 million to appeal the Judgment against him in his civil fraud trial, but now he can post a bond of $175 million.
In another civil case, which he lost, he was accused of molesting E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1990, and when he denied her claim she sued him for defamation of character and was awarded $5 million. In a second defamation case she was awarded $83 million. He has appealed both cases; nevertheless, he must post a bond of
$91.6 million by March 9. [12]
Her alleged molestation took place in 1990, and she conveniently brought this case up in 2023. It is very suspicious since she was caught whooping it up on the Rachel Maddow show {which is well known for her propagating the falsehoods about Trump’s involvement with Russia to subvert the 2016 election} about how she was going to enjoy spending all of this money. Furthermore, I don’t see how Trump could get a fair trial in New York under the current political climate.
[12] The Atlantic, March 4, “The Cases Against Tump: A guide”, by David A. Graham
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Also, in March 2023, Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg
was the first prosecutor to bring criminal charges against a current or former American president, when a grand jury indicted Donald J. Trump. [12a] It was alleged Trump falsified business records as part of a scheme to pay hush money to women who said they had sexual relations with him. This case will face some hurdles like the statute of limitations, and a questionable key witness is Michael Cohen, who has faced criminal charges in the past.
Another case is in Fulton County, Georgia, where Fani Willis, District Attorney, brought a huge racketeering case against Trump and 18 others, alleging conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election. Filing a racketeering judgement in this type of case is very usual since it is generally reserved for racketeers and criminals. It is a very complicated case and getting a jury to convict Trump will be a challenge. [12]
Willis hired an attorney, Nathan Wade, as a prosecutor, who had limited experience in such high-profile cases. She also had an illicit affair with him and was caught lying about when this affair began. She maintained the relationship began when this case first started. However, there is enough evidence like phone records and text messages to prove it began well before this case started.
Meanwhile, even after her getting caught in a lie, Judge Scott McAfee ruled she will not be disqualified when Nathan Wade is dismissed from the case.
The case that could have had the most egregious outcome affecting our democracy was Trump v. Anderson. In this case, the Supreme Court reversed the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that Trump Violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies candidates to run for office who have engaged in insurrection. [13]
If the lower court was not overruled by the Supreme Court, future Presidential elections would be in total disarray. Could you imagine if each state court reached different conclusions as what constitutes an insurrection? It would violate the Constitution’s established principles regarding states dealing uniformly with federal laws and institutions. [13]
[12a] Trump Hush-Money Case, “Who Is Alvin Bragg, the D.A. Leading the Prosecution of Trump?” by Michael Gold and Jonah E. Bromwich April 13, 2023
[12] The Atlantic, March 4, “The Cases Against Tump: A guide”, by David A. Graham
[13] WSJ, Feb. 8, 2024, “Colorado Can’t Disqualify Trump,” by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
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In summary, this report covered questionable and, in some cases, illegal activity and abuses of power by the FBI, the CIA, the Justice Department, former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, current President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, the Democratic Party and local and federal prosecutors, all in the name of lawfare.
All of this overwhelming, politically motivated activity you would expect to see in a banana republic, not in this country. The sad commentary is much of what took place would have never happened if we had more people in the news media critical of these partisan, undemocratic activities.
Instead, many in the mainstream media have become prevaricating prevaricators, more concerned about promoting their brand of politics, fabricating the news to generate sales, and are less concerned about uncovering the truth. This behavior has terrible ramifications for an informed, voting citizenry.
Today’s democratic party has been overtaken by leftist radicals, not concerned with the rule of law, but are governed by power and control. Whether you like Trump or not is not the issue. The continuation of weaponizing our security apparatus, by either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, applying a two-tier justice system to go after political opponents will destroy our democratic republic.
