MARK POPE: IG Report Is Political Double-Speak [OPINION]

DOJ Inspector General’s report is political double-speak

The report on the Department of Justice’s involvement in the Russia/Trump investigation, spearheaded and written by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, is a model of political double-speak.  On the one hand, thousands of texts between DOJ employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page are evidence of a glowing hatred for and flat-out attack on President Trump.  And yet Horowitz concludes in his 568-page report on DOJ/FBI involvement into the Russia collusion probe that, “We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative actions we reviewed.”

Strzok was the Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division at the FBI at the time that special counsel Robert Mueller was assigned to oversee the investigation into Donald Trump’s possible collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign.  Page and Strzok were the two principal FBI employees who ran the Russia/Trump probe.

The IG’s report is replete with texts between Strzok and Page.  One text from Page states, “Trump is not going to become president, right?  Right?!.”  Strzok replied back, “No. No he won’t.  We’ll stop it.”  Strzok and Page had power over the Trump/Russia investigation.  They also oversaw the bogus “investigation” into the Hillary Clinton email scandal, going back to when Clinton was Secretary of State. They abused their power and they obstructed justice with their selective targeting of Trump, and their protection of Clinton.

FBI Director Christopher Wray called a news conference shortly after Horowitz’s report was released.  The brief news conference was pathetic.  Wray stated that “mistakes were made.”  He said the FBI would view the mistakes as a “learning moment,” and would institute training for all FBI agents to ensure that “incidents of bias” do not happen again. Really?  Training for FBI agents is already the most rigorous among all the world’s elite law enforcement organizations.  And besides Mr. Wray, the “collusion” cited in Horowitz’s report was perpetrated by upper management of the FBI and DOJ, not by rank-and-file agents and employees.  The political hacks overseeing the Russia investigation exonerated Clinton – the truly guilty party – and focused exclusively on Trump and his associates. They obviously had a vendetta against the president, and all the public gets is political double-speak and excuse-making.

Horowitz wrote that Strzok and Page “possibly” neglected the Clinton email scandal and focused exclusively on targeting Donald Trump and his associates in the Russia investigation.  Incorrect Mr. Horowitz.  Strzok and Page deliberately glossed over Clinton’s violation of the law with her “grossly negligent” handling of emails on an unsecured, non-governmental email server. Gross negligence on the part of Clinton is a crime; gross negligence is specified in the federal law which she violated.  Clinton greatly compromised the national security of the United States with her reckless behavior.  Strzok and Page casually interview Clinton, Huma Abedin, and Cheryl Mills in seeking information about Clinton’s reckless actions.  All the women referenced above, who were interviewed by the rogue team of Strzok and Page, were granted immunity. James Comey originally wrote that Clinton’s actions were “grossly negligent.”  Strzok changed the wording to “extremely careless.”  Comey played along.  Comey and Strzok were “grossly negligent” in not objectively executing their duties in law enforcement.   Furthermore, criminal actions by Clinton and her campaign minions, who destroyed hard drives and other electronic devices – evidence which was subpoenaed – rises to the level of true obstruction of justice.  Yet the two rogue FBI agents who headed up the Russia/Trump investigation glossed over these acts of criminality.

This whole report stinks.  Horowitz, who was appointed by Barak Obama, seems to be deeply embedded in the corrupt deep state of politics in Washington, D.C.  Stay tuned for phases two and three of future reports to be produced by IG Horowitz.  Those reports will examine the basis for the genesis of the “counterintelligence investigation” into Trump/Russia collusion in the presidential campaign.  The air is thick in D.C. with all the swamp gas, and I believe with future reports coming out of Horowitz’s office, it will continue to stink. The days of Americans trusting their government are long gone.

-Mark Pope