Last year, when Biden nominated Merrick Garland for attorney general, the President delivered a soaring speech about restoring “the honor, the integrity, the independence” of a Justice Department that had been “so badly damaged” in the eyes of the American public. The unnamed cause of that alleged damage was Trump, of course, even after the American public had witnessed their federal government entrap Trump advisor Michael Flynn and illegally alter a FISA warrant to spy on a Trump campaign official, Carter Page.
Over that same course of time, the public watched the FBI conclude that ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not intend to violate federal laws even after erasing 30,000 emails with BleachBit, failing to turn over 13 phones to the FBI because they were lost, and smashing two cell phones to pieces with a hammer.
(Compare those unfound or obliterated phones to the phone of U.S. Rep. Scott Perry. The Republican lawmaker witnessed FBI agents seize his property this week as part of the Jan. 6 Committee investigation into Donald Trump and everyone around him.)
More recently, back in May, the public learned the “Trump-Russia collusion” claim made to the FBI came from Michael Sussmann, a Clinton campaign attorney, just weeks before the 2016 election. A jury acquitted Sussmann of lying to the FBI after he assured FBI agents he wasn’t representing Clinton when he conveniently showed up with an allegation that was never questioned by Democrats and the media who wanted Trump in handcuffs.
In light of all of those incidents, and more, approximately 40 FBI agents showed up at Mar-a-Lago with a search warrant to look for documents that might belong to the National Archives and Records Administration. That government agency retrieves and catalogues presidential documents which are considered federal property when a president leaves office. NARO’s demand for Trump to turn over documents that had been packed up and sent to Florida dates back to January, when 15 boxes were sent to the National Archives, but the dispute received little public attention until the FBI showed up with its warrant.
Reacting this week to the FBI raid, The Federalist senior editor David Harsanyi reminded the “Washington Watch” radio program that former Attorney General Eric Holder ignored a congressional subpoena to appear before a Republican-run House committee in 2012 to answer for the “Fast and Furious” operation. After refusing to turn over documents, Barack Obama's defiant attorney general was held in contempt of Congress in a 255-67 vote.
“And nothing happened to him, by the way,” Harsanyi pointed out.
The Federalist editor compared Holder’s treatment to Peter Navarro, the former Trump advisor. His humiliating and unnecessary arrest by FBI agents at a D.C. airport in June – just two months ago – was criticized by the federal judge overseeing Navarro’s contempt of Congress case against the Jan. 6 Committee.
“It is a surprise to me," Judge Amit Mehta told federal prosecutors, "that self-surrender was not offered."
Navarro faces two misdemeanor charges for ignoring a subpoena. He was catching a flight for a speaking engagement when he was handcuffed and marched away.
Another incident: Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton
Offering a legal analysis of the FBI raid three days ago, AFA general counsel Abraham Hamilton III told the “Today’s Issues” radio program it appears NARO and the Department of Justice believed Trump possessed more documents that were designated as classified information. That concern could have been handled with a phone call or, at worst, with a subpoena for Trump to hand them over, said Hamilton, a former assistant district attorney.
With the Department of Justice already under scrutiny for its scandals, Hamilton said, “you at a minimum owe it to the American people – with whom you hope to maintain trust in your agency - to articulate what is going on.”
Circling back to the Obama administration, Hamilton said President Obama signed a federal law adding digital records to the National Archives but that law was ignored by the president, by Hillary Clinton, and by then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“Did you ever see anybody execute a search warrant and a raid on their homes?” Hamilton asked.
“No,” replied show host Tim Wildmon. “In fact, I saw Attorney General Lynch meet on the tarmac, in a private conservation in an airplane, with [former] President Bill Clinton, while his wife was being investigated. Do I remember that right?”
“You remember that exactly right,” Hamilton replied.
After the FBI raid predictably angered the American public, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday the agency is concerned about online threats to the FBI. Those threats are "deplorable and dangerous," he said.
In a separate “Washington Watch” appearance, attorney and constitutional activist Mike Davis predicted the Department of Justice has crossed a “red line” that he predicts will be impossible for Attorney General Garland to walk back.
Davis, founder of the Article III Project, also predicted the Biden administration has unified the Republican Party around Donald Trump. That defense for the former president, he said, will make it more likely Trump will announce he is running for president.
“If he announces, he's going to win the nomination,” David predicted. “He's going to win back the presidency."
