Jan.27

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Speaking of Weaponizing the Federal Government...

It is at least possible that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and his brand-spanking-new subcommittee will actually come up with something of substance as they put various Democrats, and family members of Democrats, under the microscope. We think that is unlikely, but you never know for sure.

Whatever the case may be, however, the indisputable fact is that Jordan & Co. are choosing their targets based on guesswork. They see a little smoke here and there (often a very little smoke), and they hope and pray that when they look into it, they will find some fire. And if that's the standard, then far and away the most smoke, when it comes to weaponizing the powers of the federal government/Department of Justice for political purposes, is emanating from... the John Durham-led probe of Russiagate that was instigated by former AG Bill Barr.

Yesterday, The New York Times published a lengthy exposé about the sleaziness of Durham and Barr, and how the investigation was consistently recalibrated in service of the two men's political goals rather than in service of the truth. Among the revelations:

• Based on copies of memos they received, Durham and his team spent much time investigating the possibility that Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Leonard Benardo, an aide to billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, had conspired to obstruct justice. Durham went to a judge to gain access to Bernardo's e-mail account, and when the judge refused, the special counsel tried to do an end run around him by going to a federal grand jury. Eventually, Bernardo just surrendered the requested e-mails, and it turned out there was no evidence of obstruction. Oh, and the memos that put Team Durham on this particular scent? They were provided by... Russian intelligence. Readers will recall that the entire genesis of the Durham probe is the claim that Democrats made inappropriate use of dubious intelligence from Russian sources. Do as I say, not as I do?
  
  
• During the course of the investigation, Durham's team was warned by members of the Italian government about a U.S. citizen who had committed finance-related crimes in Italy. Despite the fact that this has nothing to do with Russia, Barr and Durham decided that they had to look into the matter. However, in order to maintain the tightest secrecy possible, Durham himself went to Italy to investigate, rather than farming the task out to one of his lieutenants. Whatever he found, he decided to keep it between Barr and himself, and he did not pursue any legal charges or refer the matter to any other federal agency. The exact nature of the information provided by the Italians, much less the nature of any evidence discovered by Durham, remains a mystery.
  
  One other thing we should probably mention. The U.S. citizen implicated in financial misdeeds by the Italians has changed residences since then, from a mansion in Washington, DC, to a resort in Florida.
  
  
• Barr knew many months in advance of the 2020 presidential election that Durham's probe had found nothing of substance, and thus had exonerated the federal law enforcement establishment. Nonetheless, the then-AG made a point of keeping that fact under his hat until after the election.

Needless to say, there is zero chance that Jim Jordan and crew will actually take a look at this. But the Senate Judiciary Committee? Or AG Merrick Garland? Maybe. And now, every politics reporter in the country is going to be working on finding out exactly what the Italians know about Donald Trump. So, maybe one day soon, the former president will have yet another major legal headache to deal with. (Z)