Dem
47
GOP
53
The second Trump administration is negative days old, and yet already the scandals are piling up. The big news that broke yesterday is that during the first Trump administration, the Department of Justice used its many powers to acquire phone records and text messages belonging to two members of Congress (Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell) and 43 congressional staffers (among them Kash Patel). The purpose here was to try to identify who was responsible for leaking information.
The information-gathering was not illegal, per se, since then-AG Bill Barr signed off on the subpoenas, which were then approved by a judge. However, a new inspector general report released yesterday makes clear that Barr did not follow proper procedures—in particular, he did not consult a committee that was supposed to review such decisions. Further, the subpoenas served to cross what is supposed to be a bright-red line, politicizing the DoJ.
Nothing is going to come of this, of course, as none of the people involved will be punished in any way for their unethical behavior. However, it does serve as a reminder of two things, as everyone prepares for the advent of Trump v2.0. First, Trump and his underlings have no compunctions about abusing the powers of government in ways that would make even Richard Nixon blush.
Second, the first Trump administration leaked like a sieve, and the second one will surely be just as leaky. It's a den of thieves (or a pit of vipers, if you prefer), and everyone is looking to stab everyone else in the back, in hopes of moving up the ranks. The more aggressive the (presumably) Pam Bondi-led DoJ is about going after leakers, the cleverer the leakers will be about covering their tracks. We suspect that Washington businesses are about to commence a thriving business in burner phones. (Z)