The Russia Investigation's Two ComponentsThe Russia investigation, as it has been amorphously defined by the Justice Department has two components.
While Justice Department prosecutors are routinely assigned to criminal investigations, they are not assigned to counterintelligence investigations - government lawyers get involved when intelligence agents need the assistance of court process, such as warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Regardless of the motivation, the scheme to sustain the Russia investigation even after Obama left office and Trump was in a position to end it had three parts: important information about the investigation needed to be withheld from the new president; Trump had to be led to believe he was not under investigation so that he would not feel threatened by the investigation; and Trump had to be admonished about respecting the independence of law-enforcement, to instill the fear that if he invoked his constitutional authority to shut down the investigation, he would be accused of obstruction.
Since the FBI, with the encouragement of Obama holdovers in the Justice Department, was being outrageously public about the existence of the counterintelligence probe and the fact that the Trump campaign was being investigated, the president naturally wanted it to be equally public that the FBI director had assured him he was not under investigation.
Remember: The Obama strategy was to straitjacket Trump by making him the focus of a continuing investigation, even if there was no apparent crime and even though Trump, as president, had the power to end the investigation.
Significantly, Trump did not terminate Comey because the Russia investigation was being conducted; he did it, again, because Comey publicly intimated that Trump was a suspect but refused to disclose his assurances that Trump was not a suspect.
If there are no such grounds, the Justice Department should make it known that President Trump is not the subject of a criminal investigation.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456523/donald-trump-russia-investigation-obstruction-justice-department-justice-office-legal-counsel
While Justice Department prosecutors are routinely assigned to criminal investigations, they are not assigned to counterintelligence investigations - government lawyers get involved when intelligence agents need the assistance of court process, such as warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Regardless of the motivation, the scheme to sustain the Russia investigation even after Obama left office and Trump was in a position to end it had three parts: important information about the investigation needed to be withheld from the new president; Trump had to be led to believe he was not under investigation so that he would not feel threatened by the investigation; and Trump had to be admonished about respecting the independence of law-enforcement, to instill the fear that if he invoked his constitutional authority to shut down the investigation, he would be accused of obstruction.
Since the FBI, with the encouragement of Obama holdovers in the Justice Department, was being outrageously public about the existence of the counterintelligence probe and the fact that the Trump campaign was being investigated, the president naturally wanted it to be equally public that the FBI director had assured him he was not under investigation.
Remember: The Obama strategy was to straitjacket Trump by making him the focus of a continuing investigation, even if there was no apparent crime and even though Trump, as president, had the power to end the investigation.
Significantly, Trump did not terminate Comey because the Russia investigation was being conducted; he did it, again, because Comey publicly intimated that Trump was a suspect but refused to disclose his assurances that Trump was not a suspect.
If there are no such grounds, the Justice Department should make it known that President Trump is not the subject of a criminal investigation.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456523/donald-trump-russia-investigation-obstruction-justice-department-justice-office-legal-counsel
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