As the investigations into the Trump-Russia investigation proceed, it’s not too difficult to figure out a few of the theoretical starting points.
The first and most obvious theory is the one largely promulgated in the media for the better part of two years. It goes something like this: The sharp, super-sleuth investigative skills of top officials within the Justice Department and our intel community enabled them to identify Donald Trump and his campaign as treacherous conduits to Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.
That theory was summarily dismissed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that there wasn’t so much as even coordination between Russia and Trump, or any American. So that leaves several other possibilities … and none of them is good:
They knew
One possibility to be considered is that top Obama administration officials knew all along there never was any real collusion or crime at play, but they manufactured the false Russia premise in order to justify their political spying.
Under this hypothetical scenario, they wanted to get inside information on the Trump campaign and, perhaps, gather dirt against the competition for blackmail or political purposes.
This effort included surveillance using paid spies and wiretaps on multiple Trump associates, as reported in the press.
The Obama officials had lots of help from foreign players such as the United Kingdom and Russia’s nemesis, Ukraine. Ukrainian-linked Democrats assisted with an early effort to gin up negative press coverage about key players, such as Trump associate Paul Manafort, who had been hired by the pro-Russian Ukrainian government prior to the anti-Russian Ukrainian government taking over in 2014. There were other Ukraine entanglements, such as the lucrative position earning millions of dollars that then-Vice President Joe Biden’s son got in 2015 to serve on the board of a Ukrainian energy company under the anti-Russia Ukraine regime.
(Continued...)
Read the rest of the story in The Hill by clicking this link. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/444508-two-scenarios-on-trump-russia-investigators-and-neither-is-comforting
Attorney General Barr has the privilege of pointing his finger at his accusers and defending himself publicly. Author Sharyl Attkisson has been hacked by government employees but is denied access to the names of the actors, nullifying her right to practice journalism effectively, and point a similar finger. If courts can secretly issue such things as FISA Warrants, then the same courts should enjoy the capacity to right the wrongs when they encounter a case where interception equipment was used for political convenience such as appears to be what happened in the "matter" concerning Attkisson. This conundrum in the law is another example of why Donald Trump's message resonated with the electorate. The tree is poisoned but the intelligence agencies seem to be force feeding the rotten fruit by shoving it down the throats of anyone who gets close to the knowledge. Don't ignore Attkisson.