FBI “Whistleblowers” Were Bought by Trump Ally Kash Patel
Jordan’s latest committee stunt backfires as usual
Today’s meeting of the Committee to Investigate the Weaponization of Government went about as well as expected. True to form, Jim Jordan, head of the committee, attempted to discredit the FBI after the failed Durham investigation, but he miscalculated again.
This time the FBI spoke up in their defense.
In a statement made by the head of Human Resources of the FBI, the claims of the so-called whistleblowers were obliterated by the following facts:
Two witnesses lost their FBI clearances due to security concerns, which involved “multiple violations of FBI rules and guidelines” as well as failure to follow orders to investigate and arrest perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Trump crony Kash Patel has provided financial support to two of the witnesses after they lost their clearances (and paychecks).
One was stupid enough to send an email from his FBI account urging fellow FBI colleagues to refuse to cooperate with FBI Director Chris Wray’s orders to fulfill their duties as FBI agents. (The same witness downloaded classified FBI information to a thumb drive and disseminated it unlawfully.)
None of the witnesses had evidence of wrongdoing by the FBI; instead, the FBI found each guilty of failure to perform their duties — something any organization would consider reasonable grounds for dismissal.
None of them qualifies as a whistleblower.
As for the payments they received from Patel, according to Jim Jordan, Patel was simply taking care of the poor men who had no way to pay their bills and support their families.
So, why didn’t they get new jobs like the rest of us do when we get fired? Does Jordan think when Dems lose their jobs due to their negligence or criminal behavior, our fellow Democrats automatically send us checks?
In addition to the utter stupidity of the proceedings today, the usual shouts and fist-pounding by Jim Jordan were unsuccessful in overshadowing the calm and deliberate attempts at professionalism by the Democrats on the committee, who made clear once again that the goal of this body is not to investigate the supposed weaponization of government by Democrats — instead it is to complete the process of weaponizing the government for the sake of Donald J. Trump.
Trump, who is about to be indicted for a host of crimes, has no defense for his actions and must rely solely on phony investigations and ridiculous claims to convince his base that he is worthy of their vote in 2024. The frightening thing is that despite no evidence to support any of the allegations Trump or his motley crew have made against Democrats since 2016, his base remains astonishingly ignorant of the facts.
When the Durham report (the extensive investigation designed to prove that the FBI had targeted Trump unfairly while investigating his campaign’s ties to Russia) was finally released the other day, its contents were ignored by FOX and Republicans alike. Instead, one mischaracterization after the other was used to obscure the fact that only two criminal cases were brought during the four-year investigation, and both resulted in acquittals.
The bottom line, unfortunately, is that Trump’s followers don’t read reports, watch real news or listen to facts. No matter the truth, they believe what Trump and his minions tell them. And since democracy requires an informed electorate to survive, we’re in a world of hurt right now.
However, as was pointed out recently by a pundit on MSNBC, there is some good news. Historically, thirty percent of our population has always resisted progress. It was true during the Revolutionary War when a third of the citizens of this new world thought they should remain loyal to King George; it was true during the Civil War when a third of us wanted to continue to enslave Black people; and it was true during the 60s when the Civil Rights Movement took place.
What made 2016 different is that manipulation fueled by social media and Russian interference gave Trump, a representative of that backward third of our nation, an opportunity to wave the flag and claim dominance in the name of nationalism. Unfortunately, we didn’t see it coming until it was too late.
But that was then, and this is now.
Like George W. Bush once said, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice . . . um, er, you can’t fool me twice,” or something like that.