By David Singer ——Bio and Archives--April 28, 2019
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The Democrat majority-ruled Congress has regrettably chosen to initiate further investigations aimed at politically discrediting President Trump in the wake of the Mueller Report at the expense of using Congress’s considerable coercive and investigatory powers to restore the loss of public confidence in the FBI.
The reason is patently obvious: the Democrats wish to avoid re-opening the FBI investigation clearing Hillary Clinton of any criminal offences arising from the unauthorised use of her private server to house classified information.“The Federal Bureau of Investigation has long been regarded as our nation's premier federal investigative agency. Over the past year, however, the FBI's reputation and credibility have suffered substantial damage, and it has affected the entire Department of Justice. That is deeply troubling to many Department employees and veterans, legislators and citizens.”Rosenstein identified the investigation that gave rise to his concern:
“As you and I have discussed, however, I cannot defend the Director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken. Almost everyone agrees that the Director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives”The Democratic Party apparently feels otherwise - preferring to further investigate President Trump after he was exonerated by Mueller of colluding with Russia or attempting to obstruct justice – rather than investigate Clinton who was exonerated as a result of a flawed FBI investigation.
“The director was wrong to usurp the Attorney General's authority on July 5, 2016, and announce his conclusion that the case should be closed without prosecution. It is not the function of the Director to make such an announcement. At most, the Director should have said the FBI had completed its investigation and presented its findings to federal prosecutors. The Director now defends his decision by asserting that he believed attorney General Loretta Lynch had a conflict. But the FBI Director is never empowered to supplant federal prosecutors and assume command of the Justice Department. There is a well-established process for other officials to step in when a conflict requires the recusal of the Attorney General. On July 5, however, the Director announced his own conclusions about the nation's most sensitive criminal investigation, without the authorization of duly appointed Justice Department leaders.”Rosenstein laid out what should have happened:
“But the goal of a federal criminal investigation is not to announce our thoughts at a press conference. The goal is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to justify a federal criminal prosecution, then allow a federal prosecutor who exercises authority delegated by the Attorney General to make a prosecutorial decision, and then - if prosecution is warranted - let the judge and jury determine the facts”.
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“The way the Director handled the conclusion of the email investigation was wrong. As a result, the FBI is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. Having refused to admit his errors, the Director cannot be expected to implement the necessary corrective actions”Congress should now be conducting its own investigation into the FBI’s exoneration of Hillary Clinton if it wishes to restore public confidence in the FBI and Congress itself.
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David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com