Since the New York Times casually dropped the news last week that four Trump campaign associates were being watched by the Obama Justice Department right before the election, and that a spy, er, informant, er, confidential source tried to frame two Trump campaign volunteers, the political class has been scrambling to defend this egregious abuse of federal power against a sitting president’s political enemy.
A CNN analyst wrote (I assume with a straight face) that Trump, “should be glad to know that the FBI appears to have been trying to thwart a hostile country’s efforts to infiltrate his campaign.” (Thanks, Obama!)
But the president is not buying this new spin. On Sunday afternoon, he tweeted: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”
This Twitter decree did not sit well with our betters in #TheResistance. The same bunch that insists on giving one appointed investigator (Robert Mueller) unfettered power to search and destroy anyone near Trump’s orbit (including his personal attorney) is now howling that an elected president wants to exercise his constitutional authority.
Benjamin Wittes, Comey BFF and editor of the Trump-hating Lawfare blog, unleashed a stream-of-consciousness Twitter rant, claiming Trump’s demand would create a “crisis” at the DOJ/FBI. Wittes admitted that although it is within Trump’s power to request such an investigation, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray should resign rather than comply. He called the perfectly legal move a “nakedly corrupt attempt to derail an investigation of himself.” Then he called the president a “wuss.”
CNBC political correspondent John Harwood called Trump’s demand the “most consequential interference in our system of justice since he fired the FBI director who was investigating him.”
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, who apparently doesn’t read her own paper, subtweeted Trump and asked, “If the answer is no, will White House accept it?” (Maggie, please check Adam Goldman’s articles on May 16 and May 18 for help.)
NeverTrumper Bill Kristol, always eager to lend Trump foes a hand, suggested Trump’s White House lawyer should be ready to defend any directive made to the “deputy attorney general.” But see what Kristol did there? The same sleight-of-hand pulled by his pal, Wittes. There is no reason why the request should be made to Rosenstein and not to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sessions recused himself from the Trump-Russia investigation; he did not abdicate his powers completely. The president is poised to formally ask the DOJ to probe how the previous administration spied on his campaign in 2016. But Kristol, Wittes, and friends are setting the stage to screech “conflict!” if Trump sends the formal request to Sessions. (Watch for others to follow this meme.)
It’s gonna be a helluva a week.