There is angst over Jeff Sessions’ apparent inaction in taking the fight to the Rogue Ruling Class™. Believing otherwise is compared to the old saw about second marriages: the triumph of hope over experience.
But maybe not, and here is why:
This possibly is a classic case of chicken-or-egg; a conundrum that calls for patience—at least for the few more days until the Inspector General’s next report is released.
Many people just want something, anything, done now about what feels like an endless list of behaviors that qualify as some combination of bad, criminal or evil; behaviors that undermine the rule of law, ensure no equal justice under the law, and amount to an attempted coup d’etat. This is entirely understandable and justified.
But what “doings” would actually change the course?
Stop Mueller’s coup d’etat team? Desirable and entirely appropriate, but not politically practical, at least not yet.
Appoint a second special counsel? But why start from scratch with a small team when the Justice Department Inspector General has 500 people working for him, a $100 million budget, and has “reviewed about 1.2 million records since January 2017 in the course of its investigation” into Justice Department and FBI behaviors in advance of the 2016 elections. Moreover, the Inspector General has subsequently expanded his reviews into FISA abuses and the Comey memos.
Separately, Sessions has already restarted Hezbollah, Uranium One and Clinton Foundation investigations as well as gone after leakers.
In a nutshell, taking down the Rogue Ruling Class™ requires this initial three-step process: Horowitz is the one to generate the proof points and make the criminal referrals. That’s what has to come first. Second, Sessions’ role is to enable those referrals to become criminal indictments. Sessions did his part by appointing John Huber back in 2017, a U.S. attorney in Utah, operating outside the Washington, D.C. spotlight. That’s where there is probably a grand jury already sequestered, reviewing information from Horowitz. Now the final step is for Huber to do his part and have indictments ready to go soon after Horowitz’s report is published.
Will the three-step actually happen? We don’t know yet and there is a tremendous amount of disinformation in the air. We will know soon if there is any chance of punching back twice as hard against the coup leaders. Watch and pray.
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