The Shit Values Of The Department of Justice and FBI

As I wrote last month, I was struck at the contrast between the carrerists of the Department of Justice and FBI and those in the State Department who defied orders to testify to the House Intelligence Committee late last year.  The actions of the "Justice" hacks are, of course, exemplified by Robert Mueller's refusal to stick his granitic chin out in order to reveal the presidential treason* of Donald Trump, other members of the same circles such as Rod Rosenstein, and James Comey**, the kind of members of the DC legal establishment who their colleagues, even those who left in horror and disgust at the antics of Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions and William Barr call honorable "institutionalists" who "love the Department of Justice" or the "FBI"  and who could be counted on to do the right thing due to that devotion to the departments that employed them.  Though in the popular culture and imagination, the diplomats are presented as the caviar and champagne reception set, what was on display in their willingness to patriotically, out of principle and morality, defy  orders in order to tell the truth about the Trump corruption and criminality was courage, valor and high principle as compared to the ass-covering refusal of the "lawmen".   If you want a sharp reminder, a lot of the same "never Trumper" former DOJ lawyers were assuring us we could count on their colleague Rod Rosenstein to do the right thing, a line of bilge bought hook, line and sinker by even some of the smartest members of the press, such as Rachel Maddow. 

If you're at all curious about where good ol' Rod is these days:

Rod Rosenstein still believes he’s one of the good guys. In fact, he filed a Declaration saying just that last Friday in FBI agent Peter Strzok’s wrongful termination lawsuit. He had to secretly release his employees’ personal texts in the dead of the night with strict instructions that reporters should attribute them so as to imply that they were leaked by Congress. Because if he hadn’t breached every department norm and thrown his employees under the bus, then surely Lisa Page and Peter Strzok would have been ritually humiliated by congressional Republicans. If you think about it (but not too hard), Rosenstein really did them a big favor.

Yes, that’s really the line they’re going with here.

I have to say that I am pretty well entirely sure that Robert Mueller must have known that it was his boss during his investigation, the guy who stood like a glass eyed dummy behind William Barr as he started the cover-up, distortion of the Mueller Report, the same Robert Mueller who, then, pretty well refused to back up his own work by talking about it when he, finally, reluctantly, after giving Barr the chance to bury his investitation with a mountain of lies for weeks and weeks, knew about what we're finding out about Rosenstein's leak now. 

I would leave you with this discussion chaired last night by Rachel Maddow in which the classified memo by Jennifer Williams that as put in the Senate record might be revealed by a Senator, something that Senator Claire McCaskill says she wouldn't be surprised if a Senator, realizing the importance of it becomming public didn't make it public.  It's the former Department of Justice stalwart, Chuck Rosenberg who sounds like a nervous nellie who just can't imagine someone putting themselves at risk considering the terrible peril the country is in. 

Such is the ass-covering, corrupt culture of the DoJ and FBI that they can't imagine someone putting patriotism, democracy, morality above their carrerist interests. 

*  The dangerously narrow confines of the Constitutional definition of treason needs to be amended to make what Donald Trump as president do by way of colluding with the enemies of the United States for his personal gain officially and legally treasonous.  The enormous power stupidly ceeded to the presidency makes it necessary to make presidents subject to an enhanced level of legal control on their behavior.  That our Constitution will make that virtually impossible merely exposes the kinds of defects that lawyers who study it looking for ways they and their client can game it can find all through it.  Even those provisions presented with the most absurdly discredited piety are raked over for making crimes legal, some of them among the worst of crimes. 

**  As of this time, about the only leadership of the FBI in its history who I have any respect for is Andrew McCabe.  From what I can see he has, actually, acted heroically.