A lot of frustration has been expressed –
on these pages and elsewhere – over the slow pace of progress in unraveling the
Deep State coup against Trump. But, “the process of uncovering the worst
political scandal in American history” as Icalled it
a couple of days ago, needs to be done the right way, or else it will founder
under the waves of abuse that will pour from the media and political branches
of the establishment. Not only must legal niceties be observed, the rollout of
information must be undertaken with a strategy in mind. Each step builds on the
previous, and addresses the probable response.
When Rod Rosenstein evaded the answers being sought in a
Congressional hearing and deferred to the Inspector General investigation
underway, I thought it a reasonable response. Even though Rosenstein is now a
hate-object for having appointed Robert Mueller as Special Counsel. The
IG, Michael E. Horowitz, is
no political stooge. (For background on the Inspectors General, see Ed
Lasky here and here.
There are unsung heroes of our constitutional republic among them, hero-federal
bureaucrats.)
And letting any of the IG's cats out of the bag early could have
serious consequences.
Sundance of Conservative Treehouse has a must-read
column today, analyzing the pattern of disclosures from the IG. In
Sundance’s words, “It looks just like a prosecutor laying out his case.”
Consider what is at stake; and further consider that you
were given the task of revealing the outcome of an investigation of such
consequence. How would you introduce the findings to the larger U.S.
electorate? Given the timing of the releases from the IG’s investigation,
I think that’s what we are seeing in the past two weeks. A prosecutor
laying out his case over the course of multiple media cycles. (snip)
There is a pattern in the released OIG information and how
we retrieve it from the media.
♦Ahead of FBI Director Christopher Wray appearing before congress the IG
released the information about FBI Agent Strzok and
his mistress FBI/DOJ Attorney Lisa Page.
♦Just before Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe was going to
appear before congress the IG released information about DOJ Deputy
Bruce Ohr and his wife Nellie Ohr.
Andrew McCabe ducked out of the hearing, and will now
appear next week. Boy-oh-boy that one should be interesting. If he’s
still employed. (anticipating more releases here)
♦Just before DOJ Asst. AG Rod Rosenstein appeared before congress the IG
released the actual text messaging information from Agent Strzok and Lisa Page.
See the pattern?
Sundance lays out what I have been thinking of as a story arc, the
broad picture of where this can be expected to develop, given the facts as we
know them at the moment. I am always conscious that President Trump is a
master showman with a specialty in reality TV. He thinks in terms of story
arcs.
The OIG is laying out the case for further inquiry,
investigation and more importantly questioning, of
each of the aforementioned officials. (snip)
…the IG is laying out his prosecutable case before the
American public via TV and congressional appearances. In my humble
opinion none of this is accidental. This is strategic white hat
distribution of material that is immensely important to the larger U.S. electorate.
The subject matter is so consequential, it needs to be absorbed in small
digestible portions.
We should be hearing from the IG in the early part of next year,
in time for this to start to unfold in TV prior to the November midterm
elections.
Sundance looks ahead the next couple of steps, toward prosecution,
and followsthe potential chain upward. Momentum, and consequently timing,
is critical because of the expected all-out resistance. Watergate was nothing
compared to this.
