Grassley’s Whistleblower Report Vindicates Trump’s Proposal For A Swamp Purge

By: Tristan Justice July 27, 2022

The Department of Justice meddled in the last presidential election, again, according to a new whistleblower report announced by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on Monday. The senator’s findings are just the latest on the mountain of evidence warranting former President Donald Trump’s proposed purge of federal agencies — a purge the regime-allied media called radical. Senior officials within the FBI, whistleblowers claim, worked to derail the agency’s investigations into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over the first family’s overseas business ventures, which have been flagged by senators for potential criminal activity.

“Multiple FBI whistleblowers, including those in senior positions,” Grassley’s office wrote in a press release, “are raising the alarm about tampering by senior FBI and Justice Department officials in politically sensitive investigations ranging fromelection and campaign finance probes across multiple election cycles.”

Grassley’s office highlighted whistleblowers’ accusations lodged against the same people responsible for weaponizing the government surveillance state against Trump since the run-up to the 2016 election. Washington Field Office Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault and Director of Election Crimes Branch Richard Pilger, they allege, coordinated to amplify defamatory information against Trump while giving cover to Hunter Biden.

“Whistleblowers further allege that Thibault and other FBI officials sought to falsely portray as disinformation evidence acquired from multiple sources that provided the FBI derogatory information related to Hunter Biden’s financial and foreign business activities,” Grassley’s office wrote, “even though some of that information had already been or could be verified.”

In a letter to the DOJ detailing the whistleblower allegations on Monday, Grassley condemned the agencies for undermining American elections and demanded documents for independent oversight.

“Attorney General Garland and Director Wray, simply put, based on the allegations that I’ve received from numerous whistleblowers, you have systemic and existential problems within your agencies,” Grassley said. “You have an obligation to the country to take these allegations seriously, immediately investigate and take steps to institute fixes to these and other matters before you.” The blockbuster whistleblower accusations merely confirm what had long been realized about the Department of Justice:The agency has become a politicized lever to persecute opponents of the Democrat regime while covering for its allies.

Last week, a report in Axios infuriated Washington elites with details about Trump’s plans to implement a Beltway purge of career deep-state bureaucrats infesting corrupted federal agencies if he were to win a second term. “The impact could go well beyond typical conservative targets such as the EPA and IRS, “Trump allies are working on plans that would potentially strip layers at the Justice Department — including the FBI, and reaching into national security, intelligence, the State Department and the Pentagon.”

The legacy press responded with outrage. Axios itself declared the program “radical.” Vanity Fair called Trump’s plans “authoritarian” that “should scare the crap out of you.”

“This is how we take apart Leviathan,” said former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who became the latest target of D.C.’s administrative state when he was convicted Friday of DOJ charges of contempt of Congress.

Support for the plans of the former president, who is reviled by the Beltway and embraced by the Republican base, to gut federal agencies will likely end up being a defining question for any candidate who seeks the GOP nomination in 2024. Grassley’s exposure of DOJ corruption merely offers a brighter spotlight on an agency that’s become emblematic of insider efforts to protect the status quo.

A wise Republican candidate might take Trump’s proposal one step further and back the movement to decentralize federal agencies from Washington altogether. The left-wing culture of the nation’s capital is a breeding ground for assimilation, where moderate newcomers eventually adopt a mentality that’s out of touch with those they’re meant to serve.

For years, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has been ahead of the curve proposing exactly that with legislation to scatter 10 federal agencies across the states, where government bureaucrats would be neighbors with their constituents as opposed to lobbyists and think tank scholars.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/07/27/grassleys-whistleblower-report-vindicates-trumps-proposal-for-a-swamp-purge/

As Ukrainians Defect To Russia, We Should Ask Whether Our Billions Are Saving Democracy Or Aiding Corruption

By: Jonathan S. Tobin July 27, 2022

The first lady of Ukraine was in Washington last week to be feted by the Biden administration, Congress, and the corporate press. Olena Zelenska, the attractive and patriotically dressed wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was given the Jackie Kennedy/Michelle Obama treatment by fashion columnists while also helping to reinforce the message that Ukraine’s effort to defend itself against Russian aggression is a battle for democracy and the survival of the West.

This is an easy story to tell to a receptive American audience. Since the war began in February, American sympathy combined with the stiffer-than-expected struggle put up by Ukrainian forces and Zelensky’s deft public relations campaign has reinforced the message that the Kyiv government is a democracy whose defense is essential to Western security.

Yet the question to be posed about this is not whether Russia and Putin are badbut whether Ukraine is the paragon of democracy Biden says it is. Congress recently passed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine in May with bipartisan support. Grassroots Republicans and even portions of the Democratic base have been critical of the way Ukraine’s security has come to dictate national priorities. That $40 billion is likely to be only the first installment of a steady flow of aid to pay for the $10 billion per month that the war is costing Kyiv.

That’s what made the appearance of a story about Ukraine in The New York Times this past week, which showed a different side of Zelensky’s government, so significant. The story, titled “Zelenskyy Fires Two Top Law Enforcement Officials,” buried the lead. The Times emphasized the fact that this was the first government shakeup in Kyiv since the war started as well as the fact that one of the two people fired was a boyhood friend of Zelensky. But while that is true, the substance of the story was that the sympathy and support for the Russians among a not insignificant portion of the Ukrainian population and members of the security services has damaged the war effort.

An earlier story in the Times discussed how paranoia about potential Russian spies had spread throughout Ukrainian society. The latest dispatch made clear just how much of an issue this had become. It’s one thing to report about 200,000 spy allegations being submitted to Ukrainian authorities every month. Zelensky’s sacking of security measures made clear how “treason” cases have become something of an obsession for the Ukrainian government.

Even more alarming is the fact that several hundred of these treason investigations involved security personnel. Many Ukrainian officials, including those who were employed by the prosecutor’s office, remained behind in Russian-occupied territory and are now working for Moscow. Still, that partly explains the large number of Ukrainian personnel helping the Russians. But the way this vast security state has been empowered by the war to turn its malevolent gaze on Ukrainian citizens — whether guilty of sympathy for Moscow or not — is chilling.

Previously, Ukraine was widely acknowledged to be as corrupt as the rest of the former Soviet Union, with a fledgling democratic system that was far from entirely free. Even after Zelensky became president, newspapers that were critical of his government were shut down. Since the war started, journalists have struggled to retain their ability to report freely and fairly.

That the majority of Ukrainians want their country to remain independent is obvious. So is their willingness to fight to prevent their nation from falling under Putin’s thumb. But the ability of the Russians to get so many Ukrainians to sympathize with or aid their assault on Ukraine illustrates that what is going on is, in part, a civil war as well as a foreign invasion.

Yet equally true is the fact that the Ukrainian state that is being defended so bravely is still deeply flawed and possessed of attributes antithetical to democracy. Though some of its problems would be present in any country at war and under direct attack, the more we learn about Ukraine, the less it resembles the Jeffersonian democracy that Biden tries to conjure up in his speeches on the subject.

While sympathy for Ukraine and hostility to Russia is understandable, these are factors that ought to be taken into consideration if the United States is to undertake the kind of financial commitment in this war that is starting to remind us of the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Or, at least, it should if Americans are to be permitted to have a debate about making such a dubious commitment.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/07/27/as-ukrainians-defect-to-russia-we-should-ask-whether-our-billions-are-saving-democracy-or-aiding-corruption/

Article from May 4, 2021, so it took since then for Grassley and Johnson to get all the information they needed to release what they did.

The FBI’s Dubious Briefing

Did the bureau set up two GOP Senators at the behest of Democrats?

By The Editorial Board May 4, 2021 6:40 pm ET

Did the FBI set up two Members of Congress for political attack under the guise of a “defensive briefing”? It’s possible, and Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are rightly demanding answers.

On Monday the Republicans sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines asking how the Washington Post came to know about an FBI briefing to both Senators on Aug. 6, 2020. A Post story last week used the info to smear Mr. Johnson and his report on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, suggesting that he’d ignored FBI warnings and thus may have been manipulated by the Kremlin. The newspaper cited only anonymous “current and former U.S. officials.”

In their letter the Senators note that the briefing came after “pressure from Democratic Leadership.” In July 2020, the Democratic Members of the Gang of Eight—senior Members with access to intelligence secrets—had sent a letter and classified addendum to Mr. Wray specifically citing the Johnson-Grassley probe into Hunter Biden as reason for an urgent briefing for Congress about foreign “disinformation.” That news was then leaked, in what was an obvious attempt to tar the work of the two Republicans.

The two Senators became more concerned when the ensuing briefing by the FBI turned out to be what they described as “not specific” as well as “unconnected to our investigation.” (Their report was based on U.S. government documents.) They specifically expressed to the FBI during the briefing their concerns that it would be “subject to a leak” for partisan gain. Which is exactly what happened last week, despite the FBI’s promise to the Senators of confidentiality.

After the August briefing, Messrs. Johnson and Grassley sent a letter demanding that Mr. Wray and the intelligence community disclose the reason for it. They never received the answer. In light of last week’s leak, they are renewing their demand to know who recommended the briefing, and the intelligence that supposedly supported it.

Whether the FBI was pressured, duped, or actively political, the bureau has again landed in the center of a partisan fight.

Mr. Wray might ask how that keeps happening.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fbis-dubious-briefing-11620168038

IMO there is no reason why Wray wouldn't know any of this, additionally I wouldn't be surprised if he ordered it.

>>16842637

apparently we did do it!