Over half of Americans polled in December didn’t trust U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller to do an unbiased job in investigating alleged collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia during the 2016 election. That percentage was greater than the president’s recent approval rating. This means even Trump haters see that something is amiss.
What makes the results more significant is that this poll was conducted before the recent revelations emerging from the disclosure of text messages by and between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
The daily release of damaging information has all the hallmarks of a Tom Clancy drama. Just look at the plot-lines. A clandestine love affair between FBI agents uncovered leads to questions of an apparent bias against a president they are tasked to investigate and fantastic questions about a more insidious shadowy cabal.
The intrigue of alleged collusion between a national figure and a harmful international actor interfering with an American election combines with a fascinating twist leading the audience to question who really fixed the election. The introduction of an international spy hired by political adversaries pushing the collusion narrative to government officials, with false and salacious information collected from dubious sources — which the government may or may not have used against said president.
Can you hear the Hollywood casting agents calling already?!
But, amid wild accusations of "secret societies" meeting off-site, undertaking what some may characterize as a "soft coup"of the American president that remains to be fleshed out, it is not a stretch to say, without hyperbole, that the unraveling drama of upper-level FBI paramours may have irreparably damaged a so-called independent investigation in the eyes of a majority of Americans; damage which may have occurred by turning it into astoundingly vengeful political retribution.
In a few short weeks, Strzok and Page’s message reveal an animus against their investigatory target that renders objectivity impossible. The contents of these text messages themselves — at least the ones that we have — exhibit, at best, a lack of judgment and, at worst, a shocking bias tainting any neutral fact-finding endeavor.
For the targets of the investigation, it’s a defense attorney’s dream. Fruits of the investigation are coming from a poisonous tree. Attorneys for the president and his campaign team must surely be salivating at the prospects of the exculpatory or impeaching information and evidence, or Brady material, possibly in the offing.
While the courts will have to hash out the legal minutae in due time, Congress stands as the sole body to address a growing crisis of confidence in the upper echelons of the FBI, which it is attacking on multiple fronts, including the inquiry into the FusionGPS dossier.
While that may not inspire the desired confidence in the American people, hope springs eternal that, in the end, the FBI investigation intended to "catch" President Trump may conclude that the only culprits damaging the nation were the investigators themselves.
Gene Berardelli is a street-smart trial attorney who, through his time as the Law Chair of the Republican Party in Brooklyn, New York, has developed a solid reputation as an election attorney successfully representing conservative candidates.
Russell Gallo is a security expert and combat veteran who attained the rank of First Sergeant in the New York Army National Guard, earning a Combat Action Badge in Iraq. Together, they host Behind Enemy Lines Radio, a national award-winning radio show and podcast broadcasting out of "The People's Republic of" New York that airs weekly on AM and FM radio stations as part of the Talk America Radio network. To read more of their reports — Click Here Now.
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