Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas are following President Donald Trump’s command to distract from the Epstein recordsdata by going after President Barack Obama.
Each lawmakers are actually calling for a particular counsel to probe whether or not Obama dedicated treason by the investigation into Russia’s function within the 2016 election, which consumed a lot of Trump’s first time period.
A cartoon by Pedro Molina.
“For the good of the country, Senator [Cornyn] and I urge Attorney General Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate the extent to which former President Obama, his staff and administration officials manipulated the U.S. national security apparatus for a political outcome,” Graham wrote on X Thursday.
Graham and Cornyn are referring to the ridiculous lie cooked up by Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who baselessly accused Obama of a “treasonous conspiracy” through which he “manufactured intelligence” about Russian election interference in 2016 to “subvert the will of the American people” by “trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people.”
Trump then directed GOP lawmakers to unfold the ridiculous conspiracy principle to distract from the Epstein recordsdata scandal, which his administration created itself when it stated that there are not any paperwork within the authorities’s possession that incriminate highly effective third events.
“You need to point out that each time they offer you a query that’s not acceptable. Simply say, ‘Oh, by the way in which, Obama cheated on the election.’ You will watch the digital camera flip off immediately,” Trump ordered GOP lawmakers.
The Related Press printed a report on Thursday all however calling Gabbard and Trump’s accusations bullshit. A number of probes into the Russia investigation “either concluded—or accepted the conclusion—that Russia embarked on a campaign to interfere in the election through the use of social media and hacked material,” based on the AP.
Actually, a type of probes was overseen by Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
As for Graham and Cornyn’s new request, if appointing a particular counsel to probe this non-story sounds acquainted to you, that is as a result of it’s.
Former Trump Legal professional Normal Invoice Barr had already appointed a particular counsel in October 2020—simply earlier than the election Trump went on to lose—to probe the Russia investigation.
The particular counsel’s title was, as you may recall, John Durham.
Legal professional Normal Invoice Barr’s particular counsel John Durham
Invoice appointed Durham to, “investigate whether any federal official, employee, or any other person or entity violated the law in connection with the intelligence, counter-intelligence, or law-enforcement activities directed at the 2016 presidential campaigns, individuals associated with those campaigns, and individuals associated with the administration of President Donald J. Trump, including but not limited to Crossfire Hurricane and the investigation of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, Ill,” based on the doc Burr filed on the time.
Durham in the end charged three folks on account of his probe, two of whom had been acquitted on fees that they lied to the FBI, and the opposite pleaded responsible. Durham then launched a giant nothing burger report in 2023 earlier than crusing off into the sundown as a huge failure.
However now, Graham and Cornyn try to get a brand new particular counsel concerned—as if that might uncover something totally different.
In fact, Cornyn has different motivations right here.
He’s in an existential main battle in opposition to Texas Legal professional Normal Ken Paxton, who has accused Cornyn of not being pro-Trump sufficient. By calling for a particular counsel, Cornyn is making an attempt to get on Trump’s good aspect and possibly even earn an endorsement, which might revive what at the moment appears to be a doomed reelection effort.
In the end, that is all only a ridiculous distraction from the actual story, which is that Trump—who was informed that his title is within the Epstein recordsdata—is making an attempt to bury the scandal to save lots of his personal pores and skin.