According to the Morning Joe crew, Rudy Giuliani went on Fox last night, as he is apparently contracted to do, and said that the entire Mueller investigation was “illegitimate” from the beginning.
Now, we have heard this stuff before from wacko Republican Congressman, we have heard similar stuff flirting with it from the President, and yet if this is going to be pounded into the Fox viewer’s thick heads each night by the “attorney” for the president, it truly threatens the rule of law.
Whatever else could be disputed, the investigation itself is not illegitimate. The FBI initiates investigations based upon their own findings as “federal policeman” and decide if it is worth pursuing. Clearly, quite early on the FBI found evidence of Trump and Russia acting “weirdly” enough to initiate an investigation. Okay, normal stuff, though it involves the presidential candidate and thus the decision had to be made by the top.
At some point, almost all of it after the election, the public finds out that Trump is being investigated for his Russian connections. It becomes Trump’s obsession, he demands loyalty from Comey. Comey says “no,” of course. Trump can’t control Comey, “there is no Russia” and fires him.
In no circumstances does the absence of the “lead investigator” (health, retirement, move jobs, or even death) the absence does not end the investigation, it gets re-assigned. Sessions as the head of DOJ – which oversees the FBI – would be the one to appoint the leader, but he’d recused himself, appropriately. The next in line, Rosenstein reaches outside the department, to nab truly independent people to look at everything.
That is not illegitimate, that is common sense.
Rudy and the Right love to talk about an “illegitimate investigation” – he also said it should be “wrapped up” with an apology to the President. They are laying the groundwork for firing Mueller if needed. They use the FISA issue, that clearly the Obama administration wanted to spy on Trump, and thus got an illegal FISA warrant. Their thinking goes that because the FISA warrant was “illegal” the entire investigation is illegal.
Guess what, perhaps that strategy works for your local meth dealer. We are talking about the president, actively trying to hurt the investigation, perhaps working against the United States in cooperation with Russia – if rules were broken (they were not, by the way) the people who did it will face consequences, but the evidence itself cannot possibly be ignored and thrown out.
No. Way.
But, that’s what they do. Because they’re going to fire Mueller, and they need something to point to.
