Coming attractions: How the biggest political scandal in history will play out in 2018
By Thomas Lifson
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 I called 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, but 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 I.G., 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 I.G.'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 I.G. 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. ...
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. ...
[T]he 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 I.G. 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 follows the potential chain upward. Momentum, and consequently timing, is critical because of the expected all-out resistance. Watergate was nothing compared to this.
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 I called 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, but 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 I.G., 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 I.G.'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 I.G. 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. ...
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. ...
[T]he 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 I.G. 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 follows the potential chain upward. Momentum, and consequently timing, is critical because of the expected all-out resistance. Watergate was nothing compared to this.