| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Strzok by a Farce |
| 2018-07-15 |
| [National Review] n investigation is one of two things: a search for the truth, or a farce. The House is conducting a farce. That fact was on full display during ten hours of testimony by Peter Strzok, the logorrheic lawman who steered the FBI’s Clinton-emails and Trump‐Russia probes. The principal question before the joint investigation of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees is whether the Democratic administration’s law-enforcement and intelligence arms strained to manufacture an espionage case against the Republican candidate, having buried an eminently prosecutable criminal case against the Democratic presidential nominee. It should be straightforward to answer this question, provided that the investigative process has the one attribute central to any credible probe: the capacity to compel the production of evidence and testimony, with the corollary power to hold witnesses in contempt for defiance. The House investigation has devolved into farce because it lacks this feature. Oh, it exists on paper. There is even a statute making contempt of Congress a crime, punishable by up to a year in prison (and not less than a month). That may not sound like much, but the months can pile up: A separate offense occurs each time a question is ducked or a document is not surrendered. As the Wall Street Journal’s Bill McGurn explains, Congress has inherent power to enforce its subpoenas unilaterally, or it can seek assistance from the other branches. But then reality intrudes. The committees pursuing the probe lack either the will or the votes ‐ or perhaps both ‐ to hold witnesses in contempt. This, despite audacious refusals to answer questions and turn over documents that would explain when and why the Trump‐Russia investigation commenced. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #9 Strzok reminds me of a slightly less gay PeeWee Herman. |
| Posted by: Vinegar Hupolumble8430 2018-07-15 23:44 |
| #8 If they refuse, Trump should order their arrest by federal Marshals and via the patriot act or whatever was that Obama signed in that regard, 'disappear' them as potential terrorists who have infiltrated the government. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2018-07-15 23:25 |
| #7 He is a target-rich environment all by himself. That’s very comforting, Matt, given that a very good lawyer said it. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2018-07-15 14:58 |
| #6 Strzok is such a god-awful witness that, in a civil case, the lawyers for whichever side Strzok was on would either have to find a clever way to avoid the jury ever laying eyes on Strzok, or settle the case basically for whatever the other side wanted. Likewise, every lawyer on the defense side of the "Russia collusion" case or whatever it is begin their mornings with a prayer that they get the chance to cross-examine Strzok in front of a jury. He is a target-rich environment all by himself. |
| Posted by: Matt 2018-07-15 14:25 |
| #5 The entire civil service has been salted this way for decades ... We used to have a saying. "They're all assigned to B-Company. Be there when you get there, be there when you leave." |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-07-15 11:57 |
| #4 Eight years of Obama management and selection exclusively through a political lens. Same at CIA and State. DIA a little harder because of those pesky military performance measures but at the senior levels, the same. The entire civil service has been salted this way for decades ... |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2018-07-15 11:46 |
| #3 After watching Comey, McCabe, and Strzok, I’m impressed by their over-sensitivity, junivile, and petty behavior. I’m surprised that men that are so emotional are able to rise thru the ranks of what was the worlds premere law enforcement agency. |
| Posted by: jvalentour 2018-07-15 11:40 |
| #2 Good Luck with that! "We may need them for an investigation that we may be having or may have or ... anyway: Neener! NEENER! We ain't cooperating!" You would almost think them a not-so-secret Secret Conspiracy, hmmm? |
| Posted by: magpie 2018-07-15 11:38 |
| #1 POTUS needs to order the DOJ and FBI to release all relevant documents to Congress that have been subpoenaed and not yet received. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-07-15 11:28 |