"No Evidence" Won't Stop Progressive Democrats from Demanding an Inquisition to Convict the Trump Team of Helping the Russian Hackers

No Evidence means No Evidence. Is that too complicated for Progressive Democrats and their MSM comrades to understand??? • • • NO EVIDENCE OF TRUMP-RUSSIA HACKING COLLUSION. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes stated on Monday morning that there was no evidence from the intelligence community of contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives. Nunes said : “As of right now, I don’t have any evidence of any phone calls. It doesn’t mean they don’t exist....What I’ve been told by many folks is that there’s nothing there.” Nunes explained that is why there is no need at this time for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of contact between Russian officials and Trump campaign aides. • But, Nunes raised another very important point -- he said the “major crimes” that have been committed are the leaks to the news media on the subject of Russia, as well as other leaks of what should be confidential dealings with the Trump White House, including calls with foreign leaders like the Australian prime minister. Nunes said : “There’s been major crimes committed. What I’m concerned about is no one is focusing on major leaks that have occurred here....We can’t run a government like this. A government can’t function with massive leaks at the highest level.” • The Washington Post reported that this is the first time a leading House Republican -- in this case, the lawmaker who is leading the investigation in the lower chamber -- has said flatly that he has not seen any evidence of inappropriate communications between Trump aides and Russia. The FBI is investigating Russia’s role in last year’s elections, and potential ties between Trump associates and Russia. On Monday, according to the WP, Nunes also rejected the call by Democrats for him to request Trump’s tax returns, which they believe would shine light on possible Trump business dealings with Russia. Both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees are probing Russia’s alleged interference in last year’s US elections -- that, Washington Post added, were "aimed at helping to elect Trump" but there is no evidence of that either, despite an intelligence community report commissioned by then-President Obama that has yet to be made public, and eight months of the Progressive MSM and Democrat drumbeat that Hillary lost because Russia made it happen. • Nunes also signaled that his House committee would operate under its own rules instead of working in close tandem with the Senate, which has pledged a bipartisan investigation of Russian involvement in the election. He also rejected the idea that former Senator Jeff Sessions -- a Trump senior campaign advisor who is now Attorney General -- should recuse himself from any Justice Department probe on the topic. • Nunes said he talked to the New York Times about its story saying there were frequent contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, mentioning ousted national security advisor General Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and former campaign aide Carter Page, as well as Trump associate Roger Stone. In a rare display of Beltway reason these days, Nunes said : “At this time, I want to be very careful that we can’t just go on a witch hunt against Americans because they appear in news stories.” • INQUISITION / DRUMHEAD COURT / SHOW TRIAL. This might be a good time to label what goes on regularly on Capitol Hill and why Chairman Nunes was right to point it out in polite terms. • Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines "Inquisition," when capitalized, as the former Roman Catholic tribunal for the discovery and punishment of heresy [made infamous by the 16th-centruy Spanish Inquisition]. The modern use of "inquisition" is defined by Webster to mean an investigation conducted with little regard for individual rights; or a severe questioning. • Webster's defines "Drumhead Court," actually drumhead court-martial, as a summary court-martial that tries offenses on the battlefield; it got its name from the use of a drumhead as a table; the term's first known use was in 1796. [Herman Melville's Billy Budd is about such a court onboard a naval vessel.] • Webster's defines "show trial" as a trial (as of political opponents) in which the verdict is rigged and a public confession is often extracted. [Stalin's Soviet Russia used show trials to eliminate powerful political opponents.] • In current usage in Washington, inquisitions, drumhead courts or show trials are termed "special prosecutors," who investigate minority party players for evidence of pre-determined guilt related to actions that the majority party thinks would be looked upon unfavorably by their supporters. • So, Representative Nunes is right in wanting to control an entry into special prosecutor land, without first determining at least the possibility of criminal activities. President Bill Clinton's special prosecutor Ken Starr looked into his affair with Monica Lewinsky -- a good example of wasted time and taxpayer money because it was clear from the beginning that Bill Clinton's extra-marital affair with Lewinsky, and even his lying to Congress about it, had no impact on his governing and would not lead to his conviction under the impeachment raised against him at the end of the special prosecutor's work. He could well have been investigated for other acts, such as Whitewater, but he wasn't. On the other hand, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was accused of misuse of her office for personal gain and of continual mishandling classified information. That called out for a special prosecutor, but the Democrat majority in Congress and Democrat President Obama shielded her. • As for Trump aides and Russian hacking, there is as yet No Evidence. And, even if there were, it would be highly unlikely that the Attorney General appointed by President Trump and approved by a GOP Senate would name a special prosecutor to investigate the Republican President -- because the real prey of the Progressives Democrats in relation to Russian hacking is not the Trump team, it is Donald Trump. The Democrats and mainstream media now yelling for a special prosecutor know this -- they are simply trying to use the issue for political gain so that they do better than their expected disaster in the 2018 mid-term elections, and have any chance at all in 2020. • • • BUT THE POLTICAL GAMES GO ON. Chairman Nunes' comments come after a Washington Post story describing Trump administration efforts to enlist the intelligence community to "knock down media stories about Trump associates’ ties to Russia." [That is so blatantly biased and inaccurate that I hesitate to point it out -- but I will. There is No Evidence about "Trump associates' ties to Russia," and the meeting White House chief of staff Reince Priebus had with senior FBI officials that is referenced by the WP as "efforts to enlist the intelligence commuinity to knock down stories" about the "ties" was a permissible meeting. The Post knows this, but it will smear Trump any time it can.] • Nunes said that his committee is still determining the scope of its investigation into alleged Russian participation in the US elections to tilt the outcome toward Trump, an unproven conclusion of the intelligence community. • But, in addition to trying to be logical in his approach to the investigation, Nunes was reluctant to blame General Flynn for inappropriately discussing sanctions before Trump’s inauguration with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States -- the WP added "according to current and former intelligence officials" -- as President Reagan would say, "There they go again." There is No Evidence that FLynn and Kislyak discussed sanctions. • Flynn was asked to leave the White House by President Trump after Flynn misled Vice President Pence about his discussions with Kislyak. What General Flynn said was that he may have discussed sanctions but he couldn't remember -- and the phone call transcripts that would verify the conversations' content have not been released. However, Nunes' comment here is informative -- he said we should be thanking Flynn for his service to the country and that the retired General was "only trying to prepare a new President for office" -- so we might guess that Nunes probably has some indication of what is in the transcripts. He said he has not seen the transcripts of Flynn’s call with the Russian ambassador, which would have been “illegally leaked” if he had. He described Flynn as having done a “big favor” by “keeping lines of communication” open with Russia after President Barack Obama expelled Russian officials from the United States in response to allegations that country interfered in the US elections. Nunes said we should “be thanking” Flynn and “not going after him.” • Nunes also took issue with the definition of "sanctions" -- which were imposed on Russia in 2014 for the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. Nunes said that, in his view, Flynn was not discussing official sanctions in his conversations with Kislyak but rather the “petty” retaliation against such officials by Obama -- is this another indication that Nunes has some indication of the transcript contents?? This is not an accusation of collusion by Nunes -- but there is very little that stays totally secret, even if it is classified, for very long in Washington. • Nunes called “ridiculous” any suggestion that Flynn could be charged under the Logan Act -- a 1799 statute that has never been used to prosecute US citizens for interfering in foreign policy. • • • DEAR READERS, this is one of the reasons that White House press secretary Sean Spicer's cracking down on White House staff to prevent leaks is important. Measures to try to prevent leaks included checks of both government-issued and personal electronic devices for White House staffers, according to Politico -- although that Politico knows this is in itself is a leak, because Spicer told those of his communications staff present at the meeting not to leak details of it, but obviously somebody told Politico. Politico says Spicer reportedly assembled the group in his office, where he conducted the phone checks, monitored by White House attorneys, and discussed his frustrations with the leaks that have been revealed in news reports. He also warned his staffers about leaking the details of the phone checks and new security measures. During the same meeting, according to Politico, Spicer criticized his staff for using encrypted messaging apps, such as Confide and Signal, that automatically delete messages, thus violating the Federal Records Act. • President Trump has repeatedly shown his frustration over leaks about, or in, his administration. Most recently, Trump slammed the FBI last Friday for being "totally unable" to stop leaks within its own agency. And, if the Trump White House and Cabinet are to function properly, leaks must be stopped. This is especially true in regard to the Russian hacking probe -- such leaks could be dynamite planted by frustrated or hostile staff, not yet rooted out, in order to magnify the 'urgency' in the Progressive Democrat call for a special prosecutor. While that will not happen -- unless the congressional Republicans who are anti-Trump Fake Conservatives take leave of what little sense they have left -- it could make it impossible for the Trump team to implement meaningful reform. And that certainly could influence both the 2016 and 2020 elections. Playing politics is a game that never ends inside the Beltway, and what describes it best actually is connected to Russia. The game often feels like Russian Roulette.