How do the American people get justice for arguably the greatest political scandal in U.S. history? This question looms over the Trump administration as Russiagate — or Obamagate, as it perhaps should be known — continues unraveling.
At least nine years after this sordid scandal began, it has become ever clearer that, at the direction of President Barack Obama, the leaders of his national security and intelligence apparatus used and abused their awesome powers to baselessly frame Donald Trump as a traitor. They did this in seeming coordination with foreign governments, the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, and regime media.
This domestic regime change operation — or domestic regime preservation operation — aimed to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in any meaningful sense, delegitimize and destroy Donald Trump and his first presidency, and protect the ruling class status quo. All the while, it disenfranchised the tens of millions of Americans who had rejected that status quo by way of electing Trump.
Absent justice for Obamagate, the lesson to the conspirators is that they should go even bigger next time. This would be catastrophic.
Theoretically, justice would consist of several parts. The starting point would be providing total transparency into the investigations, and investigations into the investigations, into Trump. This is necessary to expose the full scope of the fraud, corruption, and criminality foisted upon our republic and the associated cover-ups. Next, those complicit in the conspiracy would face justice to the maximum extent possible. Then, as a further deterrent, our leaders would restructure the institutions party to the conspiracy and implement dramatic changes to personnel and policy, including imposing severe criminal penalties for acts akin to those undertaken in Obamagate. Lastly, those whose lives were upended, reputations destroyed, and rights violated in the commission of the conspiracy would receive restitution.
Practically, achieving justice is a much thornier proposition. The Trump administration has begun lifting the veil on Obamagate with its recent disclosures regarding the fraudulence of the hoax’s origins. The revelations have been resisted at every turn by the hoax’s perpetrators, who have also had a years-long head start in burying evidence and covering their tracks. What’s more, acolytes of John Brennan, James Clapper, and James Comey are likely still burrowed in the primary agencies behind Obamagate today — some in perhaps significantly more senior positions.
The Trump administration has put reform-minded leaders in charge of many of these agencies. But it remains to be seen whether they will be able to fundamentally transform them — and if they can be fundamentally transformed at all.
As for making the aggrieved whole, the Mike Flynns, Carter Pages, and countless other nameless and faceless individuals who were targeted for destruction and incurred incalculable personal, professional, and financial damage have received no recompense.
Perhaps the most consequential acts of justice, however, concern the pending prosecutions of the Obamagate ringleaders. Reports indicate CIA Director John Ratcliffe has criminally referred the likes of John Brennan and James Comey to the Justice Department. For top deep state figures like these to be prosecuted, let alone convicted, would prove an incredibly powerful act. It would show that truly no one is above the law, just as Donald Trump should not have been treated as below the law. It would show that authorities are serious about rooting out deep state rot at the highest level. And it would show that our ruling regime-in-exile will face real costs for its tyrannical acts, perhaps the only thing that will cause it to cease such acts in the future.
But when you dig deeper into what prosecution entails, the picture becomes considerably more fraught.
First, it is unclear what charges might be brought. There certainly seem to be grounds for perjury. For example, consider the inclusion and criticality of the Steele dossier to the January 2017 so-called Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), which Obama’s top spooks denied was integral. Would the Justice Department also level charges and be able to persuasively make the case that there was a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Donald Trump and others? Or a conspiracy to defraud the United States, hoisting Trump’s foes on their own petard?
Second, even if there is sufficient evidence to bring such charges, the question of statutes of limitation remains.
Third is the issue of venue. If the Justice Department were to bring prosecutions in Washington, D.C., it is almost unimaginable that a jury pool would convict.
The process of forcing the Obamagate conspirators to defend their conduct would serve as a form of punishment. But it would be devastating to lose any such cases. Losses would vindicate the conspirators, demoralize millions of Americans, and again likely fuel more brazen and surreptitious acts in the future.
But let’s stipulate that the Justice Department has Obamagate’s orchestrators dead to rights on the law, can satisfy the relevant statute of limitations, and can successfully bring suit in jurisdictions where the plaintiffs can get a fair shake. Imagine if the Trump DOJ could secure convictions and send top deep-staters to jail. The regime would almost certainly blanket the airwaves with the most aggressive possible propaganda, unleash a massive wave of violent street agitation, and likely engage in insurrection-level action from within the federal government. The regime would likely achieve new heights of hysteria and extremism and inflict new levels of damage on our country.
Would the response to any such legal victories make them pyrrhic, given the political blowback, the potential electoral consequences, and the hell the regime would rain down should it return to power?
These potential downsides to seeking justice illustrate the perilous position of the nation. That is all the more reason the regime must be roundly defeated.
During a recent White House press briefing, I asked Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt what President Trump believed justice for Russiagate ought to entail.
She indicated that “the president wants to see justice served, and he trusts the attorney general and the Department of Justice to implement that justice and hold these people accountable.”
Just days later, The Federalist’s Sean Davis reported that the Justice Department had requested a trove of documents from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence pertaining to ODNI’s criminal referral regarding the manufacturing of the aforementioned 2017 ICA, which proved core to the Obamagate conspiracy. Davis’ reporting emerged amid the news that the DOJ was preparing to commence a grand jury probe of Obamagate. Presumably, the feds would not be taking such action if they did not intend to go all the way — to indict conspirators and prosecute them.
Let us pray the administration has the courage to seek justice and the wisdom, judgment, and strength to ensure it can do so while maintaining peace in the face of the regime’s arsonists.
Ben Weingarten is editor at large for RealClearInvestigations. He is a senior contributor to The Federalist, columnist at Newsweek, and a contributor to the New York Post and Epoch Times, among other publications. Subscribe to his newsletter at weingarten.substack.com, and follow him on Twitter: @bhweingarten.
