Have you heard the news? Peter Strzok has published a book — “Compromised — Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump.”
Honestly — the title alone makes me shake just a bit because it goes to the core of one of my MAIN objections to the foundation and process of the FBI’s investigation. This is a subject for a different story, so I won’t dwell on it here.
I know some from my line of work will disagree with this view, but I’m happy to engage in the combat of ideas on the topic.
It is the height of arrogance, and a fundamental misunderstanding of the structure of government, for anyone in the Executive Branch in general, and the FBI in particular — including Jim Comey — to think it was acceptable for them to consider the question of whether a duly elected President of the United States was a “threat” to national security.
By constitutional principle, and by virtue of the fundamental organization of the Executive, the President can NEVER be a threat to the national security of the United States because in the final analysis, the President — and not the FBI Director or the Deputy Assistant Director for Counterintelligence — is empowered to make the judgment about what is or is not in the national security interests of the United States. It is a fundamental part of his job to make that determination. As a subordinate, it is the FBI Director’s job to carry out US policy — not to express his own views on such policy or pursue matters in the manner in which he believes they should be pursued.
If Donald Trump had announced on January 22, 2017, that he was inviting Vladamir Putin to spend the month of February in the Lincoln Bedroom, and dine with POTUS and his family 3 times a day, 7 days a week, it would have been his prerogative to do so. And such an invitation would NOT have been a basis for anyone at the FBI to say that Donald J. Trump constituted a risk to national security. Congress could have impeached him and removed him. But Executive Branch officials would have lacked any valid basis for doing anything based on a subjective view that such actions were “unlawful” or a “threat.” How many votes did Jim Comey get in 2016?
So, what about the Strozk book that is out in bookstores today? I have not read it yet, as I expect it went through pre-publication review by DOJ — and by Strzok’s own lawyer. Because of that, I expect we’ll mostly learn about Strzok’s childhood and his early FBI days, but there will be little in the way of meaningful insights on matters not already public concerning Crossfire Hurricane.
But he has made some interesting comments in the mini-publicity tour he started last week. Strzok gave interviews to CBS which ran on Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes. CBS.com published an excerpt from the book. In the excerpt is the following:
Early In 2017, shortly after the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States, the top leadership of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division filed into a small room on the fourth floor of the J. Edgar Hoover Building…. It was a very difficult time, and we still had many more questions than answers. On that day we grappled with an especially troubling question, one that none of us could have anticipated in our wildest imaginations: whether to open a counterintelligence case against the president himself.
In my opinion, even entertaining that question was a firing offense for everyone in the room. Their obligation under the Constitution was to take their concerns to the Executive and make their views known. Then await instructions and do nothing. If no instructions came, then move on to something else.
There is no conception of Executive Branch structure that says subordinates of the President are authorized or entitled to decide for themselves when they are unhappy with the President to the degree that they believe it’s warranted to investigate him.
why is this narcissistic clown not in jail??
I am pretty sick of people who think sedition is OK because they have a lot of other people who think it is OK walking around free. No matter HOW butt-hurt they were because Trump, not Hillary, was President, trying to undercut the President of the Unite States simply because they opposed him is NOT acceptable.
Since every “suspicion” they have belabored have come to completely NOTHING, there is nothing left to consider but a seditious coup based on personal politics.