Apr 7, 2019 6 min read

It’s been a really tough few weeks for the left. It is losing on all fronts and not reacting well at all.

The biggest loser for the left was the issuance of the Mueller report. This was supposed to be filled with smoking guns guaranteed to bring down the president.

The president’s impeachment was supposed to be a sure thing. Former intelligence officials spoke of there being no doubt, hinting that they had some gnostic knowledge based on their secret access. Rep. Adam Schiff stated he had “seen hard evidence,” alluding to his classified access as a member of the Intelligence Committee. On Aug. 5, he said, “I think there’s plenty of evidence of collusion.” In February he said, “The evidence of collusion is in plain sight.” Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said on Oct. 27, 2017, “We know there was collusion by people in the campaign with Russians.”

The personally-vouched-for solid evidence that elected Democrats said they had seen, $40 million dollars, untold numbers of subpoenas, 675 days of investigation both in the U.S. and abroad by 19 attorneys and 40 FBI agents finally led to the long-awaited Mueller report. Mueller and his team found nothing, nada, zip, at least regarding President Trump and his campaign.

Attorney General Barr, in his “Principal Conclusions” report stated, “The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.”

The investigation was to consider two things: Did President Trump collude with the Russians to interfere with the election, and did he obstruct justice by firing FBI Director James Comey? Keep in mind that the Democrats wanted to see Comey fired when he reopened the investigation into Hillary Clinton in October 2016. That was OK. Trump firing him apparently was not.

The Mueller report unambiguously said there was no collusion by the campaign. It muddied the waters a bit on the obstruction question. A special investigator is charged with determining if there is sufficient evidence to bring an indictment. If so, bring it. If not, don’t speculate. No indictments against Trump or his team were brought for collusion. No indictments were brought for obstruction. That should have been the end of the report. Mueller, for some reason, went on to say that the president was not “exonerated” of obstruction. He does not have to be exonerated. If there was obstruction, indict. With no underlying crime, it is very hard to find or prove obstruction because there was nothing to obstruct the investigation from finding. Neither the president nor any other citizen has to prove themselves innocent, and this was not a trial.

The problems for the left only begin with the president’s vindication.

Intrinsic to the investigation was the infamous “Steele Dossier” that was the key piece of evidence in obtaining the FISA warrant to eavesdrop on the Trump campaign. This started the investigation. The unraveling of this document has provided a clear lens into the morass of corruption behind it.

The document, a 35-page work of fiction, which purported to show “airtight” evidence that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, was actually a collection of uncorroborated reports by a former British spy and blog posts from a liberal website. The reports were given to leftwing opposition research company Fusion GPS. It bundled 17 reports and produced the “Steele Dossier.” Fusion then leaked the contents to news media and finally gave the report to the FBI.

The dossier was immediately suspect. First, the report was surreptitiously funded by the Clinton campaign, which, by itself, makes it suspicious. The source of much of the information seems to be news articles, sources that are demonstrably lacking in veracity. Many of the allegations have since been disproven.

This fatally flawed document was used to obtain a warrant from the FISA court to spy on the Trump campaign and then used to renew the warrant three times. When the document was presented to the court, the FBI attested to its veracity. That was a crime all by itself.

The whole Mueller investigation was premised on flawed and fabricated information.

Other than nearly universal Trump Derangement Syndrome, why is the left in such a panic that it felt compelled to utilize such a dangerously deficient document to precipitate an attempt to remove a sitting president? The answer lies not in the fact that the investigation was a major dud but that it provided an opening to see the abject corruption of the Deep State. This includes former intelligence officials, high ranking FBI and Department of Justice officials and their links to the political power structure. Trump presents a mortal danger to them.

Quite aside from the embarrassment of being caught in a series of lies, the Deep State was in danger of being exposed as perpetrators of an attempted political coup. For the first time, Obama, Clinton and their corrupt cohort faced the real prospect of prosecution. The election of Trump and not Clinton shattered the intended shield for their crimes. The failure of the Mueller investigation to bring down Trump opened up the possibility of their own prosecution.

There was, indeed, collusion at the highest levels but it was between the Obama administration and the DOJ and FBI for political purposes and between the Democratic Party, its candidates and the media. It is fear of prosecution for what is being exposed that drives the fear. Current efforts to discredit the Mueller investigation amount to a rear guard action to stave off that prosecution.

When major crimes, and especially crimes against the state, go unpunished, the perpetrators of such actions become encouraged to continue and even escalate their criminal behavior. Today we are witnessing a failed political coup. If unpunished, what will those who so desperately seek unchecked power try next time? And there will be a next time.

Trump said, “This must never happen to another president.” To assure that, prosecution is a necessity. The sooner the better.

Dave Ball is vice chairman of the Washington County Republican Party and a Peters Township councilman.