Democrats have been quick to invoke the name of Richard Nixon and the “Saturday Night Massacre” regarding Donald Trump firing FBI Director James Comey.
Hysterical cries of impeachment and obstruction of justice reverberate in their echo chamber.
But what they and the media neglect to see is the fact that, by their train of thought, Barack Obama already did what Trump purportedly did.
During the 2016 campaign, Obama made public comments which seemed to steer the narrative of James Comey’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email scandal.
From the National Review:
On April 10, 2016, President Obama publicly stated that Hillary Clinton had shown “carelessness” in using a private e-mail server to handle classified information, but he insisted that she had not intended to endanger national security (which is not an element of the relevant criminal statute). The president acknowledged that classified information had been transmitted via Secretary Clinton’s server, but he suggested that, in the greater scheme of things, its importance had been vastly overstated.
On July 5, 2016, FBI director James Comey publicly stated that Clinton had been “extremely careless” in using a private email server to handle classified information, but he insisted that she had not intended to endanger national security (which is not an element of the relevant criminal statute). The director acknowledged that classified information had been transmitted via Secretary Clinton’s server, but he suggested that, in the greater scheme of things, it was just a small percentage of the emails involved.
Case dismissed.
Could there be more striking parallels? A cynic might say that Obama had clearly signaled to the FBI and the Justice Department that he did not want Mrs. Clinton to be charged with a crime, and that, with this not-so-subtle pressure in the air, the president’s subordinates dropped the case — exactly what Obama wanted, relying precisely on Obama’s stated rationale.
Yet the media yawned.
Of course, they’re not yawning now. Now it is Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, sending Comey signals. So now, such signals are a major issue — not merely of obstruction of justice, but of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Trump hysteria seems to be a permanent condition, a combustive compound of media-Democrat derangement surrounding a president who keeps providing derangement material. Let’s try to keep our feet on the ground, but with a commitment to get the evidence and go wherever it takes us. For now, we don’t have much evidence.
Trump is said to have told Comey, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” Other than telling us that Comey replied, “I agree he is a good guy,” the Times provides no context of the conversation. Its report gives no indication of whether the memo provides such context.
It is not frivolous to infer that Trump’s statement to Comey was a veiled order. If that is your interpretation, though, you cannot avoid the conclusion that Obama’s public statements were also veiled orders not to indict Clinton. Up until now, veiled orders have not been thought the equivalent of obstruction of justice.
This equivalency is inconvenient for Democrats, which means it will be ignored. One has to wonder if the fire of “Trump hysteria” will eventually burn out, as each breaking news story seems to be less substantial kindling than the last.
Perhaps the mainstream media are just exercising their journalistic muscles after taking the last eight years off under Obama.
If Obama had ONLY committed “ONE” serious crime he would never have been elected.