Justice should be even-handed, but sometimes in the United States it’s not. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, made that point quite tellingly and appropriately on the Senate floor earlier this week.
An observer can reject all the right-wing conspiracy theories about a “deep state” working in concert to undermine our republic, yet still see that elements of the FBI and the Department of Justice applied entirely different investigative standards between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the subjects of two recent investigations. Grassley rightly demanded more information about how those discrepancies arose.
While joining Capitol Hill Democrats in asking to see as much of the documentation underlying the Mueller-Russia report as possible, Grassley threw at them this gauntlet: “To be consistent, we shouldn’t stop at the Russia investigation. The Democrats want all the Mueller information but are turning a blind eye to other investigations where Congress, and the public, have yet to see it all …. Take, for example, the Clinton investigation. Will Democrats ask the Justice Department for all the underlying information relating to the Hillary Clinton investigation?”
Citing a report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Grassley noted four things: “1. The FBI apparently had highly classified information potentially relevant to the Clinton investigation in its possession. 2. The FBI drafted a memo to get access to the information. 3. That memo said review of the information was necessary to complete the investigation. 4. That memo was never sent.”
Grassley wants to know why the memo was never sent. Why did the department not follow up on leads materially relevant to the investigation into what former FBI Director James Comey himself described as Clinton’s “extremely careless” handling of classified information?
“It sounds like the FBI left a potential mountain of evidence unreviewed,” Grassley said. “How can you complete an investigation without reviewing all the evidence relevant to the investigation? The American people have every right to question how this investigation was handled and they deserve answers.”
Grassley likewise asked for more answers about the so-called Uranium One deal that allowed Russian interests to buy U.S.-held uranium, with the approval of Hillary Clinton’s State Department. He also asked about several other Clinton-related issues.
“Seems to me,” he said, “that if the Democrats want to be consistent they’ll have to address what was done — and what was totally ignored — in the Clinton investigation[s].”
The point of all this, Grassley said, isn’t to push a partisan “gotcha” agenda, but just the opposite: “The law must be applied equally without regard to power, party, or privilege. That approach prevents inconsistent application and avoids double standards.”
To conclude, he said: “And I’ll tell you right now, the Democrats’ obsession with bringing Trump down is nothing but a double standard if they’re going to ignore other investigations of national importance. If you want to be taken seriously in this country, you have to be consistent.”
That last sentence should apply to Democrats, to Republicans, and to the horribly biased liberal media as well. Good for Grassley. More people in office and with public bullhorns should echo him and, even more importantly, act accordingly.
