Related: Roger Kimball: Russiagate was worse than we thought: The question is, are there mechanisms in place to remedy these egregious violations of the spirit of the law? Spirit, and letter.
Tulsi showed that, however expert we thought ourselves about the subject, that great precautionary motto – “things are always worse than they seem”– was pertinent even here. For it turned out that, after Trump’s victory in 2016, Barack Obama, in the waning weeks of his presidency, was not only involved in the conspiracy to upend the peaceful transfer of power and destroy Trump, he was something like the prime mover.
There was great excitement on both sides of the political divide over Gabbard’s revelations. Pro-Trump conservatives celebrated the news, predicting that now, finally, at last, there would be some measure of accountability in response to what the commentator Don Surber rightly called the “story of the century.”
For their part, leftists oscillated amusingly between their best imitations of an ostrich, ignoring the whole thing, and wildly denouncing the revelations as a plot to distract the world from Trump’s supposed relationship with Jeffrey Epstein or some other made up tort.
Towards the end of my column, I speculated that “The mood of country seems to favor accountability” and suggested that “the odds favor some high-profile prosecutions.” I even indulged in a pleasant reverie according to which “those wishing to measure people like John Brennan [Obama’s Director of the CIA] for an orange suit… will not be disappointed.”
The prosecutions will depend on the DOJ. Since it is now led by the stalwart Pam Bondi, Trump’s Attorney General, I believe that there is a good chance we will see some notable prosecutions.
But the orange suits? Prison sentences, alas, are much less likely. As a friend reminded me, “The jury pool in DC will never convict a Dem of jaywalking, let alone treason.” This is probably true, and it got me thinking about James Boasberg, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Boasberg has been in the public eye lately for his chest-thumping efforts to interpose himself between the Constitution and Donald Trump.
I think many of the offenses can be tried in Florida.