Remember that Russia counterintelligence mission for which a special counsel was appointed? Things have been somewhat quiet on the Russia front, but not so much on the financial wrongdoing front. There have also been hints that the investigation is looking at obstruction of justice. Noticeably absent in the myriad of leaks, any illegal activity involving Russian interference in the election. Instead, Mueller is going fishing, servicing a no-knock warrant against Paul Manafort in a predawn raid of his Virginia home. Russia?!? Nope. Apparently he’s in trouble for some alleged financial crimes from years ago. If financial crimes tenuously connected to the original counter intelligence mission are all there is, this is the one of the biggest political hit jobs in history. An open ended investigation into anything, allowing Mueller to delve into the Trump team’s financial history.

Meanwhile, some news has come out about the investigation itself. As I’ve long said, it is clear the Trump campaign was closely monitored by the intelligence arm of Obama’s administration. Now further confirmed, CNN reports, in a felony leak of classified information, that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was used to spy on Paul Manafort. Surveilling Manafort in this manner provides a clever work around for that pesky fourth amendment. They don’t need to show evidence that he broke the law, all they need to show is that he might be working for another government. For a man whose spent years openly advocating on behalf of foreign governments, this task that wouldn’t have been too difficult. Any information gleaned from listening in on his calls could then be used to open a criminal investigation, and by all accounts, have been. Did I mention that these taps on his phones were at a time when he was in regular communication with candidate Trump? Did I mention Manafort owned a place at Trump tower? Did I mention that such a warrant would need approval by Obama’s political appointees? These are too inconvenient, let’s move on.

While the Russia investigation has started to drag on, the Congressional inquiry into its foundation has begun to heat up. The now infamous dossier is in Congress’s sights, as well it should be considering it was used to secure a FISA warrant against two Trump campaign officials. The FBI has refused to respond to three subpoena requests about their work with the dossier, which included an offer to pay tens of thousands of dollars for its completion. After all this time, and all the leaks, the public has never been shown the evidence as to why the investigation into the Trump campaign was initiated. The national security apparatus was used against the political opponent of the sitting president and rather than demanding to know why, the press uses the existence of the investigation itself as a weapon to smear Trump.

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