Last night, after Trump launched yet another furious tweetstorm intended to expose the double standard applied in the Hillary investigation compared to the Russia probe, we noted that Republicans might be well served to stop sitting around twiddling their thumbs and actually go on the offensive against an investigation that has obviously morphed into mass hysteria courtesy of free-flowing leaks from a conflicted "intelligence community" intent upon bringing down a presidency. Here's what we said:

Of course, until someone within the Trump administration or Republican Party smartens up and calls for the appointment of a 'Special Counsel' to look into Hillary's email scandal, something that should have been done long ago, and not for retaliatory reasons but simply due to Comey's and AG Lynch's blatant mishandling of the investigation (a point which Deputy AG Rosenstein obviously agreed with), the Democrats have no reason to calm their mass hysteria. Then, and only then, do we suspect that Hillary might just be able to 'convince' her party to exercise some form of reasonable judgement.

Now, according to a note this morning from The Hill, Republicans seem to be doing just that with several members of the GOP calling on the Special Counsel to look into whether former Attorney General Loretta Lynch illegally meddled in the Hillary investigation when she met with Bill Clinton on the tarmac in Phoenix and/or instructed Comey to refer to his case as a "matter" rather than an "investigation."

Rather than wasting resources on investigating Trump, the GOP says the special counsel must look into whether former attorney general Loretta Lynch meddled with the FBI’s criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server. Comey testified that Lynch told him to downplay the seriousness of the FBI’s email server investigation.

For those who missed it, here is Comey's testimony in which he confirms that Lynch "directed" him to refer to the Hillary email case as a "matter" rather than an 'investigation"...not to mention that ill-advised meeting with Bill Clinton on the Phoenix tarmac just days before the Justice Department was set to announce the results of their investigation.

Now, and perhaps because of a recent attack which targeted Republicans and in which the shooter seemed to be fueled by rage from largely fake, anonymously-sourced new stories, it appears that the GOP is finally starting to push back.

"These special counsels have a way of going off the rails,” Rep. Trent Franks (R-Az.) told The Hill. “And the ostensible purpose of the special counsel has now been essentially vitiated and everybody knows that. And so they've got to try to find something to do. In this case, it was almost the intent from the beginning to try to create something out of nothing. And it doesn't work in physics, but in politics it seems to be pretty effective." "This is the most coordinated communications effort on behalf of the president that we’ve seen in a long time,” said Barry Bennett, a former adviser to Trump. “They need it — it’s tough to fight nameless, faceless quotes from people purposefully twisting these stories on you.” Trump’s lead outside counsel, Mark Kasowitz responded to the Post story by decrying the “illegal” leaks, which he said had come directly from the FBI. Jay Sekulow, a new member of Trump’s legal team, went on Fox News Channel to say that the leaks may have come from inside Mueller’s special counsel. Sekulow asked why the FBI is “not sending agents to people’s houses” to put an end to it. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee, which chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has described as the “political arm” of the White House, has led the effort to cast doubt on the special counsel investigation.

Of course, Trump has been fairly direct and open with his feelings about the ongoing "witch hunt."

They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

Crooked H destroyed phones w/ hammer, 'bleached' emails, & had husband meet w/AG days before she was cleared- & they talk about obstruction? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

Meanwhile, as we noted earlier this morning, even Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has grown weary of the constant leaks and what they mean for the credibility of Special Counsel Mueller's investigation....which seems to have prompted him to release the following statement:

"Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous 'officials,' particularly when they do not identify the country — let alone the branch or agency of government — with which the alleged sources supposedly are affiliated. Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations. The Department of Justice has a long-established policy to neither confirm nor deny such allegations.

Of course, it's only a matter of time until the Washington Post uses to the Republican fury to allege guilt...afterall, why would they attempt to fight back if they're innocent? Surely it can't have anything to do with the barrage of anonymously-sourced, fake news stories released daily with the sole intent of bringing down a Republican President while never producing a shred of actual evidence.