Today’s quote comes to us from President Trump. Here is his explanation of why he declassified the documents relating to how his collusion/obstruction investigation started:
“They will be able to see … how the hoax or witch hunt started and why it started.
“It was an attempted coup or an attempted take-down of the president of the United States.
“There’s word and rumor that the FBI and others were involved, CIA were involved with the UK, having to do with the Russian hoax.
We’re exposing everything.”
Ok, let’s consider those comments.
-We can argue over whether the investigation was a “hoax” or “witch hunt”, and President Trump is certainly entitled to his opinion. But it is unarguable that declassification of these documents will give us insight into how the investigation started.
-Was it an attempted coup, an attempted take-down of the Trump presidency? Again, that is an arguable point and President Trump is entitled to his opinion.
-There is no doubt about allegations that the FBI and CIA were involved. The UK connection would be British national (and CIA operative and Trump-hater) Christopher Steele, and the Russian connection would be that Steele’s dossier – which he himself defines as unverifiable “raw intelligence” – was obtained almost exclusively from Russian nationals.
-And, yes, he has given Attorney General Barr the ability to expose it all, at Barr’s discretion.
A lot is going to be made of those words, mostly by media whose coverage of Mr. Trump and his presidency have been vastly negative. But, as detailed above, everything he said is either factual or an arguable (i.e. valid) opinion.
I therefore award President Trump Quote Of The Day honors for providing a clear explanation (a status Mr. Trump’s statements don’t always achieve) of why he declassified the documents…
…and why the people who would be culpable parties if his suspicions are correct (e.g. Brennan, Comey, Clapper, Strzok, Page, McCabe, etc.), have gone into panic mode.
