On June 23, federal agents stormed the Virginia home of former Department of Justice official and legal scholar Jeffrey Clark in the early morning hours, searching his house and seizing multiple electronic devices in the process.
And on June 27, news broke of the FBI executing a search warrant on June 22 against legal scholar and professor John Eastman for his role in advising the Trump administration on legally contesting the 2020 presidential elections. (Eastman has filed a motion for return of property, claiming that the federal agent refused to show him their search warrant before seizing his cell phone, as required by the law.)
Clark and Eastman, like tens of millions of other Americans, wanted to determine if voter irregularities may have played a role in the 2020 presidential election. Clark, as a member of the Justice Department, and Eastman as a Trump advisor, explored legal remedies that involved fielding alternate electors in states with contested elections. That they should or should not have done this is open to opinion, but it was not at all illegal.
The harassment of Clark and Eastman is part of a much wider DOJ investigation into what the media has now dubbed a “fake electors scandal.” But these were not “fake electors” at all, these were alternate electors that would be ready in the event that legal challenges in certain states opened up the possibility of a GOP win. Nevertheless, the Justice Department has been serving subpoenas and search warrants to Republican Party officials all across the country in a wild witch hunt designed to intimidate local leaders and criminalize legal maneuvering.
None of this is illegal, and it is not without precedent.
In fact, the procedure Mr. Clark and Mr. Eastman were pursuing has precedent going back to 1960 and the presidential contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. An initial vote tally indicated that Richard Nixon won the three electoral votes from the state of Hawaii. While a recount was ordered, the official Republican electors and a competing Democrat slate of electors were sent to the Administrator of General Services. The recount, which ultimately showed Kennedy narrowly winning the state, did not finish until 10 days after the procedural deadline. Nevertheless, the unofficial Democrat electors were appointed for Hawaii and a new certification process was rushed through to be included in the final tally.
Contentious elections are not new to the American political landscape. Many American elections in recent history ended in one form of legal contest or another. In 2016, many progressives, stunned by Donald Trump’s upset over Hillary Clinton, worked their own legal remedies and precedented procedures in an attempt to reverse Trump’s victory. During the joint session on January 6, 2017, seven House Democrats moved to object to electoral votes from seven different states, as was their legal right and what they saw as their legislative obligation.
In 2020, Republicans objected to just six. In fact, in a history spanning decades, Democrats have in many ways been far more aggressive in challenging presidential election results than Republicans, which they were more than entitled and permitted to do by law and by conscience. The last Republican to win the White House without Democrat objection was George H.W. Bush in 1988.
Jeffrey Clark and John Eastman, along with various statewide party officials, are effectively being investigated and surveilled for engaging in legal maneuvering. Opinions vary on what they did, and on their interest in seeing Trump win the election through accurate and fair voting, but there’s nothing criminal in pursuing a legal remedy to an electoral conflict. They weren’t subverting our democratic republic—they were engaging in it. In fact, once the court challenges proved fruitless, these alternate electors were discarded.
These coordinated attacks on Trump officials and local Republican leaders amount to government sponsored, political retaliation akin to what is witnessed in autocratic, undemocratic countries like China or Russia. Democrats like to say that they are saving democracy, but the targeting of political opponents is an abuse of executive power and is deeply anti-democratic.
Those behind this political retaliation have no interest in upholding democracy. They want more power, and they will abuse the power they have now to destroy those who stand in their way. Moreover, they do it by accusing their opponents of the same things that they do themselves.
When Republicans retake the House in November, as it seems they will after the devastating and undeniable detrimental impacts of the Biden administration on our nation, the power dynamic in Washington will be rebalanced.
Republicans must dig into the DOJ and the FBI to get to the bottom of this brazen weaponization of government power to quash dissent.
Those responsible for this lawlessness must be held to account, and it needs to be understood where these directives were coming from, if it was a point of power of an agency-wide belief in the righteousness of this overreach. Nothing like this should be allowed to happen again to individuals in either political party.
Despite our many competing crises that have arisen under the incompetent watch of President Biden, it is now clear that saving America’s constitutional republic starts in November by ending this proverbial reign of legal terror upon political adversaries.
Any Republican who doesn’t get this by now doesn’t know what point in the movie we are in.
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Exactly. It is way past time that the Republicans throw off the time-worn stereotype image of timidity and weakness. The enemy needs to be recognized for who and what they are—and they need to be confronted and dealt with as harshly as is needed to get the message through that it is not going to be tolerated any more.
Completely agree. We need fewer keyboard commandos and more men of action.
WHEN i first heard about how Fisa court warrants were issued, so the fbi and such, could raid someone’s home, BREAK IN, and just take what ever, without even HAVING SOMEONE there to issue the warrant to, OR ANY FORM OF juris prudence or due process to potentially even see said warrant, i was appalled.. WHEN I HEARD about how obama weaponized the IRS and FBI, against his enemies (Conservatives), i was horrified.
BIDEN IS Just continuing that evil tradiition.. THE KGB WOULD BE PROUD.
Despite our many competing crises that have arisen under the incompetent watch of President Biden, it is now clear that saving America’s constitutional republic starts in November by ending this proverbial reign of legal terror upon political adversaries.
The more crimes criminals get away with, the bolder they get in other areas thinking themselves invincible. Our current President Robespierre, has let loose the dogs of war upon THE PEOPLE of America, attempting to use government forces to whack his political opponents, but like oh so Confident Maximilien Robespierre in the French Revolution, those same mob excited dogs of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity came back to cut off his head who like Joe , our own Maxiliien, had maxed out his millions in filthy lucre, redistributed from THE PEOPLE to himself. Hillary and Kamala both sit in their respective corners knitting like Madam Defarge, just waiting for his head to roll who is quoted when encouraging the women to participate in the storming of the government offices. She yells, “To me, women! What! We can kill as well as the men when the place is taken!”,,,,No she wasn’t speaking of the Whitehouse, The Supreme Court or the local Family planning Offices, but the Bastille.
EVEN IF we do some how win back the house/senate, and even the white house, TILL WE ALSO ROOT OUT THE ROT in the Dept of injustice and FBI, we will just see the SAME **** again, like they did with trump…
That things like this are happening today nearly two years after the election gives much credence to the theory that there was indeed manipulation of the election and an emmense coverup all around from the Democrats to the never Trumpers, we don’t know who to trust these days. Laws broken, procedures comprimised, the list can go on. Perhap when there is a real accounting before a Congress interested in the truth instead of ‘getting Trump’ we may ahve a surprise as to who id the real President!
What do you mean has ??? The FBI dropped all charges against last summer’s rioters. Remember, they found no evidence.
President Zero fully initiated the weaponization of our agencies.
OBAMA started that.. Biden is just following his lead.
Until and unless, we RID ourselves, of the sheer Rot in the fbi, doj and such, it imo, won’t matter if we do somehow win back the house, senate and white house….