More than two years into President Donald Trump’s first term in office, he is still fighting off the cloud of suspicion cast upon him by baseless, politically motivated investigations that began under the administration of former President Barack Obama.
Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), said during an interview Sunday that it is now time for Attorney General William Barr to determine once and for all why (and how) the anti-Trump investigations first began — not only to fully exonerate President Trump of the allegations against him, but also to ensure the same thing does not happen in the future to another presidential candidate.
McDaniel speaks
McDaniel’s call for Barr to dig deep into the origins of the investigations against Trump came during a Sunday morning appearance on New York City’s AM 970 radio program The Cat’s Roundtable with host John Catsimatidis.
The 13-minute interview began with a discussion of the substantial fundraising advantage achieved by the RNC and the Trump campaign in recent months and eventually moved on to address possible strategies for winning swing states in the 2020 election.
The conversation eventually shifted toward former special counsel Robert Mueller’s dubious testimony before two Congressional committees, which made it abundantly clear that, despite all of the uproar from Democrats, there was no conspiracy with Russia or obstruction of the Mueller investigation on the part of Trump and his associates.
Barr must “get to the bottom” of probe’s origins
McDaniel noted that Mueller failed to look into what served as the basis for the meritless claims against Trump, namely false opposition research produced by Democrat-aligned Fusion GPS, which in turn prompted a secretive FBI investigation into the Trump campaign that ultimately led to Mueller’s wide-ranging probe.
With regard to the unanswered questions about the spying that took place against the Trump campaign, McDaniel said of AG Barr: “He needs to get to the bottom of it. He has said that there is an investigation about the investigators.
“I mean, John, think about this: A sitting president, President Obama’s administration, under his FBI, they deployed spies to the Trump campaign. They put FISA warrants on campaign operatives. I mean, this is horrific,” she continued.
McDaniel went on: “Think if President Trump did this right now to any Democratic candidate through his administration,” McDaniel said. “We need to understand why they did that, how they had the authority to spy on his campaign and why didn’t they just go to candidate Trump and say, ‘We’re afraid that foreign actors are trying to infiltrate your campaign. Can you work with us to make sure that doesn’t happen?’
“Instead,” she added, “they went a totally different route and the failures of the Obama administration, and the duplicity of what they have done, is what led us to this moment where our country is in turmoil for two years under the shroud of the Mueller investigation, which now has officially said President Trump never colluded or conspired with Russians. It’s time to move on.”
Closure and accountability needed
McDaniel added that it is vital for the American people to understand how the Obama administration was able to do what it did and to take steps to prevent history from repeating itself during future presidential transition periods.
It is indeed time for the attorney general and his team of investigators and prosecutors to “get to the bottom” of exactly what transpired under Obama’s watch with regard to the investigation and surveillance of Trump and his people, and if laws were broken in the process of all of that, the wrongdoers — regardless of their prior high-ranking positions — must be named, shamed, and held accountable before the law.