The great diversion

OPINION:

On Nov. 8, 2016, we had a political revolution in America. Donald J. Trump, overcoming all obstacles, was elected the 45th president of the United States. Not only was Hillary Clinton in deep shock, but so was the entire Deep State, which includes the Republican establishment. Soon the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) sprang into action with the false narrative of a Russia-Trump collusion in the 2016 presidential election as the reason Hillary lost. To date, there has been no information that supports any Trump-Russia collusion in the election process. However, there is much more involved than just trying to explain a lost election.

Clearly, with the help of the mainstream media, the American public’s attention has been diverted from the real crimes committed by the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of State. By now, every thinking American knows that the Trump dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign and the DNC was nothing but a farce. Nonetheless, it was most successful in getting a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the alleged Trump-Russia election collusion. Further, the Deep State was able to neutralize President Trump’s designated attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who had just recommended Rod Rosenstein as the deputy attorney general. Mr. Rosenstein was easily confirmed, and as the de facto head of the Department of Justice, he moved quickly to appoint Robert Mueller, former head of the FBI, as a special counsel to look into the fake Trump-Russia collusion.

It should be noted that Mr. Rosenstein was President Obama’s U.S. attorney for Maryland when Mr. Mueller was the FBI director. This is important as it would later be explained that both Messrs. Rosenstein and Mueller were key players in the Uranium One cover-up scandal. Is there a potential conflict of interest issue?

The fake Trump dossier is a classic example of political character assassination. The Perkins Coie law firm, which had been retained by the Clinton campaign and the DNC, was their “buffer” in retaining the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. It was Fusion GPS that contacted a former British spy, Christopher Steele, who then used his contacts as intermediaries to interview Russian sources. Fusion GPS then was able to get the fake dossier to the FBI. It is interesting that the wife of Bruce Ohr, yet another senior official at the Justice Department, worked at Fusion GPS. How convenient. It has also been learned that Mr. Ohr was in contact with Mr. Steele, the British spy, before the election.

The real question is this: Did the FBI use the fake dossier as the basis for obtaining Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) warrants on members of the Trump campaign? Once the warrant was granted by the FISA Court, the Obama administration could then monitor the opposition candidate. Not in America? Think again.

Worse, did the FBI verify any of the information in the dossier or did the agency just rely on the research firm Fusion GPS before going to the FISA Court for the warrant?

Newly appointed Trump FBI Director Christopher Wray, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday, had a unique opportunity to restore the credibility of the FBI before the American public. What all Americans were hoping to hear from Mr. Wray was that he was taking steps to eliminate the politicization of upper management of the FBI and that he would insure that all documents and personnel would be provided to the congressional committees on an expedited basis. Regrettably, he failed miserably. It might as well have been Obama Attorney General Eric Holder testifying before the committee.

As I previously mentioned, Messrs. Rosenstein and Mueller were key players in the Uranium One deal that sold 20 percent of our uranium deposits to a Russian government-controlled company, Rosatom. In my op-ed of Nov. 14, it was made clear that by early 2010, the FBI had sufficient information to prove the case of racketeering and money laundering. However, had charges been brought then, it would have killed the uranium deal and the Clinton Foundation would not have received the remainder of the $145 million in donations from the Uranium One board of directors. Four years later, Messrs. Mueller and Rosenstein negotiated a “minor” guilty plea with the Russian agent in Maryland, which was announced just before the 2014 Labor Day weekend.

When you get past the fake Trump dossier and the nonexistent Trump-Russia election collusion, there are a number of criminal acts that need to be investigated. This should include all aspects of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, which was a clear violation of the Espionage Act. She, along with key aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, must be reinvestigated, but this time under oath. The previous interview by the FBI’s anti-Trump agent, Peter Strzok, was a sham. Mr. Strzok is the same agent who wrote the FISA request and apparently had his mistress, Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer, approve it. Separately, investigation of the Benghazi tragedy must be reopened and responsible officials held accountable. The same for the Internal Revenue Service scandal and Fast and Furious. The murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich must be examined, the laptop of Huma Abedin’s husband with more than 600,000 emails must be examined, as well as the hacked DNC server.

Clearly Attorney General Sessions must take charge in order to restore confidence in the Justice Department and FBI. He must insist that the FBI fully cooperate with Congress. He must oversee the reinvestigation as outlined above. Failure to do so could only mean that he is complicit with the politicization of his department, in which case he must resign.

• James A. Lyons, a U.S. Navy retired admiral, was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and senior U.S. military representative to the United Nations.