OPINION:
Our long national nightmare is finally over. The federal government’s sprawling espionage operation into Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for president has been exposed. Only the deepest conspiracy nuts remain in denial.
More importantly, there is only one way to undo the damage: Elect Donald Trump president again in 2024.
The world now knows for certain what many of us have suspected for years. The Department of Justice under the Obama administration launched a spying operation on its top political opponent at the height of a presidential campaign.
This evil operation was directed from the highest levels of the administration, including at least one meeting in the Oval Office presided over by then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden. The sham inquisition was based on intentional lies, purposefully doctored “evidence,” and willfully ignored exculpatory information, according to the report released this week by special counsel John Durham.
In short, it was a political hit job orchestrated by the Obama administration, conducted by the powerful administrative state of the federal government and paid for, in part, by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Later, American taxpayers would pick up the tab for the sleazy operation.
Never in American history has our political process been so thoroughly obliterated in a craven snatch at power. And the political press went along with it every step of the way.
The difference between this and Watergate is that this calculated insurrection was plotted at the highest levels of our government. It corrupted our most cherished institutions of justice and was aided and celebrated by the press. When members of the political press now dismiss the findings of Mr. Durham’s report as “old news,” they are really admitting that they were in on it from the beginning.
The root of this coup was a document called the Steele dossier, an absurd collection of drunken fantasies cooked up by intelligence hacks and paid for by Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and the DNC. (Through a bagman, of course.) It would become the Rosetta stone of Trump investigations that seized our government for years and would the gateway drug for Trump Derangement Syndrome.
It was the original playbook the FBI used to wiretap political associates in the Trump campaign. Also, it was the only major Russian interference in the 2016 election since much of the fake dossier came from the Kremlin. It was the “insurance policy” that FBI agents insisted would prevent Mr. Trump from ever getting elected president.
Think about that for a minute. Corrupt midlevel FBI agents were the foot soldiers in a conspiracy to thwart an election at the direction of the Department of Justice and even the White House.
They even came up with a name for their conspiracy: Crossfire Hurricane.
But the “insurance policy” failed, and Mr. Trump won. That’s when Crossfire Hurricane went from being a Watergate-style campaign hit to an insurrection of a duly elected president.
The rogues gallery of malignant actors in this conspiracy is so vast that it is hard for a normal person to keep track of them all — and their crimes.
To name just one, former FBI Director James B. Comey is the Michael Avenatti of the FBI. He was the chief hatchet man carrying out the dirty orders of a corrupt government. He doggedly worked to frame Mr. Trump. He lied under oath to Congress about it. He broke the law when he leaked classified government documents.
For his troubles, the press widely celebrated Mr. Comey as a hero. He wrote a book called “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership.” In retrospect, we realize he was laughing at us all along. “Higher loyalty” refers to his loyalty to something he views as higher than the constitution he swore to protect. And of course, Mr. Comey is an expert on “lies.”
The only conviction to come out of the Crossfire Hurricane conspiracy was of one lower-level FBI lawyer found guilty of doctoring evidence against Mr. Trump. He was sentenced to probation.
Which raises the question: What does a guy have to do around here to get sent to prison?
Apparently, nothing, so long as the corruption is widespread enough, reaches the highest levels of government, and you have a D.C. jury pool to back you up. And a dishonest press, of course.
In American law, there is a concept called “fruit of a poisonous tree”: Illegally obtained evidence — no matter how damning — is tossed out. In some cases, it is the only protection against rapaciously dishonest government prosecutors and dirty cops.
It benefits even those who are clearly guilty of a crime because a just society recognizes that the greatest threat is not those who commit crimes but rather a corrupt government.
Crossfire Hurricane is the fruit of a poisonous tree used to punish Mr. Trump, wreck his presidency and undo the 2016 election. The only just response now is for voters to elect him in 2024. You cannot let them get away with this.
Otherwise, they will undo the next election and the one after that — until they are stopped.
• Charles Hurt is the opinion editor at The Washington Times.
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