OPINION:
Like any competent magician, Attorney General Merrick Garland is a master of distraction. His clever trick on Wednesday involved announcing a nonsensical indictment against Russia to draw attention away from his party’s growing foreign influence predicament.
“As alleged in our court filings,” Mr. Garland said, “President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, including Sergei Kiriyenko, directed Russian public relations companies to promote disinformation and state-sponsored narratives as part of a campaign to influence the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.”
A second indictment accused Russian nationals of funding a media company featuring a handful of conservatives and disaffected former liberal journalists. Only the founder is accused of being aware of the connection to Russia.
That person has been promoting fringe ideas that make conservatives look bad, while also urging conservatives to reject former President Donald Trump. But don’t read that closely. The Department of Justice is interested only in the “Russia” headline that perpetuates the plot Hillary Clinton set in motion in 2016 when she commissioned a British ghostwriter to fabricate fairy tales about Mr. Trump being a secret Russian agent.
Stories about Russian influence operations involving random Facebook ads and YouTube influencers divert media coverage from the actual spies who have been in Democratic power circles for decades.
The late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee while an alleged Chinese informant was on her staff for 20 years. Rep. Eric Swalwell, another California Democrat, is suspected of engaging in foreign relations with a Chinese sleeper agent while serving on the House Intelligence Committee.
Beijing has proved adept at placing operatives in key positions — and not just in Washington. According to an indictment filed on Tuesday, a Chinese spy worked for New York’s Democratic governors. Linda Sun was Gov. Kathy Hochul’s deputy chief of staff; before that, she was a “diversity officer” for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
According to the feds, Ms. Sun manipulated state government actions to favor the interests of the Chinese Communist Party. That included blocking Taiwanese representatives from meeting with New York officials, while ensuring the red carpet was rolled out for delegations from Beijing.
Prosecutors say China’s representatives rewarded Ms. Sun with premium tickets to sporting events and concerts. Over time, she also received 13 salted ducks. She and her husband, Chris Hu, allegedly made enough money in China to buy a Ferrari Roma to park outside their luxury homes worth $6 million.
China has a gift for identifying Americans who are willing to sing the praises of its Communist Party. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz reportedly led Chinese government-funded trips to that country in the 1990s so high school students could learn about the wonders of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Up until his 2006 run for Congress, Mr. Walz had made 30 journeys to China, where he worked with obvious Chinese Communist Party front groups such as the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship With Foreign Countries.
The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability last month announced an investigation of these dubious activities, requesting the FBI divulge what is likely to be a voluminous file on the Minnesota governor’s overseas adventures.
When influential politicians allow moles on their team, they are, in most cases, duped. Nonetheless, the damage done by China’s infiltration of positions of authority exceeds anything that could be done by the paid-publicity campaigns Russia supposedly runs.
Mr. Garland’s magic trick draws attention away from the more insidious threat.
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