The scandal that is far bigger than Watergate — Obama administration and Democratic National Committee (DNC) corruption of the FBI and Justice Department — is blacked out today from the leading Progressive newspapers, the Washington Post and The New York Times. That scandal, which has been steadily deepening in the past several weeks, became intensified yesterday by bombshell hearings in the House as Republican Congressmen Jim Jordan and Trey Gowdy grilled the Justice Department’s Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Trump-hating FBI investigator Peter Strzok and his extramarital FBI paramour Lisa Page
Progressive election hopes
The Progressive press has instead been reveling in prospects of taking both the House and Senate in the 2018 elections, given the momentum from recent special elections in Virginia and Alabama. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is rumored to have encouraged Alabama’s leading state Republican legislator to announce his intention to do a write-in vote rather than voting for Roy Moore. It was the write-in vote that defeated Moore in the close election. The McConnell-controlled Senate Republican Campaign Committee also refused to finance Moore’s election campaign, which was heavily outspent by his Democratic Party opponent Doug Jones.
Former Trump adviser and confident Stephen Bannon has been deeply embarrassed by the Moore defeat. Bannon’s flagship newspaper, Breitbart, has completely changed the subject in today’s edition, as though the Moore defeat never happened. Powerline indulges in “a little black humor” at Bannon’s expense here.
The new revelations of Justice and FBI corruption center around Peter Strzok’s role in the exoneration of Hillary Clinton and strong indications that he was at the center of an FBI conspiracy to insure that Donald Trump not be elected. The FBI’s Deputy Director Andrew McCabe — the number two position in the Bureau — must have been aware of Strzok’s thoughts along these lines since they seem to have been uttered in his presence. Strzok himself was the number two counterintelligence official when he interviewed Mrs. Clinton and her top aides, Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. Background on how the new revelations emerged are provided in another Daily Caller article here.
But the real fun — or rather, outrage — emerges in the video clips of Rod Rosenstein’s grilling by the fast-talking Jim Jordan here and the methodical Trey Gowdy here. These rapid-paced 6-7 minute clips are highly recommended viewing.
Republican tax victory within reach
Fear that Republican House and Senate conferencing over the two separate tax bills would emerge with something worse have proved unfounded. The top tier tax rate has been reduced from 39.6% to 37%, which will help overcome antagonism of the wealthy in high-tax states to losing the state and local tax exemption (“SALT”). Several deductions the loss of which were controversial have been restored. And to pay for this, the corporate tax rate has been slightly increased from 20% to 21% and will go into effect this coming New Years’ Day. Assuming Republicans in both houses pass the conferenced bill, the supposedly negative reaction of the public to the bill should be dissipated by strong growth and increased cash-in-pocket.
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