The LuLac Edition #4, 183, December 11th, 2019

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This week’s article I very timely. The Times tribune take on the Inspector General’s Report. This report has been predicted by GOP stalwarts as exonerating the President. It did everything but that.

REPORT CONCLUDES NO CONSPIRACY

The long-awaited report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz demolishes President Donald Trump’s conspiracy theory that the FBI illegally launched the investigation into his 2016 campaign’s contacts with Russian interlopers.
Horowitz found shortcomings in the investigation, such as an agent’s altered email regarding surveillance of Trump campaign operative Carter Page, but concluded that there was no political motive in its initiation.
The FBI launched the investigation based on foreign contacts of Trump campaign figures including Page, George Papadopoulos, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort.
“We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open the four individual investigations,” the report says.
The report also refuted another conspiracy theory: that the FBI had acted on the basis of a dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele.
“These officials ... did not become aware of Steele’s election reporting until weeks later, and we therefore determined that Steele’s reports played no role ...,” the report reads.
This will not be the last word, since Attorney General William Barr has commissioned a separate inquiry that is likely to comport with his relentless support of Trump.
But the nation has arrived at a sad place when the FBI is questioned for following known facts where they lead, especially involving the security risks inherent in foreign political interference in U.S. elections.