Politico is really on a roll today:
Two members of Congress offered very different views Sunday morning of whether the Justice Department and FBI have been biased against Republicans in recent years.
In consecutive appearances on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) discussed President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Kash Patel to lead the FBI. The agency is now led by Chris Wray, a previous Trump appointee whose term has yet to expire, but who will presumably be fired if he doesn’t resign.
“Obviously, in recent years, we have seen the FBI and the Department of Justice weaponize in a way that it has become completely political,” Lawler said in his interview, also discussing Trump’s pick of Pam Bondi to be attorney general. “That’s not good for the American people. It’s not good for our system of justice. The lack of confidence that Americans have in the Department of Justice and the FBI is terrible.”
Though Trump talked about “retribution” during the 2024 campaign, Lawler said he believed “revenge” was not the order of the day. “I don’t think the American people are interested in a revenge tour,” he told host Kasie Hunt. “But, obviously, if people did wrong in their official capacities, then that’s something they should be concerned about. But if they didn’t do anything wrong, if they upheld the law, then there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Hunt pointed out to Lawler that the FBI director he was so critical of had been appointed by Trump himself. She also asked him if Patel, who was highly critical of what he repeatedly blasted as “deep state” corruption, was not himself very “partisan.”
“Look, I’m not concerned about partisanship here. I think we have seen a DOJ and an FBI that have been weaponized,” Lawler responded.
Appearing afterward, Raskin was very skeptical of Lawler’s assertion that the Justice Department and FBI during the Biden administration had targeted Trump, given the recent prosecutions of some prominent Democrats. “I haven’t seen what the proof is that the FBI has been weaponized against a political party or the Department of Justice. Of course, this Department of Justice has brought charges against a Democratic U.S. senator in New Jersey, a Democratic congressman in Texas,” Raskin said, referencing former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).
“And so some people just seem to think that it should go only in one direction, and, if it doesn’t, then somehow it’s politicized.”
There is a reality here which we might want the media to try to help the public sort out. It’s fair enough to say that Republicans have taken the partisan position that the DOJ and the “Deep State” have been weaponized against Donald Trump. And, needless to say, Democrats and some Republicans know that Donald Trump is a criminal who has simply escaped accountability because we watched what he did with our own eyes. Ok.
But there is simply no question that Donald Trump is bent on revenge. He has said it over and over again. His future accomplices Patel and Bondi have said the same thing. This is not debatable. It should lead the story not be plopped in the middle like it’s some minor aspect of the story.
That was a long time ago, of course. But he’s got much more recent experience. Of course he’s going to exact revenge. It’s what he lives for.