FBI was looking at other Trumper
As one who regularly looks to the right-hand editorial page for sane commentary, I was disappointed to read the Feb. 3 editorial, “Memo Details Anti-Trump Collusion.” This editorial was unsatisfactory both because of its handling of detail and because of the unsavory end it served.
Like the Republican memo, the editorial failed to acknowledge that the anti-Trump research culminating in the Steele dossier was instigated by Republican opponents of Trump’s candidacy before gaining Democratic party support. Not Carter Page but George Papadopoulos was the Trump associate of earliest interest to the FBI; valid reason for suspicion of wrongdoing in connection with the Trump campaign already existed.
We can already see that the clear effect of the memo’s release has been to accelerate President Trump’s ongoing efforts to derail the Russia investigation by destroying public trust in the FBI and the Justice Department.
Happily, there are Republican as well as Democratic lawmakers who recognize these maneuverings for what they are: attempts to circumvent legal process by the circulating of a distracting counter narrative.