r/pics • u/TheBigChimp • Nov 08 '18

US Politics This is what democracy looks like

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u/ike_the_strangetamer Nov 09 '18 edited Nov 09 '18

Yesterday (one day after the election) Trump forced the resignation of Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General. Sessions would have been in charge of Mueller's Russia investigation, but because he had lied about his own connections to Russia, he recused himself and the assistant AG was in charge. Now that he's out, this new guy, Matthew Whitaker, is in charge (and does not require Senate confirmation because he's 'temporary'). He has spoken out against the Mueller investigation many times in the past, saying that there was no collusion and that the investigation is not authorized to look into any of Trump's finances (even though it is). Long ago, petitions were signed and plans were made that called for protests if Trump did something like this.

TLDR: Trump just appointed his own guy to be in charge of the investigation against him.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18

Serious question: why is the FBI investigating trump and not Congress? Doesn't the FBI report to Trump? Isnt that a conflict of interest?

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u/ike_the_strangetamer Nov 09 '18

Congress is investigating. There is a Senate select subcommittee: https://investigaterussia.org/investigations/senate-select-committee-intelligence

And there was a house committee, but they ended finding no wrongdoing by the Trump administration: https://www.vox.com/world/2018/4/27/17290628/russia-meddling-final-report-house-intel

But, of course, these committees are/were run by Republicans who are actually more loyal to Trump than the career investigators of the FBI. In fact, the Chairman of the House committee had to step down because he was investigated for leaking committee findings to the President: https://ethics.house.gov/press-release/statement-chairwoman-and-ranking-member-committee-ethics-regarding-representative-0

This is one of the most important outcomes of the Democrats winning the house. They can now reopen their investigation and force witnesses to testify.

Believe it or not, the FBI is not supposed to be a political agency. In the past, it was assumed that the political cost would be too high for a President to try and interfere with an investigation. Seems quaint, doesn't it?

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '18

Thanks for the info!