Daily Times

United States president Donald Trump has renewed his attacks against the ongoing investigations that his campaign team colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election outcome.

“A total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest,” he tweeted on Monday, referring to the investigations.

The post came after a barrage of harsh tweets attacking U.S. federal law enforcement that many fear pushed Washington closer to a constitutional crisis. Starting Friday night, celebrating the firing of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, Trump tweeted, “Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy.”

McCabe was one of the FBI officials overseeing the Clinton investigation that ended without prosecution. He is also a witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, that is examining whether Trump tried to obstruct justice in May 2017, when he fired former FBI director James Comey.

McCabe’s ouster just hours before his official retirement when he would have been entitled to full retirement benefits was seen by many pundits as vindictive. Attorney General Jeff Sessions made the announcement late Friday night. In response, McCabe cited his dismissal as ‘retaliatory’ in a press statement.

For months leading up to McCabe’s ouster, Trump publicly rebuked him – labelling him emblematic of the corruption at the top of the bureau, and complicit in what he thinks is an unreasonable investigation into allegations of collusion between his election campaign and Russia.

Also taking a swipe at former FBI director James Comey, Trump wrote, “Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!”

Comey responded, “Mr president, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge who is honourable and who is not.” His book ‘A Higher Loyalty’ is due for release.

The U.S. public remains unaware of the details surrounding McCabe’s dismissal. The Inspector General’s report detailing McCabe’s behaviour is yet to be released. However, Mathew Miller, a former Justice Department spokesman, said that even if the cause was legitimate, the timing indicated political pressure from the president.

“I put a lot of faith in the Inspector General and the career people in the Office of Professional Responsibility and the senior career officials at DOJ, who all seem to have reviewed this and agreed that McCabe should be disciplined,” Miller said. “I do think that this moved as quickly as it did because the attorney general was trying to appease the president. Left to the normal process, this would not have happened this quickly, and you would not have seen it until the Inspector General’s report was released”

A former FBI agent and senior fellow at George Washington University’s Centre for Cyber Homeland and Security, David Gomez, echoed Miller’s opinion. “I think there is a substantial amount of evidence that this is the result of retaliation on the part of the Justice Department and the White House,” Gomez said. “Under the FBI rules there may have been reasons to fire him, the way it was done, smacks of vindictive and retaliatory nature.”

McCabe’s ouster may send a message to law -enforcement that they risk their jobs and credibility if they upset the president.

On Saturday morning, American people woke up to Trump demanding the end of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT,” the president tweeted.

Trump was warned by fellow republicans against interfering in Mueller’s investigation. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Mueller should be allowed to proceed without interference, and that many Republicans shared his view.

He also warned Trump against any attempt to oust Mueller.

“If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we’re a rule of law nation,” Graham said to American media.

Senator John McCain tweeted his support, “special Counsel Mueller has served our country with honesty and integrity. It’s critical he be allowed to complete a thorough investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election – unimpeded.”

There is concern that the U.S is veering towards a constitutional crisis. However political scientist, Keith Whittington doesn’t think the U.S. has quite reached that point yet.

“Removing Mueller in these circumstances would be a grave breach of constitutional norms and would reveal the president to be unwilling to allow meaningful investigations into possible wrongdoing by his family members and associates, and perhaps even by himself,” he said.

“Yet that would not in itself be a constitutional crisis.” Adding, a crisis would result ‘if Republicans in Congress prove equally unwilling to hold the president to account following Mueller’s removal.”

Published in Daily Times, March 23^rd 2018.