The Patriot Post® · Trump Demands Action

As we noted yesterday, President Trump is demanding action from the Justice Department after multiple media outlets reported that the Obama administration had an informant spying on his presidential campaign. The president summoned Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray to the White House.


The result of that conversation led to at least one important breakthrough. The White House announced that Chief of Staff John Kelly would “immediately” set up a meeting between Justice officials and key congressional leaders so they could review classified intelligence that Congress has been demanding for months.


Some on the Left are blasting the president’s intervention, alleging that he is creating a constitutional crisis.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said the president’s demands were an example of “grossly autocratic behavior we’d expect in a banana republic.” Schumer went on to say that Trump’s actions were an attempt to “distract from the serious wrongdoing” Mueller was uncovering in the collusion probe.

Sorry, Sen. Schumer, but spying on the opposition party’s presidential campaign — as the Obama administration appears to have done — is what banana republics do. And so far, Mueller has produced zero evidence of collusion.

Here’s the bottom line: The Department of Justice is not a fourth branch of government. It is part of the executive branch. It answers to the president. It is also accountable to Congress, which provides its funding every year. The president has every right to order the Justice Department to respond to congressional subpoenas.


Another Spy?

Michael Caputo, a Republican consultant from New York, is alleging there was at least one other government spy who attempted to infiltrate the Trump campaign. Speaking to Laura Ingraham Monday night, Caputo said this:

“Let me tell you something that I know for a fact. [Stefan Halper] … he’s not the only person who came at the campaign. And the FBI is not the only Obama agency who came at the campaign. I know because they came at me… When we finally find out the truth about this, [Obama Director of National Intelligence] Clapper and the rest of them will be wearing some orange suits."


He declined to say more because he is still facing legal challenges.

I hope Caputo is right that someone will be held accountable. But I was reminded that Mr. Caputo recently made headlines for his charged testimony to congressional investigators about the lack of accountability by those leading the Russia inquisition. Mueller and congressional Democrats are creating a lot of collateral damage.


Caputo is facing more than $100,000 in legal bills and had to liquate his children’s college fund. Lt. Gen. Flynn had to sell his house. It is widely believed that he pled guilty to one charge in order to protect his son.

Somehow Lois Lerner managed to avoid jail time. It isn’t clear to me at this point that anyone involved in this Deep State effort to spy on the Trump campaign will go to prison.

Many Americans who care deeply about the rule of law are very worried by an apparent double standard of justice. How is it that Kristian Saucier was sentenced to jail while Hillary Clinton got off scot-free?


Trump Triples Down


Last week we told you about the media’s contrived controversy surrounding President Trump’s comments about MS-13 gang members. The press deliberately smeared the president by taking his remarks out of context to say he called all illegal immigrants "animals.”

In the face of the Left’s lies, the White House fought back. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders blasted the media for defending MS-13 and said the president’s language “didn’t go far enough.” Trump later insisted that he would continue describing MS-13 members as “animals."


Monday, the White House upped the ante. It released a fact sheet entitled, "What You Need To Know About The Violent Animals Of MS-13.”

This is what so many people love about Trump!

Any other Republican White House would have immediately assumed the fetal position as it tried to walk back the comments. Instead, this president is reminding the American people of what these “animals” have done and why the Left’s open-borders agenda is so extreme.

By the way, Republicans now have the lead in the latest Reuters poll for control of Congress.


Pompeo Demands Regime Change



Speaking at The Heritage Foundation Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined the ways the Iranian regime must change if it wants to continue negotiations with the United States. This is exactly the approach that should be taken when dealing with rogue regimes.

Pompeo listed about a dozen conditions Iran needed to meet, including a full accounting of its nuclear weapons program, unrestricted inspections, stopping its ballistic missile program, ending its support for terrorism, recognizing Israel’s right to exist and respecting the sovereignty of other Arab nations in the Middle East. You can read his address here.


These are all commonsense measures that require Iran to change its behavior and prove it is serious about peace.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration got it all backwards. Obama rewarded Iran while very little was required of Tehran in return. And as many opponents of the Iranian nuclear deal feared, Iran’s behavior got worse, not better, after the deal was signed.

Flush with cash from sanctions relief, Iran quadrupled its support for the terrorists of Hezbollah after the deal was enacted. Iran is actively funding rebels in Yemen as they launch missiles into Saudi Arabia. Iran is occupying Syria and launching rockets at Israel.


Fortunately, the Trump administration is changing course. It is imposing “the strongest sanctions in history” until the ayatollah’s regime changes its behavior.

Chuck & Nancy Try Stand-Up


Did you happen to catch the Democrat leaders’ stand-up routine — I mean press conference — Monday? Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi now say that they want to drain the swamp, which they claim “is worse than ever because of Trump’s corruption.”

Are you kidding me? Chuck and Nancy are Mr. and Mrs. Swamp. They have been marinating in the swamp for decades. Schumer has been in Congress for 25 years. Pelosi for more than 30.

The Left controls every part of the DC swamp. The bureaucracy is overwhelmingly left-wing. The media elites are overwhelmingly left-wing.

When people talk about the swamp, they mean big government. Schumer and Pelosi are the leaders of the party of big government. They are promising to repeal the tax cuts if they win the elections so they can spend more money on even bigger government.


The world is upside down. “Saturday Night Live” is all politics and DC liberals are doing comedy routines.