Obstruction of Justice : How the Deep State Risked National Security to Protect the Democrats (9781621579441) by Rosiak Luke; Gingrich Newt (FRW)

Author:Rosiak, Luke; Gingrich, Newt (FRW)
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

FIFTEEN

MEDIA MALPRACTICE: SEE SOMETHING, SAY NOTHING

The Democrats’ brazen public denial of the existence of any cyber breach was made possible by one thing: Republican leadership’s bizarre silence. They had agreed to call it a “theft investigation,” and didn’t say a word about the case. Was it any wonder that this was largely being ignored by the media, who assume that if even Republicans aren’t making hay of a Democrat scandal, there must be nothing to it?

The fact was the Democrats had their act together and Republicans didn’t. Massive turnover among Republicans meant they had to rely on Democrats for institutional knowledge. The chairman of the Administration Committee, Representative Candice Miller, left office after 2016—at the peak of the Awan investigation—to become, of all things, a water authority commissioner in Michigan. At the same time, Speaker Ryan’s internal affairs fixer, Kelly Craven, had left to work for the Indiana attorney general and was replaced by Jennifer Hemingway, who was coming in cold to the Awan case. Even Chief Administrative Officer Kiko assumed his post only in September 2016. All of this meant that if someone wanted a comprehensive overview of the Awan investigation, he was forced to turn to Representative Bob Brady, who had been the top Democrat on the Administration Committee for many years.

Replacing Representative Candice Miller was Gregg Harper, a Mississippi Republican who was elected more for his blandness than for Deep South, small government zeal. It was hard to dislike someone so harmless. The Committee on House Administration was perhaps the least prestigious panel in Congress, but one where a chairman could presumably avoid scandal and demonstrate his capacity for genial bipartisanship. It was perfect for him. Chairman Harper thought of himself as a “company man,” that company being the institution of the House of Representatives. Chairman Harper was so risk-averse that the prospect of a fifty-year old man consuming high-end tobacco products might as well have amounted to shooting heroin at an orgy. When he agreed to retain the committee’s top Republican staffer Sean Moran as staff director, Sean—who enjoys an afternoon cigar—took to hiding behind the bushes on the Capitol lawn, wearing gloves to keep the aroma off his hands lest he get in trouble.

Neither Representative Brady nor Jamie Fleet, his top staffer, were so timid. Though the committee’s most interesting mandate is overseeing the integrity of federal elections, the FBI was investigating Representative Brady’s own campaign for paying his opponent $90,000.1 The opponent said he struck a deal with Representative Brady for a payoff in exchange for dropping out of the race. Two of Representative Brady’s campaign consultants pleaded guilty to making false statements since the payment was disguised in campaign finance records. A lobbyist put out a murder hit on one of the consultants in an attempt to prevent him from turning state’s witness to additional, unrelated political misconduct.2 And Jamie—who got his start as campaign consultant to Representative Brady—continued to pull political strings.

During the summer of 2017, Chairman Harper’s office got a call from a Washington Post reporter working on an article about the Awan affair.

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