FOR THE FBI, A SHAMEFUL ANNIVERSARY. Five years ago, on July 31, 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened Crossfire Hurricane, its investigation of the presidential campaign of former President Donald Trump. Some parts of the bureau had been looking into allegations of collusion between the campaign and Russia even before the investigation began. But on July 31, the FBI started the process that led to a million leaks, enormous damage to candidate Trump, and then President-elect Trump, and then President Trump, the abuse of the government's secret surveillance court to wiretap a low-level Trump adviser, efforts to impeach the president, more leaks, media hysteria, and, finally, the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller, who could not establish that collusion — he called it "conspiracy" or "coordination" — ever took place, much less that Trump or anyone associated with him was involved with it. It was a multi-year wild goose chase. And it did incalculable damage to the country. Certainly, some portion of the distrust of the FBI that exists today is the direct result of the bureau's fruitless pursuit of Trump.
But you say: What about all those convictions and guilty pleas Mueller won? Manafort, Gates, Papadopoulos, Stone, and more. Remember: Those were mostly crimes ...........
