Thread by @20committee

BAD TAKE ALERT:

While I have praised @NRO for its even-handedness (and then some) regarding Trump, this anti-FBI screed from @RichLowry (FYI the NR EIC -- who, let me say, I usually enjoy reading) needs to be called out.

nationalreview.com/2019/01/fbi-tr…

How, I ask you, is the FBI "trampling our political order" by conducting a counterintelligence investigation?

Not a criminal investigation (you know, possible arrests), CI.

That's, ahem, the Bureau's job.

Is POTUS above scrutiny? That seems to be the point of this piece. /2

Says @RichLowry: "US presidents over the decades have made many foolhardy decisions that have undermined our security; never before have they been deemed a fit subject for an FBI investigation."

Yes, this is true; but it omits the key fact here.... /3

Namely that we've never before Trump had a POTUS who plausibly might be considered a pawn (witting or not) of a hostile foreign power.

This is a big uncharted ocean for USG.

Since @RichLowry thinks the FBI had no business conducting a CI inquiry into President Trump, ok.... /4

Either POTUS is inherently above investigation (mmmmmkay...neat authoritarian take there) or @RichLowry thinks it should not be done by the FBI -- you know, USG's lead CI agency.

Maybe we should have the Nat'l Park Service do it? How about Dept of Agriculture counterspies?

/5X

CODA: Journalists and pundits (of all POVs) need to step back and consider that the FBI and IC know things about Trump and his Kremlin connections that are not, ahem, in the public eye yet.

/6XX