You’re probably aware that Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) subpoenaed records from Congresspeople and reporters. (They said they were looking for a leak, but “perhaps” they were spying on their rivals.) The story is growing & looking worse every day.
Let’s focus in one person at the center of the subpoenas: John Demers. He resigned Monday. But he always planned to leave at the end of June, the Department of Justice rushed to say. So John Demers is not getting the bum's rush, even though he deserves it just based on how much he was willing to ignore to go along with Trump's surveillance on congress members and journalists.
As assistant attorney general for national security, Demers carried the ball for demands for those records, which included phone records, email header records, and possibly more, depending on whom was targeted. Add to that the gag orders that kept the requests top secret, so that the targets didn't know, let alone the press.
Demers is a top-tier egghead by anyone's definition. Lots of people go to Harvard Law, as he did, but CNN tells us Demers clerked for Antonin Scalia, and was an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law, where he taught about national security. He was a Veep and assistant general counsel at Boeing. He has been in and out of the DOJ since 2003. Why he agreed when Trump tapped him for the DOJ again in 2018 -- he's supposed to be smart! -- is anybody's guess.
Demers landed at DOJ the same month that subpoenas went out to Apple asking for none-of-your-business information on individuals on Trump's radar. That request included phone data for not only House Intelligence Committee member Adam Schiff, but for his staffers and even his family. That is seriously out of orbit for American tradition. Mind you, email has not got a long tradition, but a keen legal mind like Demers's could certainly have drawn an inference or two that you Just. Do. Not. Do. That. Unlike Trump, we know Demers has read the Constitution.
Maybe Demers swayed and bent and changed his standards right alongside his fellow Republicans. Whatever he did, he's the one under scrutiny now.
So you think that the DOJ expected these investigations to stay secret forever? Did they think that if information about the investigations went public, that it would be no big deal, that they would just apologize? Were laws broken, or just traditions? Should lawmakers step in to manage the DOJ's standards?
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/14/politics/john-demers-justice-department-leave/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2idG40gWDMLA_qxKeY9C47VUyMjnRENSeNvPoPAI72W5K_p1T3oo5ImPc
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