Special Counsel Robert Mueller has put together a team, some of whom we know about, to take on the job of investigating the various and sundry pending Russia issues, et al, about which we’ve all heard so much. Mueller himself has impeccable credentials, as Jay Caruso details here.
In discussing those he has picked for his team, however, the question has come up about political contributions. How do you feel, for example, about these credentials?
- Handed over $41,000 to Eliot Spitzer, who made it all the way to the Governor’s Mansion before his relationship with a high-priced prostitute became public. And gave almost $4500 to disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner who publicly tweeted lewd pictures of himself.
- Has no problem handing out cash to some of the most liberal politicians hailing from New York. Gave $64,000 to Andrew Cuomo, helped elect and re-elect New York mayor David Dinkins, and donated $8,900 to Chuck Schumer, one of the leading Senate Democrats advocating for amnesty and to put liberal justices on the Supreme Court.
- Is a significant backer of the corrupt Democrat machine in New York, giving $138,000 to the party over several decades. Since 1999, has personally contributed over $350,000 to New York candidates and committees, and at least an additional $50,000 through one businesses.
- Has contributed to Hillary’s New York senate and presidential campaigns, and given at least $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation (though some reports have it closer to $250,000).
- Given thousands of dollars to individuals with legal and ethical violations. Gave $56,000 to convicted felon Alan Hevesi who went to prison for a massive pay to play pension scandal. Contributed to a disgraced Queens assemblyman who stole $90,000 from a little league association. And he donated to Sheldon Silver, a former Speaker of the New York State Assembly who is facing 130 years in prison for a corruption.
Pretty unsavory, don’t you think? Well that’s not the CV of any of Mueller’s picks for the investigative team. It is in fact a list of some of the many contributions to Democrats made by Donald Trump over the years. (Source.)
Just a reminder.
Nevertheless, it is true that of the lawyers we know selected for the team, two were max donors to Hillary’s campaign last year, and those two and a third have a history of Dem donations. The 2016 cash is a pretty recent contribution. And while we can’t expect Mueller to somehow magically find people who have no opinion on politics, one would expect that his team consist of those with either no highly partisan activity (like maxed out donations) or, at the very least, a balance among the partisans (although as Jay noted checking their past donations probably wasn’t a priority in their selection). Maybe you don’t get that balance by adding Trump donors specifically, but Republican donors at least would be prudent now that the information is out there.
I must hasten to add, though, and emphatically, that in my opinion, and the learned opinion of Senator Marco Rubio, the focus of the investigation should be on our national security and ascertaining what Russia did to breach it, not on the increasingly unlikely Democrat dream of finding a smoking gun linking Donald Trump to a conspiracy with Vladimir Putin. Such a focus would be non-partisan by definition, and prior donations a trivial thing. If we are serious people. If we actually care about getting to the bottom of this. If we actually want to get this done right.
Big ifs. In the meantime, as Katie Pavlich noted in the above-linked column, the team should probably be balanced out. If for no other reason than that the President shouldn’t be the subject of an investigation conducted by so many people who share his exact taste in political contributions. You know?