Guilty! — But Not Really Guilty: When a Criminal Justice System No Longer Treats the Accused Equally Under the Law; Ex-Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Rants He’ll ‘proudly Do My time’ as He Reports to Prison

Guilty! — But Not Really Guilty?

When a criminal justice system no longer treats the accused equally under the law.

In 2011, then Homeland Security Advisor to President Obama, John Brennan, swore before Congress that drone-targeted assassination missions near the Pakistani border had not led to “a single collateral death.”

That was an obvious lie with grave consequences, given that Brennan was sworn under oath and was one of the top officials in the US national security community. Yet there were no subsequent repercussions.

In fact, the opposite occurred. Brennan was subsequently rewarded with a 2013 appointment as CIA Director.

But the next year, once again, Brennan lied to Congress, assuring the Senate Intelligence Committee that his CIA had not secretly accessed senate staffers’ computers. Again, there were no consequences for his repeated lies. Instead, Brennan, upon retirement, went on to be an MSNBC/NBC analyst who helped to promulgate the Russian collusion/laptop disinformation hoaxes.

In 2013, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also lied under oath to Congress when he laughably stated that the National Security Agency did not spy on American citizens. Later, when called out by senators, Clapper fudged in a televised interview. “I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful, manner by saying no.” Try that contortion with the IRS.

Some members of Congress referred a criminal complaint of perjury against Brennan to then Attorney General Eric Holder. Nothing happened. Again, one of the chiefs of the American national security community was exempted after lying to members of Congress.

Clapper went on to a lucrative position as a CNN national security analyst, and at one point he claimed that Trump was a Putin “asset.”

As far as Eric Holder, he had earlier defied a congressional subpoena and was held in contempt by the House. The Department of Justice, however, chose not to pursue the complaint. Later in the Trump administration, Trump adviser Peter Navarro would be sentenced to four months in jail for similarly resisting a congressional subpoena. Was it a crime or not to resist a congressional subpoena?

The Justice Department’s Inspector General concluded that Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director and interim director, had lied repeatedly to a variety of officials, including FBI Director James Comey, various FBI agents, and officials of the Office of the Inspector General.

On some of these occasions, McCabe was sworn under oath.

Yet in 2020, the Department of Justice chose not to pursue the IG’s criminal referrals. McCabe went on to become an outspoken CNN News contributor. Note that Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s National Security Advisor, was indicted—and convicted—for similarly lying to the FBI in 2017.

In 2016, an FBI investigation found that Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, had violated the law by transmitting and receiving classified information over an unsecured private server. —>READ MORE HERE

Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro rants he’ll ‘proudly do my time’ as he reports to prison”

Former Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro surrendered himself at a Miami federal prison Tuesday, vowing to “proudly” serve out a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.

During a lengthy press conference outside the prison gates, the 74-year-old Navarro cast himself as a martyr who had done his duty to the republic by defying a congressional subpoena from a House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

“Every person who has taken me on this road to that prison is a friggin’ Democrat and a Trump-hater,” fumed Navarro, now the highest-ranking former member of former President Donald Trump’s administration to be tossed behind bars.

“When I walk in that prison today, the justice system, such as it is, will have done a crippling blow to the constitutional separation of powers and executive privilege,” he added while laying out grievances against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Congress, and the Justice Department.

In September, a jury convicted Navarro on two counts of contempt of Congress after he ignored a subpoena for documents and testimony, citing executive privilege.

Navarro is appealing his conviction, but has exhausted all of his avenues to stay out of the clink in the meantime.

On Monday, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts dealt the final blow and rejected Navarro’s last-ditch appeal to remain free.

Navarro was adamant that he was merely “doing my duty to this country” by adhering to executive privilege, which grants a president authority to withhold certain material from Congress. —>READ MORE HERE

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