The news today that President Trump has given Attorney General William Barr enhanced powers to investigate those who investigated ties between his presidential campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election should, at a minimum, end any discussion as to whether impeachment against this president is warranted. In using the tools of law enforcement to hunt down those who worked to defend the United States against a very real assault by Russia and examine very real links between that assault and Trump campaign officials, the president has placed revenge and personal power over any notions of patriotism, national security, or the constitutional order. Particularly chilling is the certainty that a normal investigation, while uncalled for, would doubtless conclude that, contrary to the paranoid and self-serving propaganda of the president and his allies, there is no deep state involving hundreds of people who conspired with a corrupt Obama administration to take down the coming savior prophet presidency of Donald J. Trump.
We can be assured, though, that this will be no normal investigation, but one intended to reach the fake conclusions it start with. As a former CIA chief of staff tells The New York Times in reference to the president’s order to intelligence agencies to declassify information to assist the investigation, “It’s dangerous because the power to declassify is also the power to selectively declassify, and selective declassification is one of the ways the Trump White House can spin a narrative about the origins of the Russia investigation to their point of view.” And this is in addition to the more basic problem of undermining intelligence work by possibly exposing sources and methods of U.S. intelligence. You don’t have to be an unswerving supporter of the CIA and FBI to be appalled that a president would endanger American security for the sake of his job security.
Remember — President Trump has already proclaimed that those involved in the Russia investigation are guilty of treason. This investigation is intended to prove the president’s slander. In this respect, its basis in the world of intelligence is a perfect cover, as the president’s political enemies can be targeted not only by selective declassification of intelligence, but also by allusions to made-up intelligence that they will say must remain classified.
It is still an open question as to whether an impeachment inquiry would have any chance of weakening or removing the president, or would further strengthen his hand; at this point, I’m inclined to agree with those who argue that the brokenness of the impeachment route is another sign of our broken political system. At a minimum, Democrats need to raise holy hell about this, targeting not only the president but all those Republican politicians who give him their vocal or tacit assent. But there is no question that the president has crossed yet another red line in super-charging his vendetta against his political enemies by enlisting the powers of the intelligence community against them, even at the expense of creating actual national security dangers. The president is signaling more strongly than ever that there are no lines he won’t cross to protect himself. He would destroy this country to save himself.