https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opini...on-balloon
"...Not even any but the blindest of their supporters believe the Russia nonsense anymore. I guess that's why we have the current nonsense.
So, as I wrote in my Wall Street Journal review of Fear, “Those anticipating Mr. Trump’s downfall for collusion with Russia will be disappointed by Fear.” Trump repeats his statement, made after Comey informed the president-elect of the lurid allegations in the dossier prepared by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, that the dossier was “a garbage document” which “never should have been part of an intelligence briefing.”
But that’s just about all that partisans like House Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Adam Schiff refer to when they say that there’s plenty of evidence of Russian collusion already on the table?
Intelligence leaders like former CIA Director John Brennan and law enforcement officials at Comey’s FBI may have been prompted to investigate Trump’s Russian ties by the candidates bizarre statements praising Vladimir Putin, calling for accommodation with Russia and calling on Russia to release emails they may have obtained from Hillary Clinton's illegal server.
But now, two years later, it’s apparent that Trump’s foreign policy is less friendly to Russia than his predecessor’s.
And it’s also clear, thanks to my Washington Examiner colleague Byron York’s reporting, that that Russia platform plank that was supposedly watered down at the Republican National Convention was actually toughened up.
Mainstream media, as is so often the case, simply got that story wrong, in an apparent attempt to make Trump look bad. Recent examples: the Washington Post’s story on passport denials that “withheld, distorted key facts” according to the Huffington Post, and the New York Times hit piece on Nikki Haley that blamed her for overspending on curtains ordered in October 2016. Animus gone wild is the only explanation for such blunders in attacking a target-rich environment like the Trump administration.
Before 2016, I presumed that no serious person disagreed with the proposition that, as a general matter, it is undesirable to have law enforcement and intelligence agencies investigating political campaigns, particularly those of the party in opposition to the president. The potential for stifling free political debate and partisan competition is obvious...."
"...So, it’s unsurprising to read that the intelligence and law enforcement agencies are resisting or slow-walking a promised presidential order to declassify their documents and deliberations. And that congressional Democratic leaders are insisting that the agencies submit such declassified material to them before making it public. They don’t want people to know that intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been violating the general rule that they should not interfere in electoral politics...."
