The FBI declares war on Donald Trump and begins leaking his ugliest secrets

Today we learned that back in December, Trump demanded that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein pledge his personal loyalty. This isnโt shocking; Trump did the same to former FBI Director James Comey. Nor is this necessarily newsworthy in and of itself; Rosenstein is too much of a professional to have caved on such a thing, yet he still has his job. Chalk it up to Trump committing yet another act of obstruction of justice that didnโt benefit him at all, but will help further incriminate him. But hereโs the real story: why weโre now hearing about this.
Itโs fair to assume that Rosenstein handled this by the book, just as Comey did: he took detailed notes about it in case he ever needed evidence, and he told some key people at the DOJ and FBI about it in case he ever needed witnesses. Itโs impossible to believe that Rosenstein would now be leaking this information to the media himself, because heโs in charge of the ongoing investigation in question. That leaves us with one fairly obvious conclusion: someone at the FBI leaked this today.
This is a kick in Trumpโs teeth in the court of public opinion, because it makes him look profoundly guilty. In practical terms this also makes it much harder for Trump to get away with trying to fire Rosenstein, because it frames any such attempt in much more sinister terms. But the real upshot is this: itโs just the beginning.
Weโve reached the point where the upper levels of the FBI โ high enough up the chain to be privy to Rod Rosensteinโs conversations with Donald Trump โ are now strategically leaking dirt to expose Trumpโs criminality. This wouldnโt be appropriate under normal circumstances. But these arenโt normal circumstances. Trump is trying to dismantle the FBI before it can finish investigating his treasonous crimes. He forced out the FBI Deputy Director this week, and now the FBI has declared war on him. More leaks are coming. This was just the warm up act.
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