August 17, 2018

Trump Planning Revenge on Bruce Ohr Just Because He Can

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From the Washington Post:

BREAKING NEWS: Trump says he plans to revoke security clearance for Justice Department official Bruce Ohr “very quickly”

Bruce Ohr used to be an associate deputy attorney general and presumably still has a job at that level—although DOJ refuses to say exactly what he does. It’s likely that he can’t operate without security clearance, which means that Trump is basically firing him from his current job. Maybe demoting him too, since I’m not sure anyone at that level can operate without security clearance.

Trump clearly has no excuse for this except for his threadbare theories about the involvement of Ohr and his “beautiful wife” in the FBI’s Russia investigation. Ohr was in occasional contact with Christopher Steele of “Steele dossier” fame during 2016 and 2017, thanks to the fact that he already knew Steele because they had both worked on organized crime issues. Beyond that, it’s not clear that he did much of anything since the FBI was aware of the Steele dossier well before Steele ever mentioned it to Ohr.

But it doesn’t matter. Trump is obsessed with him and considers him an enemy to be retaliated against. Will any Republican complain about this?¹ Or will they just shrug as usual? I guess my money is on shrug as usual.

That is, any Republican actually running for office in November.

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In this month’s Summer Membership Drive, we’ve got to raise $200,000 to support more crucial investigations. This is a pivotal moment in our nation, with democracy on the line, and we can only do this work because readers like you step up. Every donation, of any amount, makes a difference here. We cannot do this work without you.

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