How the United States Congress Marginalizes Itself for Party Politics

Before my budding career as a mystery / thriller author, I spent twenty-two years in law enforcement, fifteen of those as an investigator with the NYPD, both as a detective and sergeant. 

Since my books tend to have an overt political tone to them, I tend to follow the current events of the day pretty closely, so you can imagine that I was glued to my TV set this morning when FBI Director James Comey appeared before the Congressional Oversight Committee to answer questions pertaining to the Hillary Clinton investigation, specifically whether information she provided to them during her voluntary interview showed that she lied to Congress in her testimony, which was under oath.

I will admit that I didn’t have much hope going into this. My prior post about Congress abdicating its Constitutional role shows just how bad things have gotten in Washington, but this morning’s testimony highlights the true extent.

Now, let me remind you that this hearing was about Hillary Clinton’s testimony before Congress and the subsequent testimony she gave during the investigation by the FBI. The reason for this was that when she testified before Congress it was under oath.

So after opening questions by the Committee Chairman, what does the ranking member, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mi.) ask?

A question about the FBI interview with Hillary? Nope.

Anything to do with the subject of the current hearing? Nope.

No, Rep. Conyers thinks this is a good time to address police shootings and potential Russian connections for Donald Trump.

See, this is exactly why people have lost all faith in the political system.  Congress, a co-equal branch of government, has lost all credibility as it devolves deeper into the quagmire of political party cheerleading.

Rep. Conyers, the senior member of Congress, who has served since 1965, has abandoned his duties as the representative of the people and has put his party’s interests above the electorate. Let us be completely clear on this - There is certainly evidence that Hillary Clinton perjured herself before congress.

Consider the following:

I have heard a lot of people, who have never handled this type of material, make excuse after excuse about things they know nothing about: Classification markings, retroactive classification, whether there were markings, and I could go on forever. Understand one thing, Hillary Clinton, the woman President Obama called the most qualified person ever, was the Secretary of State. She knew, or should have known, whether the information she dealt with was classified. Ignorance of the law is not a defense and, repeat after me, you DO NOT need intent to commit the crime you only have to do it.

It was not CIA Director, General David Petraeus’, intent to jeopardize national security, but he was still charged with providing classified information. He pled guilty to a misdemeanor and accepted a plea deal of probation along with a $100,000.00 fine. Understand that Petraeus’ mistress, Paula Broadwell, was a journalist, a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army and an Intelligence Officer.  Broadwell had the security clearance to handle classified information, but was not given authority to remove the information “from authorized storage facilities” or store the classified information “in unauthorized locations,” according to the affidavit. Unfortunately for her, her case wasn’t as cut and dry as the General. She lost her security clearence, was demoted back to major, and is still in a state of limbo.

I’m sorry, but does anyone think that what happened with Hillary Clinton and her staff was in any way different? There were people with access to her emails that had NO security clearance.

Why was Hillary’s attorney and chief of staff Cheryl Mills, given immunity in order to obtain her laptop, when the same accommodation was not afforded Paula Broadwell?  Hell the FBI gave four other people immunity and no one was prosecuted. Obviously Petraeus and Broadwell didn’t know the right people.

In my twenty-two year law enforcement career I have never seen an investigation, by what we are told is the Nation’s preeminent investigatory agency, which was so flawed on so many levels. To be fair, I don’t blame the rank and file agents, but I do lay the blame at the foot of the Director and Attorney General Lynch, who I am sure issued the marching orders.  However, that is a topic for another day.

The key issue today is the travesty that passes itself off as the people’s representatives. I don’t care what party you belong to; just understand that your elected officials are not doing the job you elected them to do. 

This morning, Rep. John Conyers highlighted what is fundamentally wrong with our government. 

Understand that I draw no distinction to party, if you can cite an example where a Republican representative did the same thing I will agree with you 100%. Each of us must look beyond party politics; we must expect our representatives to seek the truth, not to protect a political ally. The letter after a name must never come before the truth. The Rule of Law must prevail, because when it does not then the Rule of Man does and when that happens this Republic is doomed. 

If you’d like to stay up to date on the newest releases, then please like my Facebook page and feel free to follow me on Twitter.