by WorldTribune Staff, May 6, 2018
A U.S. federal judge and a former GOP campaign worker spoke out loudly last week on what each said was out of control ‘Swamp’ politics.
On May 4, District Judge T.S. Ellis rebuked special counsel Robert Mueller’s “unfettered” authority in the Trump-Russia investigation which includes prosecuting financial crimes such as those lodged against one-time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Ellis inquired as to why Mueller had not problem passing the Michael Cohen case to the Southern District of New York but continues to handle the prosecution of Manafort on financial allegations unrelated to Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign.
“I don’t see what relation this indictment has with what the special counsel is authorized to investigate,” Ellis said. “You don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud. … What you really care about is what information Mr. Manafort could give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump or lead to his prosecution or impeachment.”
Ellis added: “What we don’t want in this country, we don’t want anyone with unfettered power. It’s unlikely you’re going to persuade me the special counsel has unlimited powers to do anything he or she wants.”
Former U.S. attorney Joe diGenova called it “a smashmouth takedown” of Mueller. “To question the integrity, in essence, of Mr. Mueller, because of the nature of the case that he has in front of him in federal court, is truly unprecedented.”
DiGenova added: “This was a remarkable dressing down for Mr. Mueller. What it shows is that seeping out into the federal court system and judges is a sense that not only is the Mueller investigation out of control, but the supervision of it by Rod Rosenstein is either non-existent or out of control. That is a very bad sign for Mr. Mueller and Mr. Rosenstein.”
Meanwhile, radio host Rush Limbaugh noted that former Trump campaign associate Michael Caputo “really let the senate Intelligence Committee have it. He’s another one of these people that’s lost everything in this investigation and he didn’t do anything and he doesn’t know anything because nothing happened. He lost his home. He’s in the process of having to go out and find a job hoping to recoup this and still have money to raise his kids. He says he needs to go out and earn $125,000 a year to try to replace what he lost, defending himself in this investigation.”
Caputo “was just loaded for bear … with both Tucker Carlson on Fox and with Anderson Cooper on CNN,” Limbaugh said, adding “when I saw it, I mean, I started pounding this desk, started shouting, ‘Right on, right on. It’s about time somebody outside of this program said this.’
“And here is what it is. This is Michael Caputo last night, says he has gotten the message, with Tucker Carlson. Question: ‘So they just bankrupt you?’ ”
Caputo: “Not just me. I think other people too. I mean, a tin cup isn’t a good look, but I’ve had to open a GoFundMe page. I certainly didn’t sign up for this when I went to work for the Trump campaign. And I will never, ever, work on another Republican campaign for as long as I live. I think that’s part of this, Tucker. I think this is a punishment strategy. I think they want to destroy the president. They want to destroy his family. They want to destroy his businesses. They want to destroy his friends so that no billionaire in, let’s say 15 years, wakes up and tells his wife, ‘You know what? The country’s broken and only I can fix it.’ His wife will say, ‘Are you crazy? Did you see what happened to Donald Trump and everybody around him?’ So that’s what this is about.”
Limbaugh noted that “The reason I’m pounding the table ’cause it’s right on and it’s a point that I have been belaboring here over and over. You may have gotten tired of hearing me make the point, I’ve made it so often. It’s exactly what this is. This is the swamp telling any outsider, don’t ever try this again, because we’re gonna destroy Donald Trump and by extension anybody else who ever tries this.
“None of this is supposed to happen. And it’s even worse because they were supposed to get rid of Trump in six months. They thought all of this would force him out, to make him not want to put up with it, start attacking his family, his businesses. They hoped that Trump would say, ‘To hell with this. Nothing’s worth this. See you later. I’m outta here.’ They don’t know Trump, and they don’t know you really.”
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