Be Careful What You Wish For

We should remind a few groups in Washington of the old saying, Be Careful What You Wish For.  The predilections of some of these groups for legal action, on almost any pretext, is going to shine a light on people who don't want to have that kind of attention.  Case in point....

Today's WS Journal there is a good explanation of the background on how it came to be that the House Ethics Committee took up the case of fellow Member Devin Nunez.  You remember that on March 22nd, Mr. Nunez gave a press conference where he told the public that there was "incidental collection" on U.S citizens during surveillance of others.  As the Journal points out, it is a violation of FISA procedures to disclose a FISA action, though it is not clear if that was the essence of the complaint.

The Journal mentions two groups, Democracy 21 and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [one almost has to chuckle at that name] who asked Congress to investigate the statement Nunez made.  You don't have to look very far to find out who finances these groups.  It is supposed to appear that these two civic-minded watchdogs wrote a nice letter to the Members and asked them to look into the actions.  If that were true, civic bodies elsewhere in the United States could get together and write to the Ethics Committee Members and they might take up a complaint.  Perhaps the same groups that think they can recommend impeachment of the US President can joint this effort, if they haven't already.  I have a few things I want to have investigated on the financing of the Clinton Foundation and some Congressional representatives during the election.  Of course, the Committee would be busy if every complaint like this were to be taken seriously.  They aren't.

Believe me, I am all for tightening up the disclosure rules for classified information which seem to have lost their way in the last 10 years.  Many will say it was longer ago than that, but the degree and sensitivity of the information has increased over the past 10.  There is probably more information disclosed in the questions of Congressional Members and the responses in Committee Hearings than in any other institutional setting in the U.S.  The Chinese press covers them extensively.  The Committee seem to have forgotten why closed sessions are supposed to be done, but they don't get any video they can use in their campaigns and local news shows.   Behind those closed doors they will not be seen doing anything.

There are plenty of investigations going on right now that point to the obvious.  Foreign governments want to influence our leaders.  They buy some with campaign contributions that are washed through local groups.  They influence with gifts that would make great material for the House Ethics Committee.  They help facilitate travel to their countries for these "fact finding" trips.  That is just the tip of the iceberg.

Of course this case is different - as both sides will tell you - because this did involve a FISA warrant, didn't it?  I hope they find out why that warrant was issued and who signed off on the chop channel for putting it together.  I hope they find out if Susan Rice really did disclose the US Person in that case.  Be careful what you wish for.