Pirate's Cove

The Fish Wrap wasn’t upset that the Biden DOJ was investigating Trump after he left office, raiding his home, searching through his wife’s lingerie, coordinating with state level Democrats to prosecute Trump, and so forth. Nor all the people who worked for Trump who were put in jail. Nor what the Obama admin did when Trump started running in 2015.

Under Patel, F.B.I. Scours Its Records to Discredit Trump Opponents

The F.B.I. has had many missions in the more than half-century since its founding director, J. Edgar Hoover, died. It has chased spies, foiled terrorist attacks, ushered in a modern era of innovation and decreased crime rates.

But under its current chief, Kash Patel, the bureau has added payback to its portfolio. Agents now scour the F.B.I.’s vast holdings to root out negative information about those who once investigated President Trump, according to current and former officials, lawmakers and lawyers representing some of those targeted.

Administration officials say it is an essential task in ending what they denounce as the “weaponization” of law enforcement by Democrats. Critics say it is little more than using federal law enforcement to carry out a partisan opposition research operation.

Almost from the moment Mr. Patel took over the bureau in February, F.B.I. personnel have been poring over case files, internal Justice Department correspondence and other sensitive materials to find documents intended to expose and discredit federal law enforcement officials who investigated Mr. Trump and his allies.

The material appears to be coming from at least three streams. There is the bureau’s production of files in response to longstanding inquiries by Republicans on Capitol Hill; documents Mr. Patel’s team has found through self-generated searches; and self-described whistle-blowers, including at least one from the F.B.I., who have passed on sensitive documents from Trump investigations, including grand jury information that by law is supposed to remain confidential.

In other words, they’re looking at real information on how members of the FBI, DOJ, and others used their power to go after Orange Man Bad, and the Times and Dems do not like this.

Much of it has related to Arctic Frost, the investigation the F.B.I. led into efforts by Mr. Trump and others to overturn the 2020 presidential election. That inquiry ultimately formed the core of the election interference case brought in Washington by Jack Smith, the special counsel who twice indicted Mr. Trump and is a frequent target of the president’s calls for retribution.

“Arctic Frost was a runaway train that swept up information from hundreds of innocent people simply because of their political affiliation,” Mr. Grassley said last month.

The Times didn’t care about those people. They were collateral damage on the way to Get Trump.

Mr. Grassley has requested information about Mr. Smith’s inquiry since 2022, and repeatedly expressed frustration with the Biden administration’s refusal to turn over internal documents. That padlocked door has been kicked open by Mr. Patel.

The Times doesn’t seem to have a problem with the Biden admin hiding info from Congress. Anyhow, Perhaps the Times should have been advising Democrats to not do what they did, because payback is a bitch. The Times actually cheered the partisan investigations of Trump and his people on.