It’s Getting Weird

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

I think it is kind of weird that a high official in the Internal Revenue Service decided to take the 5th Amendment to avoid answering questions of a Senate Committee investigating IRS political shenanigans.

The 5th Amendment says: “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

The 5th Amendment is usually invoked by gangsters, hucksters, murderers and people implicated in complex gambling schemes. Usually, when somebody decides to take the 5th amendment, you can pretty much be assured that person is guilty of something.

What is Lois Lerner guilty of? Speaking the truth about her colleagues at the IRS at an American Bar Association meeting?

Like I said, this is weird.

It is also weird that the Attorney General, Mr. Holder, recused himself when the Department of Justice decided to seize the phone records of the Associated Press. I thought that was a weird answer to another Congressional committee.

Why would Eric Holder recuse himself from such a major decision? Why wouldn’t he tell anybody that he was recusing himself or put it writing or in any other way, make note of it? Why wouldn’t he tell the President about this kind of activity?

Did he recuse himself because he was afraid that he couldn’t keep a secret? Was he recused because he doesn’t have the proper clearances? Did he recuse himself because he knew what his DOJ was doing was wrong and he wanted plausible deniability? So many questions. This all is getting so weird.

Why did the White House not know that the intelligence world was going hard after James Rosen (who is perhaps the nicest guy in journalism, bar none)? Why didn’t they know that Team Holder was doing everything they could to track down a Fox News journalist and maybe more than just one journalist at Fox?

Did the President know about how the CIA or the FBI or the DIA was screwing around with Sheryl Attkisson’s computer? Attkisson has been pretty tough on the Administration, so tough that her boss, who happens to be the brother of the National Security Agency’s Communications Director, has told her to knock it off. But she won’t knock it off, and that is pissing off the higher-ups who have this great connection with the Obama Administration, and in this world of deception and intimidation, it is never a bad idea to have friends in really high places.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Attkisson hired up by Fox, which happens to be the last news network with enough balls to take on the gang from Chicago.

All of this is getting very weird.

When the President tells us that he has recused himself from these scandals, we know we are in real trouble.

I don’t like it. Not one bit.

Editor’s Note: John Feehery worked for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans in Congress. Feehery is president of Quinn Gillespie Communications. He is a contributor to The Hill’s Pundits Blog and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com.