No member of the Trump team should agree to testify without a grant of immunity.
The risks of being trapped in procedure – even while completely innocent – are simply too great.
There are at least three federal investigatory processes underway, one by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and one each in the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
Testimony in hearings for one investigative body can easily lead to minor discrepancies with testimony during hearings led by the other two.
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The Trump team should take note of the most extraordinary case in my lifetime of process being used to destroy an innocent person – the conviction of Scooter Libby.
An independent counsel was appointed to find out who told the press that a woman named Valerie Plame was a covert Central Intelligence Operative in 2003. Her husband was a diplomat who had been critical of the Bush administration. So, the left (and naturally the media) thought this was a big deal.
The prosecutor targeted Libby, who was Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, because it would be damaging to the Bush administration before the 2004 election.
The prosecutor claimed Scooter had shared government secrets with a Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times reporter named Judith Miller.
Initially, Miller refused to testify, so – in perhaps the greatest attack on American press freedom in our lifetime – the prosecutor had Miller jailed for 85 days.
Finally, she testified that Scooter was the source after he gave her permission to break reporter confidentiality just to get her out of jail.
Libby was ultimately convicted on four counts – but not for leaking information. He was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice because of the way in which he answered questions.
The most relevant part of this story – which shows the investigation was far from an unbiased pursuit of the truth – is that Miller never even wrote that Plame was a CIA operative.
Washington Post writer Robert Novak first outed Plame as a member of the CIA in a piece on July 14, 2003. Novak was told by Richard Armitage, the No. 2 person at the State Department about Plame.
The prosecutor in the Libby case knew this, but he was focused on destroying Libby to hurt Bush – not uncovering the truth.
The prosecutor told Armitage to keep quiet in order to continue the investigation. And Armitage – who undeniably leaked the classified information to the public – was never charged.
I tell this story to illustrate clearly that the Trump team members are not going to face fair, dispassionate, balanced investigations designed to pursue truth and justice.
They are going to face a vicious, partisan, blood sport aimed at weakening Trump and destroying his administration.
Amen - We remember that well. Scooter Libby should NEVER have been charged with anything, much less convicted. Armitage was, and is, the person who should have been put behind bars.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good ...
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