Clueless, Clueless, Clueless (UPDATED)

One incompetent, evil lickspittle claims he's clueless about the Justice Department's seizing phone records of political opponents during his watch:

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is telling associates he had no idea his Justice Department seized phone records of two top Democratic congressional critics of then-President Donald Trump.

In the hours since The New York Times broke the news on Thursday that prosecutors subpoenaed Apple metadata from Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA), former Attorney General Sessions has privately told people that he wasn’t aware of, nor was he briefed on, the reported data seizures while he led the Trump DOJ. This week’s revelations were a surprise to him, according to a source familiar with the matter, and another person close to Sessions.

The defense Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III might have is that he recused himself from the investigation into Russia helping the former guy in the 2016 election.  That would mean the highest level authorization for the operation would be with former "institutionalist" and former guy fixer Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein. No claim of cluelessness from him yet.*

Sessions' successor -- competent, evil lickspittle William "Low" Barr -- also uses the clueless defense:

Former Attorney General William Barr on Friday distanced himself from reports that the Trump Justice Department seized communications records belonging to two prominent Democratic lawmakers who were spearheading investigations into then-President Donald Trump.

In a phone interview, Barr said he didn’t recall getting briefed on the moves.

"I don't recall" -- a well-worn phrase useful to a guilty person evading an honest answer.  Expect to hear that a lot from Low Barr.

Well, with an DOJ Inspector General investigation underway and Congressional hearings likely, too, putting these clueless lickspittles under oath to see if they'll perjure themselves is a prospect to which we look forward.  

BONUS:  Obligatory musical accompaniment.

*UPDATE:  Now Rosenstein claims he didn't know about the subpoenas, either.  Wonder who's going to be the fall guy for this...

(Image:  Sessions and Barr/ AP)

Trump DOJ Looked For Dirt On Dems, Family Members

More evidence of the disgusting politicization of the Justice Department under the former guy and William "Low" Barr:

The Justice Department in 2018 secretly subpoenaed Apple for the data of two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, as well as the data of their current and former staffers and family members, in an aggressive push by the Trump administration to determine who was leaking classified information to the news media, according to a committee official and one of the affected lawmakers.

The department sought data on two lawmakers from California who were prominent critics of President Donald Trump — Rep. Adam B. Schiff, then the panel’s ranking Democrat and now its chairman, and Rep. Eric Swalwell — the committee official and Swalwell said Thursday night. The committee official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter remains politically sensitive, said that Apple in May had notified at least 12 people connected to the panel of subpoenas for their data, and that one minor was among them.

Democrats swiftly condemned the moves, news of which followed three recent disclosures to national media organizations that the Trump Justice Department had secretly sought reporters’ phone and email records in an effort to identify the sources of leaks.

“President Trump repeatedly and flagrantly demanded that the Department of Justice carry out his political will, and tried to use the Department as a cudgel against his political opponents and members of the media. It is increasingly apparent that those demands did not fall on deaf ears,” Schiff said in a statement. “The politicization of the Department and the attacks on the rule of law are among the most dangerous assaults on our democracy carried out by the former President.”  (our emphasis)

Keep in mind, this targeting of political opponents, and their families, by the former guy and his lickspittle AG was not for the purpose of ferreting out people who might have compromised national security, but was entirely to find out who was exposing wrongdoing by the former guy and others in his assministration.  That lickspittle AG, William Barr, lied to a Senate committee when he feigned ignorance on whether the former guy had asked him open any investigations.  Add that to the already long list of particulars for why Barr should lose his law license.

Meanwhile, you can bet that Rep. Schiff in particular will pursue this with the Justice Department to find out who else was a party to this (to use a former guy phrase) "witch hunt."

(Photo: Michael Reynolds/EPA)