Beyond the thirst for clicks, ratings and perpetual outrage there’s an aspect to the Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Rudolph Contreras story that deserves some attention.

♦First, the DOJ wasn’t withholding anything from congress. The DOJ told congress they (or their staff) could review any of the documents, including Strzok and Page texts, at the DOJ in their totality; as a consequence of the ongoing oversight.

However, if congress -or their staff- wanted to take possession of the documents, they would only be allowed to *remove* redacted copies.

The outrage machine shouts “cover up“, etc.

No. Not quite.

Why?

Because the IG investigative documents, in addition to being part of an internal review, are also evidence within an ongoing criminal investigation. Hence, the earlier statement by AG Jeff Sessions.  The statement everyone, sucked-into and/or participating within the outrage machine, loves to ignore.

Again, before grabbing your Sean Hannity branded pitchfork, think.

With a dual track within the IG investigative findings: ¹“internal wrongdoing” and ²“potential criminal conduct”, you realize that evidence collected by the IG -that may have prosecutorial value- will be closely protected by the investigative unit, including the Sessions assigned prosecutor, and not released.

It is not hard to see the “why” when you set aside emotion and ignore the outrage machine.

♦Second, the bad news is… the entity pushing today’s outrage du jour is the House Oversight Committee. Remember, the basic motives behind every single effort of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are political.

This is the Chaff and Countermeasures committee formerly led by Darryl Issa,… then Jason Chaffetz… and now Trey Gowdy.

Yeah, that.  The House Oversight Committee is 100% political and structured to protect the Swamp 100% of the time.  Issa, Chaffetz, Rosterhead…. same/same.

So what’s going on?

Easy.  Occam’s Razor: Congressional “staff”, (they call them “investigators” when they need to make it sound better and more important), find the current “Rudy” text messages as outlined while reviewing DOJ investigative material.

The “investigators” then go back to the House -with their notes- and GOP political leadership huddles to determine which politician could gain the most benefit and exploit the opportunity for outrage the best.  This “Rudy” reveal is rinsed through a political prism and assigned to Mark Meadows and thereby the House Oversight Committee.

Yes, the Page Strzok texts tell a story, likely the outline of a criminal story.  However, we must avoid the shouting heads like Hannity and Sara Carter who take little bits and make exploitative claims for self-indulgent financial reasons; while they simultaneously do not accept -or discuss- the full measure of why a very specific and deliberate process must be followed.

See the shouting for what it is, a distracting self-interest. And stay focused on the big picture.

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