The Stream

The Brew: Mysteries Abound in Nation’s Capital

By Al Perrotta Published on May 3, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Happy Friday!

Today’s Brew is filled with mysteries. And who doesn’t love mysteries?

The Case of the President-Hunting Prosecutor

Yesterday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) posted video of a closed-door interview with former DOJ prosecutor Mark Pomerantz from last May. Pomerantz is the guy who worked for the New York County district attorney, digging night and day like a rabid dog to build a criminal case against former President Donald Trump. When D.A. Alvin Bragg refused to bring charges and closed the investigation, Pomerantz quit, then wrote a scathing book about how guilty Trump was. The next thing you know, Bragg changed his mind, brought 34 charges he’d previously rejected against Trump — and that’s why Trump is in a courtroom today.

Last May, Pomerantz was brought before the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. When asked about his pursuit of Trump, including whether he committed any criminal acts in that effort, Pomerantz pleaded the Fifth over and over. And over.

This does not mean he’s guilty, of course. And Gaetz can easily take advantage of one legitimate reason Pomerantz would plead the Fifth, knowing he would then have to answer any connected questions the same way. But it is very curious. What’s to be hidden?

Interestingly, Bragg filed his charges against Trump just weeks before Pomerantz testified. If Pomerantz spoke openly and truthfully about the pursuit of Trump, the trial would have been over before it began.

The Case of the Crooked Spooks

CIA and other intelligence agency directors conspired to keep intel away from Trump, spied on him during his campaign and presidency, and still spy on him now. This according to a CIA contractor who blabbed to a female operative working for James O’Keefe’s OMG.

Amjad Fseisi was a project manager working in Cyber Operations for the CIA and NSA. He claimed Trump was denied full intel because he’d “disclose it,” and went on to accuse Trump of being a Russian asset. (Are we sure he worked for the CIA and not MSNBC? We know now the CIA long understood the Trump-Russia collusion thing was bogus.)

Fseisi said, “We also have people that monitor his ex-wife.” (Marla Maples? The actress? Or perhaps he was referring to Ivana Trump, who died in 2022 after a fall at her home — not to suggest a connection.)

The CIA denied Fseisi’s assertions and declared he no longer works for the agency.

O’Keefe asked Trump for his reaction, which was vintage Trump: “What’s shocking is to see how stupid somebody can be.” Rather than rip the CIA directors who spied on him, he blasted Fseisi for opening up to some woman he’d met. Trump urged the CIA — if Fseisi is for real — to “get rid of him.”

The underlying theme to Trump’s response to O’Keefe exposing the fact that CIA directors kept intelligence from him and have been spying on him all along? “Tell me something I don’t know.”

The Case of the Missing Audio Tape

Another Deep State mystery: Why won’t the Justice Department release the audio tapes of Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur — especially since the transcript is already out? Judicial Watch says the DOJ rejected its FOIA request, under Exemptions 6 & 7.

According to Judicial Watch:

Exemption 6 applies to “personnel and medical files and similar files” when disclosure of such information “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

Exemption 7 (C) applies to “records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes,” the disclosure of which “could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

But the president of the United States was being interviewed about his handling of classified material. It wasn’t personal; it was public business. Our business. How could the audio invade his privacy when what he said is already public knowledge?

Is it because the audio would reveal to the American voters the true extent of Biden’s mental incapacity, thereby invading his medical privacy? But doesn’t our right to know our elected president’s medical condition outweigh his privacy when that condition directly impacts his ability to do the job? We’re not talking about Biden’s interview with his doctors. We’re talking about his interview with a special counsel.

So it really is no mystery why the DOJ is refusing to release the tape to the public or even Congress. The department is protecting Biden from the audio being used in the presidential campaign. One way we know that to be true? As Judicial Watch notes, Biden could simply waive his privacy rights.

The Case of the Lengthening Short List

A new name is suddenly being floated as Donald Trump’s potential VP pick: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Actually, NBC News started discussing this possibility in March, saying Rubio was “gaining traction” — but in the past couple of days, speculation has grown hot.

That’s a mystery thriller. Could Trump really make the guy he mocked as “Little Marco” his #2? That’d be a plot twist in the body politic.

Don Jr.’s supposedly pushing Rubio. And Trump came to like and respect Rubio during his term. Plus, he doesn’t go around shooting dogs (like other contenders we could name).

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However, the Constitution makes Rubio a likely no-go for the same reason as DeSantis: The Twelfth Amendment says if both a president and vice president inhabit the same state when state electors cast their votes in December, the ticket could lose its Electoral College votes. And Republicans who’ve spoken to Trump tell The Bulwark he’s definitely “not moving” to another state. Given Trump’s need for Florida’s 30 electoral votes, Rubio is a long shot.

Bloomberg reports Rubio will be with Trump at a donors’ retreat this weekend in West Palm Beach, along with three other people thought to be in consideration: Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Trump says he expects to announce his pick in July. Putting on my Sherlock Holmes cap, I suspect this story and event is a red herring. None of those four people bring what Trump needs: someone who can help appeal to disenchanted Democrats and suburban women — and someone the Deep State would fear. You could be looking at a sizable chunk of the next Trump Cabinet, though.

With the weekend fast approaching, why don’t we throttle down with a couple of humorous tweets from two of our more interesting senators?

The Case of Transformed Senator

One of the great mysteries of 2024 is the transformation of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman. It’s not just that he’s improved by leaps and bounds in his recovery from a stroke and (it thankfully appears) his severe bout with depression, but he is sounding more and more moderate by the day.

The latest? Showing support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s ban on lab-grown meat. What’s more, Fetterman did so in a manner that sounds more Sen. John Kennedy (R-MS) than Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Speaking of Kennedy, he was enjoying himself far too much at a hearing earlier this week. He was grilling an official from the Department of Housing and Urban Development who was excited about dumping another $31K onto the base price of houses to make them energy efficient. He expressed his astonishment by asking, “Have you people at HUD been living in outer space?” A flabbergasted Kennedy did not stop there.

Kennedy was still going even after his time expired. He may well still be going.

Along The Stream

Al’s Afternoon Tea captured the latest on the campus protests, Biden’s reaction — and the huge amount of money being raised for the UNC frat boys who heroically defended the American flag from anti-Israel, anti-American mobs.

The Stream’s Nancy Flory explains how “Polls Show Gen Z Voters Misinformed About Israel, Palestine, and Hamas.”

Keep your eye out this afternoon for John Zmirak’s “Unconstitutional Speech Bans: It May Sound Good, but Don’t Fall into This Philosemitic Booby Trap.” He shows how such laws, whether here or abroad, have always ended up coming back to bite Christians and conservatives, without helping Jews.

Have yourself a great weekend.

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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