by Printus LeBlanc
Over the 4th of July holiday, NBC News published a disturbing article alleging sexual abuse at Ohio State University. The story went out if its way to implicate a high-profile member of the Republican Party, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). The story alleges Jordan knew or should have known about the abuse at the university. The real oddity about this case is the timing and law firm at the center of the case.
For anyone that pays attention to Capitol Hill, Jim Jordan is a name on the rise. He is a member of the Freedom Caucus and has been mentioned by several conservative groups for the next Speaker of the House. Jordan is also at the tip of the spear in uncovering corruption at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Just last week, he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein got into a heated debate over the DOJ and FBI’s role in Russiagate.
If the timing wasn’t suspicious enough, the law firm involved in the matter is raising eyebrows. Perkins Coie is the counsel of record for the much of the Democrat Party, including the Democratic National Committee, both Congressional Democrat committees (DSCC & DCCC) and numerous democrat presidential committees. This firm has been at the center of many recent events.
Surely everyone remembers the DNC hack? Supposedly Russian hackers gained access to the DNC servers and gave stolen emails to WikiLeaks for dissemination. When the emails came out, it painted a damning picture of the DNC, mostly because it showed a pattern of bias by DNC officials. Instead of the DNC being a neutral party in the primary, it was clear the DNC was pulling for Hillary Clinton, and holding Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) down.
What happened when it was learned there may have been a breach at the DNC is troubling, and Perkins Coie is at the center of it. Did the firm tell the DNC to contact law enforcement and get to the bottom of the problem? Did the firm tell the DNC to hand over the server to the FBI for analysis? These should have been prudent, no-brainer moves by anyone involved in a hack, but we know that did not happen.
Instead of going to the authorities to prove there was a hack, Perkins Coie retained CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that likes to blame everything on Russia and while being proven wrong later. The firm concluded Russia was behind the hack that led to the leaked emails, not providing any forensic evidence, only a report. This is how the Russiagate story got started.
Perkins Coie role in the Russiagate story doesn’t end with its involvement in the DNC server. The firm was also at the center of the FISA abuse scandal. As the Nunes memo makes clear, the Steele Dossier was the first piece of evidence used in the FISA application used to spy on Carter Page. It wasn’t just a piece of the FISA warrant; it made up the bulk of application. Why is this so bad?
The Steele Dossier was “salacious and unverified” according to former FBI Director James Comey. Yet it was still used to spy on American citizens. What does this have to do with Perkins Coie? The DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign funded the dossier through the Perkins Coie. Fusion GPS was the firm that hired Steele to do the dossier, but the money came from the opposition political party, using the law firm as a cutout. That’s right, the dossier that started the investigation into American citizens has Perkins Coie fingerprints all over it.
Now, Perkins Coie is at the center of the issue, attempting to ensnarl Jim Jordan. When a student came forward earlier this year about the alleged abuse at Ohio State University, the university hired Perkins Coie to handle the investigation. OSU released a statement writing, “To date, Perkins Coie has interviewed more than 150 former students and witnesses and is engaged in further investigative efforts. Ohio State has shared all additional information that has come to the attention of the university with the independent investigators whose work is ongoing.”
The university also notified local police and prosecutors, but it is odd they chose to immediately go to a law firm, instead of letting police investigate. The law firm cannot convene a grand jury and bring charges of perjury. The law firm has no police powers and cannot compel someone to testify. But what the firm can do is strategically leak information about its political opponents, if it chooses to do so. This begs the question, why is this partisan law firm involved?
An investigation is warranted, and hopefully, a proper one is ongoing. But you don’t give the case to probably the most partisan law firm in the country. They are already at the center of multiple scandals involving the trampling of civil rights, and its involvement in this case only complicates matters. They have already proven politics is more important than justice, can any non-partisan really believe anything the firm puts out?
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Printus LeBlanc is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.
