SWAMP THING: Sen. Richard Burr Downplaying FBI Scandal

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The continuously developing scandal involving the FBI’s missing text messages and the potential for high criminal offense by agents and senior leaders of the law enforcement turned ‘intelligence’ gathering agency is rocking Washington, D.C..

“Conservative lawmakers from four separate committees are raising alarm bells about a tranche of missing text messages between two FBI agents assigned to the investigation into Russia and President Trump’s campaign, saying it calls into “further question the credibility and objectivity of certain officials at the FBI.””

Predictably, the Democrats are trying their best to downplay it all, or smearing concerned Americans as whacky conspiracy theorists. That makes sense considering that, once unraveled, this ball of yarn may spin a tale of the FBI letting Hillary Clinton off the hook before an investigation was even complete, tapped the President-elect’s communications illegally, and contained high officials meeting in secret to bur the Trump presidency in manufsctured scandals.

Democrats will be Democrats. But now a leading Senate Republican, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is downplaying the scandal, too. None other than our very own Richard Burr.

“There are also signs the GOP is not united on the subject of the FBI, an organization that historically has not been seen as an enemy of the Republican Party.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), whose panel is also investigating Russia’s election interference, told CNN Tuesday that the FBI had been cooperative in providing documents to Congress.

“I’m not going to read anything into it other than it may be a technical glitch at the bureau,” he said of the missing texts. “The fact that they have provided the rest of them certainly doesn’t show an intent to try to withhold anything.””

Well, providing some information and not providing other information is a bit troubling. If you provided some of your income information to the IRS, but not other key details because you experienced a “glitch,” it is doubtful that the men in black would be sympathetic and keep your tax status in good standing.

This is the same Richard Burr that fought tooth and nail, along with the FBI, to force Apple to unlock the iPhone used by the San Bernardino Jihadist murderers.

That noble attempt to bring answers to how a  tragedy transpired ran afoul of freedom and intellectual property rights, and Apple resisted.

Shouldn’t Burr, the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, be demanding answers here as well? His trust in, and closeness to the FBI seems to be clouding his judgement here.

These missing messages are somewhere, and can be accessed, no doubt. Even if a glitch prevented the recording of thousands of agency phone data, we all know there are ways to recover such information.

The NSA, for one, is constantly sweeping up this data (unconstitutionally) and if there was ever a time to scan their databases for specific data, that time is now.

Trump, as Commander-in-Chief, should order the NSA to dig up these missing messages and present them to congress.

And Burr, as chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, should stop vouching for possibly treasonous state actors and start doing the job he was elected to do.