The complaint was passed on to the Justice Department through both the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, and, as NBC News reported Friday, the CIA’s general counsel, Courtney Simmons Elwood. The Justice Department appears to have conducted a wholly cursory examination. The Justice Department says it did not consider other possible crimes because the referral listed only a campaign finance violation. A prosecutor examining this fact pattern would analyze it not simply, or even primarily, for a campaign finance violation. The Justice Department has offered one other excuse about the Elwood referral from the CIA.

Source: Washington Post October 06, 2019 19:52 UTC