House subcommittee’s fight against the deep state

“And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”
— former President Donald Trump, March 4, 2023 

When former President Donald Trump recently declared himself an agent of justice for recent victims of federal government corruption, he was making a pledge to my family — one of the dozens of families assaulted by weaponized federal government agencies. He promised all American families justice for the pain several bogus investigations have caused our nation.

But the former president was also talking to the government bureaucrats and bosses who attacked us.

I worked with deep state types often in my 40-year career in government and politics, first with the military, through Congress and in the White House. When Mr. Trump ran for president, these powerful men and women unleashed the full force of the federal government on U.S. citizens, Trump advisers and others who opposed their Democrat party allies.

The Department of Justice focused on me for two years of the corrupt Russia investigations and tore our family apart. As an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services during COVID-19, I watched as “deep science” made the deep state look like kindergarten. In the last few days, I have talked to several of the remnants — the Trump allies who “were wronged and betrayed,” gutted by endless investigations — and they are hopeful that retribution is on the menu.

While we don’t yet know the party’s 2024 nominee, the new Republican-led House can help the next GOP president deliver justice to the criminals who corrupted our government. Victims I talked to are looking to the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to lay the groundwork for real reform.

Led by one of the most effective House Republicans, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, the weaponization panel has loads of promise. My family lives in Mr. Jordan’s Ohio district, and they tell me I can trust him, as do my fellow graduates of Deep State University. But I worked in Congress long enough to know a congressional committee is only as strong as its membership, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York Republican, stands out.

As a native of New York state, I watched Ms. Stefanik’s first congressional campaign closely in 2014. Her deep state fight started in 2016. Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Andrew Weissmann and their allies created the Russia collusion hoax, targeting candidate Trump, his campaign and people like me — his longtime friends. By March 2017, Ms. Stefanik was on the offensive.

Ms. Stefanik was the first member of Congress to press Mr. Comey, who was then FBI director. Her line of questioning opened up the inquiry to expose the Russian hoax. When Mr. Trump chose Ms. Stefanik for his impeachment defense team in 2020, she emerged as a leader, exposing the lies of California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff. Ms. Stefanik stood in the breach against an onslaught of Democrats’ outside money and endured nasty profiles from the mainstream media. It didn’t faze her; she fought the deep state and won.

This is the Elise Stefanik I know: She delivers on her promises. She has guts; she never retreats. And we, the remnants, are ready for this kind of leader to expose the deep state. Ms. Stefanik, a strong Trump supporter, will play a major role as an investigator. Focused on Trump-style retribution while chairing the majority GOP Conference, she is a real threat to bad people.

Her committee assignments are key. A member of the House Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee subcommittee on intelligence, she can leverage those panels to empower weaponization activity. In a recent Intelligence Committee hearing, she forced FBI Director Chris Wray to agree to stop stonewalling and provide witnesses to weaponization.

It gets even better. In the first weaponization meeting, Ms. Stefanik exposed that DOJ targeted parents concerned about critical race theory being taught in schools. She promised the House GOP will expose the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate the lockdowns and mandates. She also pledged to determine why DOJ authorized a raid of Mr. Trump‘s home over classified documents but not President Biden’s, even though Mr. Biden had no lawful authority to store classified information in his garage. 
 
Ms. Stefanik recently said the weaponization subcommittee will “take on the deep state, expose the rampant corruption in the DOJ and FBI and protect our constitutional rights.” If so, Mr. Jordan and his investigators can light the fuse on the most important work of the next Republican presidency: Exposing deep state criminals to reform our corrupt government.

Already, the subpoenas are flowing. And yes, in my house, that’s called retribution.

This article was originally published in The Washington Times