Americans will always have different political views, but an overwhelming number of citizens agree that justice and accountability is a government imperative. The root of so many of our present problems are the two-tiered justice system and its consequences of corruption at the highest levels of U.S. government.
The White House East Room has displayed the portrait James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution and the nation’s fourth President. Let’s hope the Trump administration is all in on Madison’s assertion in Federalist, No. 51, that “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It has ever been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.”
If Madison’s views are prescient, we are in the end game, and we had better get this right and win.
When laws are not enforced and there are no penalties for violations, we get more law-breaking. Failing to prosecute, convict, and penalize those breaking security protocol and laws while serving in government during the Obama administration served to foster and encourage more serious crime, which has recently been showcased by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard. Her charges that a cabal within the Obama administration planned and executed a coup against incoming President Trump to undermine his Administration, call for adjudication. If conviction ensues, we are dealing with the highest crime committed against the country by U.S. citizens.
First, when a pass, or multiple successive passes are given to lawbreakers, you not only protect the lawless, but you empower and encourage would-be lawbreakers to do the same or worse. Second, when laws are not enforced, they cease to have meaning. And that’s when your nation enters a slippery slope of arbitrary and subjective rule and cronyism, which ends in ruin… such as no borders, the hollowing out of citizen rights, and politicization of government agencies, to name a few.
To understand how we got to where we are it is helpful to take a trip down memory lane starting with Obama’s first term.
In 2009 Obama Attorney General Eric Holder oversaw the ill-fated “Fast and Furious” gun-distribution-tracking program targeting the Mexican cartels which resulted in the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. When asked to testify before Congress, Holder refused to comply with a congressional subpoena for certain documents, leading to his being held in contempt of Congress in June 2012 -- a historical first for a sitting attorney general.
Lois Lerner, IRS Director of the Exempt Organizations Division, targeted and blocked the granting tax-exemption to some 250 conservative nonprofit groups, with "Tea Party" or "Patriot" in their filing names, prior to elections in 2010 and 2012. That prompted a May 2013 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, at which Lerner plead the “Fifth” -- invoking her right against self-incrimination.
Then consider Obama Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who refused to comply with State Department protocol requiring all communication to be conducted on secure government communication networks. She insisted on using her own private computer and server located in her residence, putting America’s national security information at risk.
When controversy surfaced after her State Department term was over, an FBI investigation ensued. July 5, 2016, FBI Director James Comey itemized Hillary Clinton’s actions: 1) her use of an insecure private email server; 2) Clinton’s destruction of evidence under subpoena that included 31,000 emails by “BleachBitting” her hard drive storage devices: and 3) the physical destruction by hammer blows of some 13 cell phones and communication devices. Federal law, specifically 18 U.S.C. $1519, prohibits the destruction or falsification of records with the intent to obstruct justice, with penalties up to 20 years in prison and substantial fines. Comey gave Clinton a pass, incredulously suggesting that the evidence did not meet the legal threshold for prosecution.
On September 6, 2016, Obama completed the “nuclear deal,” secretly transferring a total of $1.7 billion in cash to Iran, stacked on wooden pallets and loaded onto unmarked planes.
Five days later, September 11, 2016, the anniversary of 9/11, there was the Benghazi, Libya, attack, in which the Unted States effectively stood down on resolute defense measures, leading to four Americans -- including the U.S. ambassador -- being killed. It was immediately followed by a massive cover-up orchestrated by Obama U.N. ambassador Susan Rice.
It is important to connect the dots and not forget other key players in Obama’s national security team that included John Brennan, CIA director from 2013 to 2017; and James Clapper, director of National Intelligence from 2010 to 2017.
Brennan’s record can be traced back to the late 1990s when he was CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia at the time when visas were approved and issued to several Saudis who later became 9/11 hijackers. In 2014, under Brennan’s leadership, the CIA hacked into the computers of Senate Intelligence Committee staffers. When brought before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Brennan initially denied the wrongdoing. Later he was forced to backtrack and admit false testimony when the CIA Inspector General produced definitive evidence confirming unauthorized access.
When in March of 2013 James Clapper was providing testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was directly asked about whether the NSA collected data on the American people. Clapper told a boldfaced lie that the NSA did not conduct surveillance or collect and store any type of data on hundreds of millions of Americans, when in fact the contrary was common knowledge.
In October 2020, only three weeks prior to the presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Brennan and Clapper orchestrated and enlisted some 51 former intelligence officials to sign a public letter, to be placed in the media nationwide, accusing Trump of being a Russian asset and suggesting the New York Post's damning report on Hunter Biden’s laptop had all the hallmarks of Russian disinformation. That has all been proven false.
Now comes former Democrat DNI Tulsi Gabbard, who on Friday July 18, 2025 made recommendation to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi that Barack Obama and his national security team be “prosecuted for a treasonous conspiracy committed in 2016 and 2017 that amounted to a coup with the objective of trying to usurp President Trump from fulfilling the mandate given him by the American people.” She further stressed that “every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to ensure nothing like this ever happen again.”
One of the critical dates in Gabbard’s case was January 5, 2017, when Obama convened a White House meeting to discuss and plot tactics and strategy to undermine and disempower the duly-elected President Trump. Starting with Obama, those at that meeting turn out to be a familiar cast of characters, including former James Comey, John Brennan, James Clapper, Susan Rice, and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. Gabbard’s evidence includes other meetings and other lawbreakers involved with this seditious conspiracy.
Let us hope that Trump’s attorney general Pam Bondi has the courage to indict and prosecute lawbreakers to the full extent of the law wherever in the deep state ruling class they are found. The restoration of clear, consistent, and uniform standards of justice could be the greatest accomplishment of the Trump administration, creating a legacy in the league of Madison and the Founding Fathers. Achieving rapid progress in the restoration of equal justice under the law will help restore America’s moral capital and help open the way for national spiritual revival. Such would be cause for a true celebration of the 250th anniversary of America in 2026.
Scott S. Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger-China. His timeless book, Rediscovering America, was the number one Amazon New Release in the history genre for eight weeks. Reach him at scottp@discovery.org
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