No, Marsha Blackburn, federal law enforcement personnel have not “labeled parents interested in education as domestic terrorists.”
Anyway, the Tennessee Republican Senator joined the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who on Tuesday questioned prominent figures including FBI official Paul Abbate. As seen with other Republicans, Blackburn raised questions about a document the federal law enforcement agency holds that outlines unsubstantiated allegations of a bribery scheme involving the Bidens. (For some time, Republicans didn’t even publicize details of the nonetheless widely distributed claims, but some information — tying the claimed situation to, for instance, the foreign company Burisma — has since emerged.)
“Senator first, as I said before, your assertion — or anyone who makes the assertion — that the FBI is politicized, I reject it, wholeheartedly,” Abbate said. “It’s wrong. And it is not true.”
After Blackburn asked a frankly ridiculous question about whether the FBI’s job was to protect Biden or to defend the country — as though it was an open question what those in power would say, Abbate adeptly shut it down. “The job of the FBI is to protect the country, keep people safe, and uphold the Constitution of our great country, period,” the witness said. “That’s what we work to do every day. Objectively — there are not two standards of justice. There is only one. It’s applied equally to each and every person.”
Blackburn, of course, contended otherwise, arguing that such was also the perception of many Americans. And why might that be? Might it be because (perhaps purposefully) ignorant Republicans religiously refuse to promote a narrative other than the idea of a politicized FBI, no matter the available evidence? She also questioned Abbate about alleged redactions made before the House Oversight Committee recently reviewed the document containing those allegations, implying a nefarious intent behind alleged concealments that were made. During the same hearing, Abbate also faced questions from other Republican Senators like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, who covered similar ground, accusing law enforcement of so-called stonewalling though the substance of the document was made available to House Oversight.
Watch Blackburn’s questions below:
