Seeing the FBI investigate a missing Ashley Biden diary, reportedly raiding the home of Project Veritas' James O'Keefe, is an alarming abuse of power by the Justice Department, according to constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley on Sunday.
''So why the raids?'' Turley asks on his online blog. ''Since when does the FBI [conduct] raids over missing diaries?
''The FBI can cite the interstate elements of the alleged theft as raising a federal crime. However, what is the crime? It is not clear if they are suggesting that the responsible parties were seeking to sell the diary or that there was some national security element (which would be bizarre since Biden's daughter was writing before her father ever became president).''
Turley, who testified for House Democrats in the first impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump, said there are a ''host of unanswered questions,'' raising five key legal questions amid the FBI-led raids of journalists, writing:
- ''What was the context for the diary’s loss? (Did Ashley Biden leave the diary in a room or was it stolen?)
- ''What is the alleged federal crime (and what is the precedent for a major federal investigation over such an alleged theft)?
- ''What precautions were taken by the Biden Administration in light of the claimed media status of the targeted individuals?
- ''Why was there a delay in this action being taken if the alleged theft occurred a year ago?
- ''Has this matter been under investigation for a year and did the White House request the intervention of the FBI?''
''Regardless of how one feels about Project Veritas, there should be calls from media outlets for some answers to these basic questions,'' Turley concluded. ''Likewise, Congress should be seeking such answers as part of its oversight responsibilities.''
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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