Byron York: On the Trump-Russia investigation and the rule of law
Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California introduced the One President at a Time Act of 2016 which would specifically subject presidents-elect to the Logan Act. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, then the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump for a possible violation of the Logan Act.
All of that was just political posturing — not a threat to the rule of law. But unbeknownst to the public, the Obama Justice Department was using the Logan Act as a pretext to take action against the incoming administration.
When intelligence intercepts picked up Michael Flynn, the new national security adviser, talking to the Russian ambassador in late December, the Obama Justice Department saw that as a possible violation of the Logan Act. (It wasn't; many foreign policy experts saw nothing wrong with that.)
Nevertheless, four days into the Trump administration, Sally Yates, the Obama holdover leading the Justice Department, sent agents to the White House to question Flynn, ostensibly on the suspicion that he might have violated the Logan Act. (She also said she was worried that Flynn might be subject to blackmail, which seemed at least as dubious as a Logan Act violation.)
It was that interview that ultimately resulted in Flynn pleading guilty to one count of lying to the FBI.
The bottom line is, the Flynn saga, which is at the heart of the Trump-Russia investigation, appears to have hinged on a trumped-up suspicion that a new administration had broken a centuries-old law that has never been prosecuted before — when in fact, the new administration's real transgression was to make clear it would throw away many of its predecessor's policies.
The second incident that suggests the Trump investigation threatens the rule of law is the FBI's use of the Trump dossier — a Clinton campaign opposition research product — as a part of its counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.