The Washington Post: Opinion: Republicans’ Grand Hypocrisy on Partisan Hiring
It seems like just yesterday that Republicans were assailing the FBI for pro-Hillary Clinton bias. You remember the infamous memo put out by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) accusing the FBI of anti-Trump bias, citing the exchanges between FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page criticizing then-candidate Donald Trump. On Fox News, in hearings and in public appearances, Republicans have ranted about allowing agents who favored Clinton in the election to work on the Russia investigation. Republican gadflies such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) went after FBI Director Christopher A. Wray in December: “There are all kinds of people on Mueller’s team who are pro-Clinton,” Jordan said. “If he did [remove] everyone on the Mueller team who’s anti-Trump, I don’t think there’d be any guy left. There’s got to be something more here.”
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Former director of the Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub concurs. “Federal managers are prohibited from considering party affiliation when making personnel decisions for career employees,” he tells me. “This safeguard dates back 135 years and is based on the ethical principle that most of the work of government should be carried out by officials who are loyal to the Constitution, the laws and the American people instead of partisan political patrons.” He continues, “Targeting career officials based on party affiliation would jeopardize the integrity of the government’s operations and, in a case like this, open us up to corrupt political influence on the law enforcement apparatus of the state.” He observes, “The depressing irony is that, in pressing their groundless claims of political bias in the investigation, these members of Congress are literally advocating for political bias by demanding the Justice Department ensure that the president is investigated only by ardent supporters — a view they definitely have not held for his political rival.”