"History" Is Such A Fluid Concept, And Other Reportorial Challenges

I'm so old I remember the 2016 election year, with three federal investigations into two candidates (which is what THIS ONE actually is, but the BoGlo is just glossing the coup attempt, I guess). https://t.co/6BOjlpd5ez

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) January 21, 2023

Like, this is the first time that the Boston Globe can remember. Or maybe the first time an incumbent President is under federal investigation. Or the first time the investigations both involve documents. Or the first time Biden is being investigated (Trump investigations are already old news. That whole January 6th thing? Pfft! Fishwrap!)

In other news:

The Supreme Court's investigation into the leak of its abortion draft opinion was meant to right the institution amid a slide in public confidence. Instead, employees say, it widened rifts and deepened suspicions, inside the court and out. https://t.co/hY9M3lWD6k

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 21, 2023

Nah. The "investigation" did what it was meant to do: paper over a truly embarassing incident (somebody PLEASE cite me the criminal statute that was violated) and hoping it would go away.  "Righting the institution" is not within the power of anyone on the bench, because the problem is the people on the bench.  Which is to say, the problem is the institution.  It ain't gonna fix itself, is it?

I'm sure Congress will "fix" the Supreme Court right after it fixes the nation's immigration policy which, like the deficit, is only a problem when Presidents with "D" after their titles, are in the White House.

Meanwhile, back in that investigation the Globe is so (un)concerned with:

Some kind of poetic justice if Crossfire Hurricane leads to Trump’s prosecution.

“prosecutors have questioned at least three people about whether Trump’s frustrations may have been a motive in Trump taking away thousands of pages of presidential papers”https://t.co/tkpqbEMJMA

— Pete Strzok (@petestrzok) January 21, 2023

"Crossfire Hurricane" was the investigation into Trump's Russia ties in the 2016 election, which pissed Trump off so much he set John Durham loose, a spree of "special prosecution" which yielded exactly: nothing. Trump, reports are, was convinced the truth was hidden in the documents, which is why he took some with him. Maybe that's true, maybe it isn't. But the irony would be delicious.

Now, what did Biden do that was remotely similar?  Except, I mean, for "documents."