Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

Taxpaying voters are seeing the real U.S. Congress in action — stalled out on the tarmac in Washington … sputtering along like a blown engine at a NASCAR race. Even Ray Charles can see it. You don’t have to be blind to see partisan politics is getting nothing done for American citizens. This is what people are talking about in local bars, on the streets, over dinner and at work.

In TV news commentaries and all over social media the U.S. Congress is being made to look like a bunch of old, bumbling politicians doing what they do best – nothing. The old Keystone Cops look better organized than today’s U.S. Congress. Calls for congressional term limits are getting stronger by the day.

Instead of legislating new plans for tax reform, healthcare, infrastructure, budget and immigration the U.S. Congress is mired in controversy over their endless investigations into Russian campaign influence with last year’s national election when there is not any evidence of any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians as was further documented last week during the grilling the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee gave former FBI Director James Comey, who also said there was no obstruction of justice involving President Donald Trump and the Michael Flynn firing, and subsequent FBI investigation. The Democrats were left empty handed by Comey, but not the media.

‘Shell-shocked, stunned and devastating’ best describe the reaction to Comey’s revelation that he had his private notes leaked to news reporters concerning his encounters with President Trump. The president’s private attorney Marc Kasowitz is expected to file a complaint this week with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General in regards to Comey’s self-leaked memos, according to CBS News reports. What this complaint will allege remains to be seen. This will take time to play out, but team Trump is fighting back.

Mainstream media and political commentators everywhere are arguing amongst themselves on national TV if Comey’s leaked memos are a criminal violation or not. Some qualified legal scholars say yes while others say no. This debate will go on until someone in real authority rules definitively, but who? The U.S. Attorney General’s Office may not be good enough for the Democrats.

“The last person in the world to leak information should be the director of the FBI,” said famed criminal lawyer and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz in a FOX News interview. “I thought it shows a lot of cowardice. The head of the FBI … He should have had the courage to get on television and release the memos and talk about it or not talk about it. But to have some friend become his surrogate was absurd.”
Dershowitz then reiterated his thoughts about the non-existent obstruction case against the President. “We should just stop talking about obstruction of justice, there’s no plausible case there.”

Dershowitz is a self-proclaimed liberal Democrat, but his words are his interpretation of the law untainted by his personal views.

How do average Americans view the do nothing U.S. Congress. Here’s some food for thought from a Costa Rica Star News reader.

“Republicans have control of both houses right now … if they don’t get their s… together pretty quick there will be a ‘pendulum swing’ to the left in two years. We know that the Democratic National Committee will flood the media with non-accomplishments,” said Larry Garyson of St. Augustine, Fl.
“The Russian connection is diffused, the Comey ‘non-revelations’ is passed, with exception of whether Comey himself committed a criminal act in the leaking, now the only question is what the Democrats will come up with to distract and delay so that they can say that this President got absolutely nothing done! Personally, I am aggravated over the complete waste of public funds and effort that could be put to good use on some pressing issues facing us!”

Republicans do need to unify behind President Trump and not squander this rare opportunity of having control of both houses of the U.S. Congress. If the Democrats don’t want to play ball with President Trump’s ‘Agenda For America’ then there will be less of them after next year’s mid-term national election.

Now the U.S. House Intelligence Committee is requesting copies of all Comey’s memos and details from the White House about the existence of tape recorded conversations between President Trump and Comey that took place in the Oval Office. Last Friday President Trump said during a press conference that information about any “tapes” would be released soon by the White House.

This Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will appear before the U.S. Senate’s Intelligence Committee. News reports say committee members will question Sessions further about Russian election meddling, Comey’s firing, Comey’s testimony about Michael Flynn and obstruction of justice claims. Comey’s leaking to the media may come up as well. As of Monday it was unclear if Sessions would give testimony in open or closed session, or a combination of both.

It will be interesting to see if Sessions takes a stand on the legality of Comey’s leaked memos. Comey said that his personal notes are his private property and he was free to release them in any manner he chose, but here’s another view from a veteran prosecutor, former police officer and Costa Rica Star News reader.

“Every person who ever worked in law enforcement knows your notes are not personal property, they are work product and belong to the agency,” said attorney Alex Sharp, of Palatka, Fl. “So we are living in a time when the head of the FBI secretly creates memos of his conversations with the President, because from the start he felt the new President was a liar. Memos he created on his government issued laptop. An FBI director who now later says he felt cowardly for not standing up to our President. Who is eventually fired, and then does not come forward, but takes the alleged memos and leaks them to a friend who leaks them to the New York Times, but only leaks the negative stuff about the President, not the fact he was never under investigation. And the media finds these actions not only credible but courageous?”

My oh my, what tangled webs we weave while Washington whittles away the time until America votes again in less than 17 months.

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.