A republic cannot survive when justice is a partisan game. And yet, for the better part of a decade, the American bureaucracy — once envisioned as a neutral, constitutionally tethered servant of the people — has become a political cudgel wielded by entrenched elites against their ideological enemies. If the Department of Justice finally takes the unprecedented step of prosecuting Obama-Biden era officials for weaponizing federal power against Donald Trump, his allies, and the broader MAGA movement, it would mark more than a legal victory. It would signal the restoration of a moral boundary — one that ought never to have been crossed.
A Bureaucracy Turned Against the Citizen
The United States was founded in rebellion against unchecked power. When King George III sent officers to harass colonial patriots under color of law, Americans declared their independence. Today, federal agencies like the FBI, IRS, and DOJ have filled that same role, not in defense of justice, but in allegiance to party.
In 2013, under the Obama administration, the IRS was caught targeting conservative non-profits — especially Tea Party-affiliated groups — for heightened scrutiny and delays in tax-exempt approvals. According to a 2017 Senate Finance Committee report, “the IRS’s treatment of these organizations was more than just the result of poor management — it was a direct consequence of political bias.”[1]
Lois Lerner, the official at the center of the scandal, retired with full benefits. She was never prosecuted. The bureaucratic machine absorbed the blow, shrugged, and moved on. That silence taught a lesson: you can use the state against your enemies — and get away with it.
Russiagate: The Bureaucratic Coup Attempt
The attempted sabotage of the Trump presidency was far more brazen. Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s 2016 investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, was based on fabricated evidence and partisan motives. The Justice Department’s own Inspector General confirmed in 2019 that the FISA warrants used to spy on Trump adviser Carter Page contained 17 significant errors and omissions.[2]
One of those warrants was signed by then-FBI Director James Comey, who later admitted in interviews that normal protocols were bypassed because of the “chaotic” nature of the Trump transition.[3] Translation: they saw an opportunity to strike and they took it.
Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who altered an email to justify surveillance, received probation. Not prison. Not disgrace. Probation.
And what of the architects — John Brennan, James Clapper, and Susan Rice — who fanned the flames of the Russia hoax while knowing the Steele dossier was garbage? What of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which paid for that dossier and laundered it through legal firms to the FBI and the press? As Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 report concluded, “the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law.”[4]
That’s putting it gently. It was sabotage. It was treachery. It was a bureaucratic coup attempt.
Two Systems of Justice
Meanwhile, Trump officials were perp-walked on national television. General Michael Flynn was entrapped. Steve Bannon was indicted. Peter Navarro was arrested at an airport and placed in leg irons for defying a congressional subpoena — the same “crime” for which Eric Holder received nothing more than a contempt citation from Congress in 2012, after stonewalling the “Fast and Furious” gun-running investigation.
The message was clear: if you serve the regime, the law bends for you. If you challenge it, the law crushes you.
The American people see this. In a 2023 Rasmussen poll, 60% of likely voters said they believe the FBI is politically biased.[5] Among Republicans, that number jumps to 81%.
This isn’t about “conspiracy theories.” It’s about reality.
Why Prosecution Matters
Prosecuting Obama-Biden officials for bureaucratic abuse would not be “political retaliation.” It would be justice delayed — and finally delivered. There is no neutrality when one side is permitted to lie, to spy, to smear, and to silence — and the other is told to take the high road or be called a fascist.
Prosecution would signal that the deep state is not above the Constitution. It would remind every mid-level manager in every federal agency that political zealotry does not grant you immunity. And it would reestablish what the Founders believed was essential to a republic’s health: a government of laws, not of men.
If Brennan, Comey, Clapper, and Rice can plot and lie without consequence, then elections are meaningless, and the bureaucracy becomes our master, not our servant.
The American people did not vote for this. They voted for Trump because they saw in him someone willing to punch back, to drain the swamp, to remind the Washington machine that sovereignty lies not in alphabet agencies, but in We the People.
The Larger Stakes
If there is no accountability, the next Republican president — whether it’s Trump, DeSantis, or someone else — will face the same sabotage. And eventually, a future president may decide that the only way to survive the onslaught is to seize the machinery himself, fully, ruthlessly, without apology.
That is not the American way. That is how republics fall.
We are not there yet. But the road is paved. And unless we hold the architects of past abuses accountable — unless the law reaches up, not just down — then we will have ceded the republic to the bureaucrats in the basement, not the citizens on the ballot.
In the End
Justice is not vengeance. It is the restoration of order, the reaffirmation of truth. Prosecuting those who weaponized the state under the Obama-Biden regime would not be a partisan act. It would be a moral necessity.
And if we fail to do it, then the bureaucracy has already won.
SOURCES:
- Senate Finance Committee Report on IRS Targeting Scandal, 2017.
- DOJ Inspector General Report on FISA Abuse, December 2019.
- Comey, James. Interview with MSNBC, December 2018.
- Durham Report, U.S. Department of Justice, May 2023.
- Rasmussen Reports, “Most Voters Think FBI Is Politically Biased,” July 2023.
About the Author
John Fisher is a constitutional conservative, patriot intellectual, and fierce defender of the American ideal. His writings combine moral clarity with historical insight, committed always to the cause of liberty, sovereignty, and truth.
