Switching between Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow on TV and reading the Associated Press coverage of the Justice Department inspector general’s report in Tuesday’s Portland Press Herald (Page A2), I don’t know which planet I’m living on.

On one planet, the FBI and Justice Department are politically biased organizations like the SS of Nazi Germany. On the other planet, the FBI and Justice Department are fair and comprised of high-integrity professionals who shun political influence and serve the people.

Per the AP, Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded:

• The Hillary Clinton email investigation was plagued by FBI Director James Comey’s leadership missteps but not tainted by political bias.

• Anti-Donald Trump text messages by a couple of FBI employees cast a cloud on the agency’s handling of the probe and damaged the FBI’s reputation.

The AP also said Republicans were not convinced by the report’s conclusion that the FBI decision to spare Clinton from criminal charges was free from political bias. However, recent history shows Republicans were OK with the FBI’s public decision to reopen the Clinton email probe 11 days before the 2016 election and then reclose it two days before the vote; this clearly helped Trump and hurt Clinton in the election.

The AP quotes Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley, saying, respectively, “There is a serious problem with the culture at FBI headquarters” and “The Justice Department faces a serious credibility problem.”

On one planet, these statements are right on the money; on the other, if one substitutes “the U.S. Congress” for, respectively, “at FBI headquarters” and “the Justice Department,” then they are also right on the money.

I wish objective media would stop reporting Trump’s tweets (only 24 percent of U.S. adults actually use Twitter) and focus instead on corrosive-to-democracy interparty warfare between Republicans and Democrats. The only solution is wholesale changes in Congress!

Rick Kelley

Windham

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