Notable Quotable: Brendan Ballou On Corruption

Sometimes, the universe gives us a clear message in the form of a metaphor. This week's news has focused on the Oval Office "showdown" between Donald Trump and Jeanine Pirro after she moved to dismiss the case against David Hearn for vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting pool.

Pirro's claim of a botched installation being the sole cause of the pool's murky green sent Trump off the rails. The evidence will likely play out in court, but the Reflecting Pool's swamp-like appearance can only remind us of his promise to clean up the swamp ten years ago.

Trump's often repeated promise was never fulfilled or even attempted. Sadly, the opposite appears to have come true. As our nation continues to be plundered by the corruption underway, the greater universe has given us a green Reflecting Pool to visibly signal the swamp is festering and thriving in an even grander way beneath the watchful eye of Lincoln seated above in the background.

Today's Notable Quotable comes from Brendan Ballou, author of Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America, and Former Special Counsel at U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.

“You know, I'm never one to defend past presidents' actions or past politicians' actions, but I will say, you know, just look at the current moment. You know, we have dismantled the infrastructure for going after rich criminals, for going after Russian oligarchs, for going after crypto scammers. We've set up a pay to play scheme in which people who donate to the president's campaign can either get their civil investigations dropped, their lawsuits dropped, even their criminal investigations dropped, or get pardoned entirely. And that has an effect, not just for the criminals, but for the people, the victims of these Ponzi schemes and white collar schemes who are having their restitution eliminated. And so when you look at that infrastructure for going after the rich, and the powerful, and the well connected, being utterly dismantled, there is no modern precedent for that.”

— Brendan Ballou