With respect to the article titled “Mike Lee calls arrest of Planned Parenthood protester charged in assault of elderly volunteer FBI overreach”:
As Utah voters, we shouldn’t be fooled by the recent attacks from the far-right GOP on the FBI. The party once considered tough on crime is now only concerned with criminal activity not associated with members of their own party or that doesn’t go against the promotion of their political agenda. In attacking the Department of Justice, Lee is spreading doubt about their authority to investigate actual federal crimes with clearly political motivations to appeal to his base, ignoring a real crime was committed.
When a federal law is broken, the Department of Justice cannot be considered overreaching in investigations and filing charges. The Justice Department will review the charges and attorneys for the defendant will have their day in court, with the judicial process ensuring justice and fairness.
Deliberately, Sen. Lee is only willing to discuss a small portion of a story to attract his base voters and Fox News viewers, with the Fox News host not following accurate journalism checks. How can we believe a word he says when he only states that the religious father of seven, who forms groups to encourage young men to uphold family commitments, is arrested? However, he leaves out the actual charges and how they apply to a federal crime. As a Utah woman, I worry about those seven children raised by someone willing to assault a 72-year-old volunteer, no matter how passionate they are about their pro-life views.
Laws must be maintained for society to be upheld, and as voters, we need to learn not to trust a senator’s words without doing our diligence.
Lindsay Ann James, Cottonwood Heights
