The Russian Hoax
Gregg Jarrett
Contributed by Margherita Wickersham
Context

Introduction

The title of the book, “The Russia hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump” by Gregg Jarrett, corresponds directly to its contents. The author wrote the book after a war-of-words between Donald Trump, who won the United States presidential election, and Hillary Clinton. The primary bone of contention: Russia’s interference with the elections in the country. Hillary Clinton claimed that the Russian government aimed to help Donald Trump win the elections unjustly, arguing that the meeting he had with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, aimed at helping Russia influence the elections in the United States. This is what came to be referred to as “the Russian hoax.”

Jarrett also attempts to explain that the Russian hoax only had one primary objective: frame Trump and be blamed for Clinton’s loss in the election. Through certain revelations in the book, the author describes the hoax as an illegal scheme, with one of these implying that various parties worked improperly to ensure that Trump was defeated in the 2016 U. S. presidential elections. These people include the previous U.S. president, Barrack Obama, and various individuals from the FBI. The book’s title is also similar to the content in the book since it primarily focuses on the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the nefarious actions undertaken during this period. Subsequent to the election, the problem of “the Russian hoax” had escalated and Jarrett believed the issue was given unnecessary attention. To him, Trump had done nothing wrong in colluding with Russia.

Historical and Current Context of the Book

It is fact that the 2016 U.S. presidential elections were one of the most controversial in the country’s history. In this book, Jarrett takes a generalized look at the Russian hoax from both a Hillary Clinton point-of-view, and a Donald Trump point-of-view. Among all the books written by Jarrett, “The Russia hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump” has proved to be the most controversial — a sentiment that had come to haunt the author as a newscaster, who is supposed to be neutral and not have a political leaning, since it may directly affect them in their line of duty. However, Jarrett went against this rule and published this book. Naturally, he was criticized for giving his political beliefs a chance to color his legal commentary and, at times, his thoughts on a particular political figure, which ultimately affected his work.

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are two critical figures in American politics, vying for a place in the 2016 general elections. Both leaders had differing views of one another, and with diverse controversies surrounding them. This book became essential to Americans since it would be used later to explain the history of the 2016 U.S. elections based on these two individuals.

The book was written in a timely historical period. In his book, Jarrett laid out his findings, which were directly related to the controversial 2016 U.S. presidential elections, and offered an explanation to each of the results as well as why he came to specific conclusions. This made Americans more aware of the issues in their country, which also shed more light on the newscaster's view on the elections. The book also brought on additional research where others would attempt to look into the same issues that the author had addressed — with the primary aim of finding out whether the content of the book was accurate.

Jarrett portrays Comey as a corrupt individual who does not deserve any official government appointment. However, Comey was still appointed by Trump despite the controversies surrounding him as director of the FBI, and where he goes on to say that Trump’s decisions were unwise or ill-advised. While these statements sparked differing reactions among the citizens of America, most were still in support of Comey. The book is generally an avenue where Jarrett lays out his ideas with no fear, and casually stating what he wishes to by using his freedom of expression effectively. His views were also the same for the appointments of Flynn, Mueller, and Sessions.

General Michael Flynn was elected for a job he was not qualified for, and even proceeded to be dishonest to Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States. Flynn was subsequently fired, twenty-four days after his official appointment.

Jeff Sessions was appointed into Trump's government despite being unqualified for the position. This was demonstrated by the omission of facts and evidence, and the act of selectively ignoring some of the questions asked of him during the confirmation hearing. Neither was he fearful in labeling Hillary Clinton and her husband, Bill, as greedy, and subsequently presenting evidence of this from an interview in which Hillary indicated that they were broke.

On the other hand, Robert Mueller was a fair and impartial individual, yet his appointment to the Special Counsel Investigation was deemed improper and a breach of the United States Constitution. Being a Special Counsel, Robert Mueller could only be called on in instances where the Justice Department became incapacitated in carrying out its duties. But this was not the case — and hence Robert Mueller’s appointment was basically uncalled for.

The Russian hoax has become one of the most unsolved puzzles in America. To date, people still do not have the ultimate, real knowledge of whether the Russians had an impact on the U.S. elections, or whether it was just a way of framing Trump. Jarrett’s book sheds more light on the issues and attempts to provide an explanation on the events that took place. The author states that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution gives people a right to interact with whomever they wanted to, and, hence, indicating that it is unjust for people to assume that Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin, or Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer, had anything to do with the planning to infiltrate the U.S. elections. Jarrett also stated that the issue of Trump being accused of collusion with the Russians only came after Clinton’s email server controversy became overshadowing.

Gregg Jarrett was born in Los Angeles and raised in San Marino, California. He completed his secondary schooling at San Marino High School in 1973, and proceeded to Claremont Men’s College where, in 1977, he graduated with a degree in Political Science. In 1980, Jarrett graduated from law school. He joined Fox News in 2002 where he reported in various documentaries, and subsequently served as a legal analyst for the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. Jarrett became famous for covering the Iraq War where he became a correspondent for Fox covering the war in Baghdad from May to July of 2003. He is also renowned for embedding with the Second Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, which made him one of the first reporters to report from Fallujah.

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