By Thomas Gallatin · Sep. 11, 2020

Newly released Justice Department records indicate that many of the cellphones issued to members of Robert Mueller’s special counsel team got some special treatment. National Review reports, “At least 27 cell phones were wiped of data before the DOJ inspector general could review them, some reset to factory settings and some wiped ‘accidentally’ after the wrong password was entered too many times, according to 87 pages of DOJ records regarding the phones issued to members of the special counsel’s office. Including mobile phones that were ‘reassigned,’ the Special Counsel’s office wiped a total of 31 phones.”

It sure looks like members of Mueller’s team, which was composed mostly of Democrats, took a page out of Hillary Clinton’s playbook on “handling data” and “accidentally wiped” their phones — maybe even with like a cloth or something. But seriously, are we supposed to believe these highly educated professionals are so incompetent that they are, en masse, forgetting passwords and “accidentally wiping” their cellphones?

To quote Joe Biden, “That’s a bunch of malarkey.”

Adding further suspicion of a cover-up were the number of notable members of Team Mueller whose phone data was inexplicably lost. That includes Andrew Weissmann, who, as The Federalist observes, was “the lead Mueller prosecutor the New York Times referred to as the special counsel’s ‘pit bull.’ After working under Mueller at the FBI as general counsel, Weissmann led the government’s case against former Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort.” Weissmann “accidentally” wiped his phone. Twice.

Another noteworthy counsel member whose phone data was dubiously lost was disgraced FBI lawyer Lisa Page, the infamous and illicit paramour of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, both of whom were exposed for sharing anti-Trump texts. National Review notes, “The cell phone of FBI lawyer Lisa Page was misplaced by the special counsel’s office. While it was eventually obtained by the DOJ inspector general, by that point the phone had been restored to its factory settings, wiping it of all data.”

“Misplaced.” “Restored to its factory settings.” Gee, what an unexpected turn of events.

The most likely motive behind this almost certainly deliberate destruction of evidence is tied to what happened to Strzok — his anti-Trump bias was exposed via his text messages, and he was removed from the special counsel team. Other counsel members took note and engaged in “accidental” actions to avoid being revealed as the Trump-hating hacks they are. The question is, was their anti-Trump animus the only thing Mueller’s team members sought to hide?