Probe of Romney's Wealthiest Donor Shows Obama's Justice Department is Brazenly Politicized

The casino company owned by Mitt Romney's wealthiest supporter, Sheldon Adelson, is now in the Department of Justice's crosshairs. That revelation is making the media rounds today, as someone in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney's office leaked word of a money laundering investigation involving Las Vegas Sands Corp. to the Wall Street Journal.

So now Adelson, a man who claimed he would donate up to $100 million to ensure Romney wins the upcoming presidential election, could find out how the wheels of justice really turn under President Obama's watch.

This revelation is as unsurprising as it is disgraceful.

Government officials will no doubt claim the timing of the probe is coincidental, but that is asking us to believe a lot. The investigation deals with possible money laundering stretching back years ago. So the U.S. Attorney's Office in LA had to go public with the accusations today? Unless the statute of limitations for these crimes expires Nov. 6 (they don't), what reason could there be for bringing for these accusations to light right before the political conventions?

To suggest the timing of this had no political motive strains credulity. The timing is indeed everything.

Of course, all parties seem to agree that Adelson himself had no role in the alleged improprieties, but his name will nonetheless be brought up along with anything unearthed about Las Vegas Sands. The main allegation so far is that the casinos may have failed to flag some suspicious financial transactions. For this to be criminal, prosecutors would have to prove willful neglect, if the case goes that far, which seems very unlikely.

But a successful prosecution is not the endgame here. The insinuations and threats from the Department of Justice are all that is necessary for the desired effect. In my opinion, this is really about cutting off a primary source of funds to Mitt Romney's campaign -- and sending a warning to others who think they have a right to challenge the Obama political machine.

There are, in fact, already indications that Las Vegas Sands did try to notify authorities of suspicious financial transactions -- the moment they became suspicious.  And that occurred back in 2007. But the DOJ wants to investigate whether Sands should have notified them even earlier.

Higher-ups at Justice don't seem bothered -- or simply don't care -- about the partisan appearance of this investigation. It further indicates what we already know: Obama's Department of Justice allows itself to be used as a political weapon for a partisan agenda.

Sure, it's theoretically possible that the Sands probe is not politically motivated, but announcing the investigation shows a clear disregard at best for the political dynamics at play. Adelson is already besieged by detractors, and just last week he sent a letter threatening a libel suit against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for calling him a "pimp."

Adelson is worth billions, so the DOJ couldn't really destroy him financially (though federal prosecutions can have that effect) even if they tried. But they can diminish his good name -- and take Mitt Romney down a peg in the process.

This sort of score settling should be deeply alarming across the political spectrum. The levers of power continuously change hands in the country, and the Department of Justice is supposed to be above craven political manipulations. But, as someone who has been privy to senior law enforcement discussions, I can tell you political appointees often set the agenda for high-level prosecutions, and civil servants usually do as they're told. When an overtly partisan operative like Eric Holder is the highest law enforcement official in the country, impartial justice would seem to be in jeopardy from the outset.

To believe the Obama Justice Department is above politics, one would have to explain away its irrational harassment of Gibson Guitar (settled today with DOJ for $300,000), while it simultaneously ignores duly passed Federal laws on marriage and immigration. We can't get answers on Operation Fast and Furious, but there are plenty of IRS resources to investigate Tea Party groups' tax exempt status. When called out for these political moves, we hear defenses rooted in "prosecutorial discretion" and executive authority.

This much should be clear: The DOJ is willing to enforce Obama administration policy and agendas over guaranteeing our Constitutional rights regardless of political affiliation. The American people have been promised fair and impartial justice, but what we've seen from DOJ is neither.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Adelson case, Gibson guitar, and IRS targeting of Tea Party groups and more will be discussed on tonight's episode of Real News From The Blaze at 6PM EST.