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Questions

1. Define “fishing expedition” as depicted in this cartoon.

2. One type of humor editorial cartoonists use is irony. Irony is defined as when the opposite of what you expect to happen occurs. Describe the irony of this cartoon.


Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.

Cartoon by Michael P. Ramirez

Answers

1. fishing expedition is defined as:

  • an investigation that does not stick to a stated objective but hopes to uncover incriminating or newsworthy evidence (merriam-webster .com)
  • legal grasping at straws; the use of pretrial investigation discovery or witness questioning in an unfocused attempt to uncover damaging evidence to be used against an adversary. (from law.cornell .edu)

2. The DOJ has been on a fishing expedition to get Trump; instead it appears they may have caught themselves.

It has been said that former FBI Director (and now DOJ special counsel) Robert Mueller has been on a “fishing expedition” to find something — anything — that could take down President Trump. In the latest news, it is now possible that what has been caught is the FBI’s surveillance of the Trump campaign before the 2016 election.

(Robert Mueller is an attorney who was Director of the FBI from 2001 to 2013. He is currently the special counsel for the U.S. Justice Department who has been investigating the Trump campaign, looking for evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to interfere with the U.S. presidential campaign. After more than a year of investigating, he and his team have found no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians.)