January 24, 2018

"Why an Unreleased 4-Page Memo From Devin Nunes Is Causing a Frenzy on the Right."

New York Magazine:
[H]ere’s what we know up to this point about this latest madness: a) There is an undisclosed four-page memorandum, b) written by Nunes’s staff, c) which was made available in a party-line vote to anyone in the House, d) but remains unreleased to the public at large, e) and for which no one but Nunes and a handful of House Intelligence members and staffers have seen the evidence in support of it.

The New York Times’ Charlie Savage reported that the heart of the memo’s grievances is a secret warrant federal authorities obtained to monitor the activities of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the lead-up to the 2016 election. According to Nunes’s memo, the FBI, in seeking the warrant, all but misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by withholding that the supporting evidence for the warrant came from Republicans’ favorite whipping boy, Steele — the former British spy contracted by research firm Fusion GPS (which in turn was contracted by the Democratic Party) to investigate Trump’s dalliances with Russia. According to Savage’s reporting, those who sought the warrant didn’t disclose that Steele was getting paid by Democratic interests, but merely referred to him in court documents as a trusted FBI source who had already done good work for the bureau in an earlier case....

179 comments:

tim in vermont said...

Funny that “paid by Hillary Clinton’s campaign” never seemed to make it into the story! Even though it’s public record now.

rhhardin said...

It's old news. Obama did that stuff everywhere all the time.

David Begley said...

I guess it doesn’t bother the NYT that one party gave its oppo research to the FBI in order to spy on the other party’s candidate for President. Would a burglary at the Watergate hotel by the FBI bother the NYT?

Birkel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sebastian said...

Yeah, oppo research funded by Hill, carried out by a Brit, colluding with Russian officials, and used by US politicos and intelligence officials to start spying on the campaign of the wrong candidate causes a "frenzy on the right."

The label itself attests to prog bad faith--as if we needed more confirmation.

dreams said...

Spin, the NY Times spins. It's what liberals do.

Birkel said...

When all Democrats choose to vote against releasing a memo, that is the fault of Republicans.

theribbonguy said...

The dimmi outlets are ramping up the talking points. Meanwhile, Schiff and Feinstein are blaming Russian bots on Facebook.

Desperation is in the air.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

"Trumps dalliances with Russia," and "Republicans favorite whipping boy."

Yeah, we got yer objective reporting, right here.

Birkel said...

Partisan = Democrats voting against

Somehow the word partisan appears nowhere near "Fusion GPS" which was hired by Hillary using campaign contributions that were laundered through a partisan law firm.

Bay Area Guy said...

A fine example of when a journalist studiously wants to avoid connecting the dots.....

Derek Kite said...

Remember the universal condemnation of Nunes early last year when he went to the White House for something?

Whoever is methodically going through this stuff leaving a trail of FBI resignations in his wake is remarkably competent. He even has the New Yorker Magazine desperate to hide their excitement and anticipation of being able to read the thing.

Original Mike said...

”When all Democrats choose to vote against releasing a memo, that is the fault of Republicans.”

Yet, all but 10 Democrats have refused to read it.

Curious George said...

The tag you need for this is "Obama is in trouble" because that's where this shit, followed by a lot more, lands.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

According to Nunes’s memo, the FBI, in seeking the warrant, all but misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by withholding that the supporting evidence for the warrant came from Republicans’ favorite whipping boy, Steele — the former British spy contracted by research firm Fusion GPS (which in turn was contracted by the Democratic Party) to investigate Trump’s dalliances with Russia.

Let's untangle the overt left-wing bias, shall we?

Republicans' favorite whipping boy? wait where is the "Republicans pounce" sentence?
Notice how the media forever twist any authentic grievance into a "only the R's care about it, so it must not matter."

Trump's dalliances with Russia. What?...like all the money that flowed from Russian into Clinton Foundation Coffers while Hillary was Sec of State? Those types of dalliances?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Secret society texts vanish for 5 months. only a coincidence!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Shorter Democrat party press: How dare anyone on the "right" get to the bottom of leftwing corruption on the D-side. We will circle the wagons!

Curious George said...

#Releasethememo!

Daniel Jackson said...

The Overture fades; curtain rises on Act One, Scene One McBama

So it begins.

BTW, this only shows that when the Democrats lose evidence, eighteen minutes is child's play. Five FUCKING months!!! A True Britney Spears moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CduA0TULnow

john said...

At least you should read it to the end:

"Perhaps the most telling sign that this manufactured outrage cycle is meaningless is that it exploded just as Congress gave the FBI sweeping new powers to conduct its surveillance operations. And Trump signed this expansion of the deep state he so distrusts just as his Republican allies were decrying its abuses in a carefully orchestrated media blitz. As national security journalist Marcy Wheeler has observed, when the House voted on these expanded surveillance powers a week earlier, Nunes, Gaetz, and King were among the bill’s biggest cheerleaders..."

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

John - that is the leftwing talking point du jour.

All leftwing crimes can and will, hide under it.

buwaya said...

As I've said so often-
You cannot be paranoid enough.
You have long since left normal politics.

Bad Lieutenant said...

OK John, so your candidate in 2020 will have it coming, we have your word for it.

What's it like to be a whore? I wouldn't know, so I ask you. Because you're a whore. <--mansplaining

buwaya said...

And I predict this is far, far from the center, or core of the whole thing.
Figure out who is calling the shots at, say, CNN, who is giving them their orders, and you will be much closer.

Curious George said...

Last week, the House Intelligence Committee quietly voted to make available to fellow House members “a memo documenting abuse of the FISA program,” reports Fox News’ Chad Pergram.
News of the FISA memo spread like wildfire on social media. Trump supporters pushed a #ReleaseTheMemo campaign after GOP Reps came forward demanding the document be released to the American public.

On Tuesday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) urged Twitter and Facebook to conduct a thorough forensic examination into the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign as ‘potentially an ongoing attack by Kremlin-linked social media actors’ also referred to as “Russian bots”.

ABC News tweeted out the letter Schiff and Feinstein sent to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding a forensic examination into Twitter users who pushed the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign.

It turns out Rep. Adam Schiff’s office was inundated with phone calls from citizens confirming they are not Russian bots.

The Gateway Pundit also contacted Rep. Schiff’s Burbank, California office Tuesday evening and left them a voicemail confirming we are not Russian bots and that we are demanding the FISA memo be released.

One Twitter user said Adam Schiff’s office is now hanging up on citizens calling to say they were not Russian bots.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#ReleasetheMemo


Anonymous said...

I translate the piece as saying "I am scared to death that what the memo summarizes is true, so I will try to discredit it beforehand. Oh look a squirrel!"

The walls are slowly caving in upon the Dem conspiracy. If the R's over-react a bit I think they have earned the right. If, and I mean if, the allegations beginning to surface are proven true what went on at the DOJ and FBI certainly qualifies as sedition, if not treason. Plotters in South America - or the old Europe - have lost their lives for less.

Where's Inga?

David Begley said...

Nixon is way ahead in the polls. He orders a burglary of DNC headquarters at the Watergate. He wins the election in a landslide. Nixon covers up. Resigns.

Hillary is ahead in the polls. She hires Fusion GPS for oppo research. Media won’t print it. Given to FBI. FBI spies on Trump campaign. Some stuff leaks before the election, but not much. Trump wins. Hillary needs to cover up. Turns the narrative on Trump. Special Counsel appoiinted to try and get Trump impeached. Now it is all coming apart. There is an informant inside the FBI who will rat out Hillary’s capos inside the FBI and DOJ.

Worse than Watergate.

Bruce Hayden said...

"Managed outrage cycle"? I don't think that the FBI and DoJ illegally manufacturing bogus evidence (through NSA 702 searches by contractors), run through a Dem contractor, to get a FISA warrant to wiretap the other party's candidate and campaign, then his transition team after elected, is managed outrage. Neither is discovering that this, along with the special prosecutor, were not ntentionally created and developed by top level DoJ/FBI employees for one reason, and that was to destroy the President that they collectively despised.

dreams said...

If it were the Dems, they would release the memos, remember recent history and Diane Feinstein.

Hagar said...

Well, who owns the entity that owns CNN (or insert other network acronym) at the moment?

Mike Sylwester said...

Discussions of this subject should include the following considerations:

-----

Fusion GPS gave its dossier to the FBI and then told journalists that the FBI was investigating the dossier's allegations about Trump.

The journalists then reported that the FBI was investigating Trump.

-----

The journalists kept their source -- Fusion GPS -- secret from the public.

-----

The journalists practically never use the word "allegedly" in their reports. In general, the journalists report Fusion's allegations as facts.

-----

President Obama expelled Russian diplomats from the USA based on essentially no evidence. The Obama Administration published its evidence in a report on January 6, 2017. The evidence was absurd -- stuff like RT television broadcasts against fracking.

Since then, the added evidence has been more absurd stuff about Facebook ads.

-----

The DNC e-mails were hacked supposedly by Marcel Lazăr Lehel (aka Guccifer 2), a Romanian. Lehel has been extradited to the USA.

Lehel has not been indicted by Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller and never will be indicted by Mueller. The reason is that Mueller and the FBI know that the DNC e-mails were taken by Seth Rich, who used a thumb drive to do so.

----

Mueller was appointed to be Special Counsel for two reasons:

1. Mueller's BFF "Crazy Comey the Leaker" leaked FBI memos in order to cause a Special Counsel to be appointed.

2. Rod Rosenstein selected Mueller for the position because Mueller is the one person in the entire world who is most motivated and able to whitewash the FBI.

----

Mueller has not indicted his BFF Comey for leaking FBI documents and never will indict him.

Mueller never will indict anybody for leaking secret documents.

Mueller himself has been a leaker and still is and will be a leaker in his Special Counsel position.

Mueller's gang of Trump-hating lawyers is a leak machine.

Mueller is part of the so-called "Deep State", which is a set of government officials who are entrusted with government secrets and who leak those secrets selectively in order to cause problems for other people -- for example, for President Trump.

Anonymous said...

Linking the memo to the 702 vote is a stretch beyond this author's ability. As I said yesterday: Too early for Schadenfreude, but he is warming up in the bullpen.

sparrow said...

Society is built and sustained on trust. Given there's little reason to trust the FBI, the media, the civil service, or the courts, our society is in deep trouble. I'm glad the corruption is being exposed, but if the responsible remain unpunished it'll only feed cynicism and further weaken us.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Remember - Facebook is to blame for poor Hillary's loss.

Americans loved her before sekrit scary facebook ads created by evil Russians scared voters away with "Fake News".

Original Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Original Mike said...

#WhereisInga?

mockturtle said...

all but misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

What does 'all but misled' mean, exactly? Did they intend to mislead? Was the Court misled? Foggy--by design--writing.

buwaya said...

Also as I've been saying, there are far too many to remove, or punish.
It's entire institutions staffed by hundreds of thousands if not millions.
Which is another reason for pessimism.

Anonymous said...

An interesting facet to all this is the anticipated reaction of the republican and(given the Harvard/Harris poll) the independent voter. The Dems have spent a year shitting on Trump voters only to have finally landed in the manure pile themselves. Might there be some retribution at the polls in November (years away, of course)?

David Begley said...

When we start seeing “Hillary as Nixon” pieces in the media, we will know it is over.

buwaya said...

If money can move the needle, th Democrats will provide it in unprecedented, unlimited amounts this year.

rehajm said...

There's a point to item e) - why not release the evidence instead of a 'memo'?

tcrosse said...

When we start seeing “Hillary as Nixon” pieces in the media, we will know it is over.

Never happen. Money talks, Hillary walks.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

When the NYT resigns itself to a version of "Republicans pounce" to introduce a story to its readers then you know there's a fire under all that smoke. I like to look past the "frenzy on the right" hyperbole and ask the question, why does not one Democrat in Congress even want to know what's in the memo and read it first hand?

Isn't that strange behavior, especially for an "investigative" committee member?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

The frantic spin is so transparent and tired.

Sometime in Obama’s Presidency, the Democrats decided that it was enough to only talk to themselves. They were certain demographics and Free Stuff ensured electoral success and they no longer had to make the effort to persuade anyone who wasn’t already on the plantation. Without change, that assumption may yet prove to be a winner for them but obviously we’re not quite there yet.

James K said...

When we start seeing “Hillary as Nixon” pieces in the media, we will know it is over.

Which will be when hell freezes over. The media is completely invested in "Trump as Nixon (or Mussolini)."

Mike Sylwester said...

President Obama's complicity in this "Deep State" plot is indicated by his expulsion of Russian diplomats at the end of his Presidency.

The diplomats were expelled in order to cause the public to believe mistakenly that the Russian Government had meddled in the USA's presidential election.

A short time after Obama expelled the diplomats, Obama's Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued an absurd report providing the supposed evidence of Russian meddling. The evidence was stupid stuff, like RT television broadcasts against fracking.

Clapper's report confirmed that the Russian diplomats were expelled by Obama for no real reason.

Clapper despises Trump. Clapper has spent lots of time in television interviews criticizing Trump.

When Clapper was the DNI and Hillary Clinton was a candidate making a big issue about Trump ignoring all 17 intelligence agencies, Clapper knew that Clinton's issue was bullshit. Clapper knew that the bogus "intelligence finding" had been made by only a small group of analysts specially selected from three agencies.

Because Clapper felt, however, that the bullshit issue was helping Clinton defeat Trump, Clapper did not clarify the issue for the electorate.

The absurd report about Russian meddling on January 6, 2017 was ultimately Clapper's product. Clapper concocted this report in order to justify Obama's decision to expel the Russian diplomats.

-----

When Trump's new National Security Adviser Michael Flynn discussed the expulsion with the Russian ambassador, the FBI wiretapped the conversation and used the information to cause problems immediately for the Trump Administration.

Thus the Deep State threatened to cause further problems if the Trump administration would try to repair relations with Russia -- in particular, would try to undo the expulsion of the Russian diplomats.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

If money can move the needle, th Democrats will provide it in unprecedented, unlimited amounts this year.

It wasn't able to buy JEB! the nomination. Vast sums of money could buy elections when just a few people controlled the means of mass communications. The MSM outlets trying to spin this are watched mostly by old people. Young people are more likely to know that 5 months of texts don't just disappear. That's the sort of crap they would tell their tech clueless parents to keep them from learning about their sexting.

tim in vermont said...

The evidence was stupid stuff, like RT television broadcasts against fracking.

Pro-Hillary position, interestingly enough.

Original Mike said...

Mike Sylwestar said...”The DNC e-mails were hacked supposedly by Marcel Lazăr Lehel (aka Guccifer 2), a Romanian. Lehel has been extradited to the USA. Lehel has not been indicted by Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller and never will be indicted by Mueller. The reason is that Mueller and the FBI know that the DNC e-mails were taken by Seth Rich, who used a thumb drive to do so.”

Interesting.

rehajm said...

why does not one Democrat in Congress even want to know what's in the memo and read it first hand

Maybe they're worried it's illegal to read that stuff? Like when CNN told them it was illegal to look at Hillary's Wikileaks emails.

Mike Sylwester said...

Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller and Rod Rosenstein knew from the very beginning that the FBI had used the Fusion GPS dossier to justify wiretapping for Trump and his associates.

Furthermore, they knew that Fusion GPS had a contract, long before it wrote the dossier, to search through NSA databases on behalf of the FBI.

Rosenstein selected Mueller, and Mueller accepted, because both men agreed from the beginning that this relationship between the FBI and Fusion GPS had to be kept secret from the public.

Rosenstein's and Mueller's mutual effort is failing. Their plan was to drag out the "investigation" until the 2018 mid-term elections, when the Democrats might get a majority of the House. While Mueller dragged out the investigation ...

* Mueller and his gang of Trump-hating lawyers would try to get Trump's tax documents and leak them.

* Mueller would leak any other information to undermine Trump.

* The Justice Department and the FBI would refuse to provide any information to the Republican-controlled Congress, using Mueller's endless investigation as a pretext.

Amadeus 48 said...

If the memo's really bad for the Dems, it must be discredited before it becomes available.

"Hah! What's the evidence for any of this?" (Trained seals in the media bark and applaud.)

Anonymous said...

Oh, those silly tin-foil crowned conservatives and their whacky theories about the existence of the Deep State!

ga6 said...

And somewhere Bill Ayers giggles....

Bad Lieutenant said...

He orders a burglary of DNC headquarters at the Watergate.


Begley, who told you that?

Wow, the power of propaganda.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Goodwin:

During the financial crisis, the federal government bailed out banks it declared “too big to fail.” Fearing their bankruptcy might trigger economic Armageddon, the feds propped them up with taxpayer cash.

Something similar is happening now at the FBI, with the Washington wagons circling the agency to protect it from charges of corruption. This time, the appropriate tag line is “too big to believe.”

Yet each day brings credible reports suggesting there is a massive scandal involving the top ranks of America’s premier law enforcement agency. The reports, which feature talk among agents of a “secret society” and suddenly missing text messages, point to the existence both of a cabal dedicated to defeating Donald Trump in 2016 and of a plan to let Hillary Clinton skate free in the classified email probe."

Bruce Hayden said...

"Managed outrage"?

With all this, it was probably missed by many, esp on the left, that the cases against the Bundy family, and their friends, in Clarke County, NV, ended quite innobly for the Feds. By a Dem appointed federal judge. A lot revolved around exonerating evidence hidden by the prosecution (DoJ) about the FBI actions there. Part of what made the evening news, were all the heavily armed Cowboys and militia who showed up. And the defense turned out to have partially been the paranoia by the Bundys, about the FBI, and, in particular, FBI snipers, who had been deployed by the department to fatal results at both Ruby Ridge (wounding Randy Weaver, and executing his wife, babe in arms) and Waco. Specifically, they were asserting that the FBI had deployed spy cams and snipers. This was denied by the prosecutors. Except, that it turned out to have been true - the FBI had deployed both. They just weren't telling anyone, even under oath. Which means that the Bundys weren't paranoid after all. Because of the gross prosecutorial misconduct by the DoJ and FBI, the charges were all ultimately dismissed with prejudice.

No doubt, a lot on the left think that the Weavers picked their fight with the Feds, and his dead family members were just collateral damage. The rest of us know that he tried to move as far away from civilization as he could to avoid it (no doubt he would wouldn't be happy there now, as nearby Sandpoint has boomed into a fashionable resort). And that the whole standoff was the result of the Feds trying to entrap him into infiltrating the militia groups then in the area (notably, by my namesake's lake between Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene in N ID). And, similarly, the standoff, then fiery end at Waco was the Feds coming after people who just wanted to be alone. It just happened that the ATF's budget was up for renewal, and everything else flowed from there. And, the FBI showed up heavily armed, with their snipers, using unconstitutional and illegal rules of engagement in both cases. And, of course, the Feds committing the executions and murders were never held to account.

My point in that diversion is that much of Red America doesn't need to have their outrage with the DoJ and FBI stoked. It comes naturally. I don't think that Schiff and Feinstein have any conception, right now, how hot much of the right is right now at this scandal. I expect right now that a number of the key DoJ and FBI people would take their lives in their hands, if they were recognized in one of at least a half dozen states, with the people willing to extract popular justice against them willing to trust their fates to jury nullification. Knowing some of these people, I have been seeing email several times a day for better than a month now about the unfolding of the scandal.

Fernandinande said...

The FBI has been going rapidly downhill since they closed-out the X-files.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

FBI's new official motto:

You cannot lie to the FBI, but the FBI can lie to you.

Original Mike said...

David Begley said...”...[Nixon] orders a burglary of DNC headquarters at the Watergate.”

Oops.

Thanks, BT. I read right past that.

tim in vermont said...

Team FBI, Democrat Police!

Who would have thunk that Trump would really set about draining the swamp? Listen to the sturm und drang he is causing! It’s sweet music! What is best in life, Trump? <-- He knows! It’s the sound of a needed catharsis of the Clinton rot.

I agree with the “Too big to fail” take, BTW, this is going to be done with retirements, and time spent with family, etc. etc... Trump may even have to pardon Hillary, and Obama will be off limits, whatever his culpability,

Trump has been the physic that this country needed.

tim in vermont said...

You cannot lie to the FBI, but the FBI can lie to you

It’s pretty sad that we are making Soviet style jokes about our own government.

“In Russia, spies snoop on Russia’s enemies, In America, it’s the other way around.”

tim in vermont said...

Best of luck in your future endeavors, “Secret Society.” Jack-booted thugs of the Democrats!

Jersey Fled said...

Wow! I was wondering how the NYT was going to spin this one. Pretty feeble.

Sometime during the next couple of weeks the memo will be released. The NYT talking points will hold some on the plantation, but not all. There will be some on the left who will have to admit the obvious - that the FBI and Obama DOJ collude with the DNC and Hillary campaign to spy on their opponent. How is this different than Watergate, except that it's worse. This time government agencies themselves were involved.

This puts the press in a quandry. Do they spend what little credibility they have on the "it's just those silly Republicans" meme, hoping for that blue wave election in the fall to sweep everything under the rug. Or do they turn the tables and start reporting on the story that we all know to be true. Not just the story, but all of the story.

The tipping point will come when the press turns on Democrats and their other assorted villians. I wonder if this will happen. This one might be so bad that they might have to risk everything and potentially go down with the ship.

Dude1394 said...

That the NYTimes and the rest of democrat media have no interest in the possibility that the FBI tried to obstruct a Presidential Election is downright frightening. At this point they are running cover and condoning an attempted coup of our country.

traditionalguy said...

What a pathetic propaganda piece. It is like a CIA disinformation article that carefully complains about the release of news being a frenzy of Japanese Conspiracists about the peaceful Sunday at Oahu on December 7, 1941.

M Jordan said...

When I first heard of Hillaty’s Meltdown after the Matt Lauer forum, I was skeptical. Unsourced, unprovevable, it was just too good to be true. Skeptical no longer am I. In case you’ve forgotten, here’s a clip from Snopes setting it up in order to knock it down:

“Hillary’s meltdown included throwing a water glass at a staffer — narrowly missing her head, and demanding Matt Lauer be fired! She was overheard threatening executives at NBC saying “If I lose, we all go down and that Fascist Fuck will have us swinging from nooses! What the fuck is wrong with you idiots?”

Jay Vogt said...

. . . . . [H]ere’s what we know up to this point about this latest madness: a) There is an undisclosed four-page memorandum, b) written by Nunes’s staff, c) which was made available in a party-line vote to anyone in the House, d) but remains unreleased to the public at large, e) and for which no one but Nunes and a handful of House Intelligence members and staffers have seen the evidence in support of it.

Why do people write like this> That sentence functions just fine (better) with out the sub a), sub b) etc.

Is it to give the reporter some patina of extra investigative work?

traditionalguy said...

The Trump Effect is like the turning on of a light in a dark Kitchen full of disease carrying super roaches . RAIDS HERE!

The only question is how hard the Soros Riot Army will fight in the streets when the arrests start.

tim in vermont said...

“If I lose, we all go down and that Fascist Fuck will have us swinging from nooses! What the fuck is wrong with you idiots?”

Holy crap! The first thing that looks like foresight from her! I would have thought it was recently made up. Note the date.

http://victuruslibertas.com/2016/09/temper-temper-killary-goes-on-rampage-for-over-an-hour-throwing-glass-at-staffers-head/

The people who actually knew Vince Foster, now dead, said that in the days before his suicide he was depressed because Hillary had flown into a rage in a public meeting and called him a “hick lawyer, who would never get it!”

What a bullet we dodged!

AllenS said...

Well, Jay, a) it's called b) clutter.

tim in vermont said...

Why is Fascist Fuck capitalized, BTW? And whose campaign was “stronger together” clearly a fascist slogan? How does it make any sense? We are all “stronger together under my personal leadership, of course, you idiots!”

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The leftwing MSM(D) agree with a secret society. They agree with it! They'd like to be a part of it. So -nothing to see here.

Unclebiffy said...

"Sparrow said...
Society is built and sustained on trust. Given there's little reason to trust the FBI, the media, the civil service, or the courts, our society is in deep trouble. I'm glad the corruption is being exposed, but if the responsible remain unpunished it'll only feed cynicism and further weaken us."

Sparrow nails it except I don't think they go far enough. If the Left wins this fight, we are done for as a functioning society. If the Left wins this, when they next take power, what is to stop them from even more aggressively and openly going after their political enemies?


John Pickering said...

I thought I had posted this, but i guess it didn't go through. Just want to pass this on in case of interest:


Flynn left the White House after Mike Pence went on TV to make yet another claim that no member of the Trump team had talked to Russian officials about US policy. It was already clear at that point that Flynn had engaged in exactly that kind of discussion, and on more than one occasion. The embarrassment to Pence was used as the justification for firing Flynn.

But that makes very little sense. It’s been Mike Pence’s job from the moment he came on board Trump Force One to lie for Donald Trump. The claim he made about no member of the Trump team having associated with the Russians wasn’t the first, either for Pence or Trump. In fact, Trump continues to make such claims, even though they’ve long proven to be untrue.

With news that Flynn talked to the FBI—without telling Trump—even before he left the White House, it’s becoming more clear that the reason we’ve been told why Flynn was sent packing was at least as phony as the Rosenstein memo cobbled together to cover up Trump’s firing of Comey.

Flynn has been talking. He started talking even before Trump pulled the trigger. All of which should, and does, frighten Trump.

The tally of figures who have spent their time in Mueller’s chair is impressive.

By the end of 2017, special counsel Robert Mueller’s team had spoken with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, former FBI Director James Comey, and numerous members of Trump’s campaign and White House inner circle.

And you can add a few more to that list …

NBC News also has learned that former acting attorney general Sally Yates, who informed the White House about Flynn’s interview two days after it took place, has cooperated with the special counsel. CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who was allegedly asked by Trump to lean on Comey to drop his investigation, has also been interviewed, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

All of this is just one part of the larger investigation. What about the obstruction related to Trump personally authoring a memo, while on board Air Force One, in which he knowingly lied about the reason for the Trump Tower meeting? What about the underlying case for conspiracy that includes not just the Trump Tower meeting, but personal meetings of almost every senior member of Trump’s campaign team? What about financial crimes related to the money laundering implicit in the Trump Organization’s connections to oligarchs and mobsters?

This is just one piece of the puzzle. But all by itself, it may be enough. And the story of why Michael Flynn was really fired, and the topic of his discussion with the FBI while he was still in the White House, could be very interesting.

None of this seems to indicate that Mueller is anywhere near finished. Bannon’s interview is still outstanding. So is Trump’s. We still haven’t seen any charges related to information Mueller gleaned from either the deals with Papadopoulos or Flynn. There’s a lot still to come—and no doubt Republican tales of double-secret FBI cults trading satanic pizza recipes by Instagram image will be spread at ever higher volume.

But the coffin nail labeled “obstruction” seems to already be firmly in place.

mockturtle said...

The leftwing MSM(D) agree with a secret society. They agree with it! They'd like to be a part of it. So -nothing to see here.

Right, Dickin'. In Watergate, the media were the instigators of the investigation. In this scandal, they are the suppressors.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Hillary is pure evil and those who refuse to see it, those who excuse it, are complicit.

YoungHegelian said...

This is easey-peasey, as government questions go.

Just release the memo & show us all what a load of nothing it is. Did the NYT have a cow when Sen, Feinstein recently released a private/classified memo without authorization? Did they ask for her resignation? If not, then why get upset over this memo, no matter how it gets released? They're the press --- they LOVE government openness, right?

Then again, what if the memo isn't a load of nothing, & it could potentially start an resignation avalanche in the DoJ & FBI that would derail in the public's mind any possible investigation of the Trump administration? Then, wouldn't we see the Democrats circling the wagon to discredit/bury the memo exactly like the NYT is doing here?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Birkel said...

John Pickering:

Sometimes when you think you posted and it didn't go through it is a sign. Tell your bosses that the computer is trying to tell you which bull shit is too strong for the internet.

Really, you are an automatic skip poster.

Francisco D said...

So far we know that the Obama administration used the IRS, DOJ and FBI to go after Republicans, libertarians and conservatives.

I am worried about what we don't know. This is the tip of the iceberg.

John Pickering said...

Thanks Birkel, turned out that what I thought I had posted exceeded the character limit. So, it's been edited a bit.

Yancey Ward said...

If that is all the memo contains supported by the warrant applications themselves, then it will fall flat once released publicly along with the supporting evidence. That the Democrats have fought and are fighting tooth and nail to prevent the release is indicative to me that the memo and the supporting evidence is much deeper and worse for the FBI than is publicly known. It the evidence that is likely causing them grief- once the memo is made public, the committee will have no choice but to follow up by releasing the evidence from which the memo was derived, too.

What I think the evidence is going to show is that the counter-intelligence arm of the FBI was monitoring every member of the Trump Campaign whose names could be determined, along with those of every other Republican candidate from the 2015-Summer 2016 primary season. All done without court authorization.

Quaestor said...

What a bullet we dodged!

An incoming MIRV.

Ann Althouse said...

It's New York Magazine, which isn't the NYT and isn't The New Yorker.

Bad Lieutenant said...

John Pickering said...
I thought I had posted this, but i guess it didn't go through. Just want to pass this on in case of interest:

1) We're not deaf, we're ignoring you.
2) As Ann says, up your standards. When we steal boilerplate quotes from somebody, we provide cite.

Be so good as to try to suck less.

sparrow said...

Unclebifffy,

I held back on where I think this may go, because I hope it can be avoided. The left is destroying this country, we are heading toward chaos and Trump is our best hope. I'm entirely serious.

Che Dolf said...

Cristian Farias (New York magazine) suggests the Steele Dossier has been corroborated in significant respects. This is a lie.

As Marcy Wheeler writes at the New Republic: "Neither its salacious revelations about a 'pee tape' nor its more mundane reports of meetings between Trump officials and Russians to coordinate on the election have yet been publicly corroborated in their specifics. Many people point to the dossier’s report on former campaign adviser Carter Page’s trip to Russia to claim it has been verified by known facts. But the opposite is actually the case, as far as we know: Page met with different Russians."

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Just release the memo & show us all what a load of nothing it is. Did the NYT have a cow when Sen, Feinstein recently released a private/classified memo without authorization? Did they ask for her resignation? If not, then why get upset over this memo, no matter how it gets released? They're the press --- they LOVE government openness, right?”


Simpson’s testimony was not classified. Yes release the FISA “abuse” memo, we all need to see for ourselves what is in it. Trump could declassify it today, why hasn’t he done so already?

Bad Lieutenant said...

Tim in VT: I agree with the “Too big to fail” take, BTW, this is going to be done with retirements, and time spent with family, etc. etc... Trump may even have to pardon Hillary, and Obama will be off limits, whatever his culpability,


NO. NO MERCY. Anybody who wants clemency, now's the time to rat on your fellow rats, rats!

If something is too hot to prosecute in the public eye, we might as well have some good old Arkancides.

Obama himself probably has presidential immunity but his nose can be rubbed in it, his clique eradicated, and him left with his graft and his punk-ass book-free library.

Hillary gets whatever she gets, and Bill if anything, and definitely all their stack.

THIS is a cancer on the Presidency, on the nation. You don't let cancer cells off the hook because "they are too big." If cancer is inoperable, the patient dies. If cancer escapes the cut-burn-poison, it metastasizes and the patient dies.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out,
and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and
not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.


That said, Achilles needs to stop spouting about executions, there is no rubric compatible with the rule of law where any of this can get you executed.

AFAIK. Is there? I'd be happy to be wrong. I know my cousin wanted at least some of the Bush-Cheney stack to hang for war crimes. But who hangs anymore?

Althouse, if you can stand it, could you explain briefly what federal crimes of this genre exist that can have the death penalty? I know there's espionage. Treason, but we all know how tightly that is circumscribed - but can arming Iran and condoning Hezbollah, for instance, constitute treason? What else?


Anyone thinking "oh, that's too much," imagine what would have happened, to her opponents and to the country, if Hillary had won.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Oh yes, we would also need to see the classified info that the memo is based on, or else we could surmise it is a gross mischaracterization of the classified info.

Drago said...

Inga: "Oh yes, we would also need to see the classified info that the memo is based on, or else we could surmise it is a gross mischaracterization of the classified info."

LOL

You have just spent the last 2 years buying into and shouting at the top of your lungs every single leaked report and anonymously sourced story but it is only now that you demand to see every classified document relating to a claim!

History began anew today in the biggest way evah for Inga and the lefties!

A new record!

Btw, how is that Tillerson firing coming along? Maybe he has already been fired but only the secret squirrels in the "Secret Society" know about it!

Seeing Red said...

I read Rantburg. One poster, Joe, connected the dots. In time, we will know if he was right or wrong. I didn't want to bring the entire post over but as far as he can figure it out six agencies got together CIA Brennan is involved overseeing it all. to avoid breaking US laws they had the British government spy On Trump and associates.

As someone also commented there that explains T May.

Unclebiffy said...

Inga, are you insisting that all classified information that may corroborate the four page memo produced by Nunes must be released otherwise the memo cannot be believed?

If so, do you believe that President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election? On what evidence do you rely to come to that conclusion?

Seeing Red said...

It also seems for some strange reason the FBI does not use Apple phones they use Samsung which is easier to break into however if Samsung cannot retrieve five months of messages it was specifically be because the FBI told them to delete it so now Congress would have to track that back to who gave the order and to who ordered that person to give the order.


Inga...Allie Oop said...

“You have just spent the last 2 years buying into and shouting at the top of your lungs every single leaked report and anonymously sourced story but it is only now that you demand to see every classified document relating to a claim!”


Don’t get hysterical. A “memo” put out by the government (yes Nunes is part of the government) needs to clear some serious hurdles. It’s on a higher level than mere journalism, no? Also, I don’t know about or care about about any “firing” of Tillerson. You keep repeating this as if it means something to me. It doesn’t.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Neither its salacious revelations about a 'pee tape' nor its more mundane reports of meetings between Trump officials and Russians to coordinate on the election have yet been publicly corroborated in their specifics.

Neither Simpson nor Steele even went to Russia. Their "information" was gleaned from pro-Putin Russians who sent material to a guy named Baumgartner, who worked in Fusion GPS's New York office and spoke fluent Russian. To repeat, none of the people who "wrote" the Russia Dossier ever went to Russia and investigated. It is all 3rd-hand rumor furnished by the Kremlin in order to sow chaos and disinformation into the American election of 2016.

Seeing Red said...

Yet Inga believed Hillary lie that the video caused Benghazi.

Go figure.

Drago said...

Inga: "Don’t get hysterical"

LOL

A person who has been hysterically repeating every rumor and unsourced leaked report for the last 2 years would very much like to now say that others are being hysterical.

Yes, fake dossier golden showers girl who told us Trump wouldnt be inaugurated and then Trump wouldnt last 6 months says dont get hysterical!

Do you know what that is?

......(wait for it)......yes. Its hysterical!

Unclebiffy said...

Inga, are you insisting that all classified information that may corroborate the four page memo produced by Nunes must be released otherwise the memo cannot be believed?

If so, do you believe that President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election? On what evidence do you rely to come to that conclusion?

Seeing Red said...

Kinda makes you wonder if DWS' Pakistani IT staff fits in somewhere.

Drago said...

Inga is simply doing her job for the day. It doesnt matter that what she is saying today is utterly and obviously contradicted by everything she has said for 2 years.

Today is today. Yesterday no longer exists for the dem party faithful.

Gahrie said...

Also, I don’t know about or care about about any “firing” of Tillerson. You keep repeating this as if it means something to me. It doesn’t.

History began this morning. And begins anew every morning.

Yancey Ward said...

Also, probably what is going to be eventually learned is that the Steele dossier was built upon FISA 702 requests that were conducted between 2015 and the Spring of 2016. I pointed out here several days ago that one of the things that caught my eye back in January was the mistaken information that Michael Cohen, a Trump lawyer, had traveled to Prague- allegedly to meet with Russian agents. As it turned out, Cohen the Trump lawyer was in the US at the time of the alleged travel and meeting, but a different Michael Cohen had traveled to Prague. At the time, I found it baffling that such a mistake could have been made by Steele- particularly because there are no publicly available databases to search to nail down even the detail of any Michael Cohen traveling to Prague within the time frame described.

It is a mistake that was nearly impossible to explain- seriously exactly how could Steele's sources have mistaken one Michael Cohen for another- especially given that they purportedly described the purpose of the visit? However, this story broke long before we learned of the abuse of the FISA 702 queries that was outlined in the FISC report which has been publicly released in redacted form. That report outlined the abuse of FISA "about queries", and also revealed that the FBI had been sharing this information with private, though yet unnamed, contractors. Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse has since provided the most rational explanation for the error about Michael Cohen- someone inside the Obama Administration had performed a FISA 702 query to the NSA for information about "Michael Cohen", and that search had retrieved the other Michael Cohen who did travel to Prague. With that detail in hand, whoever prepared the Steele Dossier took that fact and then constructed the motive and substance of that Cohen's travel around a fact that could be confirmed. I wonder if what Nunes and his staff have found is that numerous confirmable facts of travel in the Steele Dossier can now be linked to known FISA queries conducted between 2015 and the 2016 election.

Birkel said...

The Steele Dossier has been verified, if by verified you mean each of the words used in the Dossier is an actual word.

This much we can affirmatively verify.

The trick is how those words go together and we haven't been able to verify any of that.

But each individual word is verified.

Leland said...

What does 'all but misled' mean, exactly?

Perhaps the notion here of "all but misled" is that they never lied by actually stating something that was untrue. It assumes they perhaps knew the entire bona fides of the dossier and omitted some of it from the judge. Can you prove they intentionally withheld information and misled the judge? For that matter, do we even know the judge was impartial? Perhaps the judge didn't need to be misled, as he/she/zer was always part of the secret society.

Kevin said...

The story isn't the uproar on the right.

The story is the lack of uproar on the left.

That dog aint barking.

YoungHegelian said...

@Inga,

Simpson’s testimony was not classified.

Then why the outcry from the other members of the committee? Whatever was the official "status of classification" of the memo, Feinstein caused a ruckus by releasing it. If it was publicly available, it would have been "released to the press", not "leaked". You are just playing semantic games here.

Yes release the FISA “abuse” memo, we all need to see for ourselves what is in it. Trump could declassify it today, why hasn’t he done so already?

Don't assume that Trump can "declassify" it. Trump can declassify anything in the purview of the Executive Office, but this memo, at this time, may be a under the purview of the Legislative branch. The federal government has hundreds, if not thousands, of categories of "not for public consumption" documents. Besides, any President who respects the separation of powers, which Trump has actually been scrupulous about so far, will let the Congress work out their own pissing contests. I don't think either the Congressional Dems or Repubs want Trump's heavy hand in this matter.

Unclebiffy said...

Inga, are you insisting that all classified information that may corroborate the four page memo produced by Nunes must be released otherwise the memo cannot be believed?

If so, do you believe that President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election? On what evidence do you rely to come to that conclusion?

trumpintroublenow said...

Steele's job was to find dirt on Trump. Nobody disputes that. Presumably the court knew that was what Fusion and Steele were doing. Not sure how it matters who paid for the information-- republicans (which hired Fusion during the primary for the same purpose) or democrats. The trustworthiness (or lack thereof) of the information is the same.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“That said, Achilles needs to stop spouting about executions, there is no rubric compatible with the rule of law where any of this can get you executed.”

After reading Achilles comments, they often have me shaking my head and shaking off a chill that has run down my spine. I often come away thinking I may hear about him one day in some news report after a mass shooting spree or explosion of DNC headquarters somewhere. He may be a totally normal guy who just feels strongly about his political philosophy, but something about the repetative references to getting rid of the political enemies of the state (in so many words) is creepy.

Which reminds me of Trump’s comments about “the Press being he enemy of the people”. That sort of rhetoric feeds into the psyches of people like Achilles and others here and elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Drago: History began anew today in the biggest way evah for Inga and the lefties!

A new record!


Still, it's nice to see them safely returned, with the latest talking points in hand. The most recent squirrel-fluffing and distribute-the-talking-points drive seems to have taken longer than usual; I was worried that they'd gone so far down the rabbit hole that they got lost and couldn't find their way back.

MikeR said...

I'm with Glenn Greenwald. Release the memo, release any supporting documentation. Declassify it. What is the excuse for not doing that?

Yancey Ward said...

Did the FBI know who funded the dossier when they took it to the FISA judge (and I think it all but certain that the dossier was used this way now)? It is plausible that they didn't know, but to believe this you have to also believe one of two things- either they just didn't ask who paid Steele to do this work, or they did ask and Steele lied about it. There really aren't other explanations that fit.

This brings us to the referral made by Grassley and Graham- though the details of the referral have been withheld, one can deduce that one of the things they referred to was Steele's description of his sources and funding. An investigation into Steele's reported admissions can also determine whether or not the agents that worked with him are the ones who were lying about Steele's employers, media contacts, and sources. I can't imagine any FISA judge granting a warrant based on a dossier bought and paid for by Clinton's campaign- even a judge appointed by a Democrat wouldn't be that corrupt, or stupid. So someone did lie about the dossier's financial backing- that much pretty certain.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I see Mueller is leaking again this morning. Those FBI corruption stories must be leaving a mark.

Drago said...

Yancey Ward: "Also, probably what is going to be eventually learned is that the Steele dossier was built upon FISA 702 requests that were conducted between 2015 and the Spring of 2016. "

Yep.

I will wager that the rumors of Fusion GPS being one of the paid contractors to sift thru all raw 702 data is true.

Which would mean that the FBI was paying the dems oppo research firm to look thru raw intel data (helloooo Nellie Ohr), then Fusion (Nellie girl) gussied it up, handed it to Steele (who was "helpfully" a brit national) to "independently" (wink wink) create a document from his long time Putin pal acquaintences and then fed this "independent" piece of crap BACK to the FBI who then VOILA got warrants to spy on Trump.

Neat and tidy.

Hillary and gang hide and lie about their involvement for over a year and Ingas media pals pretend that Steele is just some great guy who happened to come across this golden showers BS.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I'm with Glenn Greenwald. Release the memo, release any supporting documentation. Declassify it. What is the excuse for not doing that?”

Exactly!

Drago said...

Inga: "I often come away thinking I may hear about him one day in some news report after a mass shooting spree or explosion of DNC headquarters somewhere"
LOL

Inga thinks Achilles is a Bernie Bro!

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Simpson’s testimony was not classified. Yes release the FISA “abuse” memo, we all need to see for ourselves what is in it. Trump could declassify it today, why hasn’t he done so already?

Like grand jury testimony it was supposed to be secret. Careful what you wish for. CNN says Trump "likely" to allow memo release, along with the judge's rebuke of Obama admin for FISA abuse.

Let it ALL out.

Francisco D said...

"Trump could declassify it today, why hasn’t he done so already?"

In politics as in war, timing is everything, kiddo.

Unclebiffy said...

"MikeR said...
I'm with Glenn Greenwald. Release the memo, release any supporting documentation. Declassify it. What is the excuse for not doing that?"

MikeR. President Trump is the only person in the Government who has the authority to de-classify the information quickly. If he ordered it done, the MSM and the Democrats would go nuts claiming he did so in order to obstruct the Mueller investigation.

Unclebiffy said...

Inga, are you insisting that all classified information that may corroborate the four page memo produced by Nunes must be released otherwise the memo cannot be believed?

If so, do you believe that President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election? On what evidence do you rely to come to that conclusion?

Drago said...

Looks like Rybicki, FBI Chief of Staff to Comey, has decided he too needs ti spend more time with his family.

Gee, he would have been a key little cog in any potential "Secret Society" which, btw, is a totally made up Russian Bot generated thing and wasnt anything Strzok or Page texted about ever.

Nope.

Its all Russian Bots and Macedonian server farms and facebook ads.

Totally.






Inga...Allie Oop said...

Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald
Agree 100% with this: release of the Nunes memo without the opportunity to review the full record of underlying evidence is not just useless but almost certainly designed to deceive:
Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
Embedded
The White House now supports release of Nunes memo...

Bruce Hayden said...

“Don't assume that Trump can "declassify" it. Trump can declassify anything in the purview of the Executive Office, but this memo, at this time, may be a under the purview of the Legislative branch. The federal government has hundreds, if not thousands, of categories of "not for public consumption" documents. Besides, any President who respects the separation of powers, which Trump has actually been scrupulous about so far, will let the Congress work out their own pissing contests. I don't think either the Congressional Dems or Repubs want Trump's heavy hand in this matter.”

The memo will, almost assuredly, be declassified by Congress in the next week or so. The issue will then be the supporting documentation, which invariably comes fro the Executive Branch, which will have to be the party declassifying it. That said, Schiff and Feinstein are two of the few members in Congress who legally could have seen all of the underlying documentation, and likely have seen much of it. I think that we can see how this is likely to play out. Schiff will question a classified document that he can see, that most cannot. It will laboriously be declassified to show just what was claimed it said in the Nunes memo. Rinse and repeat, with Schiff shifting his targets as time moves quickly on. And, in that vein, the Dems can delay the investigation until they have seated a marority in the House, at which time, he, as the chair, can kill the investigation (and start revving up impeachment investigations). In short, trying to run out the clock through obscucation, misdirection, and delay. Which has essentially been his MO since Day 1 with this scandal.

And in case anyone forgets, Schiff has been one of the primary leakers of classified information in Congress for quite some time. If the roles were reversed, I think it almost guaranteed that the contents would have leaked almost immediately, very likely by Schiff himself. That we haven’t seen it yet is a testament of the underlying honesty and willingness to obey the law by the Republicans involved. And that the memo contains a lot of information that will prove embarrassing, at a minimum, to the Democrats.

Fabi said...

Maybe I can help the left: #FakeMemo

Seeing Red said...

As a side note from the Jerusalem Post:

...During the conversation, according to the report, Kerry asked Agha to convey a message to Abbas and ask him to "hold on and be strong." Tell him, he told Agha, "that he should stay strong in his spirit and play for time, that he will not break and will not yield to President Trump's demands." According to Kerry, Trump will not remain in office for a long time. It was reported that within a year there was a good chance that Trump would not be in the White House.

Kerry offered his help to the Palestinians in an effort to advance the peace process and recommended that Abbas present his own peace plan. "Maybe it is time for the Palestinians to define their peace principles and present a positive plan," Kerry suggested. He promised to use all his contacts and all his abilities to get support for such a plan. He asked Abbas, through Agha, not to attack the US or the Trump administration, but to concentrate on personal attacks on Trump himself, whom Kerry says is solely and directly responsible for the situation....

Gahrie said...

Maybe it is time for the Palestinians to define their peace principles and present a positive plan

The Palestinians are positive that they demand the destruction of Israel and a return to the pre-1947 status quo.

Unclebiffy said...

This article was published for the express purpose of tainting the report before it was published. Adam Schiff was on CNN last night saying exactly the same thing. Only question is, is the media repeating the talking points given to them by the Democrats or did they provide the talking point to Schiff?

Seeing Red said...

Yup it's time for the pubbies to stop playing games.

Tommy Duncan said...

Blogger Unknown said...

"That the NYTimes and the rest of democrat media have no interest in the possibility that the FBI tried to obstruct a Presidential Election is downright frightening. At this point they are running cover and condoning an attempted coup of our country."

Witness the absence of Inga, Toothless, ARM and Chuck.

Bruce Hayden said...

“It is a mistake that was nearly impossible to explain- seriously exactly how could Steele's sources have mistaken one Michael Cohen for another- especially given that they purportedly described the purpose of the visit? However, this story broke long before we learned of the abuse of the FISA 702 queries that was outlined in the FISC report which has been publicly released in redacted form. That report outlined the abuse of FISA "about queries", and also revealed that the FBI had been sharing this information with private, though yet unnamed, contractors. Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse has since provided the most rational explanation for the error about Michael Cohen- someone inside the Obama Administration had performed a FISA 702 query to the NSA for information about "Michael Cohen", and that search had retrieved the other Michael Cohen who did travel to Prague. With that detail in hand, whoever prepared the Steele Dossier took that fact and then constructed the motive and substance of that Cohen's travel around a fact that could be confirmed. I wonder if what Nunes and his staff have found is that numerous confirmable facts of travel in the Steele Dossier can now be linked to known FISA queries conducted between 2015 and the 2016 election.”

”Which would mean that the FBI was paying the dems oppo research firm to look thru raw intel data (helloooo Nellie Ohr), then Fusion (Nellie girl) gussied it up, handed it to Steele (who was "helpfully" a brit national) to "independently" (wink wink) create a document from his long time Putin pal acquaintences and then fed this "independent" piece of crap BACK to the FBI who then VOILA got warrants to spy on Trump.”

Which very likely means that someone was running “about” queries about Trump staff names through the NSA 702 database, got this hit, and ran with it, maybe not realizing that “Cohen” is one of the most common Jewish surnames (due to their importance in the Jewish religion), and “Michael” is a reasonably common Jewish first name. Somewhat akin to using “John Smith”. What other database could they have searched and found that “John Smith” went to Prague? It pretty much had to be a federal govt database - that is just not the type of information that is available using search engines like Google for ordinary Americans. (It could have been a Cusoms database - except that they would have known that it was the wrong Michael Cohen, because it would have the wrong passport number).

Fabi said...

For the right: #DeletedBySamsung

Unclebiffy said...

Everyone, I apologize for the multiple posts of the following:

"Inga, are you insisting that all classified information that may corroborate the four page memo produced by Nunes must be released otherwise the memo cannot be believed?

If so, do you believe that President Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election? On what evidence do you rely to come to that conclusion?"

I hope that when the news media tries to dismiss the Nunes memo that this question is asked of them.

It would be very difficult to say with a straight face the Nunes memo is false because all of the classified supporting documents have not been released but I believe Russian Collusion because I believe 17 intelligence agencies tell me it's true although not one shred of supporting documentation has been provided because it is all classified.

Yancey Ward said...

The memo belongs to Congress, but the evidence supporting it, or not, belongs to the executive branch.

I would just about wager the house that Trump has been told by his lawyers to keep his hands off any actions that his enemies might try to construe as obstruction- declassifying material from FISA warrants and other FBI/DoJ work falls under that that category. While I think there is a major and devastating scandal being unveiled here, I think the methodical process, while frustrating, is the right way to do this. This is my prediction- the memo itself is released by the first week of February- it will be everything that the Republicans have described- devastating. The Democrats will then attack the memo by claiming it is made up and not supported by the evidence Nunes' committee has, which will then require the release of the evidence, which I guarantee you the Democrats fight every step of the way.

Seriously, if the memo isn't what is claimed, it would difficult to explain why it was written and released to the House itself. It is the sort of thing that backfires bigly otherwise. Nothing Nunes has done suggests to me the man is that stupid.

Fabi said...

The most significant and far-reaching political scandal in U.S. history is unfolding.

Francisco D said...

"The most significant and far-reaching political scandal in U.S. history is unfolding."

I agree. It will be interesting to see how this fiasco shakes out.

Now it is up to leftists to either deal with reality and be intellectually honest or to dial it up to 12 with their hysteria.

From a mental health perspective, it is always better to deal with reality. Then again, there is always scotch.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Steele's job was to find dirt on Trump. Nobody disputes that. Presumably the court knew that was what Fusion and Steele were doing. Not sure how it matters who paid for the information-- republicans (which hired Fusion during the primary for the same purpose) or democrats. The trustworthiness (or lack thereof) of the information is the same.”

Except that maybe that wasn’t his job, but rather was to launder the information gleaned through illegal 702 database searches through Russian contacts to remove the taint of illegality. If the real purpose of the Dossier was to get sufficient evidence to legally justify wiretapping the Republican candidate and his campaign, then the DoJ and FBI couldn’t go to the FISC and show them the results of the 702 searches, because the courts first question would be: WTF? They had authorized loosening up the FISA minimization rules based on assurances by the Obama Administration that they were needed for national security (remember - one of the things that allowed the 9/11/01 attacks to work was the Goerlick Wall, which prevented different parts of the FBI from communicating about national security threats, so an argument based on better interagency communications carries weight with the Court). And, now they see information about a US Person, whose identity should, by law have been masked. Not only had it been unmasked, but was being used to justify a wiretap warrant of the opposition candidate in an election. The Obama/Lynch DoJ had blown open FISA in their last couple years in office, by essentially, misleading the FISC, one supposedly unrelated aspect at a time. And going to the court for the wiretap order with information that the DoJ shouldn’t have had in the first place, if it hadn’t so egregiously misused FISA, would have been a WTF? moment for the FISC, giving away how badly they had been duped by the Obama Administration.

And, no, of course, they didn’t know what Fusion and Steele were really doing (even if he had actually been dredging up dirt). The fact that it was paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign showed that it as political document. It was never an “intelligence” document. And had none of the indications of reliability, etc. if the FISC had known that it was a political document funded by the opposite campaign from that the Feds were trying to wiretap, would likely have set off sirens in the courthouse.

Mike Sylwester said...

Yancey Ward at 10:44 AM
Also, probably what is going to be eventually learned is that the Steele dossier was built upon FISA 702 requests that were conducted between 2015 and the Spring of 2016. ...

Anyone who skipped over that long comment that Yancey wrote should go back and read it carefully.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

17 intelligence agencies tell me it's true

This is false. It was four agencies. Another shitty lefty talking point. Even Politifact is pained to tell the truth on it.

YoungHegelian said...

@Bruce,

It was never an “intelligence” document. And had none of the indications of reliability, etc. if the FISC had known that it was a political document funded by the opposite campaign from that the Feds were trying to wiretap, would likely have set off sirens in the courthouse.

One desperately wants to believe that the FISC was hoodwinked, & that they, too, were not part & parcel of a corrupt bureaucracy.

I'm not sure that that assumption is anything but a pious hope, however.

Mike Sylwester said...

Mike at 12:41 PM
It was four agencies.

It was a group of analysts specially selected from the three or four agencies. The finding was not coordinated and approved in accordance with normal procedures.

When Hillary Clinton as a candidate criticized Donald Trump for disregarding a finding of all 17 intelligence agencies, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper knew that Clinton's accusation was bullshit.

Clapper did not clarify the issue for our country's electorate, because he figured that Clinton's bullshit accusation would help her to defeat Trump.

* Clinton's accusation about 17 agencies was bullshit.

* The finding of the group of specially selected analysts was bullshit.

* Obama's expulsion of the Russian diplomats was based on bullshit.

* The report that Clapper's Intelligence Community issued on January 6, 2017, was bullshit.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Sylwester said...

Mike at 12:41 PM
It was four agencies.

1) CIA

2) FBI

3) NSA

4) Director of National Intelligence.

Whether the fourth should be counted is debatable.

It's not clear whether the AGENCIES approved the finding. It seems to me that DNI Clapper arranged to assemble a small group of compliant analysts, selected specially from the three agencies. Clapper then directed that group to concoct a finding that Russia was meddling in the election.

This too should be investigated, but you can be sure that Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller will not investigate how this small group was assembled and then came to concoct its bullshit finding.

Supposedly, the normal inter-agency coordination and approval process could not be used because the intelligence -- i.e. the Fusion dossier -- was so extraordinarily rare and valuable.

Achilles said...

federal definition of Treason:

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 807; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(2)(J), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)



I would have to say Obama turning the federal government against it's citizens and giving these enemies of the citizens aid and comfort is pretty much the definition of treason.

Obama has been aiding what he knew to be a fraudulent effort by FBI agents to remove a duly elected president from office.

Treason.

Achilles said...

Agree 100% with this: release of the Nunes memo without the opportunity to review the full record of underlying evidence is not just useless but almost certainly designed to deceive:

And Feinstein was a brave courageous hero.

The hypocrisy is hilarious. You people are awful.

Achilles said...

Inga said...
“I'm with Glenn Greenwald. Release the memo, release any supporting documentation. Declassify it. What is the excuse for not doing that?”

Exactly!

I think Trump agrees with you.

But it wont happen all at once. I expect weekly/monthly revelations from here to 2020.

Indictments will follow.

Democrats will squeal.

MAGA.

Roy Lofquist said...

So why the panic? It's not the disclosure of unethical behavior. The defenses there are legitimate prosecutorial discretion or, at worst, violations of the Hatch act. It's all very embarrassing, if they care about embarrassment.

No, the panic is all about the disclosure that outside contractors were given access to 702 sec. 17 queries. That stuff is top secret code word. Deliberately disclosing that information to unauthorized persons can get you decades in a super max.

The icing on the cake is the specter of RICO. If there is a series of criminal acts, three being the minimum, and you can be tied to any one of them then you take the fall for all of them. "Iggy? I don't even know Iggy but here I am busting rocks for the rest of my life because he messed up."

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Why is Nunes not allowing even members of his own party to see the Memo?

House Republicans are now stonewalling the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with the FBI and Justice Department, and refusing to provide a copy of the memo GOP House Intelligence Committee members say implicates the DOJ in surveillance abuse in the Russia investigation.

As CNN reports, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) has not been provided a copy of the four-page memo drafted by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), despite having asked for the document.

Kevin said...

CNN: Senator Burr, what comments do you have about the memo?

Burr: I haven't seen it yet. I've asked for a copy and have yet to receive it.

CNN: STONEWALLING! NUNES IS STONEWALLING!

Kevin said...

Here's a hint for the kids at home, when CNN uses the term "stonewalling", it's stopped reporting facts and is inserting opinion hoping you can't tell the difference.

And sadly, many of you can't.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

What is the hesitation in releasing this Memo? After all the hyperventilation....

https://theintercept.com/2018/01/19/republicans-have-four-easy-ways-to-releasethememo-and-the-evidence-for-it-not-doing-so-will-prove-them-to-be-shameless-frauds/

1. Trump can declassify anything he wants.
2. The House (and Senate) intelligence committees can declassify any material they possess.
3. The Constitution protects members of Congress from prosecution for “any speech or debate in either House.”
4. Republicans can leak everything to the news media.

All Americans, particularly conservatives, should ask every Republican making spectacular assertions about this memo when they will be using the above ways to conclusively demonstrate that everything they’ve said is based in rock-solid fact.

If they do not, Republicans will conclusively demonstrate something else. They will prove conclusively that all of this is about them shamelessly making claims they do not actually believe, fraudulently posturing as caring about one of the most vital, fundamental issues facing the United States: how the U.S. government uses the vast surveillance powers with which it has been vested.

Jim at said...

That sort of rhetoric feeds into the psyches of people like Achilles and others here and elsewhere.

James Hodgkinson could not be reached for comment.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Inga said...
What is the hesitation in releasing this Memo? After all the hyperventilation....

...
4. Republicans can leak everything to the news media.


First, Greenwald has no particular interest in the good government of this country, as is obvious from him recommending a leak by Rs as a viable method of release.

Second, if you disagree...
Why not have a D leak it? The advantage is this technique is time-tested.

You seem to think there is no harm in it for your side, so go for it. Feinstein can take some more cold medicine.

Original Mike said...

“1. Trump can declassify anything he wants.”
The memo doesn’t belong to the Executive Branch.

“2. The House (and Senate) intelligence committees can declassify any material they possess.”
Really? If the Executive Branch hands over material to Congress pursuant to their oversight role, Congress can just turn around and release it? Seems unlikely.

“3. The Constitution protects members of Congress from prosecution for “any speech or debate in either House.”
4. Republicans can leak everything to the news media.”
IOW, you’re urging them to act like democrats.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Why not have a D leak it? The advantage is this technique is time-tested.”

Yes, someone, D or R should leak it, but without the supporting classified info, it’s mere conjecture.... once again. Trump could declassify the whole shebang, Memo and supporting documents. Let’s see them!

Bad Lieutenant said...

“2. The House (and Senate) intelligence committees can declassify any material they possess.”
Really? If the Executive Branch hands over material to Congress pursuant to their oversight role, Congress can just turn around and release it? Seems unlikely.


2 is what will happen but not till X million pages of sources and methods are redacted...

OR IS INGA IN COLLUSION WITH THE RUSSIANS?!?!?!?!?

Bruce Hayden said...

@Inga - the memo is available to the entire House in their SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). Many Republicans, and even a few Democrats, have viewed it. It is still classified, so that means that it stays in their SCIF, where it can’t be copied, photoed, etc. if you want to see it yourself, call or otherwise your Representative, and tell The to #ReleaseTheMemo (by declassifying it).

Original Mike said...

”Trump could declassify the whole shebang, Memo and supporting documents. Let’s see them!”

Yeah, right. You and your fellow travelers would have a cow. Obstruction! Obstruction! I’m sure Trump’s lawyers have told him to stay far away from it.

Original Mike said...

”Many Republicans, and even a few Democrats, have viewed it.”

I heard a report that all of 10 democrats have read it. Tells you a lot.

Inga...Allie Oop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Yeah, right. You and your fellow travelers would have a cow. Obstruction! Obstruction! I’m sure Trump’s lawyers have told him to stay far away from it.”

So now it’s #DontReleaseTheMemo ?

Sheesh, make up your minds already.

Original Mike said...

”It is still classified, so that means that it stays in their SCIF, where it can’t be copied, photoed, etc.”

Or, Nunes could set up his own private, unsecured server and place the memo on it. I mean, that’s allowed, right?

Bad Lieutenant said...

Inga said...
“Yeah, right. You and your fellow travelers would have a cow. Obstruction! Obstruction! I’m sure Trump’s lawyers have told him to stay far away from it.”

So now it’s #DontReleaseTheMemo ?

Sheesh, make up your minds already.

1/24/18, 4:48 PM



Inga, not that you necessarily care, but I would respect you more if you wouldn't play dumb on this issue.

Original Mike said...

”So now it’s #DontReleaseTheMemo ?”

Are you really this dense?

Howard said...

Really shitty "push-poll" style democratic journalistic cool whip article defending the Clinton Foundation. The last bit, however, is a nice contrast to the notion that Trump is the enema of the Deep State Colon.
Perhaps the most telling sign that this manufactured outrage cycle is meaningless is that it exploded just as Congress gave the FBI sweeping new powers to conduct its surveillance operations. And Trump signed this expansion of the deep state he so distrusts just as his Republican allies were decrying its abuses in a carefully orchestrated media blitz. As national security journalist Marcy Wheeler has observed, when the House voted on these expanded surveillance powers a week earlier, Nunes, Gaetz, and King were among the bill’s biggest cheerleaders. Do they really expect anyone to believe that they care about government abuse of civil liberties, when the bulk of the surveillance they just authorized doesn’t even require a warrant?

Howard said...

The Memo is a McGuffin.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Inga, not that you necessarily care, but I would respect you more if you wouldn't play dumb on this issue.”

“Are you really this dense?”

I’m playing with you, I thought that would be evident. You can’t have it both ways. Either Trump takes the risk of adding to the evidence of obstruction against him, or he puts on his big boy pants and declassifies the supporting evidence after Nunes releases the Memo.

Mr. Fabulous said...

(World Famous Lurker says....)

"I’m playing with you, I thought that would be evident. You can’t have it both ways. Either Trump takes the risk of adding to the evidence of obstruction against him, or he puts on his big boy pants and declassifies the supporting evidence after Nunes releases the Memo."

This is bullshit Inga. This is not an either/or scenario - Achilles has it right, I believe:

"But it wont happen all at once. I expect weekly/monthly revelations from here to 2020.

Indictments will follow."

It would be strategically stupid to follow any course of action you lay out. Trump, along with Kelly, Mattis, etc. have shown they are quite adept strategically. This will be a painful year for you. Try to learn from it is my advice to you.


pacwest said...

"Release the memo, release any supporting documentation. Declassify it. What is the excuse for not doing that?"

I'm looking at the TV Guide right now, and that is not scheduled until the 17th episode of the 27th week of the 2nd season of the Trump Show. I guess we'll have to wait.

Thanks Yancey Ward for the info on the about queries on Cohen. I'd missed that entirely.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“It would be strategically stupid to follow any course of action you lay out. Trump, along with Kelly, Mattis, etc. have shown they are quite adept strategically. This will be a painful year for you. Try to learn from it is my advice to you.”

So #ReleaseTheMemo! was premature? What I think has happened here is that it was hype and hysteria and I see a bunch of Republicans and Trumpists second guessing themselves. Yes there will be pain and I will be here to give you folks solace.

tim in vermont said...

Also, I don’t know about or care about about any “firing” of Tillerson. You keep repeating this as if it means something to me. It doesn’t. - Inga

Right, it’s important not to lose trust in your sides talking points, no matter how many times they have been proved wrong!

Yancey Ward said...

Inga, I am sure that Burr as a senator can mosey over to the House SCIF to view the memo anytime he wants to. What the House Intelligence Committee won't do right now is print out copies for lazy senators- they won't even do that for House members. Perhaps, in a week or so, Burr can get his own copy, but not until the House has gone through their own procedure for declassification.

As usual, Inga is full shit and ignorance.

Beaneater said...

Tim in VT said: "In Russia, spies snoop on Russia’s enemies, In America, it’s the other way around."

Alternative punchline: "In Russia, spies snoop on Russia’s enemies, In America, spies also snoop on Russia's enemies."

Jupiter said...

Inga said...

"That sort of rhetoric feeds into the psyches of people like Achilles and others here and elsewhere."

Yeah, Inga, we know. You want to replace us all with a nice bunch of Somali Muslims. It's for the children.

Bruce Hayden said...

Note - the Nunes memo is a House document, because it was the creation of House members and staff. That means that they, as a body, determine who can see it, and when, and if, to declassify it. That will, as I understand it, require a vote of the House. Which should happen fairly quickly. But, then, the supporting documents mostly, if not completely, belong to the Executive (unless there are some FISC documents, which would be owned by the Judiciary). Then things get complicated, esp since it is likely that while a lot of the supporting classified docs very likely belong to either the DoJ and FBI, but others may not. Chairman Nunes famously spent time in the SCIF at the EOB reviewing Obama PDBs that apparently contained unmasked data, that were distributed to the top several levels of the security community, including, for example, under secretaries of Defense, etc. supposed to be Need to Know, which doesn't include 30+ pairs of eyes (essentially violating the Minimization rules that the FISC had approved). Trump can, of course, order any classified information belonging to the Executive Branch that he wants. But he mostly seems to go through channels, which means that the White House would likely declassify the PDBs, but the AG and FBI Director would have to do so for the classified documents owned by their agencies. It may take some time. And, I suspect that Nunes wrote his memo with declassification in mind. Many of the supporting documents though likely were not, which probably means a lot of redactions before they can be safely declassified.

Bruce Hayden said...

Funny thing right now is that the Republicans in the House are refusing to allow the DoJ and FBI to view the memo. They were told that they would immediately leak the memo to the press, and have them prepped with approved talking points. Apparently over 200 members (almost all Republican) of the House have seen it. Another day or two to break half. Expect the vote then.

Francisco D said...

"What is the hesitation in releasing this Memo? After all the hyperventilation...."

Perhaps it is to cause increasing anxiety and deranged behavior from The Swamp.

The coverup is often worse than the crime, as we learned from Watergate.