ADDED: York asserts that the memo (which I haven't seen) says:
* The Steele dossier formed an essential part of the initial and all three renewal FISA applications against Carter Page.AND: Now, you can read it for yourself: Here.
* Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.
* The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications.
* DOJ official Bruce Ohr met with Steele beginning in the summer of 2016 and relayed to DOJ information about Steele's bias. Steele told Ohr that he, Steele, was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected president and was passionate about him not becoming president.
ALSO: I'm reading the memo, which is, basically, a list of 5 omissions from what was submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). According to the memo, the court, in order to protect "the rights of Americans" needs to see "information potentially favorable to the target of the FISA application" where the government knows this information, as it did for all 5 of these things:
1. The initial application (and the renewal applications) did not disclose the role of the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign in paying $160,000 to Christopher Steel to compile "the dossier." Nor did it show that Steele was working for Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson, who was paid by the law firm that represented the DNC, or that "Steele was ultimately working on behalf of — and paid by — the DNC and Clinton campaign."
2. The application made a Yahoo News article (by Michael Isikoff) look like it corroborated the Steele dossier, when it just had material that came from Steele. The application "incorrectly" asserts that the Yahoo News material didn't come from Steele. Steele was later terminated as an FBI source for leaking to Mother Jones in October, but he should have been terminated for these leaks to Yahoo News back in September, which was before the first application to the FISC.
3. Before Steele was terminated as an FBI source, Steele told then-Associate Deputy General Bruce Ohr (who worked closely with Yates and Rosenstein) that he "was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president." That's presumably a quote from Ohr, not Steele, given the "was" (as opposed to an "am"). At the time, Ohr's wife worked for Fusion GPS, doing oppo research on Trump, and this info was presented to the FISC without specifying its origin.
4. This point doesn't specify an additional omission. It talks about internal opinion at the FBI about the inadequacy of the Steele dossier.
5. The application refers to Papadopoulos, and the Papadopoulos investigation was opened in July 2016 by Pete Strzok, who had to be reassigned because of his "demonstrated clear bias against Trump."
MORE: Here's the response from the Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. It calls the majority's memo "a shameful effort to discredit" the Department of Justice and the FBI and "a transparent effort to suppress the full truth," so what I'm looking for as I read this is something terribly important that's missing from the majority's memo.
In order to understand the context in which the FBI sought a FISA warrant for Carter Page, it is necessary to understand how the investigation began, what other information the FBI had about Russia’s efforts to interfere with our election, and what the FBI knew about Carter Page prior to making application to the court – including Carter Page’s previous interactions with Russian intelligence operatives. This is set out in the Democratic response which the GOP so far refuses to make public.That seems to be more of an attack on the minds of the GOP congresspersons than on the memo itself, which I don't think says anything about the larger investigation into Russian interference with the election. But I guess that's what the Democratic congresspersons mean when they say there's no context. It's a little contradictory: They want it to be more about the Russia investigation and less about the Russia investigation. But the Nunes memo purports to be about individual rights and the abuse of surveillance.
The authors of the GOP memo would like the country to believe that the investigation began with Christopher Steele and the dossier, and if they can just discredit Mr. Steele, they can make the whole investigation go away regardless of the Russians’ interference in our election or the role of the Trump campaign in that interference.
The DOJ appropriately provided the court with a comprehensive explanation of Russia’s election interference, including evidence that Russian agents courted another Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos.... The Majority suggests that the FBI failed to alert the court as to Mr. Steele’s potential political motivations or the political motivations of those who hired him, but this is not accurate. The GOP memo also claims that a Yahoo News article was used to corroborate Steele, but this is not at all why the article was referenced. These are but a few of the serious mischaracterizations of the FISA application. There are many more set out in the Democratic response, which we will again be seeking a vote to release publicly on Monday, February 5th....So we need to wait for more. We're told there's something missing but not given the missing information.
933 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 801 – 933 of 933HEY WAIT! Was this a title I or title VII investigation? Carter Page was a Russian spy??
We need to see it all!
Moreover, why would Russia bother spending money on Trump, when Hillary *already was giving them everything wanted.*
It’s because of that “Reset” button. If you recall, it actually said “Overcharge.”
How about installing a Russian spy as National Security Advisor?"
Who needs the NSA? Just buy the NYT.
Remember when Bill Clinton sold out missile technology to the ChiComs? So that his biggest donor could get his satellites launched by the Chinese without blowing up?
None of these people so concerned about vague and nebulous possibilities with Trump gave a flying fuck. They ran his wife for POTUS!
"So, now do you at least understand the working theory of why the FBI targeted Page?"
I've never not known why he ended up on their radar. He was dealing w/ Russian oligarchs and such that were already being watched.
All your words say nothing. The gov surveilling Page means that they would only see the communications of other DJT folks if those other folks contacted Page, the coffee boy. Presumably learning how DJT likes his coffee was the Deep State's plan for taking down DJT.
Duh.
So McMaster is a Russian spy?
"Clinton pocketed millions for political favors"
Well, HRC did get them to push the "overcharge" button.
Good deal art there.
Why would someone need to outsource this to a former MI6 agent?
@JP,
As some of Ann's readers know, Trump has refused to publish his tax returns in defiance of calls for transparency as regards his finances.
Do you know what a privately held corporation is vs a publicly held one is?
Owners of publicly-held corporations, most of which issue stock, have wealth that is easy to evaluate -- take whatever is the stock price of the day & multiply it by the number of shares held by the owner.
Privately held corporations often issue stock to the partners, too. But, the evaluation of the value of that stock -- there's the rub. Matter of fact, when a privately held corporation is sold, it's the major issue that needs to be addressed by seller & buyer -- what is the value of the shares?
Trump Industries is privately held, & also, apparently fairly widely diversified in its holdings. To evaluate its value is no easy thing. If you knew that not only a hostile political party but also a hostile media was out there waiting to attack every single valuation you put on your tax form in front of an electorate that had no clue as to the difference in corporate structures, would you do it?
If I was Trump's tax lawyer, I'd tell him no way in hell you should release your taxes.
Bubba’s selling us to the ChiComs in the 90s meant they leaped I think 15 years in their technology.
“In defiance for. calls for transparency” said the party that ran a woman who deleted tens of thousands of emails from a time when she took scores of millions of dollars from the Russians.
You can’t make this stuff up!
You guys want any credibility, you are going to have to scrub off the Clinton stink first. And not with BleachBit.
"The gov surveilling Page means that they would only see the communications of other DJT folks if those other folks contacted Page..."
-- Or used the same systems, servers, locations, shared networks, clouds, phone lines or data plans as Page. Such as if they were all part of one organization. A campaign or the like.
You are still pretending that he is interested in honest debate, Mathew.
Matthew
Remember: Obama promised Russia more flexibility, and no one thought this was bad. Clinton pocketed millions for political favors, and no one batted an eye. Carter Page and Papadopolus drunkenly boast "I've talked to some Russians for Trump," and a FISA court and the FBI get involved.
worth a bold repeat
I don’t remember the Democrats offering us a reasonable alternative to Trump, does anybody else?
"The FBI relied heavily on the dubious Steele dossier, as well as a Yahoo! News article based on the salacious document, to obtain a surveillance warrant against a Trump campaign adviser prior to the 2016 election, according to an explosive but controversial memo approved for release by the White House on Friday.
The memo, which was crafted by House Republicans, also says that the FBI’s deputy director, Andrew McCabe, told Congress that a FISA warrant against the campaign adviser, Carter Page, would not have been granted without use of the dossier. "
the leftwing hivemind retort is that the Dossier was only part of it. BS.
The Dossier was all of it.. + yahoo news that was planted by GPS
The Clinton stink won't die until they do. The Democrats should wise up and drop the Clinton's, but they won't. The investment is much too large.
When President Trump said Obama was trying to tap his phones he was using a short hand the normal Americans would understand.
Ah, it's even better than that. President Trump is a Sherlock Holmes fan, and has read The Adventure of the Empty House:
...
No, I'm double-clutching on the exact quotation, or have the wrong tale, but his technique, simple and repeated, seems to work every time. It goes like this:
Detective Trump: We have your fingerprints on the murder weapon.
Criminal Dem: Impossible, I wore gloves!
He makes a simple statement just a mite off the beam. His opponent rushes to break his own neck correcting him.
Maybe there's a little Colombo in it as well. The typos like covfefe and wire tapp lull the suspect into a feeling of contemptuous security.
TinV,
He's not really responding. But, it's cool that you can't comprehend what he's up to.
His latest is that if a target's data transitions through some device, then all other data unrelated to that target that may also transition through that device can also be legally reviewed by the gov. Doesn't matter if there's no legal justification for surveilling these unrelated people, Matt says it's legal to do so.
He's funny.
"His latest is that if a target's data transitions through some device, then all other data unrelated to that target that may also transition through that device can also be legally reviewed by the gov. Doesn't matter if there's no legal justification for surveilling these unrelated people, Matt says it's legal to do so."
-- ... No. No. No. The point is that IT IS NOT LEGAL TO DO SO, which is why the FBI went through such pains to hide it, and why we STILL haven't been told who used false credentials to unmask people.
adSs,
As long as you can get everybody to steadfastly ignore the way that person or persons unknown trolled through the NSA intercepts and unmasked dozens of US Persons involved in those conversations, your argument holds up.
“Stop your frackin’ whining you pansy ass. I give back what is thrown at me. I have bigger testicles, as a post menopausal grandma, than you do as a male of undermined age.”
This is the way a man writes.
It’s pretty clear that “legally” is no bar to these people.
"which is why the FBI went through such pains to hide it"
Well they succeeded, because nobody is claiming that they illegally surveilled anyone.
Nice move there. Accuse the deep state of stuff, then say they hid that stuff, so the absence of proof that that stuff is the proof that they did it and then hid it!
Whopped em' again.
Well they succeeded, because nobody is claiming that they illegally surveilled anyone.
Why were such an inordinate amount of unmaskings of US Persons done under Samantha Powers’ name, and why did she deny making the requests?
Without the Steele dossier, no American court would have allowed the FBI to wiretap a presidential campaign. The memo states, “[then] Deputy Diretor McCabe testified before the [House Intelligence] committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought…without the Steele dossier information.”
Corruptocrats spinning spinning spinning that the dossier was only part of it. Wrong - it was all of it.
The media cannot say one bad thing about the democrats. Not one thing. This is 100% democrat corruption, and the media cannot say it at all.
local and national.
we have a hack press.
Somebody was reading those conversations who had no right to do so, or Powers lied to Congress.
BTW,
BHO is an alien lizard person. But, he hid this fact by leaving no traces of his lizardness, that's why we no longer have proof that he's a lizard person, because he hid it, and his hiding it is proof of his conspiracy, because he totally hid that he's an alien lizard person.
Logic.
Tim in Vermont said...
Why were such an inordinate amount of unmaskings of US Persons done under Samantha Powers’ name, and why did she deny making the requests?
Looks like we have already started to move on to the next thing.
Democrats are corrupt, then they lie about it. The media dutifully covers for them.
We live in a banana republic.
"Looks like we have already started to move on to the next thing."
I wish.
That's just more dead horse mutilation.
Boring.
Looks like we have already started to move on to the next thing
This is the rankest rot, unknown actors using the NSA to spy on Americans. There it is.
What we now know:
1) The FBI’s case to the FISA (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court was based almost entirely upon a partisan hit-job bought and paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. Christopher Steele, the source of the dossier, had “financial and ideological motivations” to undermine Donald Trump according to the Nunes memo. In fact, the FBI’s file records that Steele told Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr that “he was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.”
2) Ohr’s wife was one of just seven employees at FusionGPS, the firm that was paying Christopher Steele. The personal financial relationship between the Ohrs and the dossier was concealed from the court.
3) The FBI could not corroborate the information in the Steele dossier, calling it only “minimally corroborated” but did not disclose this fact to the FISA Court thus leading it to believe that the information in the dossier was either FBI work-product or that it had been independently corroborated by the FBI. Neither was true.
4) The FBI did not disclose that the source of the information which formed the basis of their FISA application was a paid political operative of the Clinton campaign and the DNC.
more...
5) The FBI and the Department of Justice intentionally misled the FISA court in their applications to obtain authority to spy on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. They did this not once, but on four separate occasions over the course of a year, including after Donald Trump was in office. The misleading applications were signed off by James Comey (three times), Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Dana Boente, and Rosenstein. This certainly casts the actions of each of them in a much different light. Recall that Yates was briefly the acting attorney general under Trump before the president fired her when she refused to defend the administration’s travel moratorium in court. At the time she was lionized in the media and claimed that she had to defend “this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right.” Likewise, Rosenstein’s nearly yearlong failure to fulfill his legal obligation to produce a lawful charter as a predicate for the Mueller investigation which now appears, in context, to be nothing more than the continuation of the Democrat’s campaign against Trump using the FBI as willing collaborators.
6) Comey lied to the president about the investigation while he was FBI director.
7) FBI agent Peter Strozk and his mistress FBI attorney Lisa Page met with Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to discuss an “insurance policy” against Trump being elected president. We don’t yet know the names of all of those who attended the meeting.
8) The texts between Peter Strozk and Lisa Page contain, “extensive discussions about the investigation, orchestrating leaks to the media, and include a meeting with Deputy Director McCabe to discuss an ‘insurance policy’ against Trump’s election.”
9) The Nunes memo is just the beginning. There is more to come.
Worse Than Watergate
I obviosuly have not read all the comments but Andy McCarthy now weighs in on the memo.
Steele was retained for the Democrat-funded anti-Trump project by the research firm Fusion GPS. At Fusion, he collaborated with Nellie Ohr, the wife of then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr — a senior Justice Department official who worked closely with the deputy attorneys general who approved the FISA warrants. Steele met with Ohr both before and after he was terminated as an FBI source. In September 2016 (i.e., before the first warrant application), the memo recounts that Steele told Ohr he “was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.”
QED, as they say in Geometry.
"What we don’t know yet:"
1) What role did Hillary Clinton play?
2) Was Attorney General Loretta Lynch involved with these efforts to surveil associates of the Trump campaign and, if so, to what extent?
3) We know that Susan Rice and Samantha Power were both involved in unmasking the names of U.S. citizens who were being targeted in this surveillance. Were they coordinating with elements within the FBI and/or the Justice Department? Were they coordinating with the DNC and Clinton campaign to give Hillary an electoral advantage?
4) What did Loretta Lynch and Bill Clinton really discuss during their tarmac meeting in Phoenix on June 27, 2016.
5) Did Barack Obama know about and/or participate in a conspiracy to use the police and surveillance powers of the federal government to undermine Donald Trump and rig the presidential election? Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) wants to see Obama and Clinton’s emails.
6) Who else was at the meeting attended by McCabe, Strozk, and Page where they discussed an “insurance policy” against Trump’s election? How often did they meet, where did they meet, and what did they discuss?
7) Why couldn’t the FBI, which touts its forensic expertise, locate the Strozk-Page texts but the Inspector General did it in two days?
8) What is the “insurance policy” Strozk and Page discussed? Is that a reference to the conspiracy itself?
9) To whom in the media did the FBI leak information about their Trump spying? How long and how extensive was this disinformation campaign.
10) What discussions took place among Justice Department resisters about refusing to obey Trump’s direction as president?
"We now know that almost every accusation leveled against the president with regard to so-called “Russian collusion” actually reflects the actions of what amounts to a cabal of Democratic Party operatives working with FBI and Justice Department fellow-travellers.
Among other things, it has become clear that Rod Rosenstein must resign. He was either complicit in the conspiracy to mislead the FISA Court or he was too dumb to see what was happening. Either way, he’s demonstrated criminality, incompetence, or both and needs to go.
"nobody is claiming that they illegally surveilled anyone."
No, just everyone who reads the memo.
"The picture painted by the Nunes memo is one of federal law enforcement officials who believe they are a wholly independent power, accountable to no one but themselves, and able to pick winners and losers in elections.
Based on what we know now, the conspiracy to undermine candidate Trump and later to destroy President Trump may have been limited to the Justice Department and FBI. That would be bad enough—and a serious threat to representative government striking, as it does, at the efficacy of our elections—but it may also have extended to the West Wing where U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power and National Security Adviser Susan Rice, at a minimum, used “national security” as a rationale to insert themselves into the election. This must also be the subject of investigation. And what of Ben Rhodes and his vaunted media echo chamber? It seems to have played a role as well. How many journalists either were duped or were complicit?
Nearly 50 years ago, the Watergate scandal forced a president from office. The Left thought it could do it again. But the Nunes memo—and the millions of documents and hundreds of hours of interviews behind it—makes clear that rogue elements within the FBI and Justice Department broke the law in an attempt to use the police power of the United States government first to throw the election to Hillary Clinton and then to destroy the presidency of Donald Trump.
This cannot stand. There must be consequences. And they must be swift, public, and severe."
... Why does the NYT have access to the Democrat's counter memo that has not been cleared to ensure it is not a danger to National Security?
Blogger Matthew Sablan said...
... Why does the NYT have access to the Democrat's counter memo that has not been cleared to ensure it is not a danger to National Security?
2/2/18, 7:57 PM
Not to worry, FBI is On It
I just watched a robotic Dem Congressman from CA tell Tucker Carlson he was putting the country at risk by discussing the Nunez memo.
It was such a transparent and pitiful performance, that anyone with an IQ above room temperatureI knows the Democrats are truly fucked.
@Francisco.
That was comedy gold! Howdy Doody at his best..geez
I love that Tucker tries to pin him down for his bullshit vomit.
Tucker really got hot under the collar.
The Congressman was a blatant liar and bullshitter - almost as bad as Ritmo.
"When folks calm down I encourage them to show purpose in their outrage by donating to ACLU."
I think I just swallowed my tounge! Good one readering.
Tim in Vermont said...
Somebody was reading those conversations who had no right to do so, or Powers lied to Congress
Embrace the power of and.
Somebody was reading those conversations who had no right to do so, and Powers lied to Congress
The Democrats suck. And they have gone far Left. And they corrupt everything they touch.
I'm not saying the GOP is great or noble. I'm just affirming that the Democrat Party sucks. Yes, they are that bad. They rigged the primary against Bernie Sanders and tried, but failed, to frame Trump for some bullshit "collusion" claim with the Ruskies by weaponizing the FISA warrant application process.
No sane person can miss this.
Jonathon Turley on Democrats hyperventilation about revealing the classified in the memo.
"Its really disturbing because they are lying to the american people"
It's just what they do.
Meantime, the New York Times reported that Mueller is zeroing in on the Trump Administration’s response to a report about a meeting at Trump Tower, with former spokesman Mark Corallo reportedly prepared to testify about his concerns that White House communications director Hope Hicks could have contemplated obstruction of justice.
http://time.com/5130424/nunes-memo-doesnt-matter-donald-trump-investigation/?xid=homepage
If only Hicks would crack ad confess to possibly contemplating obstruction of justice!
Of such things Lefty dreams are made . . .
Re: Hope Hicks contemplating obstruction
As far as I know, contemplation of a crime is not against the law, if in fact super lefties have developed the ability to read her mind.
FYI the stock market action today is a blip, normal, healthy, originating from European markets, centering on action at Deutsche Bank. No sky falling over the memo. Take it to the bank, just not DB.
NO, all the Democrats should sell -- get out of the Stock Market. Just before, you know, moving to Canada.
Inga said...
“Nor should you since you have none for anyone else.”
Stop your frackin’ whining you pansy ass. I give back what is thrown at me. I have bigger testicles, as a post menopausal grandma, than you do as a male of undermined age.
2/2/18, 1:19 PM
Now Inga, I was getting the impression that you were a goer, but this gives me pause. The only testicles in bed with me are mine, Schatzie.
I'm thinking we are headed for 1000 comments. Make sure you use the Althouse Amazon portal. Bargains are waiting for YOU!!
Chuck said...
3 posts so far, as of the top of the 3rd page, without once addressing the post's subject. Does he ever respond, or are his priorities as firmly in order as ever?
The post-menopausal Grandmas are getting obstreperous on this thread.
Pencil neck geek E Swalwell D Rep CA on Tucker. The nerve.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/5725187652001/?#sp=show-clips
Bay Area Guy said...
Comey is talking smack on Twitter:
"That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.
10:47 AM - Feb 2, 2018"
Dear Mister Comey,
Do you prefer to be raped to death in federal prison, or to eat your gun?
Ooh, too mean. Or just too soon?
Big Mike said...
Note to Inga and Howard. Please do not talk about responding to criticism with shotguns or semiautomatics. Not even in jest. You folks at the far left of the political center are already too prone to resort to violence.
2/2/18, 1:45 PM
And yet, if you gathered up, or even offered to gather, all the known conspirators - Rosenstein, the Ohrs, Comey, McCabe, Yates, Strzok et al - and sent them down to Guantanamo Bay for water treatment, with their families in the next room, to see what the truth was worth to them... Imagine their shrieks of outrage!
Far from indictments, looks like release of memo won't even lead to taking Rosenstein's scalp. From news report:
White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah clarified today that President Trump still has confidence in Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, following the coy remarks from the President.
“There’s been no change in the President’s confidence in the DAG,” Shah told Erin Burnett tonight. He continued, “No changes are going to be made at the Department of Justice. We fully expect Rod Rosenstein to continue on as [Deputy] Attorney General.”
When it is clear that the media, the entire democratic party, and the collection of worthless cunts cheerleading them all no longer even pretend to pay lip service to the rule of law, a line has been crossed.
I think this is going to end in bloodshed.
There’s been no change in the President’s confidence in the DAG,”
What is the presidents confidence level of him?
I predict, or at least suggest, Mueller wrapping this up, or trying to wrap it up, really, really soon, with an empty sack. (Unless of course he is on the side of the angels all along.)
Why? Because this is the last chance to end this whole controversy without flamethrowers, go the full Emily Litella. And the Democrats have no fuel. If you're not figuring out how to surrender, guys, you ought to be, because if this goes on, there will be no prisoners.
"HEY WAIT! Was this a title I or title VII investigation? Carter Page was a Russian spy??"
Nah - it's not that Page was a spy - it's that Russian spies tried to recruit him in 2013. He's been under surveillance ever since.
MY TAKE: Page is too stupid to figure out they were trying to recruit him. But stupid is perfect if you're a spy looking to recruit an asset.
On my twitter: Michael Weiss via Tom Nichols.
The SVR tried to recruit Carter Page. The FBI has known about this 2013. Why? Because the FBI arrested the SVR recruiters (on a separate issue). Page is "Male-1" in this FBI complaint. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/01/26/buryakov-complaint.pdf …
"Also on or about April 8, 2013 IGOR SPORYSHEV and VICTOR PODBNYY...discussed PODBNYY's efforts to recruit a male working as a consultant in New York City as an intelligence source."
That intelligence source was Carter Page.
anti-de Sitter space said...
"Looks like we have already started to move on to the next thing."
I wish.
That's just more dead horse mutilation.
Boring.
It is fun to watch you guys defend Obama/Hillary illegally spying on political opponents with government surveillance assets.
I would recommend when your political leadership starts talking about civil war and violence to keep from going to jail you guys should, you know, quietly fade away.
No need for you all to actually fight defending a bunch of Stalinists for real. Just do it here on the internets. That only makes you kinda Stalinists. The kind that believes in it their hearts but do what leftist thuggies do when they might get hurt.
The legal commentators that get things mostly right:
1. Andy McCarthy
2. Alan Dershowitz
3, Jonathan Turley
4. Joe diGenova
The DOJ has a Associate Attorney General named Rachel Brand, age 44, who is squared away, but a little green. Get ready for your close-up, girlfriend. You might be running the show soon.
Harvey: Mueller will bag a couple guppies for show, but you are starting to get it, this Russia shit is just the tip of the camels nose that cuts all ways through the corrupt power structure in DC. It's a circus for are amusement
readering said...
Far from indictments, looks like release of memo won't even lead to taking Rosenstein's scalp. From news report:
White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah clarified today that President Trump still has confidence in Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, following the coy remarks from the President.
“There’s been no change in the President’s confidence in the DAG,” Shah told Erin Burnett tonight. He continued, “No changes are going to be made at the Department of Justice. We fully expect Rod Rosenstein to continue on as [Deputy] Attorney General.”
Then spying on political opponents is OK then!
You think the rule of law is optional.
It is not.
This will be demonstrated one way or another.
In 2016 I was living in New York and I got a job delivering pizza at this one pizza restaurant. One night I had to deliver a pizza to Trump Tower, and I went and the door was answered by Trump and he was naked. I looked inside & I saw a squinty eyed guy I think was Vladimar Putin. He was naked too. I think him and Trump were doing it and they took a break to have some pizza.
Should I tell the FBI about this?
The MSM have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they hate transparency and that they truly are democrat party operatives with bylines.
Rachel Maddow is a disgrace.
Chuck Todd is a disgrace.
So who plays Carter Page in the movie?
"who plays Carter Page in the movie?"
Kevin Spacey.
The democrat party is corrupt. All of it. Schiff on down. He's only on top because turds float in punch bowls.
The Clinton stink won't die until they do. The Democrats should wise up and drop the Clinton's, but they won't. The investment is much too large.
I'm perfectly happy to tie the Clintons around the collective Democrat neck and watch them sink beneath the proverbial waves.
wwww said...
So who plays Carter Page in the movie?
Nobody cares.
I would be mildly interested in Obama's statement before sentencing.
Thanks for playing, clueless believers.
Also, thanks go out to Pedro, who didn't show. :(
Folks, let's not lose sight of the real scandals: Trump lied about saying some country was a sh*thole country, he lies about his golf score, and he dissembled about his weight.
It looked like this one might get 1000 comments. Probably not.
I understand Pedro blew a seal.
So until that gets squared away,
we'll all just have to wait
for the 30 or 40 gnocchi-burgers xe usually serves up.
Blogger Tim in Vermont said...
I guess when he calls us “Tribe” the whole loyalty to the white race over the US and racism is all blended in.
He is getting more economical in his insults.
2/2/18, 6:57 PM
Maybe he's calling us all Jews. If I was going to write a character to be identified as an anti-Semite merely by his name, I could do worse than start with "John Pickering."
The Nunes memo will be history by the time the Schiff memo is released next week. From news report:
“Deputy Director McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information,” the memo claims, referring to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Asked if that was a true representation, a source familiar with McCabe’s testimony responded: “100% not.” A senior Democratic House intelligence committee official agreed.
“The Majority purposefully mischaracterizes both what is actually contained in the FISA applications and the testimony of former FBI Deputy McCabe before our committee in December 2017—the Minority’s memo lays out the full facts,” the official said.
Jon Ericson said...
I understand Pedro blew a seal
Naah. He was just having an ice cream cone
John Henry
Blogger Jon Ericson said...
I understand Pedro blew a seal.
NOOOOO! IT'S JUST ICE CREAM!!!
To John Henry: Damn you, Sir. 😅
It's Friday, It's getting one's kink on.
Let's get the details tomorrow.
Or not.
Should I tell the FBI about this?
Either them or some porn producer......
Why did the FBI not ask the FISA court to approve an investigation into the Clinton campaign and the DNC, as soon as they found out that Hill had been paying GPS Fusion, an outfit already representing Putin interests, for dirt supplied by Russian co-comspirators?
Hill and her cronies were in closer cahoots with the Russians than Trump ever was. The fact that the FBI apparently made no move against her only confirms the political game it was playing.
Will Steele end up dangling from Blackfriars bridge if the FSB decides to "clean-up" their involvement in this affair?
Will the next step of the investigation follow the evidentiary trail if it leads to Clapper and James B(CIA director for BHO)?
While this was occurring what were Valarie Jarrette, Ben Rhodes and John Kerry up to in the WH & DOS?
Did Soros contribute any funds to this enterprise?
It would be craptastic if the FSB announces that they were "running" papadopoulos et al as a disinformation campaign against the evil Americans.
I am surprised that Google & Facebook IT staffs aren't involved as enablers for Commey & the FBI. Why? Because their Deep IT powers may have tipped them ( GOOGLE) off in the Spring of 2016 that Trump was likely to win. Why? Trump's campaign manuvers were indicating that he had constructed a viable ELECTORAL COLLEGE victory campaign.
Further the data _when analyzed_ might have indicated that Hilary Clintons campaign was likely to fail because she was chasing voters instead of chasing electors. I could imagine Google offering this data to Commey & Co. at the FBI as an under the table "peace offering " in order to build favors with the [FBI] bureau and the new Clinton Admin. PRESERVE THE SWAMP benefits High Tech as much as it benefits Wall Street and the Soros crowd.
“The Majority purposefully mischaracterizes both what is actually contained in the FISA applications
The solution is just to release the application for the warrant.
The left has not figured the first rule of holes, yet.
Michael K, you're a doctor, not a litigator. Different rules.
Michael K,
If I recall correctly, you have a daughter who is an FBI agent.
Any information about what's going on internally that you can share?
Speaking of digging, Maher has funny monologue tonight about THE WALL (you know which one).
. . . inching towards 1000 . . . .
Bryon York and the Washington Examiner is your go to source? Ho Oh Boy.
This is embarrassingly nothing, a partisan charade and attack on the intelligence services, the FBI, and the Justice Department.
How much money did Nunes get paid for this?
This GOP memo is nonsense
Hardly “worse than Watergate,” the memo, written by pro-Trump Republicans and declassified by Trump himself, actually ends up weakening Trump’s case that the Mueller investigation is tainted. - Toronto Star
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/analysis/2018/02/02/this-gop-memo-is-nonsense.html
That comment won't age well.
I refuse to go through 900 comments, but I want to clear up a misunderstanding that seems rampant on both sides, and it is this- the belief that all the surveillance of Page happened after October 21, 2016. It doesn't work like this any longer. Sure, Page would have been monitored intensely given the nature of the warrant after this point in time, but it also allows the FBI to look backward through any contacts Page had that are stored by the NSA. And all those contacts who are American citizens are supposed to be masked since the warrant doesn't cover them. That is where the epic increase in distributions and unmaskings comes in that appears to have occurred after the election, connected to direct changes in policy initiated by Barack Obama himself. Congress has been trying to get the details on all of that activity, too, but is again running into stonewalling by the DoJ, the FBI, and likely the other agencies involved, too. This is a long-term investigation, and this information will eventually be revealed, too.
By all accounts, Carter Page (and Papadopolous, too) were extremely fringe players, even before October or even July of 2016. They probably had minimal contact with the inner circle of the Trump Campaign, but all those contacts could be legally searched after October 21st, 2016, though I still think we will eventually learn that the Obama DoJ and FBI didn't let the lack of a warrant stop them from trolling through the NSA database without one. They only started getting them near the end of the election, probably when they realized there was some non-zero chance Trump might actually win the fucking election, so they decided they might want to put a slap-dash legal facade over what they had been doing.
Before signing off tonight- I will make predictions about where we are going here. The next set of information that the Congressional Committees are going to ask for is what was done with the Page information, and I don't think the FBI and the DoJ can stonewall this any longer- Wray and Rosenstein will be forced to comply with contempt threats. The requests for the texts and e-mails of many agents at the FBI and the DoJ have already been issued. Do you really think Strzok/Page is the worst of it? I seriously doubt it.
Apologies if this question has already been asked. What are the odds the FBI was also spying on Steele during all this? They wouldn't even need to bother with a warrant would they? Seems like it would be prudent and have essentially no legal ramifications. The FBI must spy on their own foreign sources all the time.
Well Ty,
Would anyone be surprised if they had recordings of Steele in repeated Golden Showers scenarios?
"This guy knows his stuff."
From news report:
Hours after the memo came out on Friday, Nunes gave an interview on Fox News during which anchor Bret Baier asked him if he wrote the memo. "Yes," Nunes replied, saying other Republican lawmakers, like House Oversight Committee chair Trey Gowdy, also contributed.
"Did you read the actual FISA applications," Baier asked, referring to the documents that the memo cites in part as evidence of improper conduct by US law-enforcement officials.
"No, I didn't," Nunes said, before adding that Gowdy was part of a designated group that reviewed the intelligence, took notes, and reported it back to committee members.
From WSJ:
The [Schiff] memo describes the process by which the government got a secret warrant under the law that governs the secret court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for Mr. Page. The process, which is supervised closely by senior U.S. officials and a federal judge, required several layers of approval from top FBI and Justice Department officials.
At least two of those renewals occurred while Mr. Trump was president and at least one was authorized by a Justice Department official he appointed. A person familiar with the matter said that four separate federal judges approved the surveillance of Mr. Page, and all of those judges were appointed by Republican presidents.
The memo is critical of Mr. Steele and notes that prosecutors in their application for the warrant didn’t explicitly state that he was working for a firm funded by Democrats. But the FISA application did disclose Mr. Steele was being paid by a law firm working for a major political party, according to a person familiar with the matter. Redacting the names of U.S. people or organizations who aren’t the subject of an investigation is a common practice in government legal filings, designed to protect privacy.
. . . .Maybe the judge thought the "major political party" was the Libertarian Party?
More from WSJ:
One senior White House official said there was “zero chance” that Mr. Trump would fire Mr. Rosenstein over the memo. The official described Mr. Trump’s refusal to publicly express confidence in Mr. Rosenstein as a mix of his frustration with the investigation and pleasure derived from teasing the media.Justice Department officials also didn’t expect Mr. Rosenstein to be fired and weren’t preparing for that possibility, saying that Mr. Sessions remains in his job even as Mr. Trump has publicly mused about his firing since last summer.
Looking forward to next meeting between Trump and Wray . . . .
Hi walter,
"Would anyone be surprised if they had recordings of Steele in repeated Golden Showers scenarios?"
I was thinking more along the lines of identifying his Russian or other nefarious sources. Might be useful for an intelligence agency to know.
Or Steele leaking (pun intended) to Yahoo! news. I keep reading that the FBI didn't know about the circular sourcing on that. Not sure why that is somehow an established fact.
Ty,
"Sources" suggests he didn't pull it out of his ass...or personal predilection.
Well, then.
Do tell, Steele.
David French at NRO observes that the GOP Memo confirms a New York Times story that traced the Carter Page probe to July of 2016 when George Papadopoulous revealed to an Aussie embassy employee that Carter Page was talking to the Russians. And I think that French is correct in removing the emotions from both sides on the document and finding the good in releasing the incomplete, undocumented information. Now if only Donald Trump doesn't go over the top and fire Rod Rosenstein. David French writes:
In other words, the counterintelligence investigation opened when the Times said it opened based on the person the Times identified. While the memo then does a nice job detailing Strzok’s misconduct, it also indulges one of those “material omissions” the FBI warned about earlier this week: the evidence supporting the opening of the Papadopoulos investigation. Strzok may have his biases, but if the evidence upon which the investigation was opened is sound, then the investigation is appropriate.
From the beginning of the Russia investigation, it has always been the case that two things could be true at once: FBI agents could have engaged in misconduct (including misconduct motivated by political bias) and the Russia investigation could be legitimate, necessary, and based on information obtained not through Democratic opposition research but through legitimate intelligence-gathering methods.
Ironically enough, the memo in fact confirms the necessity of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller insulated the investigation from the problematic elements of the FBI, disciplined a biased agent (Strzok), and is conducting an investigation that now includes copious amounts of alarming evidence gained independently of the memo — including the evidence that Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with Russians in what was described in an email as a Russian plan to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
While there will be much more to say and write in the coming days, one thing seems clear: The memo does not torpedo the Russian investigation. It clears the decks for the special counsel to do his work.
gadfly said...
Now if only Donald Trump doesn't go over the top and fire Rod Rosenstein.
If Rosenstein had any honor at all he would resign.
But he knows the jig is up either way. He may force Trump to fire him. Or he may force Sessions to indict him. He is clearly guilty of fraud and perjury misleading the FISA court. And if he discussed it with Comey/Mueller/Yates which is ~100% possibility that's conspiracy. Each of them has multiple counts and is looking at double digits years in jail.
Now the clock starts ticking. The rats all know the ship is going down. One of them is going to make a deal. First one to turn gets to retire with a pension.
After that damn pops they are going to have to give up the big fish to stay out of jail.
@YoungHegelian said...
Do you know what a privately held corporation is vs a publicly held one is?
YH - Accounting for public corporations and privately-held businesses are subject to the same FASB rules. All of the financial ratios are derived in the same manner. So you are wrong about business diversity getting in the way of making financial comparisons between like and unlike entities.
I believe that The Donald has virtually no interest in otherwise boring and complex numerical comparisons because his attention span wouldn't permit comprehension. Instead he keeps finances to himself because his solipsism drives him to secrecy and lies in order to feel good about being a multi-billionaire - even if he is not.
@Achilles said...
gadfly said...
Now if only Donald Trump doesn't go over the top and fire Rod Rosenstein.
If Rosenstein had any honor at all he would resign.
But he knows the jig is up either way. He may force Trump to fire him. Or he may force Sessions to indict him. He is clearly guilty of fraud and perjury misleading the FISA court. And if he discussed it with Comey/Mueller/Yates which is ~100% possibility that's conspiracy. Each of them has multiple counts and is looking at double digits years in jail.
There is no evidence provided that shows Rosenstein or any of the other FISA application signers are guilty of anything. According to Andy McCarthy at NRO, the applications noted that Steele was paid by a redacted political party. Further four separate judges approved the original 90-day warrants and don't you think that results obtained on previous monitoring periods was the primary reason for continuing to listen to his messages? Hello?
Logic is better than uncontrolled emotion based upon conspiracy theories here.
gadfly said...
Logic is better than uncontrolled emotion based upon conspiracy theories here.
It is absolutely clear that the DOJ/FBI people misrepresented the dossier in FISA court. Perjury and Fraud. There is no reasonably intelligent honest person who could pretend otherwise.
Logic might also lead you to inform yourself about the judge on the FISA court that was forced to recuse. Contreras has been working with Comey and McCabe and Rosenstein for years. Just wait until those tidbits bubble up to the surface of the swamp.
Have fun defending these scum. The preference cascade is rolling down the hill at the dwindling number of stalinist apologists like you.
The funny thing is you think this is the last thing that is going to come out. That somehow if you can brazen out perjury and fraud in FISC then you can carry on with your coup against Trump.
This train just got started. Obama was spying on political opponents for years. Particularly against opponents of the Iran Deal. There is a lot more coming.
But there is no redeeming the choice you have made that spying on political opponents in an election is OK. As a Hillary voter though you flushed your soul down a toilet long ago.
GOP fan fiction.
Any explanation for all of the unmasking readering?
Who was pawing through the NSA intercepts using false credentials? Do you have any answer for that one?
No wonder Comey is so butt hurt here - his integrity has been challenged. The memo essentially claims that Comey lied by omission three times to the FISC (fourth FBI certification was by the just departed Deputy Dir McCade). But I think that the much greater culpability was probably on the DoJ side, where the wife (Nellie Ohr) of an Associate Deputy AG (Bruce Ohr) reporting directly to the person certifying the FISA Title I warrant for the DoJ (various Deputy AGs) was a Russian expert working for Fusion GPS, apparently to do opposition research for the DNC and the Crooked Hillary campaign. What is not explicitly mentioned in the memo is that the Ohrs (Bruce and Nellie) apparently knew Glenn Simpson and Mary Jacoby, the husband and wife owners of Fusion GPS, fairly well (and that Jacoby had boasted that Russiagate wouldn't exist except for her husband). In any case, ADAG Ohr was the liaison between the DoJ and Fusion, because his wife worked there, and he knew Simpson and Jacoby personally. Maybe only Bruce Ohr was dirty here, but his immediate bosses (the various DAGs) were the ones certifying the wire tap applications. If they didn't know, they should have, esp given the relationships. The AG or DAG has to personally certify FISA Title I wiretap applications, and this wasn't some ASA or FBI from Albuquerque, but the guy a couple doors down on executive row that is on the DAG's immediate staff.
Reminds me of a famous scene:
D-Day: Hey, quit your blubberin'. When I get through with this baby you won't even recognize it.
Otter: Flounder, you can't spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You fucked up... you trusted us! Hey, make the best of it! Maybe we can help.
Flounder: [crying] That's easy for you to say! What am I going to tell Fred?
Otter: I'll tell you what. We'll tell Fred you were doing a great job taking care of his car, but you parked it out back last night and this morning... it was gone. We report it as stolen to the police. D-Day takes care of the wreck. Your brother's insurance company buys him a new car.
Flounder: Will that work?
Otter: Hey, it's gotta work better than the truth.
Bluto: [thrusting six-pack into Flounder's hands] My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.
Otter: Better listen to him, Flounder, he's in pre-med.
D-Day: [firing up blow-torch] There you go now, just leave everything to me.
"Before signing off tonight- I will make predictions about where we are going here. The next set of information that the Congressional Committees are going to ask for is what was done with the Page information, and I don't think the FBI and the DoJ can stonewall this any longer- Wray and Rosenstein will be forced to comply with contempt threats. The requests for the texts and e-mails of many agents at the FBI and the DoJ have already been issued. Do you really think Strzok/Page is the worst of it? I seriously doubt it"
I think that Yancey has a good point there. Why would the DoJ/FBI bother wiretapping Carter Page for most of a year after he left the Trump campaign? For 11 months after the election? Page had to know that he was on their radar - the rest of us did. We are talking most of a year after the Russian/Trump collusion fable was first published, with him a prime player in it. And, I suspect, the answer is that the four 90 day FISA Title I wiretap orders were used to bootstrap Title VII (702) database searches of Trump's team. Nothing else makes sense to me - Carter Page probably would have had to have been brain dead to mention the word 'Russia" or talk to anyone in that country, after Trump won the election. If he had been a Rusdian agent (which is essentially what both the DoJ and FBI had to certify four times to the FISC), he would have been adequately forewarned to be quiet by all the furor in the press.
@readering
You are being a deceptive liar (by purposeful omission). It reminds me of the Comey FISA applications.
In the Nunes-Baer interview. Nunes pointed out that the FBI agreed to allow only one Republican to read the FISA application.
That person was chosen by Nunes: Trey Gowdy.
When the other side has to resort to lying deception, it tells me that they lack honesty and integrity. Truth does not matter to people like you and those who have done as you have to the FISC will be in big trouble.
At least two of those renewals occurred while Mr. Trump was president and at least one was authorized by a Justice Department official he appointed. A person familiar with the matter said that four separate federal judges approved the surveillance of Mr. Page, and all of those judges were appointed by Republican presidents.
This is the kind of mischaracterization that is common currency in DC media today, and one wonders why a president seeks loyalty from his appointees? Of course he must. He's going to be held responsible for everything they do!
Presumably the appointee was Rosenstein, and while it's clear as day that that was a mistaken choice for an appointment, it's ludicrous to attribute Rosenstein's actions to President Trump's direction.
@bad - I think that it was the original application several weeks before the election, first renewal days before the inauguration and two after that, and Rosenstein, as DAG certifying the last extension application,
Are we now trusting the WSJ as a source? You mean the former home of Glenn Simpson is considered legit?
When did this happen? Did I miss that particular Leftist Collectivist memo?
gadfly, poor man fopdoodle, thinks the 99% rubber stamp FISC is proof of fair dealing and good behavior?
Color me unsurprised and unimpressed.
And just to be clear:
If we compare the recent proclivity for discernment between the LLRs and their Leftist fellow travelers -versus- the conservatives...
The conservatives have been proven right by events.
And now we are asked by a lower class fopdoodle to apply logic?
@ Yancey
Thanks for the information.
As this string gets tugged and tugged, we will learn some very interesting things.
The solution is just to release the application for the warrant.
That's the point of the memo - to build a public demand to release the FISA warrant. If the Republicans play this right, and they will, the whole scandal will come to a boil sometime late in October.
This is all a battlespace preparation for answering the important question, which is:
When Obama allowed widespread use of the surveillance by all his political appointees, was the illicitly obtained surveillance of the Trump campaign used for political purposes by the Obama administration and the DNC and the Hillary campaign?
Of course, the answer is a resounding YES. Jail them all.
Petering out ....
readering,
Nobody wants to discuss the status of your fly.
So we won't get to four figures after all.
Hey, I'm glad to see Tim In Vermont is back and also Bad Lieutenant.
First things first: I'm seeing the faces of the House Democratic leadership all over the place. May I just say that I've never seen an uglier bunch -- both inside and out.
Oh, moderation is on. Bye bye
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