April 13, 2018

"James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired."

"He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and..... ....untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!"

Trump tweet tweets this morning. ("Tweet tweet" is my coinage for a run-on double tweet like this.)

I'm reading the tweet tweet at the NYT article "Trump Calls Comey ‘Untruthful Slime Ball’ as Book Details Released."

The book isn't out yet, and I'm not seeing any interesting new details. So I'll just say there shouldn't be any interesting new details, because Comey should have already told us the whole truth, not withheld morsels for the book — that is, for his own personal money making and career boosting.

I wasn't sure if "money making" should be one word, but I chose 2 words, so I could write this sentence connecting my deliberation on the subject to Trump's spelling "slime ball," because I'm utterly certain the correct spelling is "slimeball," although forevermore I will pause before writing "slimeball" and think of Trump and feel that it would be an allusion to Trump to write "slime ball."

In the 15-year history of this blog, I've used the word "slimeball" exactly once. In 2006, I called Glenn Greenwald a slimeball. (It was in self-defense: "Why not take a little trouble to try to understand the person you are criticizing before you write, you disreputable slimeball? (And your writing is putrid.)"

Anyway, if you want to buy the Comey book, here's the Althouse-supporting link to Amazon: "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership."

What I want to talk about is the incredible badness of the title. You've got a set of loftily — preeningly — positive words — "higher," "loyalty," "truth," and "leadership," and then you've got the clunker — "lies." "Lies" is sitting there as if it belongs in the set of positive things, as if it's one of the virtues Comey means to claim as his own. I realize it's there to imply that Comey is fighting against lies, but then for parallelism, he should have written "lie fighting" or something.

Consider Superman's catchphrase "truth, justice, and the American way." Imagine writing "Lies, justice and the American way." You'd get that Superman was against the lies, because he's Superman (or, as I like to call him, Super Man).

But Comey isn't Superman. We're not sure he's the good guy. He should not have "Lies" in the title as if it's one of the things with which he means to associate himself.

And consider the alliteration. There are a lot of Ls: "Loyalty... Lies... Leadership." In the logic of alliteration, the outlier is "Truth"!

Also, consider the rhyming. You hear poetry whether you consciously acknowledge it or not. And the internal rhyme heard by your mind's ear is "High... Lie..."

So that's 3 reasons why "Lies" jumps out: rhyming, alliteration, and being the odd thing in the set. Maybe Comey is so steeped in virtue that something is making him say: I am lying.

224 comments:

1 – 200 of 224   Newer›   Newest»
Molly said...

Eaglebeak

"It was my great honor to fire James Comey," says Trump.

100% correct.... Even Rod Rosenstein agrees... Heh.

Anonymous said...

I think the IG's report - if it is ever actually issued will be devastating to Comey, McCabe, amd Lynch. Comey is wise to get his hits in now. Those who know Comey's history at all are aware of what a self-serving SOB he is. Trump's tweet is pretty much right on and as this piece in Powerline underscores Comey is most likely his own worst enemy.

J2 said...

An even smarmier title. It requires punctuation!

The Politics of Truth: A Diplomat's Memoir: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity Paperback – May 11, 2005
by Joseph Wilson (Author)

AlbertAnonymous said...

But, but, but Trump is a poopy-head!

Comey, despite the media and the left (but I repeat myself) fawning all over him and NEVER challenging him in an interview, will be shown as the duplicitous self-serving ass that he is.

The director of the FBI leaking to his Professor buddy so something could get into the NYTimes? Good God, every American should know that’s bigly wrong.

Michael K said...

Mark Felt was smarter to keep his identity secret all those years.

Come has to make the story about him. That is a weakness.

rehajm said...

Maybe Comey is so steeped in virtue that something is making him say: I am lying.

Yepper. Clintonian lefties do relish in the duper's delight. No reason not to just flaunt it in the title...

I have a hard time listening to him wax poetic about the virtue of the FBI as if there have never been a crooked G-Man. Perhaps he's ignorant of that fact?

TRISTRAM said...

And consider the alliteration. There are a lot of Ls: "Loyalty... Lies... Leadership." In the logic of alliteration, the outlier is "Truth"!

Nobody expects the truth.

MUELLER: NOBODY expects the Special Counsel! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.

robother said...

Heh. Even Superman gotta shake his moneymaker.

rehajm said...

The No Reasonable Prosecutor standard is about as stupid as it gets. Step aside Benghazi Youtube video.

gadfly said...

But Comey isn't Superman. We're not sure he's the good guy. He should not have "Lies" in the title as if it's one of the things with which he means to associate himself.

What's this "we" shit? The liar is and has always has been Trump. The anecdote in the book about Clappers report to Trump and the West Wingers which exposed Russian interference in the election is all I need. Trump was only concerned about how he would look - not how serious this treat was to national security. Trump then went out and reported via Twitter that intelligence has reported no effect on the election - despite Clapper telling him that that aspect had not been evaluated.

Chuck said...

So I'll just say there shouldn't be any interesting new details, because Comey should have already told us the whole truth, not withheld morsels for the book — that is, for his own personal money making and career boosting.


Well that assertion is wrong on a bunch of levels.

People in the executive branch owe a duty of loyalty to the President while they are in office, as Comey was. Not unquestioned loyalty. Not law-violation loyalty. Just not book-publishing loyalty.

I presume that Comey has an awful lot to say, that is outside of any formal FBI investigatory or other business. Why would he have been obligated to have told that before now?

I presume that Comey has a lot to say as a general epilogue to his career in the DoJ and FBI. Non-Trump stuff. Why would ha have been obligated to tell that, previously?

And finally, I presume that Comey has a lot to say about his firing, in the aftermath of his firing. Comey might well have supplied all relevant information to investigative agencies, his own FBI, the DoJ, Congress, etc. But what other obligation of disclosure did he have? He might be legally or professionally barred from disclosing some things, but other things maybe not.

I just don't get the reaction that Comey should already have told us everything he has to tell, and anything that is new in this book is somehow suspect of having been published for Comey's private interest.

I'll bet that Comey can give one hell of a better deposition about the contents of this book, than Trump could about "TrumpNation."

Ignorance is Bliss said...

We're not sure he's the good guy.

I'm not sure there's a good guy in all of this. I am sure, that if there is, it is not Comey.

Humperdink said...

A HIGHER loyalty? Well he is tall, so there's that.

Ken B said...

Greenwald can be an ass but he is no slime ball (autocorrect makes it two words). He is one of the few reporters who cares about accuracy.

chickelit said...

What is this mythical IG report which is constantly mentioned?

Quayle said...

Humperdink beat me to it.

A Higher Loyalty: Me

Nonapod said...

The book isn't out yet, and I'm not seeing any interesting new details.

Yeah, so far the only "detail" is that Comey apparently called Trump a "mob boss" or something.

I supose Comey will sell a lot of books to Trump haters and journalists, and Trump's Tweet may have helped him sell a few more, I don't know.

But ultimately Comey doesn't have a lot of friends on the left or the right, and I don't imagine that there will be any significant revelations other than petty interpersonal stuff. I suspect it'll be a sad attempt to make him look good and Trump look like a mean old bully. We'll find out soon enough I guess.

Martha said...

Comey tells Stephanopoulos the interview that he purposefully did not tell Trump that the DNC and Hillary! paid for the Steele dossier because .........that information was not “necessary for my goal”.

What exactly was your goal, Mr. Comey?

Tommy Duncan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chuck said...

Greenwald can be an ass but he is no slime ball (autocorrect makes it two words).

Autocorrect makes lots of two-word phrases. (Not, it seems, "autocorrect"! Or is it auto-correct? Or auto correct?

Personally, I'd go with auto-correct. Which autocorrect accepts.

Lewis Wetzel said...

It is difficult to assume good faith on the part of Comey.
Knowing what he did of the Hillary email scandal, he should have made his findings known, even if they were incomplete, early in 2016. Then the Dem primary process could have gone on taking into account her criminal mishandling of classified communications. Instead he let the investigation drag on through the summer of 2016, and Hillary became her party's nominee for the most powerful office in the land. At which point his hands were tied. You can't have the intelligence services of the United States choosing who will or will not become the president. Comey should have exonerated Hillary in early 2016, or made it clear that she was criminally guilty, even if she would not be indicted.

mockturtle said...

As usual, the hostess likes to emphasize style before substance, process before product. Even so, glad she's back! ;-)

Anonymous said...

To focus on the title, Ann, I think it is completely indicative of Comey's very distorted view of himself as, perhaps, God-like. The PowerLine piece - or even the review in the NYT - points out that Comey decided to bring up the e-mails in October because, knowing from the polls!!! that Hillary was gong to win he did not want her to seem illegitimate. Talk about mistaking yourself for one of the gods!

Tommy Duncan said...

The choice of the book title was extremely careless, but not grossly negligent.

Now I Know! said...

We are seeing the unraveling of the Republican Party. The Republican Party is no longer the Conservative party, it is now just Trump. Trump never evens mention conservative principle. With Paul Ryan leaving you are going to see even more conservatives flee the Trump led Republican Party. Trump has done more harm to the conservative cause in two years than what Democrats were able to do in two decades. This is all the result of the Republican Party embracing the politics of white outrage. It ended up turning back on them and biting the Republicans the hardest.

TRISTRAM said...

FWIW, the 'No Reasonable Prosecutor Standard' should be the 'No Political Actor Thinking He Knew Which Way The Political Headwinds are Blowing', but it got too long. Also, euphemism.

roesch/voltaire said...

This must be some kind of logic game riddle when the biggest liar on record calls someone else a liar are we to believe its true or just another lie?

Quayle said...

The noble Comey
Hath told you Trump was like a mob boss:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously is Trump answering for it.
...
For Comey is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–

Charlie Currie said...

I loved watching jai alai on PBS. I think it was broadcast from Tijuana. That was a long time ago. Maybe Comey did too.

Anonymous said...

@gadfly I believe that Obama was the first to say that what Russian interference there may have been on his watch had no impact on the election.

Michael said...

He seems to say that his "loyalty" is higher than loyalty to the law or the Constitution, as if he were a non-juring priest claiming a higher loyalty to God. Except that his God is Progressivism (and ambition).

WisRich said...

Comey tells Stephanopoulos the interview that he purposefully did not tell Trump that the DNC and Hillary! paid for the Steele dossier because .........that information was not “necessary for my goal”.

What exactly was your goal, Mr. Comey?

4/13/18, 9:50 AM
-------

Yeah, I bet he also didn't mention it was unverified, was used to spy on the Trump campaign for the last eight months, oh and that the FBI was paying Steele to collude with Russia for the information.

No biggy I guess.

robother said...

Telling lies and leaking classified info is OK, if done in the name of a Higher Loyalty. Its right there in the Beltway Code.

Earnest Prole said...

Money making is two words. It's moneymaker that's one.

mockturtle said...

Comey still imagines himself a distinguished and respected law enforcement official exuding honesty and integrity, even though his actions have shown otherwise.

buwaya said...

Clappers report covered several things.

One was explicitly a statement about no interference in vote tallying.

The substantial parts were the editorial line of RT - the Russian BBC, and what we know of the very small social media efforts. Note that the BBC was enormously more influential in a pro-Clinton vein, as its coverage closely followed the bias of the US MSM, and of course the Beeb has a huge edge in reach.

The remainder, regarding hacking of the DNC, was explicitly speculative and unproven.

The Clapper report was very small beans. You could make an enormously more substantial case for Euro governments influencing the US election the other way, and for that matter private US parties with deep foreign links like Tom Steyer or Michael Bloomberg, or the Bush clan with its now-degraded Saudi partnerships.

Russia is a small player on the world stage. The whole world tries to influence US elections, and has, much more than Russia can.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

roesch/voltaire said...

This must be some kind of logic game riddle when the biggest liar on record calls someone else a liar...

I think you are greatly overstating your own importance, but I do love the self-referential nature of your comment.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I love the big Gotcha! from the ABC interview. Trump told Comey to investigate the dossier "to prove it didn't happen." And George Stephanopolis (whatever) was stunned!

That's some serious obstruction of Justice there.

Now I Know! said...

But some older white people find the politics of white outrage intoxicating. Trump figured that out by observing the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Jones, and he has been exploiting it ever since.

Ann, on a much smaller scale, discovered it as well, and is also exploiting it. But we are approaching a point where it will collapse in on itself and those who engaged in the Politics of White Outrage will be seen for the shameful charlatans they are.

Beach Brutus said...

Re the title, I think he is going for the component thing, vis "Oninons, Garlic, and Italian Cooking", or "Germs, Disinfectants, and the perating Room". He seems to be saying that truth and lies are either components of leadership or things leadership has to address in the context of the limits of proper loyalty.

David Begley said...

Let's talk about the careers of Comey and Mueller. They totaled botched the anthrax investigation. The government paid $4.6m to settle it. The plaintiff's lawyer was Thomas G. Connolly. Connolly is from Nebraska and his dad recently retired from the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Did Comey pursue a higher loyalty and tell the truth when he tried to pin a crime on an innocent man?

What a liar.

Now I Know! said...

Great news about Ryan!! Not surprised at all that Ann ignored it.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Comey has been described by the MSM as a lifelong public servant when the writer is defending him from criticism from Trump.

Yet they rarely include the fact that he disclosed he was worth an estimated $11MM way back in 2011 so he really is no run of the mill public servant. And that estimate was made was before he was due to get a big payday from a previous private sector employer.

Anonymous said...

@chicklit I think you are being sarcastic - deservedly so - but at some point in the, always not too distant future, the DOJ IG is going to issue a report on the FBI/DOJ handling of Hillary's e-mail investigation. About the only thing I am aware of that has come out about it so far is the Strzok/Page e-mails that were released to Congress and, of course, McCabe's firing. I suspect that once issued a number bodies will fall in both departments.

William said...

The reputation of the FBI has taken a huge hit, and it happened whilst he was the director........Remember the Red Scare. There was talk of government officials colluding with the Russians.. The FBI and J. Edgar Hoover were accused of spreading these vile rumors.......The Dems are now on the side of the FBI, but I wonder how durable their loyalty to that institution will prove to be. Law enforcement officials are not part of their natural constituency.

YeeHaw! said...

Is there any book by a politician written in the last three decades that is actually readable?

I purchased "Earth in the Balance" over twenty years ago, and just couldn't get past the first two chapters. Alan Greenspan's book wasn't too bad -- at least the first half wasn't, but the second half bogged down until I abandoned it.

Many excerpts from "What Happened" were unintentionally fascinating, not because what they said, but because of what they revealed. I don't think I could plow through the whole thing, and I am grateful to those who did and posted the good stuff -- although a lot of times their comments were the real good stuff.

Hagar said...

James B. Comey has left a distinct smell of sulfur behind him wherever he has gone in his career. Remember Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby?
And there is more of less celebrated cases which I only remember reading about, but not the details, since I am not a lawyer.

buwaya said...

And for that matter, you have even Mexican persons owning US media outright (such as Mexican Televisa, traditionally affiliated with the PRI) or in part, influencing US media coverage.

rcocean said...

The amazing thing about Comey is he was a disloyal to Trump from Day 1. Not to mention his leaking and self-serving, egotistical behavior.

I was against firing him in Jan 2017 - everyone said he was was an honorable man, a straight-shooter and a Republican. So, I thought "Give him a chance".

Boy was I wrong.

Yancey Ward said...

Ann, enrichment is a perfectly fine word with exactly the right connotation.

rcocean said...

I think we're going to find out that Mr. Mueller is not an "Honorable, Straight-shooter" either.

buwaya said...

The politics of tribalism can only increase.
There is nowhere else to go, now.
This is inevitable in a multiethnic nation, especially one where the entire state apparatus has been devoted to enhancing divisions for decades. You could have prevented this oh, forty years ago, by persisting with the patriotic nationalist line, but that was politically inconvenient. Since then your schools have been pouring poison into the ears of generations.

Bay Area Guy said...

Comey is the Forest Gump of the political world:

1. First, he enables McCabe and Strzok to whitewash the Hillary investigation.
2. But then he holds a Press Conference that trashes her as "extremely reckless," which sinks her campaign.
3. The Dems go crazy and demand he be fired or prosecuted.
4. He then re-opens the Hillary investigation, based on emails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop
5. The Dems go crazy again
6. Then, he closes the Hillary investigation again.
7. Then, Trump wins.
8. Then, during the shower Comey had his "Oh Shit!" realization - "I might have cost Hillary the election!"

9. Then, he tries to subtly blackmail Trump with the bullshit Steele dossier to keep his job.
10. Then, he is fired
11. Then, he leaks his own CYA memo to the NYT to get a special counsel appointed, where there is no underlying crime.

The guy is a walking disaster!

Ken B said...

Chuck
Comedy testified under oath that he could not remember stuff. So if there are details about that stuff in his book, what say you?
What if there are new allegations of criminality that he never made before? Should that happen, if Comey had really been doing his job earlier?
Althouse is right. There should be no new important revelations.

Michael K said...

Knowing what he did of the Hillary email scandal, he should have made his findings known, even if they were incomplete, early in 2016. Then the Dem primary process could have gone on taking into account her criminal mishandling of classified communications.

Excellent point, Lewis.


And for that matter, you have even Mexican persons owning US media outright (such as Mexican Televisa, traditionally affiliated with the PRI) or in part, influencing US media coverage.


Carlos Slim owns the NY Times. Although he was planning to sell half his holdings.

I don't blame him. It must be a big loser.

Nonapod said...

Russia is a small player on the world stage. The whole world tries to influence US elections, and has, much more than Russia can.

Yeah, and it's hardly a surprise to anyone with even a limited imagination that all sorts of people and groups and nation states all over the world try to influence US Presidential elections in all sorts of ways, both legitimate and illegitimate. It's also a basic truth that quantifying that actual effects of said influence is deeply recondite. Even if you're talking about something very specific, like say some large sum of money that originated from a foreign government ends up in the coffers of a political campaign circuitously. Can the actual effect of that be quantified? How many votes did that money realistically actually change?

And just the same can be said of a fake Facebook news story put up by some nefarious group sponsored by the Russia GRU. Did they actually change votes that otherwise would've gone for Hillary to Trump? If so, how many? It's in the eye of the beholder.

Big Mike said...

@roesch, point of information: both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were worse liars than Donald Trump.

Achilles said...

Now I Know! said...
“Great news about Ryan!! Not surprised at all that Ann ignored it.“

Everyone wanted Paul Ryan to go.

Just like everyone wanted James Comey to be fired.

Everyone.

Matt Sablan said...

"Comey tells Stephanopoulos the interview that he purposefully did not tell Trump that the DNC and Hillary! paid for the Steele dossier because .........that information was not “necessary for my goal”."

-- Whoa. Wait. What?

That's... wow. It is worrying when our intelligence agents are actively lying to the president to pursue their own goals instead of the country's goals.

Big Mike said...

Trump as mob boss? Then why aren’t Comey and Mueller sleeping with fishes?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Ken B:

Comedy instead of Comey..I like it! Since he is a YUGE f-ing joke.

Matt Sablan said...

"Then the Dem primary process could have gone on taking into account her criminal mishandling of classified communications."

-- The fact she illegally handled classified information wasn't news during the primary. The things we learned after (destroying government devices with hammer, losing documents, that Weiner had some of her documents on his laptop, etc.), were really just icing on the scandal cake. The heart of the scandal was known when Clinton won the primary.

dreams said...

It seems to me that Comey is saying that he has a higher loyalty than to the truth, as in the end justifies the means. The liberals obviously agree. That's the way I read it.

Matt Sablan said...

Honestly: The moment we learned Obama used the secret server under a pseudonym, we knew there'd never be a prosecution related to it, because to do so would expose Obama to legal jeopardy for doing the same thing Clinton did. If Nixon deleting some tape was bad, imagine how many documents Clinton may have deleted for Obama.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

It's OK for comey to break the law leaking classified information because he didn't "intend" to do it.

Achilles said...

Now I Know! said...
“We are seeing the unraveling of the Republican Party. The Republican Party is no longer the Conservative party, it is now just Trump. Trump never evens mention conservative principle.“

Actually the party has changed, not unraveled. It puts Americans over principles and globalists.

It is why the working class now votes for the Republican Party and why Trump won.

The democrats can have all of the neocons and CoC types. Have fun with all 50 or 60 of them.

Clyde said...

Well, "Lying Sack of Schumer" was already taken.

Will said...

Yes a lot of Ls...

Loyalty, Lies, Leadership and ...... Leavenworth...

Drago said...

Comey has now publicly admitted he based official decisions based on polling and continues to advance fake russian propaganda that he also publicly admits he could not verify even though that information was submitted as part of a FISA warrant used to spy on domestic political opponents all the while lying to congress and conducting felonious leaking.

At this rate LLR Chuck could possibly turn gay for him.

Bay Area Guy said...

Rod Rosenstein should fire Mueller, and then appoint Comey as Special Prosecutor. It will really confuse things.

Yancey Ward said...

From the bits that ABC is releasing, Comey's interview sounds self-damaging to me. There are three big items that Comey appears to have revealed:

(1) He purposely did not tell the incoming President that the dossier had been funded by Clinton and her campaign. This is simply stunning to me- it is a relevant detail, surely, to any rational, non-partisan person. Not revealing Steele's financial backers is pretty damning evidence that Comey's intent during the briefing was to subtly blackmail Trump into keeping him, Comey, on as FBI director, because it was misleading Trump into thinking this was solid US government intelligence in the briefing. Remember, Comey himself, months later, would describe the Dossier as unverified and salacious- and also remember this- Comey, at the June 2017 testimony before Congress still was concealing the identity of Steele's financial backers before Congress. I am guessing that Trump was never told who funded it until it became public early last Fall.

(2) Comey apparently was asked by Trump to prove the dossier material was false. How is this damning to Trump? What rational person wouldn't ask that the work proving it false be done if that person knew it was false, which Trump is surely in a position to know on the most salacious parts, and is in a position to know in most of the other sections, too. The very fact that Trump asked for this tells me, and should tell anyone with an IQ above body temperature, that the dossier material is false.

(3) Comey apparently tells ABC that he would not have reopened the Clinton investigation in October 2016 if he had thought she could lose. This is very damning to Comey- the reopening is either proper or it is not, but he is admitting that he cared who won and that it did affect his decision. Also, take note of Lewis Wetzel's comment above- Comey could have given the Democratic Party a chance to nominate someone else by holding the July 5th press briefing on February 5th instead. Now, I think Comey's superiors in the administration would have ordered him not to do so, but that is irrelevant in the end, isn't it? There was nothing revealed at the July 5th that wasn't already known before the first primary and caucus. In hindsight, it appears that the press briefing was deliberately timed to ensure Clinton beat Sanders, but before she was officially the nominee- in other words, timed to make James Comey and Loretta Lynch look less like slimeballs.

Bay Area Guy said...

John Brennan tweets:

"Your kakistocracy is collapsing after its lamentable journey. As the greatest Nation history has known, we have the opportunity to emerge from this nightmare stronger & more committed to ensuring a better life for all Americans, including those you have so tragically deceived. https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/984763579210633216"

This guy was the Director of the CIA?!!?

My God - what a delusional goofball.

Sebastian said...

What did we do to deserve being ruled by clowns and assholes?

Bruce Hayden said...

“What is this mythical IG report which is constantly mentioned?”

DoJ IG Horowitz was expected to deliver a report to Congress on FISA abuses by the DoJ and FBI. He did deliver a millions or so documents in Jan/Feb.

Some of the backstory. In spring of 2016 NSA Dir Adm Rogers discovered that there was a lot of questionable activity originating in the FBI involving searches of the NSA Title VII databases. The NSA vacuums up immense amounts of electronic data every day, and stores it (I believe at their facility in UT) in case it is needed for national security purposes. All of our cell phone records, much of our email, text messages, etc. Legally, US Persons (a FISA term that includes citizens and legal resident aliens) have 4th Amdt Rights from unwarranted searches of their private information. So, FISA Title VII attempts to balance that and national security with requirements for Minimization, which only allows identifying US Persons in certain situations. It appears that a number of To, From, and most egregiously About searches were being done of electronic communications of US Persons. Thus, someone could have been searching for all email that was To, From, or mentioned (About) Ann Althouse. What was not mentioned, but is highly probable, is that the illegal targets were enemies of the Obama Administration. Rogers shut down at least FBI To, From, and About access until his agency could do an audit. He ultimately reported the abuses to the FISA court (FISC) in fall (Oct?) and permanently shut down “about” searches. Also reported that non-FBI employees (I.e. contractors) were being allowed to access the databases, and that searches were being conducted that had nothing to do with national security. The FISC was not amused.

Meanwhile, this abuse had been reported to the DoJ IG. But DoJ DAG Sally Yates wrote a long memo that essentially (IMHO illegally) put the DoJ National Security Division, as well as its FBI counterpart, out of the jurisdiction of the department IG. She essentially told IG Horowitz that he couldn’t investigate the FBI Title VII FISA abuses reported to him by NSA Dir Rogers. This changed in 2017 with her firing by Trump. IG Horowitz could now do his job, and look into DoJ (inc FBI) FISA abuses.

Meanwhile, it turns out that when the NSA shutdown the FBI’s access to Title VII searching, they may have moved to the use of a FISA Title I Wiretap warrant of Carter Page. Turns out that that warrant, along with 3 extensions, utilized the Steele Dossier as support, but didn’t adequately inform the court that it was uncorroborated, was opposition research paid for by Crooked Hillary, had been leaked by Fusion GPS to the press, etc. It’s purpose seems to have been to Wiretap the Trump campaign, transition, and Administration. Not good.

Not sure if the expected IG report is supposed to be limited to the Title VII abuses reported to the OIG by the NSA, or if it is supposed to include the Title I wiretapping too.

Matt Sablan said...

"Not revealing Steele's financial backers is pretty damning evidence that Comey's intent during the briefing"

-- I never really believed the "point of the briefing was a conspiracy to leak that it was briefed," but the briefing clearly was not there to inform the president about a national security matter. I'm still not convinced of the conspiracy theory, but, eh... it isn't as crazy as the shooter on the grassy knoll any more.

Matt Sablan said...

"(3) Comey apparently tells ABC that he would not have reopened the Clinton investigation in October 2016 if he had thought she could lose."

-- There was *ALSO* a conspiracy that the point of re-opening it was to give Clinton a clean bill of health for her administration. They just couldn't have expected to find even MORE documents (and they're still finding them!)

AllenS said...

Sebastian said...
What did we do to deserve being ruled by clowns and assholes?

It's called the Civil Service System.

Yancey Ward said...

And let me make this clear about Trump asking that the dossier be vetted to prove it false- it ties directly to the fact that Trump wasn't told who paid for it. Imagine this- you are giving the incoming President a briefing that says intelligence has been gathered saying he was colluding with the Russian government to fix the just passed election, and that the Russian government had proof that Trump liked golden showers. The President-elect denies this and asks you to prove the allegations aren't true, but you, Comey, already know who funded this dossier- that funding alone undermines the details within because of the biases of the people involved. Surely, any honest person would have then revealed to Trump that the dossier was suspect because it was political opposition research. There are only sinister explanations for not revealing who funded Steele- there are no innocent ones.

wwww said...



Comey's book is a one day story unless Trump hypes it or makes "news" with his tweets.

Then again, considering the other stories bubbling up, I can see why he wants to change the narrative.

Nonapod said...

There was *ALSO* a conspiracy that the point of re-opening it was to give Clinton a clean bill of health for her administration

That's laughable to me. Everyone in power knew damn well that Hillary was/is horrific and incompetent and the more you dug the more filth you'd uncover. And if Comey didn't understand that then he's an even bigger moron than I thought (and I've already gauged his level of stupidity at "cataclysmic")

Vance said...

I like that "Now I know" is in here, ranting about how racist America is to blame for Hillary's loss.... and no one, but no one, is taking the bait for such a ridiculous assertion.

The race card is pretty well dead, it appears.

Good.


As for Comey; I suspect this is going to be a spectacular own goal on his part. Already he's admitted he reopened the investigation into Hillary because she couldn't lose? Man, talk about a way to get the left to come after him again! Especially since Zuckerberg's about tapped out for the moment as the villain to blame for Hillary's loss.

Yancey Ward said...

Matthew Sablan wrote:

"The fact she illegally handled classified information wasn't news during the primary. The things we learned after (destroying government devices with hammer, losing documents, that Weiner had some of her documents on his laptop, etc.), were really just icing on the scandal cake. The heart of the scandal was known when Clinton won the primary."

Yes, it was generally known, but remember this- Obama himself had made it known publicly that he believed Clinton had done nothing illegal. Indeed, everything coming out of the Obama Administration had mislead the public about the nature of the investigation right up until Comey gave the July 5th press briefing. Comey's briefing directly contradicted Obama's earlier statement, even though everything Comey revealed in July 2016 was already known to the FBI director in February of that same year. In other words, everything the Obama Administration did up until July 5th 2016 in the matter led the public to believe that Clinton's e-mail server wasn't illegal and broke no laws.

Drago said...

Yancey: "There are only sinister explanations for not revealing who funded Steele- there are no innocent ones."

The point was to keep Trump in the dark that indeed he, Trump, was the actual target of this unconstitutional and criminal plan to spy on domestic political opponents and pin a false charge of treason on him......sort of like an "insurance policy" for the left/LLR allies/Dems/Deep Staters in case their preferred candidate lost.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“What is this mythical IG report which is constantly mentioned?”

“DoJ IG Horowitz was expected to deliver a report to Congress on FISA abuses by the DoJ and FBI. He did deliver a millions or so documents in Jan/Feb. “

Yes, where is it? Some here have been waiting on pins and needles for it. Why the delay? I don’t think Horowitz is corrupt. Couldn’t Trump have hurried along the release of the IG report if he wanted to?

Drago said...

Vance: "As for Comey; I suspect this is going to be a spectacular own goal on his part. Already he's admitted he reopened the investigation into Hillary because she couldn't lose?"

Comey/McCabe's hands were forced to "reopen" this case because the FBI field office in NY were the ones who were forced to ship the evidence of crimes to FBI Headquarters for yet ANOTHER "HQ Special" (their own term).

McCabe and Comey sat on that information throughout Oct of 2016 and it was only when it became clear that the information was going to leak to the media and Comey/McCabe would have been exposed for sitting on this explosive information (protecting Hillary) that Comey went public with his "investigation back open/investigation now closed again/nothing to see here/ move along" ploy.

Transparent.

Birkel said...

I think the Comey title is a play on "Sex, Lies and Video Tape".

The implication is that there is a tape of Trump's sexual perversion.

Michael K said...

Bruce Hayden, good summary but it is lost of the "Once written" and Inga lefties.

What we see here, and have seen since November 9,2016, is a willful refusal to see that facts are facts. America has been one of the few nations with peaceful transitions of power for 200 years.

Britain is almost the only other large nation with that history.

With the Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party, that may end there as well.

Yancey Ward said...

I am someone who repeatedly gave Comey the benefit of the doubt throughout the election season, but pretty much everything he has written and said since his firing makes it clear that not only was Trump right to fire him, but that Trump waited 4 months too long to do so. Comey is clearly political, narcissistic, and thin-skinned- all of which make him a very poor choice for any appointed position in government. In hind-sight, it is obvious that everything he did in regards to the Clinton investigation were done to try to make James Comey look good, but James Comey doesn't appear to truly understand what such things really are, and so he ends up damaging himself.

walter said...

AJ Lynch said...Ken B: Comedy instead of Comey..I like it! Since he is a YUGE f-ing joke.
--
On his Twitter page he describes himself as taller and funnier in person.
Waka waka..

Sebastian said...What did we do to deserve being ruled by clowns and assholes?
att: 4changuy

Comey should have gone with "Out from behind the curtain"

This interview with Stephie is going to pin the Hack-o-Meter. Comey tweeted a pic of the tech setup..minimum 4 cameras.

Yancey Ward said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yancey Ward said...

I am always deeply suspicious of anyone who spends an inordinate amount of time assuring me of how honorable and truthful they are- either your actions speak this loudly, or they don't. I should not have to hear such protestations from an FBI Director. In hind-sight, Comey's July 5th 2016 press briefing was such a protestation, and it was my mistake to not fully grasp that at the time.

Anonymous said...

I strongly agree with Anne. The title is a tell.

Anonymous said...

A Higher Loyalty : True Lies and Leadership

(I fixed it for him)

chuck said...

IIRC, Trump's initial evaluation of Comey was "showboat". Has anyone picked up the movie rights to the book?

walter said...

James Comey
‏Verified account @Comey
Feb 27
Lordy, this time there will be a tape. Audio book almost finished.

Mike Sylwester said...

Now I know at 9:53 AM
We are seeing the unraveling of the Republican Party.

The US President is a Republican.

Both Congressional bodies have Republican majorities.

The US Supreme Court essentially has a Republican majority.

Most state governors are Republicans.

Most state legislatures have Republican majorities.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

We are seeing the unraveling of the Republican Party.

One can only imagine your hot-take on Obama's impact on the Democrat Party.

StephenFearby said...

Charles P. Pierce [certainly no lover of Trump] in Esquire:

James Comey Is No Hero
The ex-FBI director is a self-reverential careerist who should be marked lousy by history.


"...And I would be remiss in my historical duty if I didn’t mention this little passage, via The New York Times, from his correspondence with the White House.

'On that afternoon, F.B.I. Director met privately with President to disclose what his wiretaps had revealed: a woman had been heard frequently calling the president's secretary to arrange trysts with J.F.K… ''The reason for disclosure,'' Ms. Smith writes, ''was the F.B.I.'s evidence that Campbell was also having affairs with Chicago mob boss and his associate…who had been involved in the C.I.A.'s assassination attempts against Fidel Castro.'

Oh, I’m sorry. That’s an account of how J. Edgar Hoover blackmailed President John F. Kennedy about the latter’s sharing a mistress with Sam Giancana.

This is Comey, from his book, talking to the current president* about the more lurid aspects of the Steele dossier.

'I explained the nature of the material I was about to discuss and why we thought it was important that he know about it. I then began to summarize the allegation in the dossier that he had been with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel in 2013 and that the Russians had filmed the episode.'

Now, I’m sure that “straight-arrow bureaucrat”—Michiko Kakutani’s description in her NYT review of the book—Jim Comey couldn’t possibly have had an ulterior motive in informing the president* about what he knew about this episode, a motive having something to do with, you know, self-preservation in the job from which the president* fired him anyway. There certainly was no precedent for that in the Bureau."

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19778928/comey-book-trump-pee-tape/

AReasonableMan said...

Mike Sylwester said...
The US President is a Republican.
Both Congressional bodies have Republican majorities.
The US Supreme Court essentially has a Republican majority.
Most state governors are Republicans.
Most state legislatures have Republican majorities.


The FBI is, or at least was, Republican.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Love President Trump. Creepy Comey should have stayed hiding in the contains.

walter said...

I couldn't tell from the picture whether the crew set up a hazer. Probably overkill...

Drago said...

Michael K: "With the Jeremy Corbyn Labour Party, that may end there as well."

It will most certainly end there.

As we see in all the rest of the former Western democrat nations as the deep state/globalists throughout those nations keep conjuring up crimes with which to charge their own local versions of Trump.

It has happened in France, Netherlands, Italy, etc.

We have reached that point in time where the elites of all the western powers have simply, like the blood lines of many royal families of the past, run out and weakened.

These elites hate their own cultures and history, hate their own peoples, and want nothing more to do with them and will go to desperate lengths to keep those people from advancing their own beliefs within the govt policy structures of those nations.

Again, this is nothing new. This has been the case throughout human history. Why would we be any different. You could argue it is a testament to the wisdom of our founding fathers that we lasted this long and this many generations (what is it 3 or 4 now) after becoming extraordinarily wealthy as a society before failure began to loom large.

Not to worry though. A future as bright as Caracas, Venezuela awaits us all in the near to mid term.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Speaking of the IG report, why have Strzok and Page retained their security clearances if they were so dirty? Couldn’t the IG have recommended that their security clearances be pulled? I’m beginning to think that IG Horowitz’s report is going to be a disappointment for those who have put so much hope into it. But who knows?

“On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) received confirmation from the FBI that both Strzok and Page have retained their security clearances, giving them access to “top-secret” information despite their appearance of having an animus toward Trump.”

https://www.thepostemail.com/2018/04/12/former-congressman-doj-ig-report-due-out-in-two-weeks/

walter said...

As you know, ARM..there are different degrees/shades of "Republican"...especially in the context of Fed. government bureaucracies.

rhhardin said...

I'd have gone with scum bag.

Bruce Hayden said...

Of course, that isn’t all that DoJ IG Horowitz has been investigating. A lot of this is almost like reading tea leaves, but the IG was instrumental in the firing of FBI DDir McCabe. What appears to have happened was that someone had been leaking out of the FBI in the run up to the election, in order to harm Trump. What appears to have happened is that the IG asked Comey if he leaked or authorized the leak. Comey said no to both. Next was his #2, DDir McCabe. Same answer. Excrement rolling downhill, etc. Somehow, they figured out that some of the leaking was by. Lisa Page (and/or Peter Strzok). She apparently admitted to it, but claimed that McCabe authorized it. The reason that this is critical is that leaking that sort of information is a felony- unless it was authorized. No authorization meant jail time for Page and Strzok. Who to believe - McCabe or Page? She wasn’t going to jail for this, so provided text messages between her and Strzok as collaboration. Whoops - excrement started flowing back uphill. McCabe lied under oath. Unfortunately for all concerned, those text messages showed a lot more questionable behavior by a small cabal of highly placed DoJ and FBI employees. Turns out that Peter Strzok, as the #2 in the National Security organization was involved in quite a few things, including interviewing Crooked Hillary, softening Comey’s ultimate exoneration letter of her, interviewing Gen Flynn, and something discussed in McCabe’s office called their “insurance policy” against Trump being elected, which many believe to have been the use of the Steele Dossier to acquire the Title I Wiretap order for Carter Page, and, thus, Trump Tower and 5hevTrump campaign. Also, disclosing that Strzok went easy on Clinton because they didn’t want her remembering their names after she was elected to be their boss. They essentially feared Clinton and loathed Trump, and, thus, why the DoJ and FBI crossed the line into playing politics during the last election.

The interesting recent addition to the mysteries was the identification of UT USA Huber, who has been working with IG Horowitz since, most likely, July or August of 2017. The IG can’t make deals, take things before a grand jury, etc. a US Attorney can. Why are Page and Strzok still employed, still have security clearances, etc, along with 3 or 4 others who have been implicated in obviously criminal behavior? Because they are cooperating with Horowitz and Huber, and essentially have been since last summer. And, the investigators need them employed to have access to them (note Comey telling Congress to shove it, whrprn they asked him to testify). You can track this back to when Strzok was fired from the Mueller team, which was, most likely right after Page gave Horowitz their text messages. And, as an attorney, something she wasn’t going to do until a deal was on the table, which required Huber.

Xmas said...

"One can only imagine your hot-take on Obama's impact on the Democrat Party."

I finished Donna Brazile's book a few weeks ago.

Obama's impact on the Democratic Party was pretty bad. He sucked all the money out the National Committee during the 2012 election and left them deeply in debt. He made no effort to fund raise to pay back the committee. Obama also left Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in charge of the DNC, even though there had been growing dissatisfaction in her job performance. The debt led to Debbie W-S agreeing to terms with the Clinton camp for funneling all fundraising at the State and National level into Hillary's campaign (even though she wasn't the nominee yet).

Michael K said...

Earth to Inga:
Why are Page and Strzok still employed, still have security clearances, etc, along with 3 or 4 others who have been implicated in obviously criminal behavior? Because they are cooperating with Horowitz and Huber, and essentially have been since last summer.

This is the way you run a real investigation. First, you keep your fucking mouth shut around reporters.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Speaking of the IG report, why have Strzok and Page retained their security clearances if they were so dirty? Couldn’t the IG have recommended that their security clearances be pulled?”

Because the IG and UT USA need to keep them employed by the DoJ and FBI. If Strzok’s security clearance is revoked, he would be automatically fired from the FBI. This is how you know who is cooperating, and who was targeted. The cooperators are still there, though mostly reassigned into nothing jobs (exception being Bill Priecep). The targets were allowed to resign, or were fired. Their testimony isn’t necessary.

buwaya said...

"Obama's impact on the Democratic Party was pretty bad."

There is some tendency to confuse the DNC with the party. That Obama harmed the DNC, and had some role in its poor present condition, is probably correct. But I think it is reasonable to say this was more a consequence of changes in the nature of the party and its fundraising.

The Democrats have no problem with their candidates being funded, no matter what the situation of their party. The funding structure, and very likely the key command structures are either massively decentralized or are centralized out of sight.

One can speculate how and more importantly why the Democratic Party has become a more secretive enterprise, much of its actual structure out of public view.

walter said...

I hope Comey spent a smidge of his millions towards McCabe's Gofundme. You know..so he doesn't suffer from the financial hardships he's up against.
I'm sure Comey can forgive him for making him out to be a liar.
Bros stick together..

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“This is how you know who is cooperating, and who was targeted. The cooperators are still there, though mostly reassigned into nothing jobs (exception being Bill Priecep). The targets were allowed to resign, or were fired. Their testimony isn’t necessary.”

Could be, or maybe there is no there, there.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

walter said...
there are different degrees/shades of "Republican"


Ideological purity is not the goal of a healthy political party. The Republican party is eating itself, Paul Ryan's departure being the most obvious sign.

walter said...

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said..deological purity is not the goal of a healthy political party.
--
Someone should tell the Dems. Though they do seem to be aware that it is in their interest to run moderate anti Pelosi candidates.

walter said...

But you are ignoring the element of unaccountable career bureacrats vs someone like Trump who they see as threatening to that.

mockturtle said...

Trump exemplifies the 'big tent' the GOP claimed to have wanted but never really did. I'd like to see both parties remodeled to better serve the US and its citizens.

I'm Full of Soup said...

The Repub party is not healthy - I agree with ARM on that point. It is not healthy because it doesn't have a platform of consistent ideas while the Dems do. The Dem platform is Bigger and Bigger Government is Better so Let's Grow Government No Matter the Cost.

walter said...

So Comey recalls (to Stephie) telling Trump about the dossier (without revealing who paid for it) and mentions "I had leverage over him."
Wait..who's the mob boss?

mockturtle said...

The Dem platform is Bigger and Bigger Government is Better so Let's Grow Government No Matter the Cost.

AJ, it has not escaped my notice that the GOP has done a pretty fair job of growing government, as well. This is one reason I have been supportive of both Ron Paul for President as well as Rand [when Rand dropped out I supported Trump].

I'm Full of Soup said...

Mockturtle- I agree - there is no doubt about that! I too like how Rand Paul sounds and would have supported his candidacy if he had been nominated. It would be interesting if he really were able to follow through by draining the swamp.

Bruce Hayden said...

Talking about cooperators, probably the highest placed is Bill Priestap, Asst Deputy Director for Counterintelligence (FBI counterpart to the DoJ NSD mentioned above). Reported directly to DDir McCabe, and Peter Strzok’s immediate boss. The guy who assigned Strzok to the Crooked Hillary and Gen Flynn interviews, authorized payment to Fusion GPS, authorized Strzok to talk to Steele, instructed Comey not to inform Gang of Eight of the ongoing counterintelligence operation against Trump campaign (as required by law), approved all 4 Title I FISA warrant applications for Carter Page (signed for FBI by his boss McCabe), didn’t inform Gang of 8 of such, and went with DAG Sally Yates to brief Trump on the Steele Dossier (but not who funded it, or that he had authorized the FBI to pay for it). The one person most at the center of all the FBI and DoJ scandals, but also the only major player still employed at his original position, the rest having been fired, allowed to resign, demoted, or reassigned. Why? The only reasonable answer that I have seen is that he was the first, and biggest, cooperator with IG Horowitz.

buwaya said...

I think the DNC these days is more in the nature of a facade, a Potemkin structure, into which the party can put "leaders" that do not lead, and make no important decisions. It makes sense if you consider who the Democrats were content to have dispute the leadership, Ellison and Perez. Each is a figurehead for elements of the party ethnic coalitions. Neither can be trusted as a strategist of consequential elections or an administrator of multi-billion $ enterprises.

Donna Brazile seems to have thought that she should have had powers associated with her titles, and was thereby disappointed. DWS just went along, and wasn't very strong-willed anyway.

readering said...

The idea that there is something wrong to write a book for money? What's up with that?

A sign of public interest in book? LA Library has a non-free event on his book tour in a larger than usual venue. (Almost all such events free at Central branch hall). It sold out within an hour of going live to Library Foundation members. general Public not yet received eligible to buy.

buwaya said...

Behind the DNC - there is something else.

It is not the DNC that is providing or organizing funds for, say, the Alabama special election, where the Democrat outspent the Republican by 5:1 at least, and that's not counting third-party efforts or mass media coordination.

walter said...

AJ Lynch said.t would be interesting if he really were able to follow through by draining the swamp.
--
His neighbor would have inflicted more than broken ribs.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Could be, or maybe there is no there, there.”

I think that, at this point, we can probably call this an extreme form of denial, fueled by the cognitive dissonance of Trump winning and the DoJ/FBI plot to beat him, or destroy his Presidency, blowing up in their faces. You have most of a dozen people, several political appointees, but mostly career govt employees holding high paying, very powerful, positions in those organizations, either being forced out, or moved into deadend jobs. You have admissions of illegal behavior by those people. You have them admitting to intentionally going easy on Crooked Hillary, but doing anything they could to defeat or destroy Trump. You have them admitting that they used partisan funded opposition research to acquire FISA warrants to surveil Trump’s campaign, transition, and Administration. And, yet, you question whether there is anything there.

chickelit said...

Comey’s book will echo Michael Wolff’s book - splash, flail, drown.

Drago said...

readering: "The idea that there is something wrong to write a book for money?"

LOL

Is that the new angle?

The "idea" is that Comey is talking about some "higher loyalty"...but said none of this at the time it would have mattered most.

Instead he sat on stuff (and has clearly made new stuff up) and is even willing to go The Full Michael Wolff on other things....much later....for money....because #higherloyalty!

Too funny.

But not to worry.

If it feels like it ought to be true, if it rings true to you, it is true!

mccullough said...

Buwaya @ 12:04. Very perceptive comment. Soros, Steyer, Gates, etc. are the money men who fund the candidates through cut outs and intermediaries but these folks all meet together like the board of Spectre.

The DNC was too dysfunctional for Obama and he wisely bypassed it. He didn’t need their fundraising or infrastructure. Spectre began moving away from the DNC well before Wasserman-Schulz and the Hillary-Bernie kerfuffle. One of the reasons for Hillary’s defeat is that, unlike Obama, she had to rely on the DNC and the state Democratic Parties in the swing states. Obama used them but didn’t rely on them. His organization was outside of it, which is how he beat Hillary in 2008.

Soros also funds Red Front organizations on his own so he doesn’t need nor does he care about the DNC for messaging or coordination. If anything, the DNC just follows his lead.

The brand of the Dem Party and the brand of the GOP are trashed. The Red Front groups have driven the Dems to the Red Zone. Trump killed the GOP. His base are Populist and Nationslist. That’s the core now of what is the GOP. You still have a few freedom
Caucus tea party types and the Never Trump Crony Capitalists who would have been considered Country Club Republicans in the 1980s. But the Country Club Republicans split. About 40% of them are now Crony Capitalist Democrats or Country Club Democrats. They are down with all the Progressive Social — Abortion, Gay Marriage, BLM, Gun Confiscation, Anti-White, Anti-Man, Safe Space, Global Warming, Put a Dress on Boys and Make Them Piss Sitting Down Flummery. The Country Club Republicans relent to this stuff mostly. They just want Trickle Down, Open Borders, and War. The Country Club Dems want Ioen Borders as well. The babies aren’t going to wipe their own asses and the lawn aunts gonna cut itself and black people are too lazy,stupid, and violent to be trusted to do it.

There is almost no difference at this point between a Country Club Dem and a Never Trump Country Club GOP. This split was originally over social issues and tax rates. The Country Club Dems know how to structure their finances to pay as little tax as possible. And they don’t care about paying 3% more in taxes. A small price to pay to assuage their White Guilt and Be on the Right Side of History.

Of course, history is going to be that their grandsons are beheaded and their grandaughters are raped and then beheaded by Radical Islamists. Those are the gentiles. The Grand Mufti of the United States will send the Jews to the Has Chambers.



walter said...

Comey's still not sure pee-gate didn't happen..or so he says..
Gonna bet the editor cut to the extreme close-up cam for that line.

Henry said...

My title rewrite proposal:

A Higher Plusgood: Blackwhite, Duckspeak, and Bellyfeel

walter said...

"Head and shoulders above the rest"

Ignorance is Bliss said...

chickelit said...

Comey’s book will echo Michael Wolff’s book - splash, float, flush

FIFY

PJ said...

These guys (or perhaps their publishers) think they can fool the rubes by putting “Truth” in the title (e.g., Inconvenient Truth, Politics of Truth). In my experience the relationship is actually inverse: the more Truth in the title, the less truth in the text.

chickelit said...

Calling Trump a mob boss is pure projection. They don’t call it the “Ozark Mafia” for nothing.

walter said...

I almost went to see if I have "lawn aunts". That would be unsettling. Get off my lawn!

Drago said...

"It is entirely possible that, because I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president, my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election were closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls. But I don’t know.

---James Comey.."straight arrow"....

LOL

Yes, our very own noble and honorable FBI Director was following the polls and figured Hillary had it all nailed down, so why rock the boat?

And Comey knows that with a universe of Inga's and LLR Chuck's out there, he can openly admit it and get away with it.

Bay Area Guy said...

Crazy Comey states:

"'And I remember thinking, 'How could your wife think there's a 1 percent chance you were with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow?' I'm a flawed human being, but there is literally zero chance that my wife would think that was true. So, what kind of marriage to what kind of man does your wife think [that] there's only a 99 percent chance you didn't do that?"

Why is the ex-FBI Director concerned about Trump's marriage? I thought there was a zone of marital privacy?

walter said...

I don't understand how Comey voluntarily and repeatedly reveals his weighing factors he had no role considering.
He must have been worshipped his entire life.

Drago said...

One of the best things to come out of this so far is that we know for a fact that Trump was being spied on everywhere and across every device and medium at the very moment Comey was denying that and sending Jim Clapper out into the public to also lie about it.

An entire tidal wave of lies about the domestic spying on an opposition candidate/President-Elect/President by LLR Chuck's bestest allies in the deep state....and all the while LLR Chuck is calling Trump a liar for saying it was happening.

walter said...

Are you capable of making your points without invoking chuck nearly every damn time? Don't even you get tired of it?

Drago said...

The second most interesting thing to come out of this is that for the last 16 months or so the entire left and their LLR allies have been openly advancing salacious and unproven Russian propaganda into all across our media landscape.

Don't expect the lefties to apologize for openly pushing for Putin's agenda and propaganda. After all, Michael Moore never apologized headlining a Russian funded protest against Trump.

walter said...

See? You can do it!

Bay Area Guy said...

Crazy Comey states:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you tell him that the Steele dossier had been financed by his political opponents?

COMEY: No. I didn't -- I didn't think I used the term "Steele dossier." I just talked to him about additional material.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Did -- but did he have a right to know that?

COMEY: That it had been financed by his political opponents? I don't know the answer to that.

I -- it wasn't necessary for my goal, which was to alert him that we had this information.


Yes, you got the unverified and salacious "information" from the Steele dossier, financed by Hillary and the DNC.


Bay Area Guy said...

Crazy Comey states:

STEPHANOPOULOS: How graphic did you get?

COMEY: I think as graphic as I needed to be. I started to tell him about the allegation was that he had been involved with prostitutes in a hotel in Moscow in 2013, during a visit for the Miss Universe Pageant, and that the Russians had filmed the episode.

And he interrupted very defensively and started talking about it, you know, "Do I look like a guy who needs hookers?" And I assumed he was asking that rhetorically. I didn't answer that, and then I just moved on, and -- and explained, "Sir, I'm not saying that we credit this. I'm not saying we believe it. We just thought it very important that you know."


... that we got this "unverified" and "salacious" from the Steele Dossier, financed by the Hillary campaign and DNC.

Michael K said...

LA Library has a non-free event on his book tour in a larger than usual venue.

LA is communist central. Bernie would have won LA by 20 million votes, even all the illegals would have voted for him.

But the Country Club Republicans split. About 40% of them are now Crony Capitalist Democrats or Country Club Democrats. They are down with all the Progressive Social

It's been interesting that Orange County CA voted for Hillary. Now, they may be having second thoughts as they are opposing the
Sanctuary City" thing.

Glad I left.

Drago said...

BAG: "... that we got this "unverified" and "salacious" from the Steele Dossier, financed by the Hillary campaign and DNC"

We didn't just get that from Hillary and the DNC, we got an entire super secret govt agency weaponization spy-a-thon against domestic political opponents out of it!

That is clearly the second biggest "bang for the buck" action Hillary ever took! Only 14 million dollars bought the use of the entire Federal Bureaucracy in support of her campaign and then, when that failed, continuing on-going activities to undermine the guy that beat her!

Wow. A bargain really. The entire US govt up for sale.

Speaking of the govt being up for sale, we come to the BIGGEST bang for the buck action Hillary ever took: the coordination and sale of control of 20% of US uranium reserves and mining operations for the princely sum of $145 MILLION!

And that doesn't even count the half a million the russian energy oligarchs threw in by paying Billy boy for an hour speech..in Moscow...to Putin's cronies and associates!

What a great day that was, eh?

Drago said...

What's even more interesting about the entire Mueller charade, is that Manafort is being investigated for working with Putin's Ukrainian politician pal....even though Mueller was working for the same guy at the same time!

And lets not even get started about how it is that Rosenstein can assign a special counsel with unlimited powers and budget in a case where Rosenstein himself is going to be a key witness!

So much there for LLR Chuck to love about how the govt can be used against republicans.

pacwest said...

For anyone who didn't read Jerry Pournelle's take on Comey's career path and misdeeds it is worth reading.

ChaosManor

Comey is in fact a crook and liar.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

walter said...
But you are ignoring the element of unaccountable career bureacrats vs someone like Trump who they see as threatening to that.


But how does this apply to the FBI other than if Trump was intending to subvert the course of justice. He wasn't threatening to reduce their funding or stop them from studying global warming.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

The IG Report is out. No bombshells. Has the IG referred anyone to the DOJ for prosecution?

I’m sorry it didn’t turn out the way you folks hoped, but I suspected as much

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

But how does this apply to the FBI other than if Trump was intending to subvert the course of justice. He wasn't threatening to reduce their funding or stop them from studying global warming.

Before the election the career bureaucrats used their power to help Clinton, expecting her to win. If Trump, having won, found out about all this, then he would fire all their asses for illegally interfering in the election. It wasn't justice, but injustice, that they feared Trump would subvert.

Matt Sablan said...

Wow. So... Yes. Comey basically lied to Trump and tried to get him riled up from Day 1.

That's... Wow. This is really unprofessional sounding from the interview.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Inga said...

The IG Report is out. No bombshells.

Link please

Bay Area Guy said...

Here's the IG Report on McCabe

McCabe is a liar and a leaker.

Matt Sablan said...

"The IG Report is out. No bombshells. Has the IG referred anyone to the DOJ for prosecution?"

-- I don't expect anyone too. Clinton staff members admitted to beating on government phones with hammers to destroy subpoenaed data and nothing happened to them.

Only a fool expects consequences for anyone not on Team Trump.

Matt Sablan said...

God. Comey believes the golden shower meme.

He *believes*.

tcrosse said...

"On Friday the IG’s office was expected to hand down two reports: an overarching Russia report and a smaller report just on McCabe." -Fox

Don't count your shoes before they've dropped.

Achilles said...

gadfly said...

What's this "we" shit? The liar is and has always has been Trump. The anecdote in the book about Clappers report to Trump and the West Wingers which exposed Russian interference in the election is all I need. Trump was only concerned about how he would look - not how serious this treat was to national security. Trump then went out and reported via Twitter that intelligence has reported no effect on the election - despite Clapper telling him that that aspect had not been evaluated.


Obama Tells Trump: Stop ‘Whining’ and Trying to Discredit the Election


The leftists do not believe a word they say.

They have no morals or integrity.

They have one goal: power over other people.

>>At a news conference in the White House Rose Garden, Mr. Obama said, “I have never seen in my lifetime, or in modern political history, any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place.”

President Barrack Obama.

Fuck you people.

Bay Area Guy said...

McCabe's attorney calls Comey a liar (politely and discreetly):

McCabe's counsel, Michael Bromwich, in a statement to Fox News, slammed the OIG report.

"The core weakness of the OIG report is the lack of any understandable motive for his alleged wrongdoing. It is undisputed that Mr. McCabe was one of three senior FBI officials authorized to share information with the media, including on sensitive investigative matters," he said.

"He chose to exercise that authority in October 2016, during one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the Bureau, with the knowledge of Director Comey and other senior members of FBI management. His purpose was to protect the institutional reputation of the FBI against false claims, including that a sensitive investigation was being shut down for political reasons. "

McCabe and Bromwich seemingly sought to diminish the credibility of former FBI Director Comey, blasting his "recollection" as "not at all clear."

"Mr. McCabe’s recollection of discussions he had with Director Comey about this issue is extremely clear; Director Comey’s recollection is, by his own acknowledgment, not at all clear. And yet two of the lack of candor allegations are based on Director Comey’s admittedly vague and uncertain recollection of those discussions. "


McCabe and Comey are no longer BFF's. They couldn't get their stories straight on how to leak.

Bilwick said...

Haven't read Comey's book; but I enjoyed the comment on it on one of the pro-freedom blogs: "David Hogg for the older crowd."

Drago said...

ARM: "But how does this apply to the FBI other than if Trump was intending to subvert the course of justice. He wasn't threatening to reduce their funding or stop them from studying global warming."

Trump's election was going to expose widespread corruption and criminal actions of the federal law enforcement and intelligence agency heads and their immediate staffs.

FISA 702 abuses, domestic spying, working with foreign govts to create fake submissions to FISA courts, illegal leaking and coordination with media (already demonstrated with the Strzok/Page texts), etc.

And much, much more.

Drago said...

According to the just-released DOJ OIG report on Andrew McCabe, McCabe lied to the FBI director, lied to FBI agents under oath, and lied twice to DOJ OIG investigators under oath.

You know, no biggee.

McCabe is a hero....and also the guy who set up Flynn...and covered for Hillary...and received hundreds of thousands from Clinton cronies.

Nothing to see here.

Move along.

Drago said...

BAG: "McCabe and Comey are no longer BFF's. They couldn't get their stories straight on how to leak."

No wonder, since leaking is a federal crime.....which you would never know since the Mueller team of democrat hacks is leaking every single day.

But only every single day.

Because they are patriots.

Achilles said...

"No bombshells." The idiot speaks.


From the article:

"McCabe and Bromwich seemingly sought to diminish the credibility of former FBI Director Comey, blasting his "recollection" as "not at all clear."

"Mr. McCabe’s recollection of discussions he had with Director Comey about this issue is extremely clear; Director Comey’s recollection is, by his own acknowledgment, not at all clear. And yet two of the lack of candor allegations are based on Director Comey’s admittedly vague and uncertain recollection of those discussions. "


McCabe is claiming he and Comey had discussions about leaking classified material to reporters.

Which McCabe then did leak classified information to a reporter.

That is Conspiracy. Definition of. Not to mention the illegal leaking. And lying to the FISA court.

They are already turning on each other.

Squeal.

Achilles said...

Democrats are going to start going to jail.

It is about time for the "No reasonable prosecutor" standard to be applied.

Drago said...

Inga thinks the little report, the first of many many more reports, on McCabe is the sum total of what the IG is looking at.

All this time and Inga still doesn't know that investigative jurisdiction Horowitz has been given nor what the recent additions to his staff have been and what that tells us.

But then again, why should she care? She and LLR Chuck are happy holding hands and skipping through the flowers.

Nothing to see here. Everything is going to be fine. Mueller will get his thoughtcrimes and democrat oppo research out there so everything should be ok.

Matt Sablan said...

No Democrat is going to go to jail for leaking to harm Trump if they didn't go to jail for destroying subpoenaed documents or lying to Mueller or doing exactly what Manafort did. And certainly none of the agents who helped undermine Trump By Any Means Necessary are going to face repercussions.

If they do, great! I'd like to be wrong. But, it is sheer madness to think that anyone will do more than slightly inconvenience them like taking away a small part of McCabe's retirement.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Inga thinks the little report, the first of many many more reports, on McCabe is the sum total of what the IG is looking at.”

Nope.

Sebastian said...

Isn't the whole FISA business an exercise in "lack of candor -- no oath"? Aren't all FBI comments on the Trump investigation prior to the revelation that Hill paid for the Steele oppo smear an exercise in "lack of candor -- no oath"?

Matt Sablan said...

McCabe's defense is that he's legally allowed to talk to the media.

Is he legally allowed to talk to them... anonymously? If so, let's change that.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Blogger Achilles squeals...

Democrats are going to start going to jail!!!

Matt Sablan said...

Reading the various reviews of the report, it sounds like all of McCabe's leaks were about making him look good. Is this an uncharitable reading? It feels like it is.

Drago said...

Inga: "Democrats are going to start going to jail!!!"

Shouldn't someone who lies under oath multiple times to the FBI and DOJ investigators go to jail? Isn't that like the biggest thing evah? I seem to recall you thinking so not that long ago.

But times change I suppose.

Let me guess, you want to know party affiliation first, right?.....

Matt Sablan said...

McCabe -- whose wife was bought off by Clinton -- claims there's no motive for him to behave badly.

Drago said...

Matthew Sablan: "McCabe -- whose wife was bought off by Clinton -- claims there's no motive for him to behave badly"

He must behave badly simply out of habit then.

Not sure that will be an effective fallback position, though I've no doubt it will cause LLR Chuck to swoon with thoughts of romance.

Matt Sablan said...

“At every occasion, I did the best I could to remember as clearly as I could” in response to questions from the IG, McCabe said, adding that “my recollections are not perfect” and that he attempted to “provide further clarity.”

-- Fat lot of good that did Flynn and Manafort.

Achilles said...

Inga said...

Blogger Achilles squeals...

Democrats are going to start going to jail!!!


You are right. It would be a miscarriage of justice.

Traitors don't go to jail.

tcrosse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tcrosse said...

"Lack of candor" is such a lovely euphemism. It pairs well with a lack of honor.

walter said...

ARM,
In the culture of career "civil servant" feds, he might be considered "disruptive"

"The Education Department is attempting to enforce a “collective bargaining agreement” on a union that does not agree.

The department’s move to foist a contract on the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the Trump administration’s latest and most dramatic attack on federal labor organizations and has implications far beyond the 3,900 employees the union represents at the department.

This bold stroke could herald what federal unions across the government might encounter from an administration bent on belittling them."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2018/03/16/trump-administration-escalates-attack-on-federal-unions-with-one-sided-agreement-at-education/?utm_term=.afd04792c161

Drago said...

Now that Comey has already contradicted McCabe in material ways, as well as contradicting Clapper and commie lovin Brennan, I have to wonder what it is that Comey means when he refers to information not yet made public that reflects negatively on Lynch.

And we also know now that susan powers was lying thru her teeth about unmasking.

Such an ugly business this weaponizing of Putin cronies lies.

Sebastian said...

"COMEY: That it had been financed by his political opponents? I don't know the answer to that.

I -- it wasn't necessary for my goal, which was to alert him that we had this information."

"It wasn't necessary for my goal" is just about the only honest thing Comey has said in this whole affair, and it tells us plenty.

Ken B said...

Maybe the “lies” refers to Comey's deputy, who was just nailed in one of those IG reports Inga doesn’t believe in.

Ken B said...

Inga is impressive. After arguing there would be no OIG report, and only Trump lies, we get an OIG report proving antiTrumpers in the FBI lied. Inga says, “no bombshells”.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“...who was just nailed in one of those IG reports Inga doesn’t believe in.”

Where did I say I didn’t believe the IG report/s? I said it wasn’t a bombshell and we already were aware of the conclusions before today. This wasn’t new earthshaking information. I also asked why the IG hasn’t referred McCabe (or anyone else) to the DOJ for prosecution.

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

“After arguing there would be no OIG report, and only Trump lies, we get an OIG report proving antiTrumpers in the FBI lied. Inga says, “no bombshells”.”

WHERE and WHEN did I ever say there would be no IG report??

walter said...

Sebastian,
Revealing that it was oppo research in both senses of that word would have undermined the "leverage" he had. Leverage is his own word..it will get little attention though.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Could be, or maybe there is no there, there.”

OIG report on McCabe firing just released: https://static01.nyt.com/files/2018/us/politics/20180413a-doj-oig-mccabe-report.pdf

It very much looks like Lisa Page (aka “Special Counsel”) is the one who burned McCabe through her text messages and emails, including those with Peter Strzok. Just as I prophesied above.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Where is the “there”?

You folks are making this little “meh” report into some huge revelation...why?

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

Who is going to jail?? Is McCabe going to be prosecuted like Scooter Libby was? It appears not.

Matt Sablan said...

"Is McCabe going to be prosecuted like Scooter Libby was? It appears not."

-- Doesn't it bother you that some people lying to investigators aren't charged while others are?

I think the fact McCabe, who admits to lying/having a "faulty recollection" DOESN'T get charged is more of a bombshell than if he was charged. It proves my point: The best reason to always vote Republican is they face consequences for misbehavior.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Doesn't it bother you that some people lying to investigators aren't charged while others are?”


Does it bother you that Scooter Libby lied? Does it bother Trump? Apparently not, as he just pardoned him. Did McCabe outright lie?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Speaking of lying under oath, did Sessions lie during his confirmation hearings about never meeting with Russians?

Matt Sablan said...

Scooter Libby's "lie" was that the timeline on when he learned things could be construed differently after hours of being questioned and not being allowed to refer to his notes.

McCabe's lie is that he claimed to have not done something he did.

Surely, you see the difference here.

Matt Sablan said...

Also: I'm on record in thinking Libby not getting a pardon was fine. He DID make a mistake. The problem is, after years of watching, only Republicans suffer for making mistakes when talking to the FBI or grand juries. Willingly destroying evidence or walking out with documents stuffed in your pants doesn't inflict real consequences on Democrats. So, while I wouldn't have pardoned Libby, I can't say Trump doesn't have a solid argument for why political persecutions should be rolled back.

Michael K said...

Also: I'm on record in thinking Libby not getting a pardon was fine. He DID make a mistake.

The "mistake" was a matter of opinion. Armitage disclosed the Plame CIA employment to Novack.

Tim Russert said Libby told him but it was after Armirtage had told Novack.

These "process" crimes are all a matter of opinion. The FBI we now know does not record interviews. That is going to have to stop if we ever get an honest Director.

Michael K said...


Blogger Inga said...
Speaking of lying under oath, did Sessions lie during his confirmation hearings about never meeting with Russians?


No, next question.

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