February 14, 2019

"McCabe Says Justice Officials Discussed Recruiting Cabinet Members to Push Trump Out of Office."

The NYT reports on an interview with Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy F.B.I. director. According to McCabe, "top Justice Department officials were so alarmed by President Trump’s decision in May 2017 to fire James B. Comey, the bureau’s director, that they discussed whether to recruit cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office."

The interview (with Scott Pelley) is scheduled to run on "60 Minutes" this weekend, and McCabe is promoting a book. My first question is how serious was the discussion. All sorts of things are discussed in passing. Lots of people "discussed" the 25th Amendment in the early days of the Trump presidency, the idea being that Trump was mentally ill.
Mr. McCabe is the first person involved in these meetings who has spoken publicly about them. Mr. Pelley said, “They were counting noses. They were not asking cabinet members whether they would vote for or against removing the president, but they were speculating ‘This person would be with us, this person would not be,’ and they were counting noses in that effort....This was not perceived to be a joke,” Mr. Pelley added....
Funny that the key quotes come from Pelley, not McCabe.

Trump has tweeted this reaction:
Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a “poor little Angel” when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of “insurance policy” in case I won....
The NYT doesn't elaborate on why anyone could have seriously thought the 25th Amendment applied. Looking back to early 2017 in my archive, I see that a couple writers at The New Yorker were pushing the Trump-is-insane theory of the applicability of the 25th Amendment. On May 8, 2017, I pointed to Evan Osnos. Excerpt:
Lance Dodes, a retired assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, believes that... “Trump is going to face challenges from people who are not going to bend to his will. If you have a President who takes it as a personal attack on him, which he does, and flies into a paranoid rage, that’s how you start a war.”

Like many of his colleagues, Dodes speculates that Trump fits the description of someone with malignant narcissism, which is characterized by grandiosity, a need for admiration, sadism, and a tendency toward unrealistic fantasies. On February 13th, in a letter to the Times, Dodes and thirty-four other mental-health professionals wrote, “We fear that too much is at stake to be silent any longer.”....
Remember that?! The other New Yorker writer I blogged about was George Packer. Excerpt:
After a month in office, Donald Trump has already proved himself unable to discharge his duties. The disability... expresses itself in paranoid rants, non-stop feuds carried out in public, and impulsive acts... Last week, at a White House press conference, the President behaved like the unhinged leader of an unstable and barely democratic republic... The gaudy gold drapery of the East Room contributed to the impression that at any moment Trump might declare himself President for Life, and a flunky would appear from behind the curtain to pin the Medal of National Greatness on his suit jacket, while, backstage, officials and generals discussed his overthrow....
At the time, I thought that kind of thing sounded crazy (or truly devious), and it's helpful now to remind ourselves how extreme Trump's opponents felt free to be. I wasn't a Trump fan, but the overdone hostility toward the duly elected President really offended me. It was deliberate contempt for the Americans who voted for him and horrifyingly undemocratic.

144 comments:

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

McCabe is vile. Pelley is a hack(D)

Someone is lying. McCabe or Rosenstein.

Be good to know.

DanTheMan said...

They had to try to invoke the 25th Amendment. That way they would be following the law. And by "law", I mean things that never applied to Hillary.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Since when is it illegal to fire the acting head of the FBI?

buwaya said...

More interesting - why are the NYT and 60 minutes doing this?
Nothing about anything in the news is just news. Its context and purpose matter.
Much of the true interest is in the metadata, so to speak.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

oh - since the FBI is filled with corrupt Clinton pay-to-play folks. That's when.

Bob Boyd said...

"It was deliberate contempt for the Americans who voted for him."

It was Progressive-ism.

mezzrow said...

It was deliberate contempt for the Americans who voted for him.

I have heard that familiarity breeds contempt. These people are and were so unfamiliar with the people that voted for Trump, that they built straw men in their heads that they then held in contempt, along with the Gorilla Channel Trump they sought to depose.

The more familiar I become with their actions, the more my conclusions grow certain about these folks. Contempt is a strong word, but apt.

jaydub said...

"More interesting - why are the NYT and 60 minutes doing this?
Nothing about anything in the news is just news. Its context and purpose matter."

McCabe has a book coming out and he needs some publicity.

Anonymous said...

Sorry,

Those people were coup plotters. The Constitution puts the 25th Amend in the hands of Cabinet Officers, the VP and Congressional leaders for incapacity issues.

1. not political differences, and

2. not by a group of "Inferior Officers", and worse acting inferior officers and junior deep state types, behind the back of their Constitutional Officer, the AG (Sessions)

If that were to happen in the Army, there would be Courts Martial for everybody at that meeting

zipity said...


Just try to imagine the s**t-storm the Democrats and Lame Stream Media© (but I repeat myself) would have made if Republicans in the DOJ and FBI had tried this on Obama.

Yeah. Me too.

Nonapod said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mezzrow said...

Are we then to conclude that McCabe and CBS see themselves as doing each other a favor with this interview? We're just flogging a book here, nothing else to see, move along...

If so, this is illustrative of their worldview. It's hard to grasp their perspective from where I'm sitting.

Jupiter said...

". On February 13th, in a letter to the Times, Dodes and thirty-four other mental-health professionals wrote, “We fear that too much is at stake to be silent any longer.”...."

So can we at least agree that Dodes and thirty-four other mental health professionals are bat-shit crazy and should not be trusted with sharp objects?

Nonapod said...

"top Justice Department officials were so alarmed by President Trump’s decision in May 2017 to fire James B. Comey, the bureau’s director, that they discussed whether to recruit cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office."

There's this strange sort of inertia that seems to exist with long term government functionaries. They believe that they can never be fired (and unfortunately, they're usually right). There's also this level of disgusting entitlement. They feel they're owned something... even after they clearly worked against a sitting president. The fact that they so brazenly behave as if they've done nothing wrong, to the point that they're writing books and giving interviews, is truly disturbing. The fact that these clowns were clearly in the wrong, and will not only never be held accountable for their actions, but will instead be rewarded by the media with interviews and books sales, is appalling

I know the usage of terms like "Deep State" and "The Swamp" are often sneered at as wild consipiracy theories, but I can't imagine better descriptors in situations like this.

Bay Area Guy said...

McCabe is a total disgraceful weasel. So glad he got fired. Him and his wife. It is amazingly dangerous that someone as disgusting as him to become No. 2 at the FBI.

JAORE said...

None dare call it treason...

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Where's Muellers damning report?

Skeptical Voter said...

These clowns were working (and perhaps still are) on a coup. They did not like the idea that their candidate lost the election---after all the skullduggery, cheating and conniving they did to help shove the old bag over the line. They should have dragged her around a bit in the upper Midwest and she might have won. But after the election, that's all for nought.

Time to switch to Plan B--find some way to drive him from office, or impeach him, or otherwise RESIST!!!!!

I can recall the vapors that Hillary supporters had in October 2016 when they said that Trump might not accept the results of the election. OMG---the world had come to an end! How could he not accept the results! Projection, thy name is progressives.

Yancey Ward said...

Based on Pelley's comments, this is a straight up description of a coup being plotted.

The real question for me is this- was Rosenstein joking? There has yet to be a definitive answer to this question- to date, only McCabe and Rosenstein have commented on McCabe's claim, and Rosenstein carefully issued a non-denial denial if memory serves. There were other people present at that meeting, though, and they have yet to be put on the record.

I have written it many times- Trump's first act on taking the oath of office should have been to fire every single Obama appointee and sideline in Alaska every single appointee who had burrowed into the civil service. This was his biggest mistake, and he is still paying for it over 2 years later.

Anonymous said...

Since this was the FBI, not junior HHS types, one wonders if it were even uglier than reported.

“They were counting noses. They were not asking cabinet members whether they would vote for or against removing the president, but they were speculating ‘This person would be with us, this person would not be,’ and they were counting noses in that effort..

my sense of outrage stretches to wondering if there was also speculation on how the FBI could leverage what it knows about the various Cabinet Officers

We know the answer if J Edgar were in that meeting.

buwaya said...

"McCabe has a book coming out and he needs some publicity."

But why are the NYT and 60 minutes giving it to him?

James K said...

Those 34 mental health professionals violated their profession's code of ethics by purporting to diagnose someone they had not examined. They should have been fired from whatever positions they had.

rehajm said...

Yah, It’s an organized coup attempt from high ranking government insiders and that’s not an exaggeration. And that’s frightening.

Known Unknown said...

This is the bombshell that MSNBC and CNN, et al have been waiting for. But I'm sure there will be crickets.

Bob Boyd said...

"top Justice Department officials were so alarmed by President Trump’s decision in May 2017 to fire James B. Comey, the bureau’s director, that they discussed whether to recruit cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office."


They were, and still are, alarmed that Trump might start turning over the rocks.

Gilbert Pinfold said...

It's going to come out that McCabe had put Trump under electronic surveillance (remember how General Kelley had the Oval Office and other rooms in the White house suddenly renovated? Bug removal). McCabe is trying to make it look like Rosenstein authorized the surveillance. The book is his way of trying to get this lie out in public before he is indicted. Notice how friendly Trump is to Rosenstein, and says nice things about him? That's because RR told Trump what was going on in May 2017 in real time. The Special Counsel was a way to take all the DOJ and FBI malfeasance out of the Hoover Building and Main Justice and stop the coup attempt. Trump has known a lot of things since the week after the election when Adm Rogers of NSA briefed him at Trump Tower, and the next day the transition team decamped to the Trump Country Club in Bedminster. Brennan, Comey, and Clapper went to Obama to demand that Rogers be fired.
Oh, and the $500,000 to McCabe's wife from Terry McAullife (Clinton bagman) for a STATE SENATE run factors in as well.

elkh1 said...

The gaudy gold drapery of the East Room...

Oh, mind, remove a president because they don't like the drapes. What a banana republic!

Chuck said...

Excellent post, Althouse. I too was struck by seeing the teasers for this on television. Again, it is Pelley, and not McCabe doing the talking right now.

buwaya said...
More interesting - why are the NYT and 60 minutes doing this?
Nothing about anything in the news is just news. Its context and purpose matter.
Much of the true interest is in the metadata, so to speak.


Because McCabe has a book coming out. "The Threat: How the FBI protects America in the age of terror and Trump." Which you can pre-order through the Althouse Amazon portal.

I expect that there will be a lot more interesting stuff in the book.

Big Mike said...

My first question is how serious was the discussion. All sorts of things are discussed in passing.

If one is planning on removing the duly-elected President of the United States, then one had better be God. Damned. Serious. About. It.

Lots of people "discussed" the 25th Amendment in the early days of the Trump presidency, the idea being that Trump was mentally ill.

And they were serious, too.

Big Mike said...

Serious lunatics, I mean.

Sigivald said...

"Do you want more Trump? Because this is how you get more Trump."

I don't even particularly like him, but ... Jesus, they're making me want him to win just to spite them.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I don't think I would classify this as plotting a coup, since it would result in Pence, not Hillary, becoming acting President. And it probably does not meet the legal definition of treason. But it is certainly treasonous.

James K said...

The gaudy gold drapery of the East Room...

But Obama's fake Greek columns were just awe-inspiring.

Lucid-Ideas said...

@Buwaya, "But why are the NYT and 60 minutes giving it to him?"

Because it's an admission he's 'on their side'...no punching left.

Yancey Ward said...

Rosenstein is the key here because he was involved in both sides- the Comey firing and appointing Mueller as Special Counsel. If Rosenstein wasn't joking in that remark at the meeting with McCabe, then Rosenstein's memo about Comey can be quite plausibly viewed as a ploy to get Trump to fire Comey just to create a rationale for removing Trump from office- in other words, one can reasonably hypothesize this was all done with James Comey's foreknowledge and acquiescence, and maybe was Comey's own design all along.

Browndog said...

Remember how all of a sudden everyone in the media was talking about the 25th Amendment, seemingly out of nowhere? Trump is nuts, unhinged, out of touch with reality--was all the talk.

Turns out the FBI/DOJ were using the media to lay the groundwork for a coup, and get public opinion on their side.

narciso said...

This is the same Chisholm method that deliveres Evers after 8 years, it was also the Same war of attrition, against w in Iraq

elkh1 said...

"I expect that there will be a lot more interesting stuff in the book."

Chuck, are you getting suckered in and order the book, rewarding McCabe millions?

Whatever in there is to justify what the cabal did. They are lies and damned lies.

Bob Boyd said...

"Oh, mind, remove a president because they don't like the drapes. What a banana republic!"

Well if you can install one because of the crease in his pants, why not?

Rick said...

that’s how you start a war.”

We should absolutely accept clinical psychologist's unsupported assertions about what starts wars. That's clearly within the scope of their expertise.

elkh1 said...

Yancey Ward, BINGO!

SeanF said...

Removing Trump under the 25th Amendment would require not only the approval of a majority of the cabinet, but also Pence's approval, and 2/3 of the Senate, and 2/3 of the House. If they actually "discussed" this to any extent, they're idiots.

The Godfather said...

Look at what Althouse quoted from George Packer of the New Yorker:

"Donald Trump has already proved himself unable to discharge his duties. The disability... expresses itself in paranoid rants, non-stop feuds carried out in public, and impulsive acts... Last week, at a White House press conference, the President behaved like the unhinged leader of an unstable and barely democratic republic... The gaudy gold drapery of the East Room contributed to the impression that at any moment Trump might declare himself President for Life, and a flunky would appear from behind the curtain to pin the Medal of National Greatness on his suit jacket . . . ."

Packer provides no specific examples of Trump's supposed incapacity, nothing but his own paranoid mutterings. Yet on this basis some -- apparently even high officials of the NKVD -- I mean FBI -- would build a coup. A banana republic would be ashamed of such conduct (if true).

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yancey said...

I have written it many times- Trump's first act on taking the oath of office should have been to fire every single Obama appointee and sideline in Alaska every single appointee who had burrowed into the civil service. This was his biggest mistake, and he is still paying for it over 2 years later.

Indeed. And his other mistake was trusting and appointing Sessions.

FullMoon said...

Lots of people "discussed" the 25th Amendment in the early days of the Trump presidency, the idea being that Trump was mentally ill.

Several of the commenters here climbed on the crazy train and rode it for quite awhile.

Chuck said...

First comment:

Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
McCabe is vile. Pelley is a hack(D)

Someone is lying. McCabe or Rosenstein.

Be good to know.


I must agree with that part that I bolded. Is it better for Trump if McCabe is lying, or if Rosenstein is lying? I don't know.

Quayle said...

“Trump is colluding with the Russians. That’s treason. We’ve got to step in.
Oh! Wait! No! Trump is mentally incompetent to be president. We’ve got to step in.”

elkh1 said...

James K said...
Those 34 mental health professionals violated their profession's code of ethics by purporting to diagnose someone they had not examined. They should have been fired from whatever positions they had.

James, be charitable. Those poor dears are too close to the mentally ill that they are mentally ill themselves. You can't hold the mentally ill accountable, can you?

narciso said...

He was an outsider to the Senate, they didnt know about the tripwires that Obama had set, I suppose admiral Rogers told them something but that seems codeword classified.

elkh1 said...

Quayle said...
“Trump is colluding with the Russians. That’s treason. We’ve got to step in.
Oh! Wait! No! Trump is mentally incompetent to be president. We’ve got to step in.”

Trump is not our guy. We've got to step in.

William said...

Anyone remember Harold Wilson and MI6? The director of MI6 thought that Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister, might be a Russian plant. It was a big scandal. The left thought that the powers of the intelligence services should be curtailed for just such overreaching....l. Iirc, the left here thought that Hoover's emphasis on Soviet influence and agents in America was misplaced and a threat to our civil liberties.

Maillard Reactionary said...

JAORE: "None dare call it treason..."

I will.

Barry's Iran payoff, too. A more clearcut case is hard to think of than that-- the Iranians are explicitly at war with us, shmuck.

"White privilege", my ass.

narciso said...

Floor wax desert topping, realistically who could he have nominated guiliani had Russian connections Mukasey I donr know if Barr was available at that time, and the big issue was crime and illegal immigration

narciso said...

Wilson probably was as was goug Whitlam in Australia, the left is still ticked off about the latter's removal,

Earnest Prole said...

I wasn't aware the Constitution put coup planning in the hands of the Justice Department.

Bob Boyd said...

"Someone is lying. McCabe or Rosenstein.

Be good to know."



I suppose water boarding them is out of the question...

Ralph L said...

It's even more disgusting that McCabe puts all this in his own book--he's proud of it and thinks it's more than OK. He doesn't need the money.

cubanbob said...

I'm old school. If we are going to have a coup then lets have an old school Seven Days In May with a cabal of generals and admirals taking power. Now the time has come for Trump to give Mueller two weeks to wrap it up and issue his report. If Muller doesn't comply, fire him and his staff and release everything they have. Then appoint a several prosecutors to look into the entire Obama Administration obstruction of justice and the DNC and Hillary Clinton crimes.

Fernandinande said...

"Lance Dodes, M.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst Emeritus at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, member of the faculty of the New Center for Psychoanalysis (Los Angeles), and retired assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School."

++
Is Psychoanalysis Still Relevant to Psychiatry?

"It is difficult to see how any of the current responses to criticism can save psychoanalysis from a continued and lingering decline. Analysis has separated itself from psychiatry and psychology by teaching its method in stand-alone institutes. The field may only survive if it is prepared to dismantle its structure as a separate discipline and rejoin academia and clinical science."

IOW, Dodes is a shaman and a member of a cult.

Achilles said...

Everyone in that meeting committed the definition of sedition and conspiracy.


If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 1, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

narciso said...

You're surprised a scorpion stings you, of course no questions about McCabe tenure to miss 14 plots seems to have been offered

buwaya said...

Chuck,

So your theory is that, though this particular story is apparently an argument against interest (treason, etc.), its worthwhile, as a loss-leader so to speak, because of the attention it will attract to other material in the book?

This is on the face of it a reasonable explanation of this maneuver.

Chuck said...

buwaya said...
Chuck,

So your theory is that, though this particular story is apparently an argument against interest (treason, etc.), its worthwhile, as a loss-leader so to speak, because of the attention it will attract to other material in the book?

This is on the face of it a reasonable explanation of this maneuver.


I wrote, "I don't know." How is that a theory on my part?

Leland said...

So this is starting to annoy me. McCabe is admitting to corruption. I'm sure he feels free to do this not because of moral righteousness, but because of GOP ineptitude to do anything about it. Any move by Trump will just further the charge of obstruction of a non criminal investigation. The Senate needs to send criminal referrals. And Sessions should be embarrassed that he did nothing.

buwaya said...

" How is that a theory on my part?"

Because it is my theory, not yours.
You just pointed out a logical chain that NYT or CBS may be following.

Bruce Hayden said...

“It's going to come out that McCabe had put Trump under electronic surveillance (remember how General Kelley had the Oval Office and other rooms in the White house suddenly renovated? Bug removal). McCabe is trying to make it look like Rosenstein authorized the surveillance. The book is his way of trying to get this lie out in public before he is indicted.”

Once thing that has become ever more evident is that McCabe was at the center of FISAgate. The Insurance Policy was plotted at hisc$70k conference room table. ADAG Bruce Ohr claims to have included him in his concerns about Steele and the reliability of his Dossier (esp interesting, and maybe even revealing, since his wife was, at the time, working with Steele at Fusion GPS as their Russian expert). And we found out recently that the original FISA warrant application on Carter Page was fast tracked with preapprovals by McCabe and DAG Sally Yates. Apparently, the underlying documentation, including the Woods documentation, wasn’t checked as closely as it typically is, because the two people who were going to sign for their agency/department had already preapproved. My comment the other night was that the defense of the obtaining those FISA warrants seems to be that the paperwork was in order, and those signing at various levels trusted their subordinates who had signed at lower levels. But I don’t think that this will be an availing defense for McCabe, or probably Yates, because he can be shown to have had actual knowledge of weaknesses (and misstatements through omission) in the applications that he certified anyway. He appears to have known, at a minimum, that the Steele Dossier was funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC, that Steele was unreliable and heavily biased against Trump, had been dumped by the FBI for talking to the press, and was talking to McCabe’s people at the FBI anyway through the agency of ADAG Ohr. (Who was a direct report to DAG Yates).

I think that the reality that the walls seem to be closing in rapidly on McCabe has to be factored in, in regards to whatever he does now. He has already been referred to the DoJ for prosecution (which, BTW is precisely the sort of situation that independent prosecutors were designed to address, and apparently - the FBI #2 and DoJ #2 committing acts that verge on treason, and those investigating them used to work for them).

Michael K said...

Terry McAuliffe's money was well spent on McCabe.

Joe said...

McCabe just confessed to plotting a coup. If Mueller wants to find treachery, he needs to make a 180 and just gaze that McCabe, and his ilk, and the Democratic party.

M Jordan said...

The Left never has understood Trump nor his supporters in the least. They think we’re all smelly Wal-Mart shoppers who believe the earth is 6,000 years old and have a collective IQ of 90. They think Trump cynically plays to this crowd of jakes and rubes in order to satisfy his malignant, enormous ego.

They’re wrong on all counts. In fact, it is, ironically, the Left who is cocooning into anti-rational Puritanism. They’re Lord and Savior, Barack Obama, was a narcissist of the highest order, unable even to allow a rodeo clown to mock him. When his unbridled vanity crossed paths with an outdoor basketball court where a group of kids were shooting around, he demanded the ball to demonstrate his giftedness. He then proceeded to missed 20 out of 21 shots. A camera caught it all, something his lordship did not appreciate. He turned on his heel, jaw clenched, and NEVER PLAYED BASKETBALL AGAIN. He took up golf instead, sans cameras, sans truth, sans everything.

I do believe their facade is cracking. AOC, the new savior, is helping immensely in that effort.

Seeing Red said...

Trumps numbers are up and now they admitted a coup attempt.

Why do they think this will help their cause?

Chuck said...

buwaya said...
" How is that a theory on my part?"

Because it is my theory, not yours.
You just pointed out a logical chain that NYT or CBS may be following.


Oh so it is your theory. You have a funny way of expressing your theories. To wit:

buwaya said...
Chuck,

So your theory is that, ...


FullMoon said...

So your theory is that, though this particular story is apparently an argument against interest (treason, etc.), its worthwhile, as a loss-leader so to speak, because of the attention it will attract to other material in the book?

This is on the face of it a reasonable explanation of this maneuver.


The book may be an attempt to redefine treason as reasonable behavior under the circumstances.

Seeing Red said...

Did anyone happen to read The American Thinker article linked by Insty earlier this week?

It seems Trump is more popular around the world than our garekeeperswant us to think.

Seeing Red said...

Where are the usual suspects?

mccullough said...

When is McCabe getting the 6 am raid for lying to the FBI?

When is Comey getting the 6 am raid for lying to Congress?

traditionalguy said...

As I recall Hillary warned her gang of thieves that if they let Trump win the election they would all hang. That was after Matt Lauer was allowed to ask her a hard question. Matt got his pay back.

These Clinton owned FBI guys that had never done anything but Cover Ups of all Investigations into the Clintons had to either assassinate Trump with false charges, poisons or bullets.

Clearly Mr McCabe knows that he is going to a Gitmo Military Tribunal and his execution for Treason.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a “poor little Angel” when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating. Part of “insurance policy” in case I won....”

Says the biggest disgrace to the US Presidency in history. When the Mueller investigation is over and IF it gets published the US and the rest of the world will see why.

Drago said...

"It was deliberate contempt for the Americans who voted for him."

Bob Boyd: "It was Progressive-ism."

Actually it was East German Stasi-style progressive-ism joined with LLR-ism.

As has been demonstrated conclusively and irrefutably over the last 3 years.

Seeing Red said...

Says the biggest disgrace to the US Presidency in history.

Why?

Seeing Red said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Seeing Red said...

I said a long time ago it didn’t matter, Inga because Mueller is tainted. They screwed themselves. He’s not leaving office by impeachment.

Seeing Red said...

What did we learn from Bubba? Can’t overturn the results of the election.

Your side lowered the bar protecting that liar and sexual predator.

James K said...

Says the biggest disgrace to the US Presidency in history. When the Mueller investigation is over and IF it gets published the US and the rest of the world will see why.

Inga cites an unpublished report of an investigation that isn't over yet to back her conclusion, and hedges her bets ("IF it gets published"). Keep hope alive, Inga.

Bruce Hayden said...

The timing must also be considered. Most of the signs point to the Mueller investigation winding down very quickly in the very near future. DAG Rosenstein stated late last year that he would leave the DoJ in probably February of this year, and we are half way through it now. Both acting AG Whitaker and the Senate have stated that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian govt. so, what is the Mueller team still investigating? The stuff in Rosenstein’s secret additional orders? AG nominee Barr will likely be confirmed within a week, and you can be pretty sure that one of the things that he had to commit to in order to get the job was to kill any witch-hunts of Trump in short order.

Why is shutting down Mueller’s investigation important here? Because it has been used heavily by esp the FBI as a legal pretext for preventing complete disclosure about their actions in the entire Russian collusion hoax. When Counterintelligence Division Bill Priestap testified late last year to Congress, under advice of FBI attys, entire areas of investigation were considered off limits due to an ongoing investigation - the Mueller investigation. We had a serious Catch 22 there, with the FBI setting up the Mueller investigation with information that they knew to be bogus and manufactured, then used that very same Mueller investigation as their excuse to hide their bad acts from Congress and the public. All those redactions that we have been seeing for the last couple years can now be unredacted, because there will no longer be an ongoing criminal investigation (the House investigations by the Dem controlled committees presumably won’t have the same legal effect). Terminating the Mueller investigation cuts the Gordian Knot. I also expect to see the OIG report that was supposed to have been delivered last August on FISAgate, presumably tied up the same way by the existence of the Mueller investigation.





Drago said...

Inga is still pretending the hoax collusion democrat/LLR lies are still true!

LOL

You know whats most sad about that?....

.....she isn't actually pretending!

Posters upthread have it precisely correct: we are in bizarro-world where McCabe is attempting to get out in front of the now admitted coup attempt and trying to drag others into it to mitigate his exposure and the Stupid Left (including you know who in this blog) actually believe this is all totally cool and acceptable!

Meanwhile, commie voter and Muslim Brotherhood advocate and CIA traitor John Brennan and McCabe/Strzok actually orchestrated a Frame-Up Operation where the CIA worked with MI6 to plant at least 7 operatives within the Trump campaign and then have Alexander Downer "discover" the planted evidence to use as a justification for FISA warrants!
.
Meanwhile (!!!) Comey and Yates and Obama allowed dem hack firms FusionGPS and Crowdstrike direct access to the FISA702 databases abd used the results to craft a hoax dossier between Hillary/DNC/PerkinsCoie/FusionGPS/Steele and funneled back through to the FBI.

Meanwhile(!!!) McCabe and Brennan and Clapper and Strzok and Page and Baker and Glenn Simpson were feeding hoax stories to the media who all ran with them!!

Meanwhile (!!!) The Uranium One/Clinton Foundation Cover-up crew (Mueller, Comey, Rosenstein, McCabe, Baker, Strzok, Page and others) were burying and hiding and obfuscating on hillarys behalf.

It is literally astonishing Trump survived such massive lefty/LLR corruption and smearing.

Sebastian said...

So will Barr appoint a special counsel to go after McCabe, Rosenstein, and Brennan?

Sounds like a job Chris Christie might enjoy.

traditionalguy said...

The amazing thing these days, as the truth is coming out, is that most of it was already known and reported once, but then removed from the Fake News. For instance, Mueller. He was the first guy forced to cut a deal with Trump to save his life. He was the #1 Cover-Up man for most of the secret actions from the Bush's 9/11 mass murders through the Uranium One cash sale of US identified Uranium isotopes supposedly sent to Russia but actually shipped to Iran.

buwaya said...

Leland,

None of this is surprising.
It is not one institution or a small cabal, but effectively all of them, in one way or another, to such a degree as circumstances dictate. You have a caste war, that is masses of people in conflict. Not, on either side, against one man or a few.

Chuck is trolling of course. His schtick is to pretend to extreme tunnel vision. But the battlefield is vast and the armies are enormous.

FullMoon said...

So, anyway, out of curiosity, followed AA's insanity link. Guess who popped up, accusing Althouse of gaslighting liberals?


Blogger Inga...Allie Oop said...

Althouse engaged in a very insidious form of civility bullshit here with this post. No, liberals are not convincing themselves of anything that isn’t very real and this thing you’ve done here is only one more way of attempting to shame them into stepping down their activity, thus silencing them. She discounts what liberals see and react to and attempts to paint them as somehow gaslighting themselves. She’s done this repeatedly over the last year, while out of the other side of her mouth speaks about civility bullshit being used against her preferred group, Trumpists.

This is one of Althouse’s more hypocritical posts, not her best work.

10/19/18, 7:22 AM

stevew said...

"After a month in office, Donald Trump has already proved himself unable to discharge his duties. The disability... expresses itself in paranoid rants, non-stop feuds carried out in public, and impulsive acts... "

None of this has proved to be true of Trump, if anything after two years the folks opposed to Trump, The Resistance, are the ones engaged in non-stop feuds, impulsive acts, and paranoid rants (like this one). To me Trump is the rational, reasoned, and responsibly acting one, surrounded by the crazies.

buwaya said...

Chuck, I corrected the ownership of the theory.

FullMoon said...

Fortunately, well grounded, not crazy, Inga been inoculated:

Inga...Allie Oop said...

You see, gaslighting doesn’t work on people who are well grounded in reality and secure in their observations.

10/19/18, 8:13 AM

narciso said...

well they have to yell squirrel, he is supposedly under investigation,

https://www.dailywire.com/news/43483/justice-department-blasts-fired-fbi-official-ashe-schow

Seeing Red said...

You see, gaslighting doesn’t work on people who are well grounded in reality and secure in their observations.

10/19/18, 8:13 AM

Like you were secure in your observations about Benghazi happening over a videotape?


If it’s a big taxpayer-funded nothingburger that the media has been dribbling out these past 2 years, what then?

Then there’s man-made global warming....

Seeing Red said...

Althouse engaged in a very insidious form of civility bullshit here with this post. No, liberals are not convincing themselves of anything that isn’t very real and this thing you’ve done here is only one more way of attempting to shame them into stepping down their activity, thus silencing them.

Ok AOC/Markey.

It’s been put out there and might be revoked.

Seeing Red said...

She discounts what liberals see and react to and attempts to paint them as somehow gaslighting themselves

No, it’s not what you see, its what “everyone” sees. It’s what we do with it.

Hide the decline, Inga.

Seeing Red said...

Secure in their observations translates into no objective truth. It’s my truth or your truth. There are no facts anymore. Kids can’t add 2+2 but get credit for trying, or 2+2 now really does = 5.

Seeing Red said...

The people who pushed this including the media are all in. Something, no matter how technical or insignificant must be found.

Or it’s Covington all over again but devastating.

Some cover, no matter how slight, must be found and that means delving into tax returns.

So now anyone who wants to run must have all tax returns vetted before even stepping up. AFAIC, that should include all candidates for Congress.

Lowered the bar again, don’t bitch.

Original Mike said...

"When the Mueller investigation is over and IF it gets published the US and the rest of the world will see why."

And here is their last stand. I've been saying for months that the Mueller report never sees the light of day.

"Nobody knows what Mueller knows"© lives on forever.

Bay Area Guy said...

DOJ Statement (Rosenstein) in Response to McCabe:

"The Deputy Attorney General again rejects Mr. McCabe’s recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect. The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references… There is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment. Finally, the Deputy Attorney General never spoke to Mr. Comey about appointing a Special Counsel. The Deputy Attorney General in fact appointed Special Counsel Mueller, and directed that Mr. McCabe be removed from any participation in that investigation.”

McCabe was not a cabinet member and had no discussions with cabinet members re 25th Amendment removal of Trump. What a liar. He had discussions in his head and with a few fellow coup plotters about sinking Trump

RichAndSceptical said...

Couldn't what McCabe admits to be considered treason?

FullMoon said...


"The Deputy Attorney General again rejects Mr. McCabe’s recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect.

Kinda like a lie, then?

YoungHegelian said...

It amazes me that we have a bureaucrat actually get in front of a camera & say "Well, yeah, me & a bunch of other bureaucrats plotted to remove a duly elected president because we just didn't like the fucker".

And the reporter just sits there going "Yes, yes, say more".

What times we live in!

What amazes me about the modern Left is that the armor of their self-righteousness is impenetrable. Growing up in northern Alabama, there were many Christians of various stripes who could wax incredibly self-righteous. Always, however, within their very tradition of self-righteousness, there was vocabulary to temper it, e.g. "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God." Not so, the modern Left, especially its gentry wing. Deeds and beliefs are righteous because it is they who perform the doing & the believing, for they are the Elect.

Seeing Red said...

BTW IF it doesn’t get published, our side will think nothingburger, your side will think mother lode.

Looking at the same thing, different conclusions. Both sides think they were grounded in reality, but the other side was gaslighted or nuts.

Seeing Red said...

Now Stone is suing CNN for leaking and wants to know who from the FBI leaked to CNN.

The FBI is not coming out clean in this.

Leigh said...

@M Jordan -- I just bought Victor David Hanson's new book, "The Case for Trump," through Althouse's lovely portal. (Or, pre-ordered, I should say -- it's out on 3/5/19.) Rush Limbaugh gave it a huge plug.

@ B Hayden -- I hope you're right. Would love to read that OIG report on McCabe. Remember McCabe screaming that if he were fired, he'd "take down the whole [expletive] place" with him? This makes everything he says suspect.

As for all the "KALOOOZSHIN," it was always a crock and most people knew it. But no matter; we had the gaslighting media lurching to and fro, and giving us whiplash: "he's mentally unfit, mentally unstable, reckless, impulsive, prone to rants!" versus "he's a diabolical mastermind -- methodical, calm, cool, and collected; he managed to conspire with the Russians without leaving a trace of evidence in his wake." And of course there was the old, "Deep State? Ha. Stupid Walmart conspiracy theorists!" vs. McCabe's admissions, being parceled out by Scott Pelley today.

@Yancy Ward -- you just may be right. It would appear that Comey and Rosenstein engineered the entire firing to get a special counsel appointed (their comrade in arms, Robert Mueller. (Dowd, Trump's former atty, said in a Fox interview on Monday that Rosenstein wrote another walk-back memo a month after he'd written his fire-Comey memo. Isn't that curious?

Sharyll Attkisson has said (and Sarah Carter concurs) the real story here is that numerous FBI/CIA shenanigans occurred long before Trump hit the scene. These agencies were terrified Trump would uncover their illegal activities and bring the principals before grand juries, so they went balls-to-the-walls to shut him down. I wonder what they've been up to all these years ... (besides their sham Hillary Clinton "midyear exam").

bagoh20 said...

I'm not sure how to take it when someone who is obviously unhinged rants incoherently about me being crazy. On one hand you think, hey they should know about crazy, right, but then they're crazy, so... Imagine having a psychiatrist that unhinged telling you what is wrong with you... and then paying them for it.

Seeing Red said...

You want a Trump gone, Inga, but your price will be having to accept the FBI isn’t clean to do it.

For you, that end might justify the means, but for our Republic it’s disaster.

One of the reasons your father left his country is because of things like this. I guess he should have stayed.

Seeing Red said...

As for all the "KALOOOZSHIN," it was always a crock and most people knew it. But no matter; we had the gaslighting media lurching to and fro, and giving us whiplash: "he's mentally unfit, mentally unstable, reckless, impulsive, prone to rants!" versus "he's a diabolical mastermind -- methodical, calm, cool, and collected; he managed to conspire with the Russians without leaving a trace of evidence in his wake." And of course there was the old, "Deep State? Ha. Stupid Walmart conspiracy theorists!" vs. McCabe's admissions, being parceled out by Scott Pelley today.


It’s that SNL Reagan skit with Trump.

Seeing Red said...

So, who believed in “Peak Oil”?

Leland said...

Couldn't what McCabe admits to be considered treason?

No. Treason is specific to providing aid and/or comfort to an enemy in a time of war. This is important, because it also goes to why what McCabe was doing was wrong even if he really believed Trump was helping Russia. Because even if Trump colluded with Russia, that is not a crime. If it were, then the Hillary campaign colluded with both the UK and Russia via Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele. That's the thing from the beginning, there was never a crime committed to investigate.

However, there are many other crimes starting with McCabe and/or Rosenstein lying to the President, who is just as much an official as any FBI agent. Then there is conspiracy to deny Trump his Constitutional right to be President. Also there is a conspiracy to commit fraud of various types.

Mike Sylwester said...

Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

This law is a favorite of Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller. He uses it to charge people he does not like.

The DOJ website about the law includes the following passages.

[quote]

.... The statute is broad enough in its terms to include any conspiracy for the purpose of impairing, obstructing or defeating the lawful function of any department of government . . . (A)ny conspiracy which is calculated to obstruct or impair its efficiency and destroy the value of its operation and reports as fair, impartial and reasonably accurate ....

... it also means to interfere with or obstruct one of its lawful governmental functions by deceit, craft or trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest. It is not necessary that the Government shall be subjected to property or pecuniary loss by the fraud, but only that its legitimate official action and purpose shall be defeated by misrepresentation, chicane or the overreaching of those charged with carrying out the governmental intention. ....

... The general purpose of this part of the statute is to protect governmental functions from frustration and distortion through deceptive practices. ...

... The word "defraud" in Section 371 not only reaches financial or property loss through use of a scheme or artifice to defraud but also is designed and intended to protect the integrity of the United States and its agencies, programs and policies ....

.... Thus, if the defendant and others have engaged in dishonest practices in connection with a program administered by an agency of the Government, it constitutes a fraud on the United States ....

.... is sufficient that the defendant engaged in acts that interfered with or obstructed a lawful governmental function by deceit, craft, trickery or by means that were dishonest ....

In summary, those activities which courts have held defraud the United States affect the government in at least one of three ways:

1) They cheat the government out of money or property;

2) They interfere or obstruct legitimate Government activity; or

3) They make wrongful use of a governmental instrumentality.

[end quote]

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Is there any more extreme example of Adams "Two Movies" theory?

The Times (and Time's commenters) look at this and see virtuous civil servants. McCabe wouldn't even admit to it if he weren't deep in his world view.

I (and I hope to Ghu enough Republican congress critters though I am not confident of tat) look at it and say: Stone cold coup attempt.

Leigh said...

Thanks for the Rosenstein statement, @Bay Area Guy.

"The Deputy Attorney General again rejects Mr. McCabe’s recitation of events as inaccurate and factually incorrect. The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references… There is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was the DAG in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment. Finally, the Deputy Attorney General never spoke to Mr. Comey about appointing a Special Counsel. The Deputy Attorney General in fact appointed Special Counsel Mueller, and directed that Mr. McCabe be removed from any participation in that investigation.”

Sounds like another non-denial denial to me. "[N]ever authorized any recording" says nothing about discussing it. Nor does Rosenstein deny discussions about invoking the 25th. Lame. So lame.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

What would be a delicious irony would be for Mueller to be indicted for defrauding the Federal government by carrying on a bogus, fraudulent investigation.

Dave Begley said...

James Comey was not elected to an office. He was a political appointee. He's been replaced. Firing him was no reason for a coup.

Dave Begley said...

I've always wondered why the FISA court judges never have called DOJ up for a show cause contempt hearing. Or Rule 11 sanctions.

Ralph L said...

they went balls-to-the-walls to shut him down

Or at least get enough dirt to save their asses, as Hoover did.

Ralph L said...

Sedition is the word here, not treason.

Chuck said...

Dave Begley said...
I've always wondered why the FISA court judges never have called DOJ up for a show cause contempt hearing. Or Rule 11 sanctions.


Rule 11 only applies in pending civil litigation. Did you really mean FRCP Rule 11? Maybe I am just not understanding why you think it would apply. Rule 11 under the Criminal Rules has to do with Pleas.

Bob Boyd said...

I don't expect much to come from this. Everybody in DC has something that can be held over their head. They all protect each other. The FBI most of all has the dirt. That's how we got here in the first place.

There are no white crows among all those black crows. There is an orange crow. We'll have to wait and see if it's black on the inside or white on the inside.

StephenFearby said...

Bruce Hayden said:

"I also expect to see the OIG report that was supposed to have been delivered last August on FISAgate, presumably tied up the same way by the existence of the Mueller investigation."

It's apparently already been completed...with the following cryptic summary posted to oig.justice.gov on January 29, 2019:

"INVESTIGATIVE SUMMARY
Findings of Misconduct by Two Current Senior FBI Officials and One Retired FBI Official While Providing Oversight on an FBI Contract

The Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this
investigation upon the receipt of information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning multiple allegations involving an FBI contractor and three FBI officials.
The OIG found that as a result of conduct by two current senior FBI officials, and one retired FBI official, the FBI contractor engaged in certain inherent governmental activities in contravention of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). Additionally, the OIG found that these three FBI officials did not adhere to Office of Management and Budget policy while managing the contractor. Further, the OIG found that the FBI contractor failed to adhere to personal conflict of interest rules under the FAR.

The OIG has completed its investigation and provided its report to the FBI for appropriate
action."

https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2019/f190129.pdf

The report may or may not include McCabe's involvement:

'...McCabe personally reviewed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application for a warrant to spy on former Trump-campaign associate Carter Page. The bureau applied for the warrant using an unverified dossier of opposition research on Trump. The dossier was compiled by a foreign spy [Steele was actually a former British intelligence officer then hustling for private intelligence engagements] and ultimately paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee [though Fusion GPS].

Sen. Lyndsay Graham (R-S.C.) said on Feb. 14 that in light of the to-be-aired interview, McCabe should appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions about his involvement in securing the FISA warrant.

“After Mr. McCabe’s 60 Minutes interview, it is imperative that he, and others, come before [the Senate Judiciary Committee] to fully explain how and why a FISA warrant was issued against Carter Page and answer questions about what appears to be, now more than ever, bias against President Trump,” Graham wrote on Twitter.'

https://www.theepochtimes.com/rosenstein-removed-mccabe-from-russia-probe-after-appointing-special-counsel_2801187.html

Amadeus 48 said...

At this point in time, why would anyone take anything McCabe said at face value?
Rosenstein’s derp index is pretty high; I don’t see him leading anything, but I see him being whipsawed by Trump and by his old pals in the DOJ/FBI. He probably was chagrined at he way Trump used his memo about Comey, and his pals called him on the carpet. A week later he appoints Mueller. J. Alfred Prufrock in the flesh.
As we have seen in Turkey, it is hard to tell the difference between a failed coup and a successful purge. The next few weeks in Washington are going to be interesting. Barr has every reason to start over now that Sessions is out of the way. The next wave of retirements from the organs of state security should be revealing. Rosenstein is already leaving.

Gk1 said...

Trump has been incredibly patient with these coup plotters so I wonder what his ultimate play will be? I'd love him to completely gut the DOJ & FBI of any or all Obama hold overs. In fact don't take any chances fire them all and hire new starting with that eunuch Wray. He's proven to be as worthless as tits on a bull.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

BAG@1:41PM Don't fall for weasel words and lawyerspeak- Do note the non-denial denial: "The Deputy Attorney General never authorized any recording that Mr. McCabe references...."
McCabe didn't say that Rosenstein authorized anything. McCabe says that Rosenstein and others had several discussions about Rosenstein wearing a wire. Rosenstein pointedly does not deny that the discussions took place. There were others there, Strzok for one. Rosenstein can't count on omerta from the dirty rats he knows his co-conspirators to be. The fact that Rosenstein doesn't deny the meetings and the topics discussed speaks for itself. Rosenstein is fucked and he'll get taken down with the others.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Haha, I missed Leigh@2:34PM pointing out the weaselly statement by another FBI weasel.

Amadeus 48 said...

I thought Rosenstein had said that he had said some of those things but that he was obviously joking. Anyway, he will soon be gone.
Wray was outside while all this nonsense was going on. He was at King &Spalding until immediately before joing the FBI. I always try to figure out how I would lead an organization following a widely repected figure (which Comey was) who gave endless pep talks about the organization’s commitment to doing things the right way (which Comey did) and who totally betrayed the organization’s mission (which Comey and McCabe did) through serving an idiosyncratic “higher calling” (which Comey did). I don’t think Wray can tarnish Comey’s name inside the bureau and be effective. His best move is to lead it in a better way. Remember, Wray wouldn’t let McCabe back in the building when he saw McCabe’s FISA handiwork.
There’s lots left to this story, but Trump hasn’t been in a hurry to blow it all up either, and he is a great counterpuncher.

Gk1 said...

What does FBI do about the reputational damage its suffering because of pricks like Comey & McCabe? And I mean suffering because every week that drags on the more I'm convinced they are all lying sacks of shit that shouldn't be believed. Their testimony is suspect and should be doubted in trials. They have no ethics and are just STASI for the democrats. They were caught trying to launch a coup and failed. What do you do with the traitors at the FBI?

Michael K said...

The point of Mueller is to keep the OIG report secret as it is "Important for a current investigation."

Which will take forever.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Real quick shout out to all the True Conservatives and LifeLongRepublican types who laughed and mocked anyone worrying or complaining about the Deep State--fuck you.

No, seriously: fuck all of you. You were wrong about McMullin; you were wrong about Comey; you were wrong about Clapper; you were wrong about Rosenstein; you were wrong about Ohr, Strzok...you've been consistently wrong about damn near everything.

Saw a bunch of tweets from those people today saying "gee this is troubling, this sounds pretty bad, someone needs to investigate!" You assholes just slide right by admitting you were wrong and went to bat for these bad actors for YEARS, huh?
No, we saw and we aren't forgetting. Fuck you.

Jeff said...

"Someone is lying. McCabe or Rosenstein.

Be good to know."

Embrace the healing power of "and".

rcocean said...

Sessions? Jeff Sessions? Anyone ever hear of him?

Has he ever said ANYTHING since he was fired? Was he ever AG? Damn, its like Rosenstein ran the place until November 2018. Google "weak and worthless" and Jeff sessions picture pops up.

rcocean said...

But he was a fine Southern Gentleman. And Diane Feinstein liked him.

ken in tx said...

Full quote:"Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it Treason." Sir John Harrington.

If the plotters had been successful, most here would be considered kooks or would just keep their mouths shut.

Bruce Hayden said...

“The point of Mueller is to keep the OIG report secret as it is "Important for a current investigation."

Which will take forever”

AG Barr confirmed today. DAG Rosenstein leaving, probably by end of month. Acting AG Whitaker supposedly took over oversight over Mueller investigation a bit ago. As I suggested earlier my guess is that one of the promises made by Barr to get the job was to lay down the law with Mueller, to either defecate or get off the toilet.

hombre said...

Sedition is okay at DOJ because TRUUUMP.

MacMacConnell said...

A. This is proof of the "deep state".

B. This is proof of a coup attempt.

C. The 25th amendment has no application in Mcabe's and the room full of DOJ lawyers' coup plan.

D. Where did these lying liar fuckwad DOJ lawyers and Mcabe go to law school, Caracas? Havana?Lumumba University?

Original Mike said...

"my guess is that one of the promises made by Barr to get the job was to lay down the law with Mueller, to either defecate or get off the toilet."

I know he was coy during confirmation, but I hope he also promised to publish the damn thing.

Gk1 said...

Actually I'd much prefer Trump simply declassifying all of the redacted information that the Nunes commission dug up. I really don't trust any of the crap Mueller and his flying monkeys have been hatching for 2 years. We are basically asking for Mueller to dump all of the garbage and nonsense they have been culling with out any counter factual. Pass. Just declassify the source documents and let the cards fall where they may.

Bruce Hayden said...

"I know he was coy during confirmation, but I hope he also promised to publish the damn thing"

Not sure what the "damn thing" is, but I don't expect to see much in the way of a Mueller report. Apparently there was somewhat of a meltdown during AG Barr's confirmation hearing with some of the Dems after he apparently suggested such. The problem is that DoJ rules prevent publication of essentially accusations, absent proof. They can announce arrests and convictions, but not speculation. The Dems seemed to have been expecting a report that essentially said that Trump and his people were guilty, but we just didn't have enough for probable cause for arrests, and then use that as a springboard into impeachment hearings. I think that, legally, the House Dems are not going to get much of anything legally from Mueller and his team (illegally, and under the table is a very different story - Schiff has been illegally talking to them all along). But if you are talking about all the stuff that the FBI has been embargoing because of the ongoing Mueller investigation, i am somewhat hopeful. But not overly, with the recently released OIG report fairly vague because it involved the national security parts of the FBI and DoJ. And that is precisely the problem here - that the counterintelligence apparatus in these organizations were compromised and perverted to allow spying on US citizens in the US without warrants (or, maybe more accurately, fraudulently acquiring the warrants), and we can't find out what happened, and no one is going to pay the price, because of "national security". Very worrisome.

Leigh said...

@Bruce Hayden, the Dems are probably expecting something from Mueller that entirely breaches protocol and the reason for secret GJs because that's exactly what Comey did (much to their chagrin) -- e.g., Comey's unprecedented press conference in which he catalogued Clinton's transgressions at length, followed by ... "BUT we decline to prosecute." They're not going to get it, though. Barr will make sure of that. DOJ declinations are not for public consumption.

As for the recently released OIG report, I wonder if it is actually referring to McCabe, since he's NOT retired -- he was fired and therefore should be referred to as a former employee. But who knows?

Hopefully Barr will go after these guys and after Mueller closes shop, the House & Senate (or, at least the Senate) will call them back to testify, at which point they'll have to plead the 5th or pony up, since Mueller's investigation will no longer be a shield. Hopefully, anyway. And if Trump declassifies all the FISA stuff (and I think he will, perhaps after Barr finishes up), we'll know a whole lot more about exactly what happened. What we know right now is horrific enough, that's for damn sure.

FYI -- there is a re-make of "7 Days in May," starring Forest Whitaker that looks pretty good; it's in Amazon prime. It's called, "The Enemy Within."

Gretchen said...

"Trump fits the description of someone with malignant narcissism, which is characterized by grandiosity, a need for admiration, sadism, and a tendency toward unrealistic fantasies"

Hilarious. We have Comey, who thought of himself as the perfect defender of the country, McCabe who willfully helped to concoct a false narrative to dump a duly elected President, and the entire Democrat party who believe in the Russia conspiracy and the Green New Deal.

Trump on the other hand thinks a wall prevents people and contraband from passing through it. That's much crazier than thinking you can eliminate air travel and retrofit every building in the country, or that some men have vaginas.

Projection.

Molly said...

I am a little frustrated about the miscommunication that is happening in these comment pages. A lot of commenters assume that the anti-Trump people are proceeding along the following line of logic: (a) Trump is guilty of serious misbehavior; therefore (b) Trump must be removed from office. The commenters then proceed to argue "there is no evidence for (a); therefore conclusion (b) is not warranted. But these commenters completely miss the logic intended by the anti-Trump people, which is: (a') Trump must be removed from office; therefore (b') we will ultimately find evidence of serious misbehavior. With this frame of mind, finding that there is no evidence of a particular accusation of misbehavior does absolutely nothing to undercut assertion (a') . Assertion (a') is not the conclusion of a logical argument, it is an article of faith. One cannot "disprove" it to a true believer any more than you could logically disprove (using scientific evidence) to a serious Christian that Christ did not rise from the dead or that Mary was a virgin at the time of the birth of Jesus.

Original Mike said...

I want the Mueller report published so we don't have to listen to this bullshit forever:

Inga said..."When the Mueller investigation is over and IF it gets published the US and the rest of the world will see why."

but I understand the restrictions. So does the leftist media; and they're already feeding this last redoubt to Inga-types, as evidence by her comment. I guess it was wishful thinking to think it would ever stop.

OTOH, I consider it unlikely Mueller ever finishes his "investigation" anyway, as long as Trump is in office.