quote:

Originally posted by sdy:

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has requested the Senate Judiciary Committee provide him with immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying at an upcoming congressional hearing focused on how senior officials at the FBI and Justice Department handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

I mean, why not immunity, eh? After all, everyone and his brother has already gotten immunity involving that case.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
President Trump should simply stop inviting sports teams to the White House. Stop this practice altogether. Problem solved.

It’s the sort of thing that has mystified me since I heard of such practices. Presidents and their staffs are supposedly overwhelmed with vital national issues that they can barely keep up with, and yet they’re expected to take time for these events. Ridiculous.

The fact that someone’s predecessors got all tingly over hob-nobbing with a bunch of overpaid players of children’s games imposes no obligation on anyone else.

quote:

Originally posted by roberth:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
President Trump should simply stop inviting sports teams to the White House. Stop this practice altogether. Problem solved.

Agreed, should have not been started in the first place.

I agree it's a silly tradition like giving a pardon to a turkey every Thanksgiving but there was a time this was a fun thing for a President to do and also fun for the sports teams. But that was back in simpler and more respectful times.

now DC's own Washington Capitals look to be on the cusp of winning the Stanley Cup. Of course the star for the Capitals is Russia's own Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin is a huge Putin fan boy. Endorsed Putin in the election and had a entire FaceBook page dedicated to his support.

It will be interesting to see how that White House visit goes. Everything I read about Ovechkin is he is a great guy. He truly appreciates the opportunity to he has to play in this country in the NHL and play on a level with the best players in the world.

He does many nice things for average people and doesn't look for the limelight because of it. He seen on the local news a interview with a lady who lost her house to a fire. She lamented losing her Alex Ovechkin jersey. He later looked her up a presented her with a autographed one.

Lots of stories about him doing these types of things.
I'm guessing Ovechkin will be classy and honored to be invited to the White House along with the rest of the team.
I'll bet if it does happen the media will have Ovechkin pegged as a Russian spy sent here to play hockey as a cover so he could meet with Trump in the White House!

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
President Trump should simply stop inviting sports teams to the White House.

He could host real American Heroes. The Military, First Responders and the Average American who steps up to the challenge because it's the right thing to do.

quote:

Originally posted by roberth:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
President Trump should simply stop inviting sports teams to the White House. Stop this practice altogether. Problem solved.

Agreed, should have not been started in the first place.

Wasn't it Nixon that began the policy?

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has requested the Senate Judiciary Committee provide him with immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying at an upcoming congressional hearing focused on how senior officials at the FBI and Justice Department handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

I mean, why not immunity, eh? After all, everyone and his brother has already gotten immunity involving that case.

Not from Congress. Only from the FBI/DOJ, AFAIK.

Unless that corrupt media darling McCabe is willing to bring down the whole Cabal and reveal the entire scope and depth of their corruption and treasonous acts, he should get no immunity.

SOB should be one of the first to wear an orange jumpsuit and leg chains. My 0.02 Regards 18DAI

If he doesn't at least get "limited" immunity, he'll just take the 5th. We'll see.

ABC is reporting the IG report says Comey defied authority as FBI director.

Developing......

Is it time for a new thread on this report about to be released?

quote:

Is it time for a new thread on this report about to be released?

I hope the admins allow that. The report is said to be over 400 pages long.

The Trump Presidency thread covers so much that it can be hard to keep a single theme consolidated over weeks and months of time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

diff topic: Paul Ryan supports Trey Gowdy assessment that the FBI did the "right thing".

https://www.politico.com/story...mp-associates-628693

Speaker Paul Ryan dealt another blow to President Donald Trump's "Spygate" theory Wednesday, saying he's seen "no evidence" to support claims that the FBI spied on Trump's 2016 campaign for political purposes.

Ryan, speaking to reporters at the Capitol, endorsed what he called an "initial assessment" by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who said last week that the FBI acted appropriately when it deployed an informant to make contact with Trump campaign associates.

“I think Chairman Gowdy’s initial assessment is accurate,” said Ryan, who was one of a handful of lawmakers, including Gowdy, briefed by the Justice Department on the FBI’s use of an informant. “I have seen no evidence to the contrary of the initial assessment Chairman Gowdy has made.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

sure sounds odd. "the FBI acted appropriately when it deployed an informant to make contact with Trump campaign associates"

They say it so casually. Like it is routine to turn the FBI loose on an opposition campaign.

so tired of the BS. Release the documents and let the people make their own conclusions.

As far as we know, the informant(s) was at least Stefan Halper. The part of it that makes it really hard to accept as "acted appropriately" is that the FBI never informed Donald Trump. Not even in January 2017.

Comey kept telling Donald Trump privately that he was not the target of an investigation, while there was a 6 month old counterintelligence investigation going full bore. And while Comey was holding the Steele dossier from a source that he felt was very credible.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has requested the Senate Judiciary Committee provide him with immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying at an upcoming congressional hearing focused on how senior officials at the FBI and Justice Department handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

I mean, why not immunity, eh? After all, everyone and his brother has already gotten immunity involving that case.

From Jonathan Turley:

quote:

In what must be a particularly awkward move for the former acting FBI Director, Andrew McCabe has demanded immunity in exchange for his testimony from the Senate Judiciary Committee. As we have discussed, McCabe has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his criminal defense and the Inspector General referred his case for possible prosecution for lying to investigators. The Senate wants to hear his testimony on how senior officials at the FBI and Justice Department handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

McCabe’s counsel Michael Bromwich wrote the Committee that “Under the terms of such a grant of use immunity, no testimony or other information provided by Mr. McCabe could be used against him in a criminal case.”

The demand for immunity comes as Washington braces for the release of the Inspector General’s report on the conduct of McCabe, James Comey, and other high-ranking officials during the Clinton investigation. I do not blame Bromwich for seeking immunity when his client could well be hit not just with a damning IG report but an actual criminal charge under 18 U.S.C. 1001. However, the Committee would be insane to grant it. This is precisely what happened with Oliver North. North was in May 1989 convicted of three charges: accepting an illegal gratuity; aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry; and destruction of documents. He was sentenced to a three-year suspended prison term and two years probation, $150,000 in fines and 1,200 hours community service. However, an appellate court on July 20, 1990, vacated his conviction due to the influence of his immunized testimony before Congress on witnesses. The special prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh, had tried to prevent his investigators and prosecutors from watching the congressional hearings but these extraordinary efforts were insufficient.

The last thing that the Republicans would want is to create a barrier to McCabe’s prosecution. The answer therefore is likely to be “no.”

Link

Seems Chuck Grassley is not amused by McCabe’s attorney’s waving around a Non-Disclosure Agreement and demanding immunity for old Andy before he will testify. Letter to FBI Director Wray about NDA: Apparently the FBI NDA does NOT absolve any statutorily required testimony. Oops. Too bad, so sad, Andy. Take your NDA and stick it...

And add a shot across the bow to Director Wray.

More winning


WASHINGTON — President Trump signed legislation Wednesday paving the way for a major overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs and expanded access for veterans to VA-funded care in the private sector.

The measure, which passed both chambers of Congress last month with overwhelming bipartisan support, delivers on a key campaign promise for Trump, who pledged to provide veterans with more non-VA health care choices.

"What a beautiful word that is — choice — and freedom to our amazing veterans," Trump said at the signing ceremony. "All during the campaign I'd go out and say, 'why can't they just go see a doctor instead of standing in line for weeks and weeks and weeks?' Now they can go see a doctor."

Working out the details of exactly how and when that will happen is now up to agency officials tasked with drawing up regulations under the law.

If confirmed, Trump’s pick to lead the VA, Robert Wilkie, would lead that effort. Criteria to be considered include wait times for VA appointments, quality of VA care and distance from a VA facility.

Known as the VA MISSION Act, the law directs the VA to combine a number of existing private-care programs, including the so-called Choice program, which was created in 2014 after veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix VA.

Two veterans from Texas who traveled to Washington to be at the signing said the Choice program has been extremely helpful for them. Laura Vela, who served in the U.S. Army, and Air Force veteran Antonio Garcia said they previously had to drive nearly four hours each way to reach the nearest VA hospital in San Antonio.

"To me, it’s the perfect program," said Garcia, who had his knee replaced last year by a health care provider about a half mile from his home in Brownsville.

"I think it’s a step forward," said Vela, who saw a private provider at VA expense for gall bladder surgery. "It is strengthening our health care, and I think it will improve the healthcare and welfare of all of our veterans."

The law also creates a commission to recommend which VA facilities are worth repairing, where new ones should be built, and which ones should be closed and care provided in the private sector instead.

The measure includes some incentives to help the VA hire more health care providers. It allows the agency to provide scholarships to medical students in exchange for their pledging to work at VA. Currently some 33,000 positions are unfilled at the agency.

In addition, the law provides pre-9/11 veterans with benefits to help cover the cost of in-home care-givers. Such benefits previously were provided only to post-9/11 veterans.

The VA also will be allowed to set up pilot programs under the law to test how to deliver better care more efficiently, including with public-private partnerships.

"We're really encouraged about that," said Tony Tersigni, president of Ascension, the largest non-profit health system in the country.

In an interview before attending the signing at the White House, he dismissed concerns that such moves might mark the first step toward privatizing the VA.

"There's certain things that the VA has truly become world specialists in that it would be crazy for us to do away with or try to replicate it somewhere else," Tersigni said. "But there are things that we do extremely well, that we ought to bring to the advantage of a veteran."


https://www.usatoday.com/story...e-choices/673906002/

Da preezy bringing the fight to these assholes.

http://www.foxnews.com/politic...-on-trade-nukes.html

“The Justice Department is set to release documents relating to the use of an alleged FBI informant during the 2016 presidential campaign.

According to reports, the information will be made available to lawmakers next week.

The DOJ has been pressured by congressional members to release the documents in recent weeks, however, they were reportedly hesitant as they feared for the alleged informant’s safety…”

http://www.oann.com/doj-to-rel...lawmakers-next-week/

"as they feared for the alleged informant’s safety…”

so if it is Stefan Halper, his name is all over the internet and multiple major news media.

To hold the name back for Halper is a joke.

If the name isn't Halper, that could be even more interesting because we might find there were multiple "informants" = "spies"

And if he’s merely an “alleged informant”, rather than an actual informant (aka spy), why would there be any concern for his safety?

https://saraacarter.com/doj-re...ia-docs-to-congress/

The Department of Justice reneged on a commitment to provide access to documents they promised to congressional lawmakers by Thursday morning. Instead, DOJ issued a press release after midnight suggesting they will only meet with a group of select lawmakers to discuss the matter on the same day the North Korea summit opens in Singapore, according to numerous sources and a DOJ statement.

These sources claim that briefing Gang of Eight lawmakers restricts the dissemination and discussion of the documents that will be taken for review. Although the DOJ contends that the documents are highly sensitive material, in reality, these documents are not considered to contain high-level national security information.

So while it seems that DOJ is complying, congressional sources say it means that the documents provided may be highly redacted.

........

We have entered Twilight Zone