I remember when Comey got fired, a bunch of us here were wondering why he got to take a government plane back to DC. If this story is true, Trump wasn't happy about that either



https://www.nbcnews.com/politi...litics-comey-n842161

The Federalist article by Mollie Hemingway linked above (I was going to post it also) is a stunner--or whatever clickbait superlative you want to use. It makes it look like McCabe set up Priebus and Trump to look like they were obstructing with the "Russia investigation", and he was talking out of both sides of his mouth. If this story is true, McCabe should be fired and if at all possible prosecuted.

I still find it difficult to wrap my head around the treachery of the top honchos in the FBI being part of a conscious "resistance" against legally elected authority.

Where the hell would we be if Donald Trump had not been elected president?

Will the voters who sit on the fence and don't pay attention to all these things ever wake up?

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
The Federalist article by Mollie Hemingway linked above (I was going to post it also) is a stunner--or whatever clickbait superlative you want to use. It makes it look like McCabe set up Priebus and Trump to look like they were obstructing with the "Russia investigation", and he was talking out of both sides of his mouth. If this story is true, McCabe should be fired and if at all possible prosecuted.

I still find it difficult to wrap my head around the treachery of the top honchos in the FBI being part of a conscious "resistance" against legally elected authority.

Where the hell would we be if Donald Trump had not been elected president?

Will the voters who sit on the fence and don't pay attention to all these things ever wake up?

Exactly. They plant a false story, get the reaction and leak a mischaracterization of your chagrin.

You can’t trust these God Damned Commies, I tell ya!

Schiff says the memo will be released.

The minority memo will not be.... yet.

Schiff is a weasel.

Schiff is a punk partisan hack.

How does it feel to be in the minority ....MAGA

Schiff-er-brains insists the majority memo is a "spin" memo, and that the minority memo was issued to state the "facts".

Uh huh...

That pencil neck prick Schiff is a pathological douche. Seriously, I despise him more than I do Schumer.

The House Intelligence Committee on Monday evening voted to make public a GOP-crafted memo alleging what some Republicans say are “shocking” surveillance abuses at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The move ends weeks of speculation over whether the memo, which was drafted by staff for chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), would be made public. But it intensifies the dispute over what Democrats say is an all-out assault by Republicans to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The document will not be immediately released. Under the arcane House rule Republicans used to override the classification of the four-page memo, President Trump now has five days to review and reject its publication.

But the White House has signaled support for the document’s release and is widely expected to defy the DOJ in allowing the publication to go forward. The DOJ has opposed the release of the document, reportedly infuriating President Trump.

Some Republicans who have read the memo have hinted heavily that it contains information that could unravel the entire Mueller investigation, long described by the president as a “witch hunt.”

The precise contents of the memo remain unknown. However, it’s believed to contain allegations that the FBI did not adequately explain to a clandestine court that some of the information it used in a surveillance warrant application for Trump adviser Carter Page came from opposition research funded by the Clinton campaign, now known as the “Steele dossier.”

The document spotlights Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s role in approving the warrant application, according to the New York Times. Rosenstein appointed Mueller and has become a recent target on the right — as well as reportedly garnering the frustration of the president.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications require multiple levels of authentication and require investigators to show probable cause that an individual is acting as an agent of a foreign power. To date, there has been no public evidence that DOJ officials abused the FISA process.

While Nunes has described the memo as “facts,” Democrats have slammed it as a collection of misleading talking points they are unable to correct without exposing the highly classified information underpinning the document.

It’s unclear how much input the DOJ will have prior to the publication of the memo. Typically, when sensitive documents are declassified, the agencies with equities in the intelligence weigh in to assess whether its release would damage national security.

Releasing the memo without allowing them to review it on those grounds, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote to Nunes, would be “extraordinarily reckless.”

But the committee initially stonewalled the DOJ from viewing the document because, as one committee member put it last week, “They’re the ones that have the problem.”

On Monday morning, deputy press secretary Raj Shah hinted on CNN that the DOJ would also not have an opportunity to review the document during the White House pre-release review.

“The Department of Justice doesn’t have a role in this process," he told CNN.

FBI Director Christopher Wray was reportedly allowed to view the document in the committee’s secure spaces over the weekend. A committee spokesperson declined to comment on Monday, as did the FBI.

Another unanswered question revolves around the highly-classified intelligence that underpins the memo, which came from documents provided to the committee by the DOJ as part of an agreement brokered by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). The DOJ has said that the release of the memo would be an abrogation of the terms of that agreement, an assertion that spokesmen for both Ryan and Nunes reject.

Lawmakers say the underlying intelligence justifying the memo’s allegations is so sensitive that only eight members of Congress are able to view it. Nunes and ranking member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) are two of the eight figures, but the other members of the Intelligence Committee are not. The top two lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee are also part of the so-called Gang of Eight, but while they have access to the underlying intelligence, Nunes has denied committee requests to see the memo.

“Seeking Committee approval of public release would require [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] committee members to vote on a staff-drafted memorandum that purports to be based on classified source materials that neither you nor most of them have seen,” Boyd told Nunes.

Nunes has brushed aside the notion that the memo wouldn’t be persuasive without the underlying intelligence to substantiate its claims, calling the argument Democratic obstruction of his investigation into DOJ misconduct.

But a working group, including Nunes, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), met last weekend to discuss the possibility of making some of the underlying information public. Nunes has “a plan,” committee member Mike Conaway (R-Texas) said last week, but provided no further details.

Other Republicans suggested Monday that plan may be dead in the water. Asked if there was a plan to release any of the underlying intelligence, Gowdy replied, "Not that I know of."

The memo is a committee work product and the responsibility for releasing it, or not releasing it, rests with Congress.

The underlying intelligence, however, belongs to the executive branch, and Trump could unilaterally make it public if he wished.

Link

Besides Priebus, there are other reports that McCabe & team set up Flynn.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politi...-house-trump-n840491

A brief phone call from the office of Andrew McCabe, the deputy FBI director, to a scheduler for Flynn on Jan. 24 set the interview in motion, according to people familiar with the matter. The scheduler was told the FBI wanted to speak with Flynn later that day, these people said, and the meeting was placed on Flynn’s schedule. The scheduler didn't ask the reason for the meeting, and the FBI didn't volunteer it, one person familiar with the matter said.

Later that day, two FBI agents arrived at the White House to speak with Flynn.

one was Strzok

A lawyer for the National Security Council typically would be informed of such a meeting and be present for it, one person familiar with the procedures said. But that didn't happen in this instance, and Flynn didn't include his own personal lawyer, two people said. He met with the two federal agents alone, according to these people.

" Apparently it was not clear to Flynn that this was about his personal conduct ," another White House official said. "So he didn't think of bringing his own lawyer."

White House counsel Don McGahn was the first senior official to learn of Flynn's interview during a meeting on Jan. 26 with Yates in which she warned him that Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence and other top Trump officials about his conversation with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and could be vulnerable to blackmail by the Russian government.

McCabe - Strzok - Yates, just like in baseball

quote:

Later that day, two FBI agents arrived at the White House to speak with Flynn.
one was Strzok

Wait! Waht!?!?

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Besides Priebus, there are other reports that McCabe & team set up Flynn.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politi...-house-trump-n840491

A brief phone call from the office of Andrew McCabe, the deputy FBI director, to a scheduler for Flynn on Jan. 24 set the interview in motion, according to people familiar with the matter. The scheduler was told the FBI wanted to speak with Flynn later that day, these people said, and the meeting was placed on Flynn’s schedule. The scheduler didn't ask the reason for the meeting, and the FBI didn't volunteer it, one person familiar with the matter said.

Later that day, two FBI agents arrived at the White House to speak with Flynn.

one was Strzok

A lawyer for the National Security Council typically would be informed of such a meeting and be present for it, one person familiar with the procedures said. But that didn't happen in this instance, and Flynn didn't include his own personal lawyer, two people said. He met with the two federal agents alone, according to these people.

" Apparently it was not clear to Flynn that this was about his personal conduct ," another White House official said. "So he didn't think of bringing his own lawyer."

White House counsel Don McGahn was the first senior official to learn of Flynn's interview during a meeting on Jan. 26 with Yates in which she warned him that Flynn had lied to Vice President Mike Pence and other top Trump officials about his conversation with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, and could be vulnerable to blackmail by the Russian government.

McCabe - Strzok - Yates, just like in baseball

If it turns out this was inside hardball, Flinn has not been sentenced. He might be able to withdraw his plea, and have no record.

quote:

If it turns out this was inside hardball, Flinn has not been sentenced. He might be able to withdraw his plea, and have no record.

Wow!

I think I have read that Flynn has spend a good percentage of his net worth defending himself thus far.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmanic:

quote:

If it turns out this was inside hardball, Flinn has not been sentenced. He might be able to withdraw his plea, and have no record.

Wow!

I think I have read that Flynn has spend a good percentage of his net worth defending himself thus far.

He should sue McCabe and Comey personally.

events of January 2017

6 January
Comey tells Donald Trump of the dossier.

10 January
CNN publishes its report on the briefing Trump and Obama received on the dossier, adding that U.S. national security officials had been examining Steele’s work and had found some of his sources credible enough to include in the presentation

later in the day, Buzzfeed releases the entire dossier

20 January
Inauguration

24 January
Strzok interviews Flynn

26 January
Yates tells Trump lawyer that Flynn lied

could make a fella suspicious

*********
adding the 10 Jan 2017 CNN story was reported by Evan Perez and Jake Tapper

Evan Perez
- previously worked for WSJ. Did stories with Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS
- Facebook pages show pics of Perez on vacation w Fusion GPS cofounder Peter Fritsch

small world

even Inspector Clouseau might figure this one out

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

...Schiff is a weasel.

That is demeaning to Weasels everywhere, what did they ever do to you?



He is a....

Is there a name for the hairy, slimy, gelatinous, glob you remove from the P trap of a clogged sink? If not, can we call it a “Schiff” from now on?

My gym has 1 TV set to Fox and 1 set to MSNBC. MSNBC's headline at the bottom of the screen was:

"Senior FBI Official Pressured to resign by Trump Appointee."

I had to laugh at that one. Perhaps technically true. but that's a pretty low standard for journalism (not that MSNBC has practiced anything resembling journalism in years).

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0...0215&pgtype=Homepage

In a recent conversation, Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, raised concerns about a forthcoming inspector general report. In that discussion, according to one former law enforcement official close to Mr. McCabe, Mr. Wray suggested moving Mr. McCabe into another job, which would have been a demotion.

Instead, the former official said, Mr. McCabe chose to leave. In an email to F.B.I. employees, he said he was leaving with “sadness.” He praised his colleagues as “the greatest work force on earth because you speak up, you tell the truth and you do the right thing.”

Agents and lawyers expect the report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, to be highly critical of some F.B.I. actions in 2016, when the bureau was investigating both Hillary Clinton’s email use and the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. The report is expected to address whether Mr. McCabe should have recused himself from the Clinton investigation because of his wife’s failed State Senate campaign, in which she accepted nearly a half-million dollars in contributions from the political organization of Terry McAuliffe, then the governor of Virginia, who is a longtime friend of Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Wray named the bureau’s No. 3 official, David L. Bowdich, as his acting deputy, according to the director’s note to the F.B.I.

*********************

reports are out that McCabe cleared his wife's contributions from Terry McAuliffe w the FBI ethics division. The logic was it was okay because the political contributions were before McCabe's involvement w the Clinton investigation

Think about that. (I like time lines)

7 Mar 2015
McAuliffe and other DEMs meet McCabe and his wife Jill. They discuss Jill running for office in Virginia

During the campaign, McAuliffe gives Jill almost $500k campaign cash

DEM Party gives Jill another $200k

3 Nov 2015
General election. Jill McCabe defeated

1 Feb 2016
Andrew McCabe made Dep Dir FBI
Clinton email investigation starting up

28 Oct 2016
FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki say McCabe should not have participated in the email investigation

“Rybicki just called to check in,” Page wrote. “He very clearly 100% believes that Andy should be recused because of the ‘perception.’”

McCabe recused himself from the investigation about 1 Nov 2016

so, 3 months after his wife's campaign on $700k of DEM $, FBI ethics people think it is ok for McCabe to be part of the Clinton investigation

So how long now before we the public actually see the memo? Is it five days for the President to decide or something? Come on, let's get to it!

quote:

so, 3 months after his wife's campaign on $700k of DEM $, FBI ethics people think it is ok for McCabe to be part of the Clinton investigation

The FBI has forgotten the "I" stands for investigation when it comes to checking out their own guys. Really Keystone cops when emails disclose agents are biased but their supervisors didn't know until then.