The Trump Presidency : Year II

February 05, 2018, 04:14 PM

sdy

This is a report from USA Today. They frequently aren't on our side, but this one is.

https://www.usatoday.com/story...se-power/1088772001/

Nunes memo exposes abuse of power

The memo shows Obama administration officials used unverified claims paid for by the Clinton campaign to justify an investigation of Trump staff.

The memo’s central indictment is that top Obama administration officials knowingly and willfully used unverified information paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign, some of which came from Russian intelligence, in a secret court document to justify a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. This corrupt process was later the basis for a campaign to sabotage the incoming Trump administration and to fuel a witch hunt against the president.

According to the memo, high-ranking FBI officials repeatedly sought, received and renewed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants to engage in surveillance of members of the Trump campaign during the election. These officials, including then-Director James Comey and recently removed Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, justified the warrant requests before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in part with information generated by Christopher Steele, who was working on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the firm Fusion GPS. Steele’s main contact at the Justice Department was Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, whose wife was also employed by Fusion GPS as a Russia expert working on anti-Trump opposition research.
...

There is a basic bargain that most Americans believe is fundamental to how intelligence operates: You can have this extraordinary power, but only to use against the bad guys. And we trust you to stick to that bargain, especially with the vast array of investigative tools available and the potential for the destruction of anything approaching the fact of privacy, let alone the right to it.

Washington officials and politicians do not have the final say on what we can see. They all work for us, and we have a right to know everything they have done purportedly in our name. Ultimately, the answer to “who shall guard the guardians” must be the people themselves.

February 05, 2018, 04:18 PM

bigdeal

quote:
Originally posted by sdy:
This is a report from USA Today. They frequently aren't on our side, but this one is.

https://www.usatoday.com/story...se-power/1088772001/

Nunes memo exposes abuse of power

The memo shows Obama administration officials used unverified claims paid for by the Clinton campaign to justify an investigation of Trump staff.

The memo’s central indictment is that top Obama administration officials knowingly and willfully used unverified information paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign, some of which came from Russian intelligence, in a secret court document to justify a counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. This corrupt process was later the basis for a campaign to sabotage the incoming Trump administration and to fuel a witch hunt against the president.

According to the memo, high-ranking FBI officials repeatedly sought, received and renewed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants to engage in surveillance of members of the Trump campaign during the election. These officials, including then-Director James Comey and recently removed Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, justified the warrant requests before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in part with information generated by Christopher Steele, who was working on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the firm Fusion GPS. Steele’s main contact at the Justice Department was Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, whose wife was also employed by Fusion GPS as a Russia expert working on anti-Trump opposition research.
...

There is a basic bargain that most Americans believe is fundamental to how intelligence operates: You can have this extraordinary power, but only to use against the bad guys. And we trust you to stick to that bargain, especially with the vast array of investigative tools available and the potential for the destruction of anything approaching the fact of privacy, let alone the right to it.

Washington officials and politicians do not have the final say on what we can see. They all work for us, and we have a right to know everything they have done purportedly in our name. Ultimately, the answer to “who shall guard the guardians” must be the people themselves.

Could this be a crack (albeit small) in the wall of the media? How long can they keep ignoring and filibustering this issue?

February 05, 2018, 04:26 PM

sdy

That was my first thought

February 05, 2018, 04:34 PM

wcb6092

Trump Attorneys Approve Second Special Counsel To Probe FBI and DOJ

https://www.zerohedge.com/news...el-probe-fbi-and-doj

The war between the White House and the FBI/DOJ complex may be turning nuclear.

While speaking to reported aboard Air Force 1, Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said that President Trump's attorneys have already approved the idea of appointing a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and Justice Department's actions during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to White House pool reports.

As Axios adds, Shah also said that the White House will approach further memos, including the one created by Democrats, in the same way they handled the memo authored by Devin Nunes:

"Which is to allow for a legal review, national security review led by the White House Counsel’s Office, and then within five days the president will make a decision about declassifying it," said Shah.

If this has already been covered I apologize:

February 05, 2018, 05:03 PM

Pipe Smoker

The dirty deed wasn’t done on Wray’s watch, yet he apparently supported the FBI’s effort to block the public release of the Nunes memo. That puzzles and bothers me.

February 05, 2018, 05:17 PM

JALLEN

quote:
Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
The dirty deed wasn’t done on Wray’s watch, yet he apparently supported the FBI’s effort to block the public release of the Nunes memo. That puzzles and bothers me.

Bureaucrats creed: “If they don’t know what we’re doing, they don’t know what we’re doing wrong.”

When something goes wrong, i.e., publicized, which is always wrong, where will blame lie?

There is always incompetence. It’s kind of the inverse of someone’s saw. “Never blame on incompetence that which is otherwise adequately explained by intentional malfeasance desparately sought to be kept secret.”

And, if you make this one public, it sets a precedence to make the next one public.

Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.

When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown

February 05, 2018, 06:12 PM

sdy

The House Intelligence Committee has unanimously voted to make the Democratic response to the FBI surveillance memo public. It is now on its way to President Trump, who has five days to decide whether or not he will block its release.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/...cratic-memo-n2444535

February 05, 2018, 06:15 PM

a1abdj

quote:
The House Intelligence Committee has unanimously voted to make the Democratic response to the FBI surveillance memo public.

Weird. I thought the Republicans were trying to stonewall all of this. I guess one man's "stonewalling" is another's "giving them enough rope".

February 05, 2018, 06:27 PM

Shifferbrains

Since the Republicans know that much more is going on to come out, why not let this one out? Full transparency and argue the points until the next one hits.

I can’t see the President not releasing this one also. Shows that he is open to all sides and has nothing to hide.

February 05, 2018, 06:39 PM

stoic-one

Adam Schiff-er-brains has been all over the TV talking about the D memo. He keeps claiming how inaccurate the R memo was and stating that their memo should be released "UN-redacted". Well hell, the D's took 3-4 days to write a rebuttal memo that, by all accounts, the R's spent 3-4 weeks to draft. They took that long specifically to avoid the necessity for redaction's. Don't put something in it that needs to be redacted and that will end that conversation, you douche-nozzle.

Unlike the R memo, the D memo made it out of committee with a unanimous vote, things that make you go hmmm...

I must say, Schiff looks to be a world class liar, right up there with WJC.

Edit:
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they booby-trap it with classified information that needs to be redacted, just so they can claim there isn't an equal playing field. Then the R's would be stuck explaining when they quit beating theirs wives...

February 05, 2018, 06:56 PM

Sigmund

quote:
Originally posted by stoic-one:

...I must say, Schiff looks to be a world class liar, right up there with WJC.

And he gets so much air time! Even Fox lets him LIE live on and on. It could be worse, we could be watching Nancy Pelosi or Chuck You Schumer.

Maybe a reporter will ask Schiff why all the Republican voted to release his memo while ZERO Dems voted to release the GOP memo.

February 05, 2018, 06:58 PM

JALLEN

quote:
Originally posted by stoic-one:
Adam Schiff-er-brains has been all over the TV talking about the D memo. He keeps claiming how inaccurate the R memo was and stating that their memo should be released "UN-redacted". Well hell, the D's took 3-4 days to write a rebuttal memo that, by all accounts, the R's spent 3-4 weeks to draft. They took that long specifically to avoid the necessity for redaction's. Don't put something in it that needs to be redacted and that will end that conversation, you douche-nozzle.

Unlike the R memo, the D memo made it out of committee with a unanimous vote, things that make you go hmmm...

I must say, Schiff looks to be a world class liar, right up there with WJC.

So far he has an unsullied record of being wrong about everything he claims.

Bret Hume says he keeps a straight face better than any politician he can remember.

He is a junior Schumer, isn’t he?