good article

http://www.tabletmag.com/scrol...ers-beltway-cover-up

In 2013, the same year that Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, Amazon Web Services landed a $600 million deal with the US intelligence community.

AWS created a “cloud storage service designed to handle classified information for U.S. spy agencies,” including the CIA. The cloud technology was to “usher in a new era of cooperation and coordination, allowing agencies to share information and services much more easily.”

And now some intelligence and data experts believe that the CIA cloud is how the Obama administration could have minimized its trail after unmasking US persons.

“The NSA database, with its large and ongoing collection of electronic communications, can be accessed through the NSA’s cloud,” says one former senior intelligence official. The NSA can audit it and find out if analysts are violating rules.

The NSA does not audit the CIA’s cloud, which is audited by the CIA’s IT people and Amazon Web Services employees who are given security clearances.

Says the former official: “There are people in the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the National Security Council staff who can move information from the NSA cloud into the CIA cloud. That seems the likeliest scenario to explain how Obama officials first unmasked US persons and then shared information without leaving a trail that could be audited independently, or immediately, at every step.

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Can you really feel comfortable that a liberal like Bezos has Amazon Web Services storing intelligence community classified information ?

The same Bezos who owns the WaPo?

Devin Nunes has said the next phase of his House Intel Comm is to address unmasking of Americans' names in intel reports and FISA abuse.

Clapper;Don't hear a lot about him. I think he has a lot of information about the corruption in D.C.

Trey Gowdy; just another swamp creature...

https://www.politico.com/story...mueller-probe-469910

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) urged President Donald Trump and his lawyer on Sunday to stop flailing at special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and to let the probe continue unimpeded.

"When you are innocent … act like it," Gowdy said on “Fox News Sunday" when asked about Trump's repeated Twitter attacks on Mueller, whose probe has become increasingly perilous to the president and his inner circle. "If you’ve done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible."

Gowdy's comments came a day after Trump's attorney John Dowd called for Mueller's investigation to be shut down. Gowdy issued the same exhortation to Dowd: "If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”

Trump himself spent the weekend lobbing repeated Twitter attacks at Mueller's investigation over the weekend, including on Sunday, when he labeled Mueller's team of prosecutors "hardened Democrats."

"The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime," Trump tweeted Saturday evening, naming Mueller in a tweet for the first time.
President Donald Trump is pictured. | AP Photo

White House
For first time, Trump aims at Mueller

It's unclear why Trump, who until this weekend largely spared Mueller's probe from attacks, reversed course. But the decision follows the news that Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for records, a line Trump has previously suggested could be too far.

Gowdy's comments were notable coming from a senior GOP lawmaker who has been deeply involved in the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The committee's Republicans concluded last week that they found no evidence Trump or his allies aided the Russian effort, but Gowdy emphasized that their finding was limited because they were unable to interview central witnesses tied up in the Mueller probe. Those witnesses — former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and others — have either pleaded guilty or face indictment. Another House witness, former White House aide Steve Bannon, declined to answer many of the committee's questions, Gowdy noted.

"You don’t know what you don’t know," he said, adding, "Within the universe of folks that we’ve interviewed, there is no collusion" between Trump associates and Russia.
Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announces a new effort to protect dreamers as DACA is being challenged in nine states on July 20, 2017. John Shinkle/POLITICO


Gowdy also said he's going to "withhold judgment" on whether the Justice Department's decision to fire former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe two days before his scheduled retirement was the appropriate punishment for allegations that McCabe lied to investigators.

Though McCabe has blamed Trump and his allies for tarring his reputation and orchestrating his ouster, Gowdy argued that "McCabe has tarnished his credibility all by himself." Gowdy noted that it was independent investigators and a Justice Department review board that determined McCabe deserved to be fired for "lack of candor."

But he said he wants to see the full report of McCabe's conduct before passing judgment on the punishment.

"The FBI is who recommended that he be fired," Gowdy said. “It wasn’t crazy House Republicans, and it wasn’t the Trump administration. It was his own fellow agents."

I used to like him but his support of the Meuller witch hunt tells me he's a never Trumper. He just doesn't have the guts to say it.

Tony.

quote:

I used to like him but his support of the Meuller witch hunt tells me he's a never Trumper. He just doesn't have the guts to say it.

Or he's 100% correct, and has the same opinion of some of us here on the forum.

Goose, Gander.

Trump hasn't stopped the investigation. All the talking is just that. And since it's OK to do all of this investigating, it's going to be OK once the shoe is on the other foot. Right?

It's not that we support it. It's that we support investigating the Democrats. If the Trump investigation is ended those on the left will not only cry foul (they were so close to getting him), but they'll declare that the investigations of their fellow democrats are for revenge only and demand they are ended.

Pay attention to the Trump show. He's generally several steps ahead of where many believe he is.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

I used to like him but his support of the Meuller witch hunt tells me he's a never Trumper. He just doesn't have the guts to say it.

Or he's 100% correct, and has the same opinion of some of us here on the forum.

Goose, Gander.

Trump hasn't stopped the investigation. All the talking is just that. And since it's OK to do all of this investigating, it's going to be OK once the shoe is on the other foot. Right?

It's not that we support it. It's that we support investigating the Democrats. If the Trump investigation is ended those on the left will not only cry foul (they were so close to getting him), but they'll declare that the investigations of their fellow democrats are for revenge only and demand they are ended.

Pay attention to the Trump show. He's generally several steps ahead of where many believe he is.

The dems will cry foul no matter what so why try to appease them. The investigation is a sham. If he were fair, I could at least see him saying that Meuller needs to purge half of his team and put some conservatives or some non-partisan hacks to at least give the impression that he's not un-biased.

My gut tells me that by him saying Meuller ought to go on as he has been, he really wants Trump out. I see a lot of tough talk, but not much else.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
Trey Gowdy; just another swamp creature...
>>>>



I used to like him but his support of the Meuller witch hunt tells me he's a never Trumper. He just doesn't have the guts to say it.

Tony.

He’s just a big chicken!

I have not noticed any hestitation to say what he thinks heretofore, in the appropriate venues.

There are hours of Gowdy on Youtube taking witnesses apart, more than holding his own in Committee discussions, confident, knowledgeable, secure in his skin. He seems relatively immune to the hypocrisy and sanctimony which afflicts so many in DC.

Where has his judgment in these matters misled him?

Many here are dining on their hats, and crow, this weekend, having embarrassed themselves with bitter criticisms and denunciations of AG Sessions, despite him being the first “Always Trumper.” Just sayin’.

The news that FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was fired hours before qualifying for retirement with full benefits somehow grew over the weekend into a false impression that the career FBI agent was stripped of his pension altogether.

Members of the media remarked that McCabe could “qualify for pension benefits” if he worked a little over a day in any other federal position. Several congressmen tweeted offers, saying they would be happy to hire McCabe for a day or so just so he could retire with benefits.


However, McCabe has not been stripped of his pension at all. In fact, that is impossible to do to a federal employee after five years of employment.

The 21-year career FBI official lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in early retirement benefits, including the privilege to retire at 50 rather than between 57 and age 62, a luxury virtually unheard of in the private sector. His yearly payments would reach around $60,000 if he qualified for the early retirement program.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired the FBI’s second in command after the DOJ’s inspector general found that McCabe had leaked sensitive information about an ongoing FBI investigation to the press and then lied about it to investigators. McCabe has been roundly criticized by President Trump for his involvement in both the Clinton email server investigation as well as the Russia investigation.

Critics of Sessions’s decision to fire McCabe just before he was to retire on Sunday called it “cruel” and “dangerous” and said it allowed too much freedom to an “erratic president.”

Link

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Was this more “fake news.”

Gowdy is just trying to appear impartial. This is wrestling now under trump. Its all an act.

quote:

If the Trump investigation is ended those on the left will not only cry foul (they were so close to getting him), but they'll declare that the investigations of their fellow democrats are for revenge only and demand they are ended.

They will, but they would whine on (misfounded) principle, anyway.

The question is "how long is too long". I agree that putting a timeline on an investigation confers a taint on the findings, but the Democrats think they can "pitch 'til they win".

quote:

Many here are dining on their hats, and crow, this weekend, having embarrassed themselves with bitter criticisms and denunciations of AG Sessions, despite him being the first “Always Trumper.” Just sayin’.

My hat was a nice little snack I was happy to eat, and all the "embarrassment" and such is only in your mind, JALLEN. Sessions has been such a disappointment that Trump called him out as Mr. Magoo, which might have helped Sessions find the balls to fire McCabe.

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:

quote:

Many here are dining on their hats, and crow, this weekend, having embarrassed themselves with bitter criticisms and denunciations of AG Sessions, despite him being the first “Always Trumper.” Just sayin’.

My hat was a nice little snack I was happy to eat, and all the "embarrassment" and such is only in your mind, JALLEN. Sessions has been such a disappointment that Trump called him out as Mr. Magoo, which might have helped Sessions find the balls to fire McCabe.

I’m embarrassed for you, all right, and you should be as well.

Several here have not exhibited the slightest appreciation for what is supposed to be the best way these things are handled, the “rule of law” that everyone seems to want, unless it interferes with harrassing one’s enemies. Perhaps it is part ignorance, perhaps partly because it has been so long since DOJ appeared to abide by it. Another factor is likely that we have to go on press reports, fake news in too many case in whole or in part.

After the highjinks of his last two predecessors, we should be grateful and admiring that Sessions seems detemined to raise the bar.

so what that turncoat Gowdy is saying is that its alright to obstruct the operations of the President, its OK to keep everyone off-balance and its OK to go on a witch hunt when after 14 months not a single piece of actionable evidence has been uncovered

and its OK for all of this to go on because everyone involved in the investigation is a hard-core democratic stooge

but thats OK, because its all abut getting rid of Donald Trump

quote:

I’m embarrassed for you, all right, and you should be as well.

Sorry to disappoint you. I don't think I'm perfect, so making a mistake doesn't surprise or embarrass me. Especially one concerning Sessions.

quote:

Originally posted by justjoe:

quote:

I’m embarrassed for you, all right, and you should be as well.

Sorry to disappoint you. I don't think I'm perfect, so making a mistake doesn't surprise or embarrass me. Especially one concerning Sessions.

My primary flight instructor often averred that “the beauty of experience is that it enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”

"After the highjinks of his last two predecessors, we should be grateful and admiring that Sessions seems detemined to raise the bar."

yes indeed, or even celebrate that there IS a bar at all that is useful to calibrate performance rather than bewail interference with our 'clearly justifiable' political intentions

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
so what that turncoat Gowdy is saying is that its alright to obstruct the operations of the President, its OK to keep everyone off-balance and its OK to go on a witch hunt when after 14 months not a single piece of actionable evidence has been uncovered

and its OK for all of this to go on because everyone involved in the investigation is a hard-core democratic stooge

but thats OK, because its all abut getting rid of Donald Trump

No he's saying. I am unbiased and the law work. And when its over and you need a prosecutor to crush these fools Im the guy who said it wasnt a with hunt from the start. Just like sessions staying out of it. Trust the process

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
After the highjinks of his last two predecessors, we should be grateful and admiring that Sessions seems detemined to raise the bar.

I'm eternally grateful that adults seem to be running the show for a change. If we can't win now we never will.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — President Trump has decided to hire the longtime Washington lawyer Joseph E. diGenova, who has pushed the theory on television that Mr. Trump was framed by F.B.I. and Justice Department officials, to bolster his legal team, according to three people told of the decision.

Mr. diGenova is not expected to take a lead role but will instead serve as a more aggressive player on the president’s legal team. Mr. Trump broke over the weekend from the longstanding advice of some of his lawyers that he refrain from directly attacking the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, a sign of his growing unease with the investigation.

The hire has not been announced, and Mr. Trump frequently changes his mind and sometimes adjusts his plans based on media coverage. It was not clear whether Mr. Trump planned to hire other lawyers.

Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said on Fox News in January. He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.”

Little evidence has emerged to support that theory.

Mr. Trump’s legal team has been in tumult in recent weeks. On Saturday, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, called on the Justice Department to end the special counsel investigation. Mr. Dowd said at the time that he was speaking for the president but later backtracked. According to two people briefed on the matter, he was in fact acting at the president’s urging to call for an end to the inquiry.

Earlier this month, Mr. Trump did not tell his lawyers that he was in discussions with another Washington lawyer, Emmet T. Flood, about representing him. Mr. Flood represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings.

Mr. diGenova did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mr. diGenova is law partners with his wife, Victoria Toensing. Ms. Toensing has also represented Sam Clovis, the former Trump campaign co-chairman, and Erik Prince, the founder of the security contractor Blackwater and an informal adviser to Mr. Trump. Mr. Prince attended a meeting in January 2017 with a Russian investor in the Seychelles that the special counsel is investigating.


Mr. diGenova has worked in Washington legal circles for decades. He is a former Republican-appointed United States attorney for the District of Columbia. And he has served as an independent counsel in government waste, fraud and abuse investigations, notably a three-year criminal inquiry into whether officials in the George H.W. Bush administration broke any laws in their search for damaging information about then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton.

In 1995, Mr. diGenova declared the investigation he led was “unnecessary.” And, he said, “a Kafkaesque journey for a group of innocent Americans comes to an end.”

Link

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:


Mr. diGenova has endorsed the notion that a secretive group of F.B.I. agents concocted the Russia investigation as a way to keep Mr. Trump from becoming president. “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime,” he said on Fox News in January. He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of F.B.I. and D.O.J. people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.”

Little evidence has emerged to support that theory.

Little evidence?

Oh, it's the NYT. Neeeeeeevr mind.

Gotta love it! Brennan is in James Wood's crosshairs after his stupid ass anti-Trump tweet following McCabe's dismissal.



You couldn’t get a toothpick up this guy’s ass with a pound of Vaseline right now. You’re next, swamp rat. https://t.co/224Bl6N4Vd

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) March 17, 2018