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House Intelligence Committee Releases Full Memo Alleging Serious Breaches By FBI In Russian Investigation

HouseofRepSealI will be discussing the memo today in a column in the Hill as well as in the segment with Tucker Carlson.   I fail to see the “grave” classified information that would put the national security at risk.  Indeed, my column addresses the disconnect between the objections made by the FBI and Democratic members and the actual memo. The use of classification laws to prevent disclosure of embarrassing information is itself an abuse of federal law and standards.

The Republicans may have undermined their case by building up this memo as a smoking gun document. Portrayals seems to make this memo the virtual combination of the Pentagon Papers and the Zimmerman telegram. After all of the build up, anything short of a depiction of Hillary Clinton forcing a judge to sign a secret warrant at gunpoint would disappoint most readers. However, there is plenty in this memo that should deeply concern people.

Civil libertarians have complained for years about the tactical use of classification authority by the federal agencies.  This seems a rare and important example of that problem. As to the specific factual representations, they raise clearly troubling questions that need to be addressed on the failure to disclosure information to the FISA court and the alleged heavy reliance on this dossier.

Below is the full memo:

 

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
February 2, 2018

The Honorable Devin Nunes
Chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
United States Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Chairman:

On January 29, 2018, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (hereinafter “the Committee”) voted to disclose publicly a memorandum containing classified information provided to the Committee in connection with its oversight activities (the “Memorandum,” which is attached to this letter). As provided by clause 11(g) of Rule of the House of Representatives, the Committee has forwarded this Memorandum to the President based on its determination that the release of the Memorandum would serve the public interest.

The Constitution vests the President with the authority to protect national security secrets from it disclosure. As the Supreme Court has recognized, it is the President’s responsibility to classify, declassify, and control access to information bearing on our intelligence sources and methods and national defense. See, Dep of Navy v. Egan, 484 US. 518, 527 (1988). In order to facilitate appropriate congressional oversight, the Executive Branch may entrust classified information to the appropriate committees of Congress, as it has done in connection with the Committee’s oversight activities here. The Executive Branch does so on the assumption that the Committee will responsibly protect such classified information, consistent with the laws of the United States.

The Committee has now determined that the release of the Memorandum would be appropriate. The Executive Branch, across Administrations of both parties, has worked to accommodate congressional requests to declassify specific materials in the public interest. However, public release of classified information by unilateral action of the Legislative Branch is extremely rare and raises significant separation of powers concerns. Accordingly, the Committee’s request to release the Memorandum is interpreted as a request for declassification pursuant to the President’s authority.

The President understands that the protection of our national security represents his highest obligation. Accordingly, he has directed lawyers and national security staff to assess the declassification request, consistent with established standards governing the handling of classified information, including those under Section 3.1(d) of Executive Order 13526. Those standards permit declassification when the public interest in disclosure outweighs any need to protect the information. The White House review process also included input from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice. Consistent with this review and these standards, the President has determined that declassification of the Memorandum is appropriate.

Based on this assessment and in light of the significant public interest in the memorandum, the President has authorized the declassification of the Memorandum. To be clear, the Memorandum reflects the judgments of its congressional authors. The President understands that oversight concerning matters related to the Memorandum may be continuing. Though the circumstances leading to the declassification through this process are extraordinary, the Executive Branch stands ready to work with Congress to accommodate oversight requests consistent with applicable standards and processes, including the need to protect intelligence sources and methods.

Sincerely,
Donald F. McGahn II
Counsel to the President

cc: The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House of Representatives

The Honorable Adam Schiff
Ranking Member, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Declassified by order of the President
February 2, 2018

January 18, 2018

To: HPSCI Majority Members
From: HPSCI Majority Staff
Subject: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Abuses at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Purpose

This memorandum provides Members an update on significant facts relating to the Committee’s ongoing investigation into the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and their use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) during the 2016 presidential election cycle. Our findings, which are detailed below, 1) raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), and 2) represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process.

Investigation Update

On October 21, 2016, DOJ and FBI sought and received a FISA probable cause order (notunder Title VII) authorizing electronic surveillance on Carter Page from the FISC. Page is a US citizen who served as a volunteer advisor to the Trump presidential campaign. Consistent with requirements under FISA, the application had to be first certified by the Director or Deputy Director of the FBI. It then required the approval of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General (DAG), or the Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division.

The FBI and DOJ obtained one initial FISA warrant targeting Carter Page and three FISA renewals from the FISC. As required by statute (50 U.S.C. 1805(d)(1)), a FISA order on an American citizen must be renewed by the ISC every 90 days and each renewal requires a separate finding of probable cause. Then-Director James Comey signed three FISA applications in question on behalf of the FBI, and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed one. Sally Yates, then-Acting DAG Dana Boente, and DAG Rod Rosenstein each signed one or more FISA applications on behalf of DOJ.

Due to the sensitive nature of foreign intelligence activity, FISA submissions (including renewals) before the ISC are classified. As such, the public’s confidence in the integrity of the FISA process depends on the court’s ability to hold the government to the highest standard — particularly as it relates to surveillance of American citizens. However, the rigor in protecting the rights of Americans, which is reinforced by 90-day renewals of surveillance orders, is necessarily dependent on the government’s production to the court of all material and relevant facts. This should include information potentially favorable to the target of the FISA application that is known by the government. In the case of Carter Page, the government had at least four independent opportunities before the FISC to accurately provide an accounting of the relevant facts. However, our findings indicate that, as described below, material and relevant information was omitted.

1) The “dossier” compiled by Christopher Steele (Steele dossier) on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign formed an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application. Steele was a longtime FBI source who was paid over $160,000 by the DNC and Clinton campaign, via the law firm Perkins Coie and research firm Fusion GPS, to obtain derogatory information on Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.

a) Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele’s efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior and FBI officials.

b) The initial FISA application notes Steele was working for a named U.S. person, but does not name Fusion GPS and principal Glenn Simpson, who was paid by a U.S. Law firm (Perkins Coie) representing the DNC (even though it was known by DOJ at the time that political actors were involved with the Steele dossier). The application does not mention Steele was ultimately working on behalf of — and paid by — the DNC and Clinton campaign, or that the FBI had separately authorized payment to Steele for the same information.

2) The Carter Page FISA application also cited extensively a September 23, 2016, Yahoo Newsarticle by Michael Isikoff, which focuses on Page’s July 2016 trip to Moscow. This article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News. The Page FISA application incorrectly assesses that Steele did not directly provide information to Yahoo News. Steele has admitted in British court filings that he met with Yahoo News — and several other outlets – in September 2016 at the direction of Fusion GPS. Perkins Coie was aware of Steele’s initial media contacts because they hosted at least one meeting in Washington DC. in 2016 with Steele and Fusion GPS where this matter was discussed.”

a) Steele was suspended and then terminated as an FBI source for what the FBI defines as the most serious of violations — an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI in an October 30, 2016, Mother Jonesarticle by David Corn. Steele should have been terminated for his previous undisclosed contacts with Yahoo and other outlets in September — before the Page application was submitted to the FISC in October — but Steele improperly concealed from and lied to the FBI about those contacts.

b) Steele’s numerous encounters with the media violated the cardinal rule of source handling — maintaining confidentiality — and demonstrated that Steele had become a less than reliable source for the FBI.

3) Before and after Steele was terminated as a source, he maintained contact with DOJ via then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, a senior DOJ official who worked closely with Deputy Attorneys General Yates and later Rosenstein. Shortly after the election, the FBI began interviewing Ohr, documenting his communications with Steele. For example, in September 2016, Steele admitted to Ohr his feelings against then-candidate Trump when Steele said he “was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not, being president.” This clear evidence of Steele’s bias was recorded by Ohr at the time and subsequently in official FBI files – but not reflected in any of the Page FISA applications.

a) During this same time period, Ohr’s wife was employed by Fusion GPS to assist in the cultivation of opposition research on Trump. Ohr later provided the FBI with all of his wife’s opposition research, paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign via Fusion GPS. The Ohrs’ relationship with Steele and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from the FISC.

4) According to the head of the counterintelligence division, Assistant Director Bill Priestap, corroboration of the Steele dossier was in its “infancy” at the time of the initial Page FISA application. After Steele was terminated, a source validation report conducted by an independent unit within FBI assessed Steele’s reporting as only minimally corroborated. Yet, in early January 2017, Director Comey briefed President-elect Trump on a summary of the Steele dossier, even though it was — according to his June 2017 testimony – “salacious and unverified.” While the FISA application relied on Steele’s past record of credible reporting on other unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his
anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations. Furthermore, Deputy Director McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information.

5) The Page FISA application also mentions information regarding fellow Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, but there is no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos. The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok. Strzok was reassigned by the Special Counsel’s Office to FBI Human Resources for improper text messages with his mistress, FBI Attorney Lisa Page (no known relation to Carter Page), where they both demonstrated a clear bias against Trump and in favor of Clinton, Whom Strzok had also investigated. The Strzok/Lisa Page texts also reflect extensive discussions about the investigation, orchestrating leaks to the media, and include a meeting with Deputy Director McCabe to discuss an “insurance” policy against President Trump’s election.

338 thoughts on “House Intelligence Committee Releases Full Memo Alleging Serious Breaches By FBI In Russian Investigation”

  1. I think this helps explain why Hillary Clinton barely campaigned during 2016. She knew the fix was in. She knew people on the inside were tipping the scales just like she’d done against Bernie Sanders during the primaries. (Primaries she almost lost DESPITE controlling the DNC). So she stayed home because she’s that stupid. Even a third-grader knows if you are going to run a scam sham you play your role as cover. Hillary Clinton was too stupid to do even that much.

    1. She stayed home because she was sick. The rest of the time she was fundraising, George Clooney-style. Totally agree with everything else you said.

      1. Also CCS – everytime she talked her ratings fell. You’d think the Dims would have learned but no. Kennedy was an example =)

        1. Autumn, true, but declining favorables are only important to people who care about reality. It’s telling that the political party in bed with the Superficial Set is so abysmal at marketing.
          #BurnsStrider

  2. The question is now, where do we go from here. Consider the possibilities:

    – Since the Mueller investigation was premised in a faulty way, does the entire thing get thrown out? Imagine if the cops hid a gun on a dude and then arrested him for a drive by shooting. Once the court learned what the cops had done, would that throw the case out?

    – Five people signed off on the FISA warrants. Did that warrant include a “perjury statement”. If so, can those five be prosecuted for perjury? (Ideally Comey first).

    – How much higher did this whole thing go? Was this cabal merely the brainchild of Comey, McCabe, Rosenstein, Ohr, Yates, and that other person named in the memo? Or were they functionaries operating under Loretta Lynch?

    The left will spend this entire weekend playing dumb about all this. (Playing dumb isn’t hard for the left to do). They do so at their own peril. By playing dumb, they permit a future administration to do the same thing against a Kamala Harris, Tulsi Gabbard, Bernie Sanders, et al campaign or (heaven help us) transition team.

    1. andrewworkshop said, “– Since the Mueller investigation was premised in a faulty way . . .”

      Hogwash. The FBI counterintelligence investigation began in July, 2106, well-nigh three months before the FISA warrant application for Carter Page in October 2016. July 2016 is when Alexander Downer tipped the FBI about George Papadopoulos who became a cooperating witness sometime after that tip from the magnificent Aussies. BTW, the FBI had a FISA warrant on Carter Page in 2014–before Trump announced his candidacy for President. The portions of the dossier that refer to Carter Page were corroborated by intelligence gathered independently of the dossier. And, most of all, andrewworkshop, the Special Counsel’s investigation began after Trump fired Comey–you Boobus Americanus, you.

    1. Squeeky, I don’t use Twitter. Was this directly from Twitter or copied in an email? If the former where did it come from? I don’t believe it came from Obama and I don’t think you do either.

        1. I have little doubt that is exactly what Obama is thinking. That was what 8 years was all about.

          What I was interested in was whether or not that was hacked onto Twitter, but apparently not. With all the bots flying around Twitter, its politics and Twitters activities that end privacy I stay away from there and Facebook.

      3. Allan, Twitter is a great resource for comments and information. You don’t have to join to peruse it.

        1. Did you see the O’Keefe videotape of what high-level people at Twitter said?

          I never liked either Twitter or Facebook from the start. They shape what people think and do. Get on a group and you can befoul your mind so that you stop thinking. Too much of what is said isn’t even true, but it provides friends and a group experience ultimately controlled by Twitter. We see a result of that here. Look at some of the responses we see. Soundbites, written by people that don’t even understand what the soundbite means. I think it is dangerous for our individuality, but perhaps people no longer think of themselves as individuals and are moving towards a Borg mindset.

  5. You’re all pretty good at puzzles and math. Take a look at the memo closely, if GI Joe applies for a FISA application in October 2016 and it has to be renewed every 90 days. James Comey signed three and Andrew Mccabe signed one. How long were they spying on Carter Page …..

    April 19th 2017 the NYT times first reports (via FBI) Carter Page being a Russian Agent suspect. Wonder if this was disclosed in the subsequent FISA applications as it’s material.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/us/politics/carter-page-russia-trump.html

    They are spying on a publicly exposed “spy” Should be material in a FISA application.

    1. John, are you the same John with whom I previously corresponded vis-à-vis the 702 “about” queries?

      Also, 90 times 4 equals 360. So the surveillance on Carter Page ran from October 2016 through September 2017 inclusively. And not counting the FISA warrant on Carter Page in 2014.

  6. There’s another angle that needs to be looked at. In the leadup to the Trump Tower meeting of Natalia Veselnitskaya with Manafort and Don Jr., was anyone in FBI Counter-Intel tracking her activities? The normal procedure, if the FBI had advance knowledge of the meeting, would have been to alert the Trump campaign to the possible security risks of meeting with Russian secret agent Veselnitskaya. We need to know if the FBI withheld this alert, setting up a collusion honey trap.

      1. That wasn’t the question Linda and you know it. Go back. Re-read the post. Answer the question like an obedient slave of the state. Then, when you are done, answer the question I have been demanding of you for weeks now: define ochlocracy?

            1. Andrew WS,…
              There is now a backlog of questions directed to Linda that remain unanswered.
              Since her mission does not include wasting her time and straining her capabilities by engaging in normal, rational exchanges, that backlog is likely to remain, and expand.

              1. Andrew’s question to Linda has been answered many times over. Ochlocracy is mob rule–as in government by a mob of people rather than, say, government by state mafia, which is what they have in The Russian Federation. Andrew is badgering Linda in true Puckhead fashion. Remember: Puck as in Hockey Puck; Puckhead as in a head as thick, dense and hard as a Hockey Puck banging around the boards on the ice without any ears or eyes or brain capable of receiving any answer to any question other than “Thwack” and “Thud’ and still the message never gets through.

              2. Tom Nash, do you have an answer to pbinca’s question, yet? Have you dumped your Scrabble tiles on the kitchen table yet? At least pbinca is smart enough crack the code on Ten Rapt Men. Here’s a few more riddles from The Twilight Zone: Runed Russed. F.W.P.POTUS. Covfefe. Enjoy.

  7. Can anyone explain why we need a FISA Court? Regular federal courts have a better secrecy record – with fewer leaks – than any intelligence agency. It was created to prevent abuses. Why do we need a Kangaroo Court that rubber-stamps 99% of warrant requests?

    1. Answer to Coin…pro’s tongue in cheek question – it’s done to enhance U.S. national security, instead of making it easier for Putin to achieve his goals.
      Let’s ask the U.S. intelligence committee what they would like the Kremlin to do to make it easier for America to infiltrate Russia. Then, we can post the answer at a Russian legal scholar’s blog.

    2. The FISA Court was not created to prevent abuse – it was created to abet it by end running around the Fourth Amendment.

  8. I see no reason why Bruce Orr should not be fired immediately. He continued to receive mfg’ed intel from Chris Steele after the FBI cut off Steele for misrepresentation. He hid his wife’s employment at Fusion GPS, an obvious conflict of interest to be on any case related to the 2016 election. Mrs. Orr is part of the group to look at.

    The nagging question is, we have probable cause of a plot (by Steele/the Orrs) to game the FBI into trying to wound Trump’s chances of winning the election. That’s a major attack on the CJS system — big time political corruption. Who should be investigating this likely crime? Should a Special Counsel be appointed? Who could do it?

    1. Haha. You, as do the other wackjobs, assume that this “Deep State” nonsense shilled by con-men seeking rating from gullible rubes is anything more reality-based than Trump’s inauguration crowd, or SOTU ratings, or whatever the liar-in-chief has uttered today. Pro tip: when you let them fool you twice, it’s on you.

      this is to “you know, Mussolini DID make the trains run on time” pbinca

    3. Da FBI should have informed us da crooked T rump Kushner mob was under investigation,. Why did Comey conceal it?

  9. The Memo Reveals the Coup against America

    The memo has been released, now it’s time to release everything.

    February 2, 2018

    Daniel Greenfield

    The Democrats and the media spent a week lying to the American people about the “memo.”

    The memo was full of “classified information” and releasing” it would expose “our spying methods.” By “our,” they didn’t mean American spying methods. They meant Obama’s spying methods.

    A former White House Ethics Lawyer claimed that the Nunes memo would undermine “national security.” On MSNBC, Senator Chris Van Hollen threatened that if the memo is released, the FBI and DOJ “will refuse to share information with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.”

    Senator Cory Booker howled that releasing the memo was “treasonous” and might be “revealing sources and methods” and even “endangering fellow Americans in the intelligence community.”

    The memo isn’t treasonous. It reveals a treasonous effort by the Democrats to use our intelligence agencies to rig an election and overturn the will of the voters.

    The only two “sources” 15 are Christopher Steele, who was funded by the Clinton campaign, and a Yahoo News article, that were used to obtain a FISA warrant against a Trump associate. That Yahoo story came from Michael Isikoff, the reporter who knew about Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky but suppressed it. It was based on more leaks from Steele which the FBI and DOJ chose to ignore. Steele’s identity was already well known. The only new source revealed is Yahoo News.

    No vital intelligence sources were compromised at Yahoo News. And no Yahoo News agents were killed.

    The media spent a week lying to Americans about the dangers of the memo because it didn’t want them to find out what was inside. Today, the media and Dems switched from claiming that the memo was full of “classified information” that might get CIA agents killed to insisting that it was a dud and didn’t matter. Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive.

    On Thursday, the narrative was that the memo would devastate our national security and no one should ever be allowed to read it. By Friday, the new narrative was that the memo tells us nothing important and we shouldn’t even bother reading it. The lies change, but suppressing the memo remains the goal.

    Rep. Nadler, infamous for securing pardons for Weather Underground bombers, got caught between narratives when he insisted that the memo was “overhyped,” but suggested that it “endangers national security.” “I don’t think anybody will be terribly shocked by what’s in the memo,” he told CNN.

    And requested an emergency meeting of the House Judiciary Committee – a body he will head if Democrats win the mid-term elections.

    Calling emergency meetings is not the response to an “overhyped” and non-shocking memo.

    There is no legitimately classified information in the Nunes memo. But it does endanger a number of “Americans” in the “intelligence community” who colluded with the Clinton campaign against America.

    It endangers former FBI Director Comey, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the current FBI General Counsel Dana Boente who had previously served as the Acting Attorney General. These men and women had allegedly signed FISA applications that were at best misleading and at worst badly tainted.

    The Clinton campaign had enlisted figures in the FBI and the DOJ to manipulate an election. The coup against America operated as a “state within a state” inside the United States government.

    “The political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior DOJ and FBI officials,” the memo informs us. But they did not reveal on the FISA application that their core evidence came from the Clinton campaign. Sources were certainly being protected. But they were Clinton sources.

    The memo reveals that without the Steele dossier there would have been no eavesdropping on Carter Page, the Trump associate targeted in this particular case. “Deputy Director McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information.” But the FISA application neglected to mention that its primary source had been paid by the Clinton campaign, was unverified and would continue to be unverified.

    FBI Director Comey testified that he had told President Trump that the dossier was “unverified.” Yet the “unverified” piece of opposition research was used as the basis for a FISA application.

    As Rep. Jim Jordan noted, “FBI takes ‘salacious and unverified’ dossier to secret court to get secret warrant to spy on a fellow American, and FBI doesn’t tell the court that the DNC/Clinton campaign paid for that dossier. And they did that FOUR times.”

    “There’s been no evidence of a corrupt evidence to obtain warrants against people in the Trump campaign,” Rep. Adam Schiff insisted. That’s why he tried to block the release of the evidence.

    The evidence was unverified opposition research. Its source had been paid by the Clinton campaign. Not only had Steele been indirectly working for the Clinton campaign (when he wasn’t being paid by the FBI), but he made no secret of his own political agenda to stop Trump.

    “In September 2016, Steele admitted to Ohr his feelings against then-candidate Trump when Steele said he “was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president,” the memo informs us.

    That’s former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr whose wife was being paid by an organization hired by the Clinton campaign to investigate Trump. Ohr then passed along his wife’s opposition research to the FBI. The evidence couldn’t be any more corrupt than that.

    Steele was passionate about Trump “not being president.” So were his handlers who ignored his leaks to the media until he “was suspended and then terminated as an FBI source for what the FBI defines as the most serious of violations—an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI.” His previous meetings, including the one that allegedly generated the Yahoo News article, were ignored.

    Tainted investigations are nothing new. Law enforcement is as fallible as any other profession. But the memo reveals a snapshot of just how many top figures colluded in this corrupted and tainted effort.

    What drove them to violate professional ethical norms and legal requirements in the FISA applications?

    Top DOJ and FBI officials shared Steele’s “passion,” and that of his ultimate employer, Hillary Clinton, to stop Donald Trump at all costs. And they’re still trying to use the Mueller investigation to overturn the election results in a government coup that makes Watergate look like a children’s tea party,

    Former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is already under investigation. He’s suspected of trying to sit on the Wiener emails until the election was over. This alleged failed cover-up triggered the Comey letter which hurt Hillary worse than a timely revelation would have. McCabe’s wife had financial links to the Clintons.

    Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates was an Obama holdover who had foolishly tried to use the DOJ to go to war with President Trump. Both Yates and Dana Boente were Obama and Holder choices. During the groundless prosecution of the former Republican governor of Virginia, Boente had declared, “No one is above the law.” We’ll see if that’s true with everyone who signed the FISA applications.

    If Boente signed false or misleading FISA applications, he should be removed as FBI General Counsel.

    The memo is only the first crack in the wall. But it’s grounds for an investigation that will expose the abuses that led to eavesdropping on Trump officials. And the motives of those who perpetuated them.

    A Washington Post piece suggested that just releasing the memo alone would allow Mueller to charge President Trump with “obstruction of justice.” That’s how badly they want to get Trump.

    A clear and simple fact emerges from the memo.

    Top figures in the DOJ and the FBI, some loyal to Obama and Hillary, abused the FISA process in the hopes of influencing or reversing the results of an election by targeting their political opponents. The tool that they used for the job came from the Clinton campaign. Using America’s intelligence services to destroy and defeat a political opponent running for president is the worst possible abuse of power and an unprecedented threat to a democratic system of free open elections.

    We have been treated to frequent lectures about the independence of the DOJ and the FBI. But our country isn’t based around government institutions that are independent of oversight by elected officials. When unelected officials have more power than elected officials, that’s tyranny.

    A Justice Department that acts as the Praetorian Guard for a political campaign is committing a coup and engaging in treason. The complex ways that the Steele dossier was laundered from the Clinton campaign to a FISA application is evidence of a conspiracy by both the DOJ and the Clinton campaign.

    It’s time for us to learn about all the FISA abuses, the list of NSA unmasking requests of Trump officials by Obama officials and the eavesdropping on members of Congress. We deserve to know the truth.

    The memo has been released. Now it’s time to release everything.

    1. I won’t consider this investigation complete until we know who else in the Obama Administration knew about this spying on the Trump campaign (Jarrett, Rice, Rhodes, Clapper, Obama?) plus who in the Clinton campaign knew. It’s a big group to explore, and calls for a Special Counsel.

      1. You are more than welcome, Squeeky. Daniel Greenfield’s articles are usually brilliant and insightful. . .this one is no different.

        1. Agreed, thanks for posting. I also liked his write-up on Sen. Warren’s CFPB and their ad buying shenanigans.

          1. From the article linked above:

            Daniel Greenfield is an Israeli-born journalist who writes for conservative publications.

            The PolitiFact scorecard
            True
            0
            (0)
            Mostly True
            0
            (0)
            Half True
            0
            (0)
            Mostly False
            0
            (0)
            False
            0
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            Pants on Fire
            1 (100%)
            (1)

            To clarify, PolitiFact rates Daniel Greenfield at 100% Pants On Fire.

                1. From the article linked above:

                  Greenfield said that Obama had spent $7 billion and failed to bring electricity to Africa. The projected dollar total was correct, but the statement missed the reality that as of August 2015, only about $1.7 billion had been committed. And a lot of the money that will be committed will be in the form of loans or loan guarantees, not gifts.

                  How can you declare failure on a project that isn’t yet completed?

                  We rate this claim Pants on Fire.

            2. That is because Politifact is on the red team. Take note that when he is quoted we don’t hear any intelligent comments proving Greenfield wrong. Quite Stalinesque.

                1. From the Wikipedia article on PolitiFact:

                  “PolitiFact.com was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2009 for “its fact-checking initiative during the 2008 presidential campaign that used probing reporters and the power of the World Wide Web to examine more than 750 political claims, separating rhetoric from truth to enlighten voters”.

                  A Wall Street Journal opinion editorial by Joseph Rago in December 2010 called PolitiFact “part of a larger journalistic trend that seeks to recast all political debates as matters of lies, misinformation and ‘facts,’ rather than differences of world view or principles’.”

                  Out of curiosity, gentlemen, does Rago’s opinion of PolitiFact have a familiar ring to your ears? How many of you complain most bitterly about MSM lies and MSM misinformation whilst proclaiming as “fact” what is merely your alt-right weltanshauung? Why don’t you see if you can get Congressional Quarterly to do a joint-partnership with Breitbart News? That’s how PolitiFact got its start, you know. What am I saying? Obvious Congressional Quarterly is part and parcel of the deep state. Right, gentlemen?

          2. The fact that you’re citing (and apparently trusting) PolitiFact says more about you than it does about Greenfield.

          3. Do you think that adds anything to the discussion? Why not address the article, itself, and take it point by point, refuting what has been written if you, in all of your wisdom, don’t agree with his analysis? Why? Because along with your cabal of other mindless twits on this blog, you are incapable of doing so, so you resort to attempting to discredit the writer because of where he was born. What a true a $$hole you are. You are just another blowhard, without any skills or talents. Are we supposed to be persuaded by your proclamation and announcement that he was born in Israel, using the place of his birth and his religion to taint all of his opinions? Where were you born? In some whorehouse? Is that why your contributions are so f’d up?

            1. Terrific! I’m tempted to copy it and place it below a whole bunch of other replies by Diane, but that would be plagiarism.

              1. Lol! You mean the Diane who changes her posted screen names, on a daily basis, depending upon her many psychotic moods and the shape of the moon? Yeah. It won’t do much good. She, along with her brainless brother, Little Marky Mark, and speech-impaired cousin, K enny, are beyond hope or help. So deficient, in any analytical skills, of their own, they simply resort to attacks. Attacks on an author’s place of birth. Attacks on an author’s religion. Notice, how they were incapable of disproving or refuting any of the points mentioned in Greenfield’s article. Without the skills, or facts, to do so, what do these morons do? They cry that they have never heard of the author. Yeah. That makes perfect sense. Because if they have never heard of the author, how could he possibly write anything of value? They whine that he was born in Israel. Right. Because where he was born, including his religion, make all the difference in the article he penned. His birthplace changes the facts. His religion changes the facts. That’s supposed to be the takeaway. . .Greenfield’s opinions have no validity because we don’t know him, he’s born in Israel and he’s Jewish.

                2. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Broken record syndrome. bam bam evidently imagines that bam bam deserves credit for Daniel Greenfield’s “analytical skills,” merely because bam bam posted an entire Daniel Greenfield article that bam bam couldn’t analyze if his beloved weltanshauung depended on it.

    3. Nice. When you post a column from a writer that educated, well-informed, rational people have to google to find out who he is, you know that writer most likely is a speaker at tinfoil-hat conventions. But I’m sure the other bedlam denizens are on his twitter feed. Nice try, though.

      this is to “Oswald was in on 9/11 too” bammie

      1. Why not just read the article and comment on what was written in said article? You are offended because you, personally, don’t know the author? What a joke! Well, that applies to everything that you attempt to write on this blog. . .what a joke! Why not attempt, however poorly, to refute, debunk or discredit something that the author suggests, you cretin! I’ll tell you why you don’t. . .because you are a talentless hack, who couldn’t write a cogent analysis of a situation if his miserable life depended upon it. . .that’s why. You pathetically attempt to use snide and weird remarks to cover for your ineptitude with regard to contributing anything worthwhile.

        Yeah. . .this is to the talentless, hack known as “If I Only Had A Brain Marky Mark”–

        1. Bam bam, you hit the nail on the head when you called Mark a “talentless hack”.

        2. I almost poked fun at him for not knowing who Daniel Greenfield was, but I have found him sooo frigging stupid, that I decided not to waster my time. He is like the other Liberals/Democrats here, and real big in throwing out baseless assertions, and absolute crap at making an argument. I think he is getting paid to promulgate DNC talking points. Like 80 cents an hour or something.

          Sooo, I practiced the intro to the After Dark song from the Dusk to Dawn movie. Which I am getting better at.

          Squeeky Fromm
          Girl Reporter

          1. Mark confirmed he is a dope that doesn’t have a memory since Greenfield’s name has been on the list many times.

            1. True. I have heard many talking heads on TV today slam the Democrats and their toadies for not addressing the points of the memo, or disputing any of the facts, but merely laying out the DNC talking points.

              That is why I ignore some of the people here, because I think they are maybe part of a Talking Point Farm which posts comments simply to give the appearance of an argument, without the actual argument. Like Linda/Late4 and MarkyMark and a few others. Natasha comes across as a genuinely ignorant cult member, but I think she is sincere in her dumb false beliefs. But, who knows for sure?

              Squeeky Fromm
              Girl Reporter

              1. One might suggest such people are bots. Bots designed to troll the forums and populate with an agenda intended to sway opinion the way the left says Russian bots on Facebook turned the 2016 election.

          2. “I have found him sooo frigging stupid, that I decided not to waster my time.”

            LOL !!!

            Squeeky – for the win !!

          3. Maybe you and the other pillowcase-tailors can say bad things about me at the hayride/bakesale/cross-burning this weekend.

            this is to “and hannity’s a real journalist, too” sqeeKKK

            1. Marky Mark Mark – I am happy to say bad things about you right here and I don’t wear a pillowcase, although I think you are a scarf guy on protests for Antifa. Too chicken to let the police see your face.

        3. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I also don’t attempt to reason with or controvert those who believe the earth is flat. Sometimes, and you, and perhaps the other paranoid, conspiracy-obsessed, goggle-eyed wackjobs who posts nonsense here, will come to understand why rational people who use evidence-based argument merely ignore your addle-brained prattle.

          this is to “the ‘Deep State’ flew over my house in a black helicopter” bammie

          1. Marky Mark Mark – you have yet to use a rationale argument with anyone. It is all hit-and-run insult and ad hominem. You will never get beyond Chapter 7s if you cannot make an argument.

          2. Mark M. according to George (Yes! That George) when you’re taking flack, you’re directly over the target. Bombs away.

            For those of us who keep our feet on the ground (most of the time) drop back fifty and fire for effect.

  10. In essence, Democrats paid the Russians for a false document smearing Trump, in order to be released just before the election, when there would not be sufficient time to rebut it. The media balked and delayed at releasing it, so it was leaked.

    A politicized FBI used this false narrative, provided by Russian spies, and paid for by Hillary Clinton against her political opponent, to spy on Trump. The wife of the Assoc Attorney General actually worked for the organization that paid the Russians for the false information, and she funneled that faulty intel to her husband.

    This relationship was kept secret from the Court that approved the surveillance. The fact that their suspicions were based upon opposition research provided by Russian spies, containing salacious and unproven allegations, and paid for by Hillary Clinton against her political opponent was kept secret.

    Basically, if you run against Hillary Clinton, she can sic the FBI on you to spy on you and all of your associates. And she’s got the DOJ to back her up.

    That shouldn’t be possible in the US.

    But it is. It happened. We are on our way to a Single Party State. The Democratic Party are using everything at their disposal to force out the person that was legally elected in the US. If they don’t win an election, they will try to win another way.

    If we do not take the trouble to stop this, and punish those who broke the law, then we will devolve until both sides do this. Shall Republicans take a page from Democrats’ book, and riot after every election they lose? Use false documents to spy on their political opponents?

    I want it to be fair for all parties.

    1. This is all true in some alternative universe where the gullible rubes and dupes live. Any person who understands what the legal standard of “probable cause” stands for in relationship to warrants knows that “both sides” are never presented to the neutral magistrate who signs off on a warrant. I’m sure you, and the other bedlam inmates, know much more than any “lawyer” or special agent in charge who works for the Department of Justice. Knowledge, training, experience and expertise do have meaning, no matter what the rubes in BFE “feel” or what rush and hannity swill out to them.

      this is to “now that Pravda Faux News is agin the Fibbies, so am I, I think” karen

  11. Competing Narratives? No. There is a criminal investigation of the president and a president attacking the investigation to kill it. What is he afraid of? Why did he and 18 of his people directly lie about their Russian contacts…even the nation’s top lawyer…Sessions?

    Let Mueller finish his investigation. Look at the work product. Determine if there is bias…or hurt feelings…or whatever the hell Trump is alleging. Then commence analysis. This investigation is too important to have the principal people of interest undermining the law enforcement efforts.

    Then Turley can rush in front of a FOX camera and humiliate himself further. Tell us more about how Hoover’s FBI was corrupt. Why not serenade us with stories of the Teapot Dome scandal as well? Is Mueller Hoover? Is Comey Hoover? No, then STFU Turley. Earn you money for once.

  12. JT is my go to guy intellectually HONEST analysis. This is just another example.

  13. Just as Gowdy said if you have interest in knowing who wrote it and who paid it’s in the memo. So now we have the all important trails of tears for the left as the House committee continues to call or subpoena witnesses.

    Trails meaningmore than one and at least three. Whoops did I forget the Senate’s new investigation? Sorry. one part leads back into government agency(ies) and the other into the belly of the beast the DNC and the Clinton Campaign Committee.

    This is the time some lawyered up staffer us going to FTS and say I’m not doing time make me a deal

    Then there is the new ongoing DOJ investigation starting in Little Rock coming from the other direction. and each of the three feeding off each other.

    No doubt IRS and others will join in and others.

    Whose going to be first to turn States Evidence? My best SWAG is Huma Gotcha Abedin who may already be in Witness Protection but it could be the IT people or the ones in Campaign Finance or the Clinton Fun Foundation The quintessential classic fly on the wall sees all and tells all.

    Or whose going to be the first to disappear outside the country and with their millions tucked away possibly in Curacao in a Soros Bank?. little nip little tuck So those two will be Chelsea and Bubba.

    Which just leaves Door Number Three….Whose going to be the first to swallow the bitter pill or pop a cap?
    Well

    Who IS the weakest one of all?
    Mirror Mirror on the Wall?
    Pill or Cap or just a Fall?

    1. Outstanding. Never let it be said that the ignorant don’t stand up for what they believe in–even in the face of facts. The Clintons have been the subject of dozens of investigations going back over 30 years. Not once, have any of these investigation turned up anything of substance. However, since the gullible rubes and dupes will still sop up the swill spewed by Pravda Faux News, such swill still gets spewed. Oh, the disappointment, and hue and cry of “corrupt courts”, “corrupt grand juries” and “corrupt prosecutors” when yet again, facts control over make-believe and nothing comes to pass. Oh ya, just chalk it up to the “Deep State” or some other such nonsense. You’ll still look like an imbecile, but at least you and the other imbeciles will have something to use ALL CAPS about.

      this is to “they’re all in it, I tell ya” mikey

      1. Marky Mark Mark – because the fix was in, Hillary was not charged over the emails. However, Judicial Watch has found 16 new classified email from Hillary on Weiner’s laptop and there are more emails to come. Hillary is not out of the woods yet. And because of the way she acted the statute is still tolling.

        1. As an addendum, Whitewater did result in eventual impeachment of Billy Blythe I mean William Jefferson Clinton. Marky Mark Funky Bunch will come back with nonsense to that and when he does, he will fail to realize he is actually siding with those of us that think the independent counsel itself is a sham.

  16. Dear Rod Rosenstein,

    How are you??? Fine I hope! Hey, I heard that Hillary and John Podesta were molesting children at a pizza joint. Here is a dossier from the We Hate Hillary Society. Can you go get a FISA warrant and check them out???

    Yours very truly,

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    enc.
    cc: Alex Jones, Info Wars

  17. Schiff and the Democrats: It contains too much info and we are going to die if the memo is released!!!

    Schiff and the Democrats: It contains too little info and we are going to die!!!

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

  18. Although I’m sure Tucker Carlson will be “fair” (NOT), one of the questions you did not address was the partisan nature of it all..and why the GOP did not agree (which is something I have raised while curating for the Daily Outsider over twitter today) to release the Democratic Rebuttal…and not withstanding “concerns”, what Trey Gowdy (no liberal commie leftie) noted on his twitter feed (supported by the likes of Hugh Hewitt captured it all beyond the “Noise” and the “Distraction”….and lastly–if there is no “There…There”…why is the propaganda arm of the White House (Fox News) is so fixated on it..and why is @realDonaldTrump so nervous?

    Trey Gowdy
    ‏
    Verified account

    @TGowdySC
    3h3 hours ago
    More
    It is important for the American public to know if the dossier was paid for by another candidate, used in court pleadings, vetted before it was used, vetted after it was used, and whether all relevant facts were shared with the tribunal approving of the FISA application.

    712 replies3,407 retweets9,079 likes
    Reply 712 Retweet 3.4K
    Like 9.1K Direct message

    Trey Gowdy
    ‏
    Verified account

    @TGowdySC
    3h3 hours ago
    More
    While this memo raises serious concerns with the FISA process, I have been and remain confident in the overwhelming majority of the men and women serving at the FBI and DOJ.

    380 replies1,130 retweets4,855 likes
    Reply 380 Retweet 1.1K
    Like 4.9K Direct message

    Trey Gowdy‏Verified account
    @TGowdySC
    FollowFollow @TGowdySC
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    As I have said repeatedly, I also remain 100 percent confident in Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The contents of this memo do not – in any way – discredit his investigation.

    10:34 AM – 2 Feb 2018

    1. Because like all such documents it’s classified and to be released is not the whim of the moment. All Schiffless has to do is get off his duff and do something but it will follow the same path as did the Nunes Gowdy Memo.Chances are they will keep quoting from it, slyly but never prove it ever existed.

      So what do we know.

      The author was verified
      The payer was verified
      Complicity in DNC and Campaign Committee was verified
      But there is a lot more to uncover and that will keep Nunes and Gowdy and company busy all the way until January 3rd.

      Personally I would say since the document is under control where it can’t be tampered with release it now so they can’t to a rewrite, spin and redefine then reframe a couple dozen times.

  19. Reblogged this on The Inquiring Mind and commented:
    As much as anything the thread comments are interesting for the light they shine on the polarised nature of US politics

    1. Not that difficult Both parties went astray long before Woodrow Wilson introduced socialist progressive fascism and made it a very long way down the path to a one party, one ruler with separate ruling class to assist AKA Platonic Government Even though Plato repudiated it himself. We were just fortunate enough to live in interesting times and be able to coalesce into a coalition of like minded citizens

      But that perhaps wouldn’t have been enough with out an onstage dictator and the horrible error made by Neapolitano the ex Gov of Arizona, then Sec of DOHS and now just one of a bunch of thieves ripping off the California University system.

      In fact I would suggest a statute for making such a stupid error. It served as a wake up call.

      1. Truly a riot. Woodrow Wilson agony? Chief, that train has left the station.

        the is to “let’s look into this social security thingy” mikey

  20. Pingback: News and Headlines. 2/02/2018 – News and Headlines: RoboeAmerican, informing the people.

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