We have previously discussed allegations against FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith who played a key role in maintaining the secret surveillance of Trump campaign advisers in the Russian Investigation, including the falsification of a filing to the secret court. U.S. Attorney John Durham who is investigating the matter, has announced that Clinesmith will now plead guilty to making a false statement. The implications of this criminal plea is enormous but the media has engaged in a pattern of willful blindness to mounting evidence of wrongdoing in the Russian investigation by FBI and DOJ figures.
The inspector general previously accused Clinesmith of altering an email about former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page to say that he was “not a source” for another government agency. In fact, Page has was a source for the CIA. That altered email was part of a third and final renewal application in 2017 to eavesdrop on Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Clinesmith expressly opposed Trump and sent an email after the election declaring “viva the resistance.”
Notably, Democrats have been opposing any further investigation into the Russian investigation despite the call of former Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein for a full investigation. Both Rosenstein and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates have stated that they would not have approved secret surveillance applications if they knew what they know today about the countervailing evidence. Yates has also insisted that people should be held accountable for misconduct.
Notably, the plea by Michael Flynn was widely reported as a major conviction despite the fact that the agents themselves stated that they did not believe Flynn intentionally lied. That was lying about a lawful meeting by the incoming National Security Adviserwho stated the position of the Trump Administration in seeking a new approach with the Russians. Pleas by others of false statements were so minor that they resulted in less than a month of jail, including George Papadopoulos who received only 14 days. Those pleas were given endless and breathless discussion in the media on the proof of criminality, even though they did not show any collusion with the Russians. This is a direct and major falsification by a critical figure in the Russian investigation. It follows referrals for criminal charges against other figures like Andrew McCabe. None of that seems to matter as commentators and politicians decry the continued investigation into the matter.
I supported the Special Counsel investigation as well as the Durham investigation. This is why. We need to achieve full transparency and full accountability. At what point does the media recognize that there are serious questions of wrongdoing that remain unresolved?
John Turley “I supported the mueller investigation”
John: regardless if you feel embarrassing regret for making that statement later….with not so much as a notice that you are willing to accept the broad provable evidence it was criminally created WITH THE SOLE PURPOSE OF DEFENDING A MANUFACTURED RUSSIAN THREAT BY WAY OF A RIDICULOUS JAR REPORT AND AND AND A CRIMINALLY CONSPIRACY TO TOPPLE A SITTING PRESIDENT….WE CALL THAT A COUP BY THE WAYT>>>AND YES IT IS THE MOST HARMFUL VIOLENT ACT AGAINST THIS NATION IN ITS ENTIRE HISTORY.
well let me tell you pardner…, I will be more than willing to accommodate the most vicious ridicule you have ever received in your adult life.
Thus far, I have respected your legal opinions…even when they are specious and do not agree.
BUT YOU ARE REALLY GOING TO STAND HERE and not utter one single blistering comments legally or other about this coup…NOW?
and drop this “I supported the mueller investigation? really John? really ? are you effing kidding? are you dense or are your just not paying attention? which is it? Both? willfully? or just ignorant and resistant to the truth?
are you paying attention? or too busy giving academic speeches to make time to research carefully all the facts, records and materials, testimonies to make such a graniose “I supported” statement.? Because if you have done that, and you are still going to stand here and state “I supported that”…and not walk it back even slightly…just drop it like some lazy embecile…who are you trying to kid? there are adults in the room. act like you respect your audience…like you have in the past.
get involved ….it’s literally YOUR DUTY…Someone in YOUR position of critical thinking and legacy for calling strikes and hits….this article left me wondering, what happened to the John Turley, who has an appetite for truth and a hunger for justice.?
was I wrong?
you need to explain yourself more than just “I supported that”….that might have worked 3 years ago, but now that material has been desclassed, testimonies have been gathered..and DOTS have been connected! this isn’t the time to start remarking how ethically consistent you are….there is just too much information that is thoroughly persuasive that PROVES the mueller investigation was nothing more than a fraud AND a coverup…wrapped up in one.
there is just too much information that is thoroughly persuasive that PROVES the mueller investigation was nothing more than a fraud
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Well of course the Mueller investigation was a fraud,
The Trump Administration created that fraud. They appointed Mueller and they made all the phony controversies that created the illusion that the Trumster (the hero) was doing mortal combat with the deep state (the Archvillain) And in the end the Trumster won this phony battle and emerged victorious. In pro-wrestling this type of playacting is known as Kayfabe,
https://youtu.be/1S0NtpoF1PQ
“We Just Got a Rare Look at National Security Surveillance. It Was Ugly.”
“A high-profile inspector general report has served as fodder for arguments about President Trump. But its findings about surveillance are important beyond partisan politics.”
by Charlie Savage
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/us/politics/fisa-surveillance-fbi.html
It’s much worse than most people realize.
“McConnell Appears Set to Quietly Suffocate Long-Debated F.B.I. Surveillance Bill”
“The Senate majority leader has long been a strong supporter of extending Patriot Act provisions. This year, he’s letting them remain lapsed.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/us/politics/mcconnell-fisa-bill.html
Jared Kushner’s Team Developed National Response To Virus. But Trump Ignored Plan Because Virus Was Only In Blue States.
As it evolved, Kushner’s group called on the help of several top diagnostic-testing experts. Together, they worked around the clock, and through a forest of WhatsApp messages. The effort of the White House team was “apolitical,” said the participant, and undertaken “with the nation’s best interests in mind.”
Kushner’s team hammered out a detailed plan, which Vanity Fair obtained. It stated, “Current challenges that need to be resolved include uneven testing capacity and supplies throughout the US, both between and within regions, significant delays in reporting results (4-11 days), and national supply chain constraints, such as PPE, swabs, and certain testing reagents.”
The plan called for the federal government to coordinate distribution of test kits, so they could be surged to heavily affected areas, and oversee a national contact-tracing infrastructure. It also proposed lifting contract restrictions on where doctors and hospitals send tests, allowing any laboratory with capacity to test any sample. It proposed a massive scale-up of antibody testing to facilitate a return to work. It called for mandating that all COVID-19 test results from any kind of testing, taken anywhere, be reported to a national repository as well as to state and local health departments.
And it proposed establishing “a national Sentinel Surveillance System” with “real-time intelligence capabilities to understand leading indicators where hot spots are arising and where the risks are high vs. where people can get back to work.”
By early April, some who worked on the plan were given the strong impression that it would soon be shared with President Trump and announced by the White House. The plan, though imperfect, was a starting point. Simply working together as a nation on it “would have put us in a fundamentally different place,” said the participant.
But the effort ran headlong into shifting sentiment at the White House. Trusting his vaunted political instincts, President Trump had been downplaying concerns about the virus and spreading misinformation about it—efforts that were soon amplified by Republican elected officials and right-wing media figures. Worried about the stock market and his reelection prospects, Trump also feared that more testing would only lead to higher case counts and more bad publicity. Meanwhile, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, was reportedly sharing models with senior staff that optimistically—and erroneously, it would turn out—predicted the virus would soon fade away.
Against that background, the prospect of launching a large-scale national plan was losing favor, said one public health expert in frequent contact with the White House’s official coronavirus task force.
Most troubling of all, perhaps, was a sentiment the expert said a member of Kushner’s team expressed: that because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.
That logic may have swayed Kushner. “It was very clear that Jared was ultimately the decision maker as to what [plan] was going to come out,” the expert said.
Edited from: “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”
VANITYFAIR.COM 8/13/20
Regarding Above:
This week Jared Kushner was credited with convincing the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations with Israel. The recent explosion in Beirut was no doubt a catalyst. Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy army in Lebanon is now a pariah to the Arab world. Though it seems Jared Kushner helped facilitate this development.
So it was fascinating to read that Kushner’s White House team had actually developed a national response to the pandemic. Yet Kushner’s father-in-law saw no need for a national response. Instead Trump wagered the blue states would look incompetent as the virus wrecked havoc.
But Trump, being hopelessly shortsighted, didn’t think ahead and figure the red states would be infected. Had Trump only deferred to son-in-law Jared, our pandemic situation might be more favorable.
Interestingly this story is perhaps the most under-reported major scoop of the week.
“Yet Kushner’s father-in-law saw no need for a national response. Instead Trump wagered the blue states would look incompetent as the virus wrecked havoc.”
Totally idiotic but what does one expect. Firstly, some of the things Kushner recommended were followed but that is not important. When NYS was going under from Covid Trump brought most of the federal governments resources there and to surrounding areas. He had several hospitals built in record time and docked one of our two hospital ships there, the other he sent to California another blue state. When ventillators were thought to be in short supply Trump sent most of them to NY. He propped up governor Cuomo who is an ingrate. It is Cuomo who couldn’t manage things. It is Cuomo who put Covid positive patients into nursing homes which could have been placed in the hospitals or on the ship Trump had converted for Covid patients. Cuomo is the one who didn’t buy respirators when told of the need. Cuomo didn’t do anything for the same hospitals that have chronic overcrowding and are disasters every time a bad flu hits. It was Cuomo who didn’t know how to use the resources of the entire state.It was Cuomo that did nothing to sterilize mass transit. Cuomo was an abysmal failure but the press props him up so you can have something ridiculous to say.
Voting In Person Is Easier For Whites In Small Towns And Outer Suburbs
Explainer: Below is the response I gave to Commenter Karen, an established regular. Karen feels that voting in person is not an unreasonable hardship.
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Karen, all those points you just make reflect what some might call ‘White Privilege’. And even though I find that term problematic it kind of applies to your perspective on this issue.
As I recall you live in a ranch-like community. Which is totally cool to me. But chances are voting in person is probably not a hassle for residents of your district. It might be a high school with extra parking for sports. You might only wait in line for maybe 20 minutes.
But urban residents are often designated to vote at sites with inadequate parking. Long lines are common. Which is taxing on low wage workers who may have time restraints. Working parents who ride public transit could be spending 3 hours per day on buses. They’re too tired to stand in line for an hour after work. And they’re not going to vote before work if they see a long line.
With this pandemic long voting lines are a danger to public health. We shouldn’t risk unnecessary deaths because Donald Trump wants to hassle Voters. Voting in 2020 shouldn’t be a threat to one’s health. Only mean, stupid people would let Donald Trump poison this election weeks in advance.
Not long ago Voting By Mail enjoyed wide support among both Democrats and Republicans. Internal pollsters told Donald Trump that could be a problem for him. If voting became too easy Trump could easily lose by double-digit margins.
So our ‘genius’ Donald Trump has set about to poison this election weeks in advance. That’s why the U S Postal System is front page news today. Trump has to destroy the Post Office so he has a pretense to claim the election was ‘fraudulent’.
You see it’s all about Trump. The rest of us don’t matter. Our institutions mean nothing to Donald. The Post Office, Social Security, CDC, FDA, EPA, The Federal Reserve, Mainstream Media, Meteorologists, etc, etc. Anyone in Trump’s way must be destroyed. That’s the price they pay for annoying Donald Trump.
Read the 2005 bipartisan report from the Committee For Federal Election Reform co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker.
Two important points in the report: 1) the main reason why voter rolls are constantly inaccurate is because 40 million Americans move each year. Most jurisdictions do not require people who move to have their name removed from the rolls. 2) They say in the report, and I quote, “…absentee voting in other states [states other than Oregon] has been one of the major sources of fraud.”
https://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/Veasey7848.pdf
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The government just mailed over 1 million stimulus checks to dead people, representing over $1.4 BILLION. That’s how screwed up the Treasury rolls are. State voter rolls are not more accurate.
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I personally received, filled out, and dropped into the mail the Census form in early April. I continued to get notices every two-three weeks. I ignored them. I figured the form I completed and sent back was sitting in a pile somewhere waiting to be processed. This week a door knocker from the Census showed up to my house and asked me to complete the Census form. I explained I had done so in early April. I even showed her a note I’d written on one of the duplicate forms they sent me showing the date I returned it. She insisted I fill out a second form. I resisted. I told her I’d already completed the form once. Doing so again will result in a double counting. She characterized my position as “refusing to comply”. She told me another door knocker may come around again in a couple of weeks. I gave up. I filled out the Census form a second time. Now if the Post Office decides to deliver the original, and the Census ever decides to process it, I’ll be counted twice.
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Oregon mandated state wide vote-by-mail in 1998. It’s now fairly secure, or at least most people believe it is. But it took time to work out the kinks.
Anybody with any sense understands imposing vote by mail for the entire country this close to the election will be a disaster. Democrats don’t care.
Scott, you’re just our usual troll by another name.
Some here might be interested in this (and others will reject it without reading it):
“The Clinesmith Information Suggests that John Durham Misunderstands His Investigation”
https://www.emptywheel.net/2020/08/15/the-clinesmith-information-includes-evidence-that-john-durham-misunderstands-his-investigation/
“Carter Page was the subject of a legitimate counterintelligence investigation months before Crossfire Hurricane got opened …
“But Durham’s mischaracterization of the [Crossfire Hurricane] investigation as a “FARA” investigation is far more troubling. …”
FARA requires a person that acts on behalf of a foreign government and is involved in US politics to register with the DOJ. The violation is the failure to register not the working on behalf of a foreign government .
There can also be a FARA violation if the person is not truthful in their registration.
But Wheeler’s point is that Crossfire Hurricane was not a FARA investigation, and Durham mischaracterized it as one in Clinesmith’s charging document, where that document states “the FBI opened a Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) investigation known as Crossfire Hurricane”
Does Durham not understand the basis on which Crossfire Hurricane was opened? Or is he being purposefully dishonest? Is there some other reason for the mischaracterization?
What crime was being investigated if not FARA?
Crossfire Hurricane was opened as a counterintelligence investigation, NOT a criminal investigation.
And as that column explains, the FBI sought the first FISA warrant for Page in spring of 2016 (before Crossfire Hurricane was opened in the summer of 2016). So it’s a mistake to say that the initial Page FISA warrant was under Crossfire Hurricane. Horowitz’s report confirms this. Page, too, was investigated as part of a counterintelligence investigation, not a criminal investigation.
Sorry, my mistake, the FBI didn’t seek a FISA warrant in the spring and I was wrong about “it’s a mistake to say that the initial Page FISA warrant was under Crossfire Hurricane.” But the FBI did open their investigation into Page in the spring, and it was a CI investigation, not a criminal one.