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?
Those of you who are still chanting the “But Flynn plead guilty” mantra might want to research “coerced confessions.”
Weren’t the Nazis, Soviets and Maoists famous for “confessions?”
____________________________________________________
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
– William Casey, CIA Director
If he was coerced, then the plea isn’t valid. But you implying it doesn’t guarantee it’s true. If Flynn wants to make that argument, let him testify to it under oath.
“Get ready little lady. Hell is coming to breakfast.”
how dare you rhodes, to show a classic movie clip that not only glorifies violence but coming from a Confederate veteran and one which suggests that assorted scoundrels of the frontier were involved in human trafficking the white slaves to the Comanches. how dare you rhodes. now i saw it myself about ten times but how dare you.
the funny thing about this movie, which people prolly don’t know if they ever even heard of it. it it was one of the first to cast a couple native americans in authentic, nuanced roles, not caricatures, one of the first.
and yet by today’s standards, it would need to get cancelled
even by those days it was sketchy to “glorify” a southerner but that’s how the script was written
personally i liked it for the violence
If you’ve never seen “The making of Josey Wales, I highly recommend it.
It’s on YouTube.
Eastwood in his prime.
Needs To Be Committed, will generational welfare, food stamps, WIC, TANF, affirmative action privilege, quotas, divorce court, equal pay laws, etc., etc., etc., help you with that “glass ceiling?”
Ridiculous shootout. 17 to 18 shots fired from Eastwood’s two guns without reloading.
Josey Wales had custom made 12 shooters.
The DOJ wants to drop the case. That should have ended it.
Coercion was just one part of the problem. When that many problems pop up and one notes illegalities having been performed it is smarter to drop the case which was at best dubious and of little consequence.
Bloodthirsty people want incarceration or hanging whether innocent or guilty.
This is nothing compared to the travesty and shame that is Trump. Let’s see those tax returns.
Did anyone see the clip of the reporter asking Trump if he regretted lying consistently for four years? Guilt written all over that orange face. The hair looked good though; probably has gotten rid of those low flow shower heads.
Isaac is off his meds again!
MoFo is a featured puppet by our resident troll; a gutless nerd who seeks to amplify his worthless opinions with multiple handles
I can’t want to see your head explode when Trump is re-elected. Haha
ABOVE:
This is MoFo admitting he’s a puppet.
The tax returns are with the IRS.
Isn’t that precisely where you communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs) have ordered they be?
You’re not sincere, coherent or rational.
You are the reason the American Founders established a restricted-vote republic, distinctly not a one man, one vote democrazy.
BTW, in actual America, in 1789, there were no IRS, income tax, affirmative action, nationalized private property, welfare state, minimum wage, quotas, forced busing, “fair housing,” “non-discrimination,” generational welfare, illegal immigration, governmental benefits or, otherwise, entitlements, aka “free stuff,” etc., there was only freedom.
And there was slavery, women couldn’t vote, children worked in mines, health care, etc. There exists still a place for you George, several in fact: Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and many more. Perhaps you are in the wrong country?
Okay, okay we get it…in Muslim and African nations. Geesh
And Americans were always free to advocate against slavery, boycott slave products and divest of entities using slave labor, ending slavery at any time. “Crazy Abe” could have adhered to the Constitution, allowed secession and watched southern states get run out of business, ultimately prosecuting for reunification having compassionately repatriated slaves.
Women vote? Why would men give themselves two votes? May we not presume that men and women vote for the benefit of their families and children. How might a wife/mother’s vote be different from a husband/father’s? Where’s the benefit in dilution and corruption of the once important vote? Ultimately, isn’t the idea to live by the rights, freedoms, privileges, immunities, limitations and restrictions in the Constitution? At this juncture, the entire American welfare state is unconstitutional no matter who votes.
Child Labor?
“The early tribes did not have any sort of official education or schools like we have now, but the children were expected to learn. The boys followed the men around and were taught how to hunt and do men’s chores. Young girls followed the women around and learned to do traditional women’s work like making baskets, working the fields, and cooking. The transition from child to adult was usually clearly defined in Native American tribes. The child would go through some kind of rite of passage ceremony and then be considered an adult. One type of ceremony was called a vision quest. During the vision quest, the child would go off alone into the wilderness. They would stay there without food or sleep until they had a vision. The vision would provide a guardian spirit or direction for the child’s new adult life.”
– Havasupai Tribe
Issac, TDS can’t be cured. You’ll suffer forever
That’s much more about your dreams, fantasies and biases than anything that has anything to do with this article.
Of course because it’s a bribe or someone has something on this guy.
Q: “At what point does the media recognize that there are serious questions of wrongdoing that remain unresolved?”
***********************
A; When Clapper and Brennan are indicted or when pigs fly. Sorta the same thing.
mespo– I’m not smart enough to understand why DOJ would release a story this big on a Friday. Usually that is done to soften the impact of the story. Could it be that the DOJ still is trying to protect Obama, Biden and Hillary? Or is the Friday release rule no longer valid with social media?
Honest:
It’s early enough in the news cycle today to still hit. To bury it, you release it after 4 pm. when the network deadlines have passed.
I must admit that a part of me still hopes that pigs can fly.
Hopefully this is only the start.
The start of what. This is the end. This is the end of four years of blithering idiocy, incompetence, and shame. Trump has proven through his actions that he is completely incompetent and a danger to America. Trump is responsible for thousands of lives lost unnecessarily to Cover-19. His lies and his constant blaming of others has convinced enough Americans that this was a huge mistake. The odd functionary that lied or tried to nail him amounts to nothing when placed next to this travesty, this incompetent, this traitor, this megalomaniac more concerned with his hair than the lives of Americans. Hopefully the wheels of justice will turn after he is out of office and he will be strapped to them, secure in that jacket with the extra long sleeves.
The “odd functionary that lied or tried to nail him amounts to nothing…” Bahahahahaha. Brace for impact, my friend. It’s coming.
Isack,
Why so animated; so exercised?
Biden is going to win.
more to come people, you can bet on that. the biggest political scandal since watergate even bigger since it involved active government harassment of a legit political campaign, whereas, Nixon’s plumbers were mostly former government employees and contractors. this one’s a long time coming but it will grow before our eyes in the weeks to come
if we get an indictment of this guy, then DURHAM will go down in history from the fame of doing what DOJ has always feared to do–
sanction a former head of CIA up to mischief!
https://twitter.com/QTRResearch/status/1187758670765006850?s=20
This post goes up a few minutes ago and already there are 17 comments. I guess Correct-the-Record sent out the bat signal.
THIS IS FANTASTIC
game is ON. the DOJ is going to do its job after all. they waited long enough, probably more to come next 2 weeks, it will all unfold
the timing is actually masterfully close. man they are serious. i love it. i suddenly feel like there’s a glacier sized snowball headed for hell and Trump may win
But we have to turn out that vote! everybody, must register, get your social network moving, make it happen on that day or sooner
The investigation should be permitted to continue unimpeded until its natural conclusion. An exchange of views on the substantive conclusions will then be appropriate. Speculation and finger pointing in the interim have no value.
Im pointing the finger at Brennan as coup leader
here is clapper, former DNI i think? he’s in the reticle too
https://twitter.com/QTRResearch/status/1187758670765006850?s=20
Guess you missed this last week Mr Kurtz . “Former CIA Director John Brennan appears to have avoided prosecution in U.S. Attorney John Durham’s criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation.
After NBC News reported Thursday that Brennan agreed to do an interview with Durham, signaling that his investigation is nearing its end, a lawyer familiar with the situation told NPR that the Obama-era CIA director has been told he is not a target of prosecutors. Instead, this source said, the interview will mainly consist of technical questions.”
Word is that Brennan himself leaked that little bit o news. He’s in trouble and he knows it.
Mike, for over three years there has been finger pointing against Trump and those associated with him. This was done through leaks from the intelligence agencies, from democrat leaders, from democrat Congressmen and Senators, from the MSM, and perhaps from foreign nations yet today for the first time we hear: “Speculation and finger pointing in the interim have no value.”
You have not seen me speculating or finger pointing on these matters. I cannot speak for anyone else.
Mike, you haven’t and I recognized you to be one of the few accross the aisle that seems to able to discuss things intelligently. However, this is the first time you have made that statement. Don’t you think that statement was valid when other accusations were made against Trump and his supporters? I think of the rule of law where if the law is good for one person it is likewise good for another. You made a good statement but when one looks at the clock I think it was made too late in the game.
So he plead guilty, so now he can take it back and Bill Barr’s Justice Dept will let him go right?
Right. They’ll say that even though he pleaded guilty, they’re not going to be able to prove it, and it isn’t material anyway. /s
It’s a very big deal for a high level FBI lawyer to plead guilty to a crime like this. AG Barr has clearly said the DOJ would not bring charges for crimes they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Remember plea deals usually signal cooperation and Durham doesn’t usually make deals, but he cut one here. So again, make no mistake, this is a very big deal. More indictments will be coming….count on it.
Here’s a hint for you: the good news is that AG Barr didn’t consider this Clinesmith plea a big deal.
Translation: Oh boy, what could be coming down the pike? Hmmmmm.
But wait, there’s more coming Fishwings. Wait for it….
I would hope you would report that the Republicans and Trump were in charge or all branches of the Government, including the FBI, in 2017 when all this went down. Durham found no wrongdoing under Obama/Biden.
It was started under Obama / Biden and the bureaucracy opposed to the Trump Admin continued it. They don’t escape responsibilit just because their terms ended.
“Durham found no wrongdoing under Obama/Biden.”
Where do you get your information? Bahahahahaha, man o man you are in for a surprise. Two words: cognitive dissonance.
Good. People who make material false statements to the government should be held legally accountable for it.
Flynn’s case “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.”
Yes, and if he’d told the truth to VP-Elect Pence (who has stated that Flynn lied to him about it), Flynn likely wouldn’t have been interviewed about it in the first place. And once he agreed to the interview, he could have just told the truth.
He also pleaded guilty to lying about trying to get the Russians to vote against a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestine, and although he wasn’t charged with it, he acknowledged under penalty of perjury that he’d made false declarations on his FARA filings.
“None of that seems to matter …”
What hyperbole. It’s being reported all over: NYT, Washiington Post, NPR, CNN, Fox, The Hill, …
So there was a false email in the third and final renewal of a wiretapping authorization?
If that is all Durham has found, I conclude the initial, as well as the first and second renewals, were 100 percent legit.
Your conclusion would be wrong… from January 2020
FISC Presiding Judge James Boasberg, in the Jan. 7 order that was published for the first time Thursday, further required the government to explain in a written statement by Jan. 28 the “FBI’s handling of information” obtained through the Page warrants and subsequent renewals. Boasberg specifically noted the DOJ found “there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power” because of the “material misstatements and omissions” in the warrant applications.
Although the DOJ assessment technically only covered two of the applications to renew the Page FISA warrant, the DOJ “apparently does not take a position on the validity” on the first two Page FISA applications, Boasberg said, seemingly indicating that the DOJ seemingly did not want to defend their legality either.
The government “intends to sequester information acquired pursuant to those” FISA applications “in the same manner as information acquired pursuant to the subsequent dockets,” the judge said, possibly indicating that those applications are still under review.
Turley– We need to achieve full transparency and accountability.
***
We do, but I no longer believe we will get it. The entire edifice, including the media, is too rotten to support the weight of the truth.
Is this the greatest sinner (liar).
Will Durham’s investigation/prosecutions stop here?
Did this lie start the whole investigation?
Do the others now point a finger at Clinesmith and state “if it hadn’t been for him falsifying a statement, we wouldn’t have submitted the third and final renewal to the FISA Court?
The questions are limitless.
“Did this lie start the whole investigation?”
No.
The investigation started before this, with George Papadopoulos drunkenly bragging to an Australian diplomat about help from the Russians.
This wasn’t even submitted until the 3rd FISA renewal for Carter Page.
You seem to have conveniently ignored what the predicate was for applying to the FISC viz Page in the first place, while also continuing with the blatant and fraudulant mischaracterisation of Downer’s own description of his conversation with Papadopoulos.
Which cable news network/Democrat political consulting firm do you work for precisely?
Barbara’s question was about “the whole investigation,” which I interpreted as Crossfire Hurricane.
The first Page FISA warrant wasn’t the beginning of Crossfire Hurricane.
Please quote “Downer’s own description of his conversation with Papadopoulos.” If I’m wrong about something, I’ll note my mistake.
From the Horowitz Report:
“the FBI opened Crossfire Hurricane on July 31, 2016, just days after its receipt of information from a Friendly Foreign Government (FFG) reporting that, in May 2016, during a meeting with the FFG, then Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos ‘suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to Mrs Clinton (and President Obama).'” That internal quote is from an Australian official. Are you objecting to me saying GP was drunk?
mdberger: we’ve never seen you before. You just popped in for this?
ha ha just wait. you’re gonna be real tired typing up spin before this is done CTHD. keep your fingers limber
Kurtz, she is gathering up her lies and points to micro parse and divert the discussion. Mein Anführer, wir müssen unsere Lügen schützen und sie beschuldigen…
Yet you don’t provide any evidence of my having posted “spin,” Kurtz, only an empty accusation.
If you have evidence, man up and present it.
Your spin and lies have been consistently demonstrated. Wait till this discussion gets off its feet. We will have plenty of time to comment then.
You are already starting your set up: “If I’m wrong about something, I’ll note my mistake.”
You have made corrections to trivial mistakes that didn’t interfere with mistruths you were promoting. This statement is a bit of spin in advance.
“Yet you don’t provide any evidence of my having posted “spin,” Kurtz, only an empty accusation.”
Kurtz was talking about future spin so of course he won’t try to predict the spin or lies we expect from you in the future.
This may be in part an offshoot of the Flynn Obama / relationship when Obama was President.
Papadopoulos wasn’t drunk though obviously that lie has been repeated in the media often enough to gain traction. Papadopoulos told the Australian, who had strong ties to both the intelligence community and the Clinton Foundation, he, Papadopoulos had been told by Josef Mifsud – who has disappeared – Russians claimed to have Clinton’s emails. Downer, the diplomat allegedly recorded the conversation leading to some speculation it was a set up.
“During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20171230163507/http://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/us/politics/how-fbi-russia-investigation-began-george-papadopoulos.html
I interpret “heavy drinking” as “drunk.”
Quote some counter-evidence.
With his first guilty plea, Durham has more convictions for wrongdoing in the SUBJECT of his investigation than the entire Mueller wet dream team.
Wait for the CNN/DNC/MSNBC spin on this one.
Excellent point.
From watching Fox News and listening to Trump all these months, I assumed we were going to find Obama and Biden behind all of this. Turns out just some career bureaucrat making one false statement, and it is hard to even understand why this was an important thing.
Trump has made over 20,000 false statements. So put up against one false statement by some guy. Meh. If it was a misstatement to help Trump then Trump would have pardoned the guy by now and probably appointed him to higher office.
All kinds of FBI guys supporting Trump and leaking stuff to Guiliani about Hillary before the election. No investigation into that.
Just another example of Republicans investigating minor issues by alleged opponents while ignoring the major corruption in plain sight every day by Team Trump.
Trying to spin huh
Next couple weeks you’re the one who’s gonna see your head spin.
A lot of things have been held back for the last 3 months, and they’re going to spring into action
and it will continue to election day as long as that dribbles on… we go to the mat on this one.. we go all the way
“Trump has made 20,000 false statements…”
According to whom? The same people who consistently lie, misrepresent, and selectively ignore/elevate facts that support their preferred narrative?
yes, that’s a lie in itself. they are brazen. time for us to get the brass where it counts too.
today it’s 80 days to go. VERY LUCKY NUMBER in Chinese. ba-shi. means eight tens. sounds alike to “let it be,” in Mandarin, also.
or in french, “ainsi soit-il” — or as those on the level say, “so mote it be!”
yes, let it be!
md, if you can’t tell Trump is lying on about half the things he says, there is something wrong with you. He doesn’t respect you enough to even try to appear like he cares, but I guess that’s what you deserve.
Book, ‘mdberger’ is yet another puppet parroting for our usual troll. He’s super active today.
“Turns out just some career bureaucrat making one false statement, and it is hard to even understand why this was an important thing.”
You clearly have not been paying attention. Clinesmith is not just some low level bureaucrat who made a false statement. That is an intentional mischaracterization by the fake news Dem spin machine. And this is a VERY big deal.
(music)
We went to the animal fair!
The birds and beasts were there.
The old baboon by the light of the moon was combing his aburn hair.
The monkey he got drunk.
And fell on the feet of Trump.
Trump sneezed, and fell on his knees and that was the end of the Monk, the Monk, the Monk!
Is it possible that he is willing to plead guilty to a reduced sentence he may have received for giving up information about other players?
Maybe. It is also possible that the evidence was so clear that he took the best deal he could to minimize jail and legal fees.
Likely with procedures common to the DOJ.
Matt: Is Big Bird yellow?
Big yellow bird?
Probably and I hope this bird knows full operas when he sings.
My gracious, there is a whole herd of elephants in the room. You can’t hardly turn around without bumping into one!