Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified notes of former CIA Director John Brennan showing that he briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton’s alleged “plan” to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.” My interest in this story is not simply the serious underlying allegation but the lack of coverage by major networks or media outlets. This was clearly released at this time for political purposes, but that does not make it a non-story. We have often discussed concerns over the active effort by many in the media to downplay stories that would either help President Donald Trump or hurt the Democrats in the upcoming elections. This would seem such a case. Whether this is true or a complete fabrication, it should be major news. In the meantime, the responses from Clinton allies have not addressed the substance of the document and have simply dismissed the entire story as groundless.
Brennan’s handwritten notes would seem extremely serious on their face. It certainly indicates that Brennan considered the issue sufficiently serious to brief the President of the United States on July 28th. The notes state
“We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from [REDACTED]. . . CITE [summarizing] alleged approved by Hillary Clinton a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service.”
There is also a notation reading “Any evidence of collaboration between Trump campaign + Russia” and margin references to “JC,” “Denis,” and “Susan.” If Brennan thought this was serious enough to brief the President, shouldn’t the media consider this sufficiently serious to investigate and report?
While it would be dangerous to release documents without redactions, there is an obvious value to understanding the truth about these briefings and the underlying allegations.
This release further supports a newly-declassified document with the Senate Judiciary Committee revealing that, in September 2016, U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral on Hillary Clinton purportedly approving “a plan concerning U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections” in order to distract the public from her email scandal.
When asked about this referral involving a candidate for the presidency, then-FBI Director James Comey insisted that it “didn’t ring a bell.”
Once again, my initial interest is in the utter blackout on the story. This would seem a major story regardless of the ultimate findings. If these notes have been fabricated or misrepresented, it would show a breathtaking effort to lie to the voters before the election. If these notes are genuine, it would indicate that the FBI was aware of an effort by the Democratic presidential candidate to tag Trump with a Russian collusion scandal. We know that Clinton’s campaign funded the Steele dossier and that Steele shopped the dossier with the media to try to generate coverage to influence the election.
Throughout the campaign, and for many weeks after, the Clinton campaign denied any involvement in the creation of the dossier that was later used to secure a secret surveillance warrant against Trump associates during the Obama administration. Journalists later discovered that the Clinton campaign hid the payments to Fusion as a “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to the law firm. New York Times reporter Ken Vogel at the time said that Clinton lawyer Marc Elias had “vigorously” denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman likewise wrote: “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.” Even when Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta was questioned by Congress on the matter, he denied any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the false information given to Congress.
Later, confronted with the evidence, Clinton and her campaign finally admitted that the dossier was a campaign-funded document that was pushed by Steele and others to the media.
Making things worse is the fact that we know know American intelligence flagged Steele’s main source as a Russian agent and warned that the dossier was suspected of containing Russian disinformation from Russian intelligence agencies.
Yet, even with this latest disclosure in Brennan’s own writing, we hear the familiar sound of crickets. It seems that journalism is suspended until after the election when reporters might be allowed a modicum of curiosity on such stories.
“‘A Means Of Distracting The Public’: Brennan Briefed Obama On Clinton “Plan” To Lie Trump To Russia”
– Professor Turley
_______________
Did Hillary “Lie” Trump to Russia
or
“Tie” Trump to Russia?
Both!
Edmund Burke:
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
“No power so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
“Liberty does not exist in the absence of morality.”
“Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.”
“The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.”
“The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”
“If Comey had indicted Hillary, Comey would have convicted Obama.”
– Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review
“We will stop him.”
– Peter Strzok to FBI paramour Lisa Page
—————————————————-
“[Obama] wants to know everything we’re doing.”
– Lisa Page to FBI paramour Peter Strzok
The Obama Coup D’etat in America is the most egregious abuse of power and the most prodigious scandal in American political history.
The co-conspirators are:
Kevin Clinesmith, Bill Taylor, Eric Ciaramella, Rosenstein, Mueller/Team, Andrew Weissmann,
James Comey, Christopher Wray, McCabe, Strozk, Page, Laycock, Kadzic,
Sally Yates, James Baker, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Priestap, Kortan, Campbell,
Sir Richard Dearlove, Christopher Steele, Simpson, Joseph Mifsud,
Alexander Downer, Stefan “The Walrus” Halper, Azra Turk, Kerry, Hillary,
Huma, Mills, Brennan, Gina Haspel, Clapper, Lerner, Farkas, Power, Lynch,
Rice, Jarrett, Holder, Brazile, Sessions (patsy), Nadler, Schiff, Pelosi, Obama,
Joe Biden, James E. Boasberg et al.
Please, I beg all of you good Americans who contribute (involuntarily) to charity in all its forms, please help me keep my husband out of prison and out of a guillotine.
Please vote for Kamala Harris and Joke “Sniffer” Biden, even though she’s only a “citizen” and eminently ineligible, and he checked out some time ago.
Barack’s future, and those of a thousand of his closest friends, depend on your vote and the election of a foreigner with foreign allegiances, Harris-Biden.
Please vote for Kamala and the “Crazy Cracker.”
Thank you and God Bless the generous American welfare state, without which Barack and I and Kamala would be absolutely nothing.
George, you need psych help.
That’s not what my psych says!
Anonymous, the one who is afraid we will find out how many hours he posts or how many posts he makes. Anonymous who hides behind his generic anonymous label and has friends that don’t exist that so happened to have the same alias and icon. Anonymous is saying another needs psych help? lol
Which room in which of your many million dollar mansions did your person staff of servants, do your hair and makeup and film this video for you, Michelle?
Why would anyone thank Barack Obama for his “Public service”? Public servie, my a$$.
Barack Obama will go down as one of the most corrupt, self-serving presidents of all time.
This campaign video by MO is an effort to go after the Black vote for Joe Biden who does not have the “black vote” signed, sealed and delivered. The Dems bring out Michelle to stir things up, and of course, she plays the racism card against Trump.
Trump has been actively going after the black vote and he has made headway. He does not need the black vote the way Biden needs it to win. So we will see more of this (Trump is a racist!) from the Dems.
The Dems needs to chip away at Trump’s military vote as well. So what did we see? The “anonymous” story that Trump called military ‘losers and suckers.” Joe Biden keeps repeating this lie over and over in the hopes of making a dent in the military vote in areas like Pensacola. Biden needs to win Florida.
None of this campaign rhetoric is about truth or facts or anything else but winning the election at any cost and by any means.
How deep does this cast of characters extend. We probably don’t even know the half of them. Obama was in office for eight years and if Trump had lost, God only knows what would be left of the Republic. No pun intended.
The Democrats engage in election conspiracy at the highest levels of gov’t for years, and all the media cares about is how annoying Trump can be. They are everything and worse that they complain about. Hypocrisy isn’t a strong enough term.
Michelle Obama put out a campaign video yesterday lecturing us all on HER opinion about the BLM riots and Trump.
She said that: ‘Trump is “pinning [violence] on what’s been an overwhelmingly peaceful movement for racial solidarity; it’s true, research backs it up; only a tiny fraction of demonstrations have had any violence at all … What the president is doing is … racist.”
This is what Andrew McCarthy said in response to Michelle Obama’s campaign video bs:
‘Even taking this on it’s own dubious terms, why would we support a ‘movement for racial solidarity,’ even if it were peaceful? I thought the idea was justice: vindicate the equal dignity of everyone, regardless of race. I personally find white racial solidarity a noxious idea.’
I find Michelle’s comments nauseating as well.
So do tell us Michelle, what do YOU mean by a ‘racial solidarity movement’?? Are we not all Americans? Please stop with YOUR racist, divisive, irresponsible, fear-mongering, dishonest rhetoric Michelle O. You are no better than those you criticize.
Michelle has always been obsessed with race. See her senior essay at Princeton. Now she complains that as a black woman she is invisible. That despite being one of the most recognizable women in the world who has been elevated with media adulation.
Racist Michelle. She tells the story of shopping ‘incognito’ at Target during her time in the White House where a white woman, not recognizing who she was, asked Michelle to grab a product off the shelf for her. Michelle told this story on The Ellen Show as an example of….wait for it…..RACISM! Yes, Michelle said that because she is a black woman, the white woman shopping at Target assumed she must be a Target employee and blah blah blah….RACISM!!! When the FACT was the product the white lady asked Michelle to get for her was on the top shelf and Michelle Obama is over 6 feet tall! But Michelle goes on national television and shares that story as an example of the racism she has to endure in everyday life. Unbelievable.
The other story she tells is standing in line at a cupcake shop in DC and a white woman cut in front of Michelle, her black friend, and their black daughters “as if they didn’t even exist!” And Michelle’s conclusion? White people don’t even see her! She is “invisible” to white racists! No, it wasn’t that the “white” woman was rude, ignorant, running late, busy, absent-minded, etc….nope, Michelle concludes it is another example of RACISM!! that Michelle has to endure in life.
Keep talking Michelle. The more you do, the more people remember why they dislike you so much. You are an ingrate and a bitter racist with big old unattractive chip on your linebacker shoulders.
Anon–I agree with you entirely. I have had the experience of being asked to help another shopper in stores. I was glad to help. Michelle is a dedicated racist and she sees racism, and finds new causes for resentment, in practically everything.
But I am not surprised she despises Melania. That isn’t racism so much as a not very attractive woman hating a living goddess.
Yo Michelle, do you have any comment about Joe Biden saying it is because of all the “black women stocking the shelves” in the grocery stores that have enabled him to stay in his basement all these months? Any comment Michelle?
Michelle and Barack both speak using the most divisive, irresponsible, dishonest rhetoric, and they do it knowingly, intentionally, always to instigate and agitate.
Joe Biden has decades of the most racist comments from a major politician that it is astounding to hear all that Joe Biden has said. Trump campaign needs to run non-stop ads with all of Joe Biden’s racist comments.
Ha! And yes, Melania is a living goddess who exudes an enormous amount of grace, kindess and strength that is admirable given all that she has to endure as First Lady.
i saw her in tears last night on laura she is angry her husband is involve
and legacy legacy and biden the demented if elected all die…so we know now
why they want him elected…she is frightened and angry i am concluded the sh….t
is hiting the fan in their household its all over the news…more sh…t tonight
she will attack mr pence as homophobic and covid so they will close the country
dow if elected she will be president can you believe it….but they say close friends
of mine and helmut northpoth said trump will win…look him up i am scared
she is vicious and lethal kakakakakakmala
Michelle O says, “only a tiny fraction of demonstrations have had any violence at all”…..
When the facts are that these BLM protests have resulted in the most widespread violent, destructive riots in the past 50 years.
Of course the MSM will let Michelle’s LIES stand, unchallenged and uncorrected, per usual.
Bottom line Hillary got away and will continue to get away clean, Obacuala, Biden, Rice, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, “I can’t testify in person or remotely because it’s too dangerous” McCabe, Strozck, Page, et.al will get away clean. Barr and Durham, window dressing, what have they given us so far a guy by the name of Clinedink (Clinesmith) a nothing. A man who has really served his country Gen. Flynn has been coerced into a confession and destroyed. For 4 years the American people have been snookered by a media turned political propagandist.
The Biggest scam is coming my friends, the election. It will be Stolen right before our eyes with Mail In Ballots. I’ll bet a dollar to a doughnut I’m correct.
One thing about the Democrats they will accuse you of what they have already done or plan on doing, They are artists at it.
Organization can defeat organization. It does take work and risk and cunning.
Normal, decent, law abiding Americans are at another inflection point.
Will they quietly allow themselves to be crushed, or will they toughen their resolve to fight more and harder and smarter.
We will see. If the turnout of Trump voters is sufficient on election day to show a clear majority, then no after the fact shenanigans will matter.
It all depends on a sufficient turnout of Trump voters on election day. Don’t despair, just spend all the next month making sure everyone you have personal contact with understands the gravity of the election and the need to show up and vote.
A people who are not willing to be held in thrall will continue to resist for generations.
MrK – My family and I will be standing in line early.
Democrat ballot fraud in select locations will tip this to Biden. My poor country will explode over this, we all know a Trump landslide is coming
“Trump loses his Second Circuit appeal attempting to quash the subpoena for his tax returns from the Manhattan DA’s office. This case has already been up to the Supreme Court once and Trump lost that time.”
https://ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/5ac1b024-4f47-47bc-9d13-c1a33bc3854f/1/doc/20-2766_opn.pdf
Just last week, before Trump was diagnosed with COVID, the NYT published information suggesting that Trump engaged in tax fraud (e.g., paying Ivanka as a consultant as a means of reducing his taxable income) and money laundering.
I hope that the state of NY succeeds in obtaining Trump’s tax returns and investigating whether he has broken the law.
Ha. You can’t hire a family member as a consultant? The only question is whether it would be ordinary and necessary
Trust me for a real estate developer, brand icon, hotelier, and elected politician, he’s got quite a wide latitude where hiring consultants is concerned.
That is a total loser for a fraud case. No prosecutor would try it, even one who hates him. At best the deduction could be denied and he could litigate it as a civil matter.
The fact a contractor is related does not render their services invalid as deductions. You have millions of people out there working as lawyers for example, for family related entities, doing necessary work, and the fact they are related is not going to cause any examiner to blink.
in theory it would be possible to build such a case but if you understand how they pick their cases, they will not bother.
I have seen federal prosecutors bite off cases for tax fraud they could not chew. the past decade or more, they have been a lot more circumspect about taking wild swings at foul balls.
and this is the obvious pretense of the case.. it is just a fishing expedition, we all understand that.
the only question that the politicized judges will bat around, with fake seriousness, is whether or not it is a valid fishing expedition
but it most definitely is just a fishing expedition. it could hardly be any more obvious.
“You can’t hire a family member as a consultant? ”
Why are you asking such a general question instead of looking at the details if you didn’t know them already? Do you have to be spoon fed information?
According to the NYT, “Ms. Trump reported receiving payments from a consulting company she co-owned, totaling $747,622, that exactly matched consulting fees claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for hotel projects in Vancouver and Hawaii. Ms. Trump had been an executive officer of the Trump companies that received profits from and paid the consulting fees for both projects — meaning she appears to have been treated as a consultant on the same hotel deals that she helped manage as part of her job at her father’s business.
“When asked about the arrangement, the Trump Organization lawyer, Mr. Garten, did not comment.
“Employers can deduct consulting fees as a business expense and also avoid the withholding taxes that apply to wages. To claim the deduction, the consulting arrangement must be an “ordinary and necessary” part of running the business, with fees that are reasonable and market-based, according to the I.R.S. The recipient of the fees is still required to pay income tax. The I.R.S. has pursued civil penalties against some business owners who devised schemes to avoid taxes by paying exorbitant fees to related parties who were not in fact independent contractors. …”
“this is the obvious pretense of the case” says the guy who can’t even be bothered to look up the details before commenting on it.
I honestly don’t care what your personal assessment of it is. I’m not claiming that it’s fraud. I’m claiming that it’s one of many legit reasons for NY state to obtain Trump’s tax returns and investigate whether everything Trump did is legal.
May we have your tax returns please, and all the people you do business with and all of your friends and family members…,
oh, and those of Mummy Pelosi, The Clinton Foundation, Soros, Bloomberg, The Biden Family, Schiff, Omar, Schumer, Feinstein, Alhysteria O’crazio Corkheads et al.?
NY State has a subpoena for them, George. Do you know what a subpoena is?
I recently obeyed a subpoena to show up in court as a witness. If there is ever a subpoena for my tax returns, I’ll obey that subpoena too.
So, no?
Is that a subpoena for legal or political purposes? It would seem to be the case that the IRS initiates criminal investigations for tax fraud. It’s just incidental that the subpoena involves the President of the Untied States and there is no legal aim, your “subpoena” was corruptly issued, immediately prior to an election, merely for politcal purposes, isn’t that correct, “counselor?”
Needs To Be Committed, is that a pseudonym?
Are you actually Hillary the Hun in costume for Halloween?
well thanks for the details CTHD. The thing is, IRS has not commandered management. Management still makes decisions for the entities under its authority.
“I.R.S. has pursued civil penalties” — I guess that sort of supports my point, doesn’t it, that there is no valid criminal tax evasion issue here.
You may not claim it’s fraud, but you suggested it was when you said: “NYT published information suggesting that Trump engaged in tax fraud (e.g., paying Ivanka as a consultant as a means of reducing his taxable income) and money laundering.”
“money laundering” is even more far afield. Not even close. LOL. Really,. you don’t need to care what I think, the problem is, you are spewing things about which somebody else here knows a thing or two, and I have the time to come and correct you today.
Remember, this is a top “law blog” and it will draw the attention of others and probably some who are far more knowledgeable than me. But even a small fry nobody lawyer like me from flyover may have modest experience with business management, tax planning, and how to comply with the usual assortment of financial regulations.
Don’t feel bad! The NYT is feeding you a line of bull. It’s ok, I can understand why you and millions of others keep on believing them, long after people with the experience and understanding to see through their farce have stopped listening. Partly, it’s the “Grey Lady” brand itself, and partly it’s your own wishful thinking. They are telling you what you already want to believe, so it’s easy to accept it.
FFS, Kurtz, learn to read more carefully. My statement — “the NYT published information suggesting that Trump engaged in tax fraud (e.g., paying Ivanka as a consultant as a means of reducing his taxable income) and money laundering” — does not imply that paying Ivanka as a consultant is a form of money laundering. The parenthetic applies to the preceding phrase, not to the subsequent phrase.
Nor is the NYT article the only thing I’ve read about it. There’s commentary from tax law profs, like these:
https://www.justsecurity.org/72604/ten-quick-takeaways-from-the-new-york-times-bombshell-article-on-trumps-tax-returns/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/three-interpretations-of-trumps-tax-records/616570/.
the money laundering part of the atlantic article is super weak. the other two parts were stronger.
you can imagine money laundering all over the place if you let your imagination run away with you.
luckily, cops are not that crazy, and prosecutors are even less inclined to stub their toe on it.
———————————————–
of that first piece, parts 4 and 5 were insightful, the rest were not so much
thanks for the references it gives me a better idea of what the fuss is supposedly about.
again the bottom line is there is some civil tax issues here perhaps, but no evidence of criminal activity. that is all just “sales puffery”
————————————————-
probing tax returns for evidence of criminal activity is a delicate matter., criminals are required to pay taxes even on illegal income. genuine money laundering investigations are almost always related to a verifiable criminal enterprise. here we have entirely lawful businesses at the foot of it. this is why i say, it’s obviously a fishing expedition
if we let fishing expeditions based on tax disputes go, that will deeply undermine our voluntary tax reporting system. there is more at stake here than political posturing in an election year. the United States income tax reporting system works on a voluntary basis precisely because regular people and businesses understand the IRS is generally NOT a politicized agency, overall, in spite of some embarrassments along those lines such as Mr Koskinnen of the Obama administration.
If federal judges want to undermine that powerful system, they can do so by green lighting this fishing expedition. it will be very short sighted of them but one suspects they are politicized appointees who are going to do their part for their team. Short sighted if they do however.
If those at NYT had a clue they would grasp that Trump paying consulting fees to families INCREASED the total taxes paid.
Trump’s taxes were very low – his effective marginal rate was LOW – almost certainly lower than Ivanka’s or the rest of his family.
Paying them as consultants lowered HIS taxes but raised theirs. And the net effect was more taxes to the government.
This is NOT common among the middle class or upper middle class – I pay my kids for actual work they do for me. It slightly increases their taxes but significantly reduces mine. Though that is not why I do it. I do it because they do things that are worth what I pay them and that I would have to pay someone else otherwise. I also do so because I can pay my family members without being forced to run payroll or any of the other machinations required to hire someone. That is one of few instances in the US that is still possible.
Beyond that – nothing related to taxes has anything to do with actual money laundering.
Idiots on the left constantly abuse the term money laundering.
Money laundering is the conversion of money earned illegally to money that appears legally.
Actual money laundering results in the government collecting lots of taxes, as illegitimate money becomes legitimate and taxable.
In fact money laundering usually generates large taxes – because there are no expenses to reduce the taxable income.
Illegally made money is 100% taxable when you launder it.
If you are talking about reducing taxes or loopholes you are NEVER talking about money laundering.
Frankly if you are talking about Trump you are not talking monehy laundering – his businesses are all legitimate.
He is not dealing drugs.
“Nor is the NYT article the only thing I’ve read about it. There’s commentary from tax law profs, like these:”
CTDHD it is not even worth checking your links. You are just not credible.
But I would give you some free advice – if you want to know about taxes – talk to an actual tax lawyer – Richard Barnes would be one high profile tax lawyer to start with.
Do not talk to a law professor.
As to Trump’s taxes you are fighting a steep uphill battle.
He has an army of the nations best accountants and lawyers. They know exactly what they are doing and it is near certain he never acts outside their recomendations. If he did they would QUIT their liability would be too high.
He has a 100% risk of being audited – by an ARMY of IRS agents.
They have already been through this far better than reporter and law professors and the NY AG or the manhattan DA.
All you are doing is wasting oxygen.
Just about any business person on the planet – especially those in realestate no matter how small their involvement understands that though Trump’s tax returns are gigantic, they are pretty normal.
Nothing you or the left has carped about is both true and unusual.
These are good points from John say about taxation. Did Ivanka not have to report her self employment income on her return and pay income and self employment tax? of course she did. great point John
Btw. Trump’s tax lawyer in chicago was a whale of a lawyer, and Democrat like 95% of the lawyers in Chicago, and he still caught hell for being Trump’s guy. I forget his name and wont bother to look it up. These people never bother to correct their mistaken assertions.
My most important point is that Trump like most everyone at his level has an army of lawyers and accountants.
Many of whom are PERSONALLY liable for his taxes.
And every line of his taxes was scrutinized by the IRS.
If you think you are finding anything – you are nuts.
As with every single tax return on the planet – it is likely that when Trump was audited – which he is always, that some adjustments were made and he ended up paying some additional taxes. It is likely the IRS was wrong, but it does not matter. As just about everyone knows with respect to an audit – you will have to give them enough to make them go away – essentially to pay the cost of the audit otherwise the IRS looks foolish, and not so much that they think there is more. The objective for both the tax payer and IRS is to avoid court. Especially for people like Trump. At the merely wealthy the IRS is likely to win in tax court – they have more money and more foot soldiers and a friendly court. At Trump’s level the IRS lawyers are severly outgunned and it is near certain Trump’s lawyers are right on the law and the case could go to the Supreme Court and set bad precedent for the IRS.
All this is common place everywhere you have to deal with government agents.
I did building code work for years. I knew the building codes 10 times better than the building inspector. But you have to be careful arguing with a building inspector – no matter how much of an idiot he is, you must make him think you are his friend and you must give on some issues so that he feels vindicated, because if things escalate even if you win you lose. There is no project that can afford a 2 year delay for a legal battle with a building inspector.
Today I have apartments – same thing – I know the codes much better than they do. But everytime they inspect I have to give them something – even if they are wrong on the law. Because they have to “feel” like their job is worthwhile. That they are big men.
It would not do if an architect with 40 years of experience and practice understood the codes better than they did.
This is true most everywhere you encounter government.
It is true dealing with the FDA too.
With them it may be worse. No one in the FDA wants to sign off on the next thalidimide.
As a result there is always more they can demand to make things “safe”
Congress has passed laws since the 80’s to force the FDA to expedite approvals for orphan drugs.
It NEVER happens.
You can kill 10,000 drugs that would save lives and no one will blame you. But one thalidimide and you will be remembered forever.
Again the incentives in government are wrong ALWAYS.
That is why socialism fails.
That is why regulation is always net harmful.
There is no ideology in that. It is reality.
And the Bidens still walk around freely? Tell me now there is no deep state.
First, apologize to President Trump and the American people for supporting the Democrat/Russia collusion coup. Then and only then should we move on to your next disastrous, false allegation. We may even find a moment for this bs.
I am petitioning the IRS to release all the private information in CommitToHonestDiscussion’s tax return.
I think most of Obama’s family, including the kids, were envoys or consultants. If not they owe us a lot for travel expenses.
But CTHD – – HUNTER BIDEN!
Putin is laughing his @ss off at Obama and his willing accomplices Biden, HRC, Comey, the DNC and the MSM. They destabilized an entire nation through their blind lust for power. The Dems and Putin both succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Jeez you people have short attention span. My god. How did this thread devolve into crap about the CDC? No wonder the country is going to hell, you guys can’t even keep a topic on message for an hour. Disgusting. And, Dr. Turley, again, again, again…how long can you be a democrat when this crap is standard fare of your party? Have you no integrity or concern for your reputation? This is a coup. Ask yourself, if a coup were to be staged in 2020, what would it look like? It would look like what you’re seeing, including the participation of the overtly-biased media. It would look exactly like what is going on and continues to go on right now. I am only puzzled by why Trump doesn’t declassify all of this crap and expose these scumbags.
Good post Bob. I pointed out the other day how easily the Democrats and the Leftists on this blog have been able to deflect acknowledging what the evidence shows. And as soon as they say look squirrel, they get the discussion chasing in a different direction. That’s why I posted the following to remind them to not let these a$$hats off the hook.
First, apologize to President Trump and the American people for supporting the Democrat/Russia collusion coup. Then and only then should we move on to your next disastrous, false allegation. We may even find a moment for this bs.
Turley’s a Democrat like Trump is a successful businessman.
+1
Dr. Turley – You try to diminish the impact of this in your first paragraph by noting its closeness to the election. The truth is that Americans needed to know about this 3 years ago but Republicans tried to let the process take its course while the Democrats literally lied for 3 years straight to the Press, the Congress, and the American people.
I think the title has a typo – instead of “lie Trump to Russia” don’t you mean “tie Trump to Russia?” It detracts from the impact of the title.
Yes, MSM will not mention it.
Nothing will happen to those cooking up the idea
Nothing will happen to anyone involved in any of the lies to congress, or most importantly, to the American people.
Liberals will continue to be liberal, supporting anything with a “D” next to their name.
Conservatives will continue to be conservative, supporting anything with a “R” next to their name.
Moderates, most of them, will continue to tune out.
Administrations will continue to overlook mistakes of prior administrations because the unwritten rule is to avoid any legal action against prior administrative people to not get the “paybacks are hell” treatment when they leave.
The only winners are the ones with sponsor patches on the suits of members of congress.
Ron,
Why do you assume that the MSM won’t mention it? If you do an internet search on [ratcliffe brennan] and limit the results to the last 24 hours, it shows lots of MSM reporting about it: Washington Post, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSN, Fox, Politico, CNN, Business Insider, National Review, …
From what I’ve read so far, “those cooking up the idea” were the Russians — the notes were about Russian allegations.
The bigger story is that Ratcliffe, who was unqualified and too partisan to become DNI, was nonetheless confirmed as DNI for political reasons and is using his post for political ends rather than national security ends.
You are correct – the MSM mentions nearly everything the right wants them to mention.
But the focus attention dramatically to the left.
If a white police officer shoots a black man it will be the news accross the country for days.
If the FBI lies under oath to the FISA court – it will get a mention.
But this is more than a media problem – this is a problem with the left as a whole.
Your attention is purely driven by ideology.
Biden overtly threatens a foriegn power if they do not fire a prosecutor looking into a business that his son was hired specifically to provide political protection for – and you do not care.
Trump asks a foriegn power to investigate and you impeach.
That is insanity.
I keep hearing that Trump is a racist, a nazi and an antisemite.
His son-in-law is jewish and his daughter has converted – yet Trump hates jews.
He appointed the first openly gay ambassador – who fought to incorporate gay rights into foreign relations with many gay hostile countries – yet Trump is homophobic.
He has ended wars, reduced government regulation, and somehow he is authoritarian ?
The left lives in a paralell universe where up is down and left is right.
I have little trust for either party. If this was known from sometime starting in 2017 going forward, there is no damn reason to keep it secret. This unwritten agreement that previous administrations illegal activities will be overlooked by current administrations needs to stop..
If Trump knew from the beginning this was fake and documented, why cover it up?
Like I said earlier, there are few in government one can trust!
Ron,
Brennan said “These were my notes from the 2016 period when I briefed President Obama and the rest of the national security council team about what the Russians were up to and I was giving examples of the type of access that the US intelligence community had to Russian information and what the Russians were talking about and alleging.”
Do you generally accept Russian allegations as fact?
What russian allegations ?
Details matter.
Pretty much everybody accepts that Russia has attempted to interfere in US elections for decades.
Your ICA assessment found that they did so in the 2016 election – but not to any unusual degree.
The russians probe our electric grid, critical infrastructure, federal and state governments constantly.
It is estimated that Russian hackers with state protection commit 30B in financial crimes in the US every year.
Did the Russians attempt to havk some states voter registration systems – absolutely.
Did a PRIVATE company with ties to Putin place a small number of really stupid adds on facebook – absolutely.
That BTW is not illegal, and SHOULD not be made illegal. It is merely persausion and you never want to pass laws you can not enforce.
Did Russia hack the DNC ? The odds are about 60:40 that they did not. There remains today no conclusive evidence they did – even CrowdStrike the only people whith direct information on the hack has TESTIFIED that it is not possible to identify a source for the hacking.
But it is worse – it is not possible to prove the emails were hacked.
Regardless – the emails were embarrasing and damaging to clinton – BECAUSE THEY WERE TRUE.
Just as the NBC video of Trump was embarrasing and damaging to Trump.
If your do not want to be publicly embarrased – do not say or do things that you should be ashamed of, that are immoral and unethical.
The Trump/Russia collusion nonsense was a LIE. You have sought to harm Trump with a LIE.
John Say ignores the fact that the GOP led Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, which explains of course why they – Pres Trump included – lied about that collusion numerous times The Mueller Report, the Senate IC Report, our intelligence agencies, and the FBI all concur on this.
John Say ignores the fact that the GOP led Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians,
Once again, this is in the statement released by the chair of that committee. It proves you’re lying.
“We can say, without any hesitation, that the Committee found absolutely no evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russian government to meddle in the 2016 election.
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/press/rubio-statement-senate-intel-release-volume-5-bipartisan-russia-report
From the Senate IC Report which Rubio did not apparently read::
“(U) The Committee found that the Russian government engaged in an aggressive, multifaceted effort to influence, or attempt to influence, the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
….(U) Manafort hired and worked increasingly closely with a Russian national, Konstantin
Kilimnik. Kilimnik is a Russian intelligence officer. Kilimnik became an integral part of
Manafort’s operations in Ukraine and Russia, serving as Manafort’s primary liaison to Deripaska
and eventually managing Manafort’s office in Kyiv. Kilimnik and Manafort formed a close and
lasting relationship that endured to the 2016 U.S. elections. and beyond.
(U) Prior to joining the Trump Campaign in March 2016 and continuing throughout his
time 6n the Campaign, Manafort directly and indirectly communicated with Kilimnik, Deripaska,
and the pro-Russian oligarchs in Ukraine.
Beginning while he was Campaign chairman and continuing until at least 2018, Manafort discussed with Kilimnik a peace plan for eastern Ukraine that
benefited the Kremlin.
After the election, Manafort continued to coordinate with
Russian persons, particularly Kilimnik and other individuals close to Deripaska, in an effort to
undertake activities on their behalf. Manafort worked with Kilimnik starting in 2016 on
narratives that sou ht to undermine evidence that Russia interfered in .the 2016 U.S.
election.
(U) The Committee found that Manafort’s presence on the Campaign at;td proximity to
Trump created opportunities for Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and
acquire confidential information on, the Trump Campaign. Taken as a whole, Manafort’s highlevel access and willingness to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the
Russian intelligence services, particularly Kilimnik and associates of Oleg Deripaska,
represented a grave counterintelligence threat.
(U) The Committee found that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian
effort to hack computer networks and accounts affiliated with the Democratic Party and leak
information damaging to Hillary Clinton and her campaign for president. Moscow’s intent was
to harm the Clinton Campaign, tarnish an expected Clinton presidential administration, help the
Trump Campaign after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, and undermine the
U.S. democratic process.
(U) While the GRU and WikiLeaks were releasing hacked documents, the Trump
Campaign sought to maximize the impact of those leaks to aid Trump’s electoral
prospects. Staff on the Trump Campaign sought advance notice about WikiLeaks releases,
created messaging strategies to promote and share the materials in anticipation of and following
thdr release, and encouraged further leaks. The Trump Campaign publicly undermined the
attribution of the hack-and-leak campaign to Russia and was indifferent to whether it and
WikiLeaks were furthering a Russian election interference effort.
(U) Trump and senior Campaign offici.als sought to obtain advance information about
WikiLeaks’s planned releases through Roger Stone. At their direction, Stone took action to gain
inside knowledge for the Campaign and shared his purported knowledge directly with Trump
and senior Campaign offictals on multiple occasions. Trump and the Campaign believed that
Stone had inside information and expressed satisfaction that Stone’s information suggested more
releases would be forthcoming.
(U) The Committee found that the connection between Trump and the Agalarovs began
in 2013
(U) The Committee found that Aras Agalarov was personally involved in pushing for
both the June 9, 2016 meeting between NataliaVeselnitskaya and senior m~mbers of the
Campaign and for a second meeting following the election, also with Veselnitskaya, that did not
take plac·e. Agalarov likely did this on behalf of individuals affiliated with the Russian
government,
(U) The Committe~ found evidence suggesting that it was the ‘i~tent of the Campaign
· participants in the June 9, 2016 meeting, particularly Dortald Trump Jr., to receive derogatory
information that would be of benefit to the Campaign from a soui:ce known, at least by Trump
Jr.,. to have connections to the Russian government.
(U) The information that Natalia. Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer, offered during the
June 9, 2016 meeting and planned to offer again at the follow up meeting requested by Aras .
Agalarov was part of a broader influence operation targeting the United States that was
coordinated, at least in part, with elements of the Russian government. That Russian effort was
focused on U.S. sanctions against Russia under the Magnitsky Act. The Committee assesses that
some of the same information used by Veselnitskaya at the June 9, 2016 meeting was also used
in an influence operation earlier in 2016 by individuals in Moscow who have ties to Russian
intelligence and to Putin.
(U) The Committee assesses that at least two participants in the June 9, 2016 meeting,
Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin, have significant connections to the Russian government,
including the Russian intelligence services. The connections the Committee uncovered,
particularly regarding Veselnitskaya, were far more extensive and concerning than what had
been publicly known
(U) During the 2016 U.S. presidential election cycle, Donald °Trump and the Trump
Organization pursued a business deal in Russia. Michael Cohen, then an executive vice
president at the Trump Organization and personal attorney to Trump, primarily handled and
advanced these efforts
(U) Cohen kept Trump updated on the progress of the deal. While these negotiations
were ongoing, Trump made positive public comments about Putin in connection with his
presidential campaign. Cohen and Sater sought to leverage Trump’s comments, and subsequent
comments about Trump by Putin, to advance the deal.
(U) George Papadopoulos joined the Trump Campaign as part of a foreign policy
advisory team …The Committee found George. Papadopoulos used multiple avenues to pursue a faceto-face meeting between Trump and President Putin. Papadopoulos believed that he was operating with the approval-or at least not the explicit disapproval-of Campaign leadership,
who he kept apprised of his efforts.
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf
Olly,
Once again you focus on Rubio’s personal statement and ignore everything that the Report says. The Report contradicts Rubio. Joe Friday showed you that by quoting the Report, and you are silent.
You told Mespo, “CTHD seems to believe honesty is merely representing facts. It’s far more than that. She lies by omission.” If that’s your standard, you are you lying by omission here. If you won’t yourself to the same standard that you apply to her, then you’re a hypocrite. You have two choices: hold yourself to that standard too, or accept that it’s not the right standard.
His statement was as the chair of the committee. Secondly, the findings in the report are the same as we’ve been arguing for 3 years. Still no Trump/Russia collusion. But, recent previously classified documents released do find others colluding to take out this President. Keep up and stop lying by omission.
You should stop lying by omission, Olly.
Anonymous, what solid facts did Olly leave out to make you say he lied by omission. NOT opinion. Fact and facts that haven’t later been proven erroneous.
Allan, if you were following the website discussion instead of relying on your email, you’d know that Olly left out oodles of relevant facts from the SSCI Report. Didn’t you see Olly’s comment calling Joe a liar and Joe’s response with all of the quotes from the report? Olly can’t bring himself to retract his accusation. Olly is lying by omission.
Tather then constantly telling us that this or that thing supprts your conslusion.
Try facts data, logic reason.
With respect to the SSCI report – it was at odds with common sense at the time, and there has subsequently been so much come to light that it is pointless. Just like the repeated efforts that were necescary to get to the bottom of Benghazi.
The SSCI relied heavily on the thoroughly discredited ICA which releied nearly exclusively on the Steele Dossier.
We have alot more now.
“Allan, if you were following the website discussion instead of relying on your email, you’d know that Olly left out oodles of relevant facts from the SSCI Report.”
Your point is…?
“Joe’s response with all of the quotes from the report? ”
What makes you think those quotes were fact rather than opinion and what makes you think the report is accurate. Let’s take it from the beginning.
Do you believe the Steele Dossier?
You waste alot of words in this argument debating how to evaluate who said what about what third parties said.
If that sounds obtuse – it is because it is.
Can you find an unequivocal statement anywhere that the Trump campaign colluded with Russians ?
You can’t, because they didn’t.
That said CIA director Brennan told Comey and Strzok and Obama that Clinton was colluding with Russia in July 2016. ‘
‘
No they did not. Cut the bunk.
The GOP confirmed what everyone has known from the start – that like every single US election Russia engaged in a small amount of malfeasance in 2016. Nothing unusual and nothing favoring Trump.
Further the Mueller report does not say there was any collusion. In fact it found not a single instance of any american cooperating with Russia. The only negative part of the Mueller report is the hundreds of pages it wastes trying to make the stupid argument that Trump might have obstructed justice – by thinking about doing what he was constitutionally permitted to do and fire Meuller.
Regardless, at this time Mueller is garbage. 9 months before Mueller was appointed any predicate for investigating Trump was obliterated.
John, you’re in denial.
You say “Russia engaged in a small amount of malfeasance in 2016. Nothing unusual and nothing favoring Trump,” when Joe quoted the Senate Intelligence Committee Report saying “The Committee found that the Russian government engaged in an aggressive, multifaceted effort to influence, or attempt to influence, the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. … Moscow’s intent was to harm the Clinton Campaign, tarnish an expected Clinton presidential administration, help the Trump Campaign after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, and undermine the U.S. democratic process.”
That you read that but say “nothing favoring Trump” is pure denial on your part.
There’s more where that came from, such as
“the Intelligence Community assessed that the Russian government “aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him,” the Committee found that IRA social media activity was overtly and almost invariably supportive of then-candidate Trump, and to the detriment of Secretary Clinton’s campaign.”
“Beginning in March 2016, officers of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate, the GRU, successfully hacked computer networks belonging to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and the email accounts of Clinton Campaign officials and employees, including Campaign Chairmap.John Podesta. Over the following months, these hackers carefully established persistent access in confidential areas of the victims’ systems and stole massive amounts of politically sensitive data and personal communications. The data was subsequently leaked by GRU personas and WikiLeaks at strategic moments during the 2016 election, as part of a coordinated hack-and-leak operation intended to damage the Clinton Campaign, help the Trump Campaign (the · “Campaign”), and undermine the U.S. democratic process.”
The bipartisan SSCI Report repeatedly identified evidence that the Russians were trying to help the Trump campaign, but you close your eyes and cover your ears and say “nothing favoring Trump.”
More word games.
We are all aware that the ICA which was spoon fed to Congress LIED about Russian involvment.
It was based on The Steele Dossier – it even included the Steele Dossier as its only addenda.
It was produced by a small group of Brennan alcolytes and not the normal IC process and everyone – including Oddly Comey who dissented from the conclusion that Russia Favored Trump was excluded from participation and they evidence was excluded.
It has taken YEARS of digging to find the evidence in the CIA and FBI of this malfeasance and to establish that the “experts” at the CIA and FBI did not reach any consensus on this and indeed that many were sane and fully grasped that Putin did NOT want Trump elected.
Pretty much any human with an actual brain grasps that Trump’s energy Polices alone have been disasterous for Russia.
But you care more about words at public political functions were as a matter of course everyone lies and is polite to each other than about actions.
TODAY – we have the ACTUAL EVIDENCE – both of the ACTS of Russia, and the ACTUAL reports in the CIA and FBI.
TODAY – We know that the ICA is a peice of crap – just as the whole Russia Collusion delusion was.
An OBVIOUS peice of crap from the start.
But my guess is that you are so delubed that you likely think that Xi and Kim Un are aiding Trump in 2020
Leaders of nations act in the interests of the nation and its people – or very bad things happen to them.
Any moron both today and in 2016 can easily tell that Putin, Xi, Kim Un ALL would prefer Clinton then or Biden now over Trump.
This is not news to anyone with a working brain cell.
It is also not news to anyone with any knowledge of the ACTS that Russia did in the election.
Russia’s actions were inconsequential. They tried to hack a couple of states voter registration databases. And they produced a very small number of really crappy Facebook Ads for Sanders, Clinton and Trump. Most of which were not releases until after the election.
And we can now add that it appears that the Fed misinformation about Trump to the Clinton campaign to help Clinton Setup Trump as colluding with Russia.
There primary aim was to sow chaos – that has ALWAYS been their primary aim.
In 2016 they succeeded – P{rimarily because left wing nuts are idiots and easily deluded – You fell for this nonsense.
At this time it is clear – the ICA report is crap. The Intelligence communtiy has been hiding all evidence that Russia favored Clinton and sought to Harm Trump. Do you honestly think that if the IC or Senate had Brennan’s 2016 Memo they would have concluded Putin favored Trump.
If as you claim the Senate found Puting favored Trump – we now know that is not True – nor is the Brennan memo the only evidence that the deep state was lying – to the american people, and to congress. We have comey’s memo that he disagreed with the ICA conclusion that Putin favored Trump. We have numerous CIA analysts memo’s that Putin favored Clinton.
And those of us with Brains have the real world facts and our eyeballs. Putin was going to favor the candidate that was Best for Russia.
Clinton had a US energy policy that was abyusmally stupid – and that is to Russia’s advantage – and that alone is huge.
Trump favored greater fracking, US energy independence, Europe defending itself against Russia, and opposed draconian Climate measures. Each of these weakens Russia globally and strengthens the US. Clinton was on the oppostie side of each of these issues.
I would further note that Russians gave the Clinton foundation over $100M, they gave Bill Clinton $500K, and they refused to allow Trump to build a Trump Tower Moscow.
So let me be unequivocal.
At anytime from 2016 forward through to today that any CIA analyst or anyone else in the Intelligence community, or any politician of either party stated that Putin favored Trump – they are idiots and should be fired.
Clearly many idiots did. There was plenty of good reason to grasp they were idiots then who allowed political biases to cloud their judgement. But today we have even more evidence. And we have the evidence that all claims that Putin favored Trump were deliberate distortions.
You conflate opinions with Facts.
Even to this day NO ONE has seen most of the evidence the US govenrment has on Russian interferance.
Regardless we KNOW that what was provided in 2017-2018 was deliberately distorted by the deep state.
Heeheeheehee!
You’re the one conflating your own opinions with Facts, John.
Who should we trust, the bipartisan SSCI Report that’s hundreds of pages long and has lots of evidence or pseudonymous John Say whose voluminous posts consist mostly of his own opinions? Who is playing word games, the bipartisan SSCI Report or pseudonymous John Say? What tough questions.
“You’re the one conflating your own opinions with Facts, John.
Who should we trust, the bipartisan SSCI Report”
We should trust the FACTS. Not reports not spin by experts and politicians. But actual primary sources where possible.
Presumably you have seen the Russian FB adds ? If not why are you experssing yourself ?
Rather than read 50.000 words by the someone telling you what to think.
The adds are readily available as is the data on when they were released and in what frequency.
They are a nothing burger.
We also have the FACTS about Russian hacking of Voter Registration.
They tried several states. They failed.
We should do something about that.
Beyond that your “report” relied on the limited and spin data of the ICA report – which rested on the long discredited Steele Dossier.
We have massive amounts of primary source information today. FACTS, DATA – not narratives or oppinions.
That is what I expect reasonable people to use.
Nor do I expect that my thinking – and I would hope yours would be dictated by politicians or other wenies with their own political objectives.
It is withing the intellectial abilities of anyone with a normal IQ to determine that Trump’s election was not in Russia’s best interests.
It is within the same abilities to grasp that Russians gave the Clinton’s money and the Clinton foundation millions. And that would not happen without Putin’s blessing. And that Russia did not give Trump what he asked for – the Trump tower Moscow project, and that if Putin actually favored Trump that would have been greased.
Now if you wish to beleive politicians with their own objectives and their heads in the sand – go ahead.
It took nearly 4 years to get the Truth about Benghazi.
Are you suprised that the truth about Russia and 2016 is so hard to come by ?
“that’s hundreds of pages long and has lots of evidence”
And what is that evidence ? The Steele Dossier.
“pseudonymous John Say whose voluminous posts consist mostly of his own opinions?”
Supported by actual facts and data and primary sources that the SSCI did not have.
“Who is playing word games, the bipartisan SSCI Report or pseudonymous John Say? What tough questions.”
The word games are still yours – you continue to conflate opinions with evidence.
You should give little weight to my oppinion. Or that of the IC, or that of the SSCI.
You should give significant weight to the primary source data – most of which has been deliberately hidden – and much of which still is.
But we have enough to KNOW that the ICA report – on which the SSCI report is based, was a deliberate fraud and supressed lots of evidence.
And we have our own direct knowledge and experience – who got money and other benefits from Russia ? Who didn’t.
Would Russia benefit more from Trump or Clinton ?
Answer those without political bias honestly and you will have your answer.
Regardless, I expect you to do something that is aparently hard for you – to look at the facts and think for yourself.
Allan, the report is already quoted in this column.
I’m not going to repeat those quotes for you just because you didn’t pay attention to them the first time.
We do not want the report – that is oppinion.
We want you to addres the facts it relied on – as well as those that were known then and ignored or are known now and were not then.
I ould finally note that this report DOES NOT claim collusion – it claims Trump benefited.
That is both wrong and not relevant.
Many of addressed the opposite side of this regarding the Brennan Memo.
The activity that Brennan describes that the Clinton campaign engaged in is far more egregious that what has been claimed regarding Trump.
It is also perfectly legal.
I am disputing your claim that Putin favored Trump – and I do not care how many committees arrived at that idiotic conclusion.
But even if true it was legal.
“Allan, the report is already quoted in this column. I’m not going to repeat those quotes for you just because you didn’t pay attention to them the first time.”
I am not looking for just any quote. I’m looking for the quotes that are factual and not based on the Steele Dossier, facts that you believe trues. Facts that you can use against John.
Perhaps you are not up to speed. Do you believe in the Steele Dossier?
I want to address one other matter.
Putin favored Clinton. He is actually free to do that. Just as Antifa, BLM Nazi’s China or the KKK can endorse or try to help whatever candidate they wish.
The conclusion that Russia Favored Trump is lunacy. It is also irrelevant.
It is completely irrelevant what candidate any group foreign or otherwise supports.
And in fact every candidate always has the support of groups the wish they did not.
It is not actually the business of the US government – or the Senate to go prying into what groups or countries favor politically.
The only institution in the entire world that is NOT free to have an oppinion or endorsement or openly or covertly support any US political candidate is the US government.
You are free to vote for or against any candidate because of who you think supports them. But you have zero right or ability to thwart that support.
Free Speech is not merely a US constitutional right – it is a natural right. Regardless it is completely outside the power of the US government to control who voices an oppinion or provides support to US candidates.
The Left used to be less brain dead and grasp that all censorship is evil and mostly ineffective and often counter productive.
Once upon a time those on the left grasped that 1984 was a dystopia – not a howto manual.
John Oliver is free to express oppinions regarding US elections, As is Justin Bieber, the Guardian. Trudeau. Der Spiegel, ….
You are ranting about Russian interferance – what are you going to do – Ben Russia from FaceBook ?
Do you think that is even possible ?
Do you think you are near certain to ensnare many who are not russians in you misguieded efforts to do so ?
Are you going to start a nuclear war with Russia if you fail ?
As I have said REPEATEDLY – Government is FORCE. Laws etc are implimented through FORCE.
Are you planning to use FORCE againt Putin, John Oliver, …. for expressing oppinions about US politics ?
The core of modern leftist values is that if they can censor everything, they can control all outcomes.
That is literally out of pretty much every dystopia ever.
I do not give a $h!t who Russia supported in 2016 or ever. I do not care what crappy FB adds they ran.
I do not even care if they are actually able to turn a US election – so long as they do so via speach – persuasion.
I care greatly that they tried to hack US voter registration databases,
I care greatly that mail in elections are open sewers inviting illegitimate influence.
Aside from political corruption by US politicians, political activists and companies cheating on mail in voting – think of how easy it would be for any foreign nation – particularly if their goal was not to control a winner but just to sew chaos.
What do you think would happen in the US if we found several thousand forged blank mail in ballots that were mailed to voters by Russia or China ?
That would thoroughly disrupt our election. We would be manually checking ballots accross the country for forgeries.
If you are not trying to change the winner but merely trying to sew confusion F’ing with mail in ballots is trivial.
But those of you on the left are complete idiots and incapable of anything more than shallow self interested thinking.
John Say continues to bloviate.
Who should we trust, the bipartisan SSCI Report that’s hundreds of pages long and has lots of evidence or pseudonymous John Say whose voluminous posts consist mostly of his own opinions? Who is playing word games, the bipartisan SSCI Report or pseudonymous John Say? What tough questions.
“Who should we trust, the bipartisan SSCI Report that’s hundreds of pages long ”
Anonymous says the report is hundreds of pages long and indicates that is a reason to trust it. Why don’t you pick out the facts from that document and prove John to be wrong. Take into account the date of the document and what has been revealed since then. With hundreds of pages you have a lot of great material to choose from.
“Who should we trust”
Great question.
I do not expect you to trust me.
I would hope that you would not trust politicians and other purported experts who have repeatedly lied to you.
I expect that you will look at the primary sources – which is both the actual intellignece – not some reports, the assorted memos and other direct evidence, the adds themselves, when they were released, the other actual acts of Russia, as well as being hones about Que Bono – who benefited and who benefits.
The clintons benefited from Russia – in arguably. Trump did not.
Russia would inarguably benefit from Hillaries policies and be harmed by Trumps.
If you disagree – provide evidence.
Regardless, learn to think for yourself.
I would hope that after the past decade you would grasp that you can not trust talking heads or government.
Or you can ignore that advice and suffer the consequences.
As I have noted the worst outcome for democrats in this election would be a Biden victory.
Democrats would be forced to both succeed in producing a better outcome than Trump and delivering on their promises – and they can not do either.
We also know know that the ICA was a farce. That Brennan precluded most of the IC and much of the CIA from participating – because the actual consensus was that Putin favored Clinton – something even a 5 year old should be able to determine.
Putin is president of Russia. He is going to act in Russia’s interests and Trump’s policies are incredibly harmful to Russian interest.
The Russian Economy was 2.2T when Obama was re-elected the highest it was under Trump was 1.6T
If the US economy dropped that much we would have a civil war.
As to the FBI – would that be the FBI that determined that Steele was a Russian dupe in 2015 ? That determined that Steele’s primary subsource was a national security risk and a likely russian agent in 2014 ?
Would that be the FBI that lied repeatedly to the FISA court ?
Would that be the FBI that was spying on journalists during the Obama administration ?
If you are going to continue to sell the collusion delusion – you can not expect anyone to take you credibly.
“At long last – have you no shame ?”
These notes are not fabrications and are the real deal. Brennan commented on it in a CNN article and his main push was not that they weren’t real but that Radcliff isn’t an intelligence guy, has no reason to be in the job, and is cherry picking things to be released. He never once denies they are his note. They are authentic. James Comey said when asked about this referal that it “doesn’t ring a bell.” Well, when asked if he talked to Kislyak about sanctions, Flynn responded that, “I don’t remember, could have…” Lt Gen Flynn was then rung up by the Special Counsel’s office for lying to the FBI. If not remembering is a crime for Flynn, not ringing a bell should have everyone on CNN, MSNBC, The NYTImes, Washington Post, etc. declaring Comey guilty of a crime which is akin to treason. Judge Sullivan should issue an decree (since he thinks he is the Attorney General now) declaring Comey an enemy of the state and he be put on a pike in front of the Justice Department building. The hypocrisy is astounding here.
No mention of Brennan featured on MSNBC frequently misleading and lying about all this?
This was clearly released at this time for political purposes, but that does not make it a non-story.
Was that intended to be sarcastic? Our national security isn’t a calendar issue unless people make it that way. If you analyze the root cause of this being released a month before the general election, where do you end up? Hillary Clinton, the DNC, Obama/Biden, the FBI/IC/DOJ planted this poisonous tree over 4 years ago. Anywhere along the way this tree could have been pulled up it’s roots, but not at the direction of President. Hell, just firing Comey nearly ended his Presidency. No, this tree has been carefully tended to by the Democrats as they piled on one allegation after another. Don’t look at our beautiful tree, look at Trump. The old guard in the agencies protected the tree and the MSM ran the propaganda for the entire operation. The roots of this tree have become exposed little by little over the last 4 years. There is no doubt now that Trump was telling the truth all along. And the fact that Ratcliffe and President Trump are uprooting this a month before the election should be 3D level checkmate for those that put it there. Calling Mr. Barr and Mr. Durham.
I wish I would have saved the source for the article I read. Evidently this whole plan was pitched by Clinton after it was cleared she lost. I remember commenting about it here as I felt it was an incredibly stupid and transparent plan, and no one would go for it. I guess I was wrong. I remember Olly commenting at that time–maybe you remember this as well.
I don’t recall any article stating this plan was approved after her loss. The evidence now shows this began as early as July 2016. If you find the article, I’d like to read it.
Turley typically carrying Trump water with yet another Russian planted story. No it did not get serious reporting from the WaPo because it is not serious.
Brennan:
“These were my notes from the 2016 period when I briefed President Obama and the rest of the national security council team about what the Russians were up to and I was giving examples of the type of access that the US intelligence community had to Russian information and what the Russians were talking about and alleging,” he added.
The former CIA director also pushed back on Ratcliffe’s declassification of a heavily redacted CIA memo related to the investigative referral forwarded to the FBI at the time. The memo notes that the Russians allege Clinton’s effort to stir up a scandal was “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”
“If, in fact, what the Russians were alleging that Hillary was trying to highlight the reported connections between Trump and the Russians, if that was accurate and a big if, there is nothing at all illegal about that,” Brennan said.
“John Ratcliffe and others are trying to portray this as unlawful activity that deserves follow-up investigation by the FBI. No. It was a campaign activity,” he added…
Brennan told CNN Tuesday that the memo declassified by Ratcliffe, which he characterized as a Counterintelligence Operational Lead (CIOL), is just one of several documents that were sent to the FBI related to Russian activity during the 2016 race.
“There are a lot of other CIOLs that talk about the contacts that were taking place between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russians. So he might want to think about trying to balance some of these releases by providing information to the American public about what the intelligence community had unearthed during this period of time about Russia’s interactions with those involved in the Trump campaign,” he said….
….In a statement to CNN, Ratcliffe said he declassified the documents at “the direction of President Trump.”
“Today, at the direction of President Trump, I declassified additional documents relevant to ongoing Congressional oversight and investigative activities,” it said….”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/brennan-ratcliffe-declassifying-intelligence-clinton-russia/index.html
“In a statement to CNN, Ratcliffe said he declassified the documents at “the direction of President Trump.”” Did you miss this line? “This was clearly released at this time for political purposes, but that does not make it a non-story.” Do you really consider WaPo a credible news source? Odd. One of the most sensationalist rags in the country, with a history of retractions. Last question: do you doubt that Hilary’s campaign wanted to smear Trump with Russian connections? If you doubt it, then you have a point. If you concede to it’s validity, then what’s your point? Are you still “carrying Hilary water”? (I’m not familiar with that phrase.)
WaPo, along with NYTs and WSJ are our best newspapers. Name one you think better.
How about Pravda? At least everyone knows Pravda lies. Anonymous doesn’t. Being intellectually challenged has its disadvantages.
Allan again resorts to one of his go-to strategies: insulting someone he disagrees with.
Do you still think the Steele Dossier was real. The WP and NYT thought so or at least they told us they thought so. Or at least an anonymous source told them it was real. When did they admit to their error about the Russia Hoax that was blasted on the front page over and over again.
I would rather have Pravda where even Stupid people know it isn’t telling the truth.
“WaPo, along with NYTs and WSJ are our best newspapers. Name one you think better.”
I feel sorry for you and the world you must live in.
Instead of feeling sorry for him or her, why don’t you have a discussion about why you disagree and name a paper that you think is better?
“Instead of feeling sorry for him or her”
Take note how anonymous wants options to blame and even wants to keep its options open regarding sexual identity. This guy is a real loser.
Allan again resorts to one of his favorite attack strategies: insults.
Anonymous, are you a grown up or a baby. Have you not noted how you have been insulting others? Hypocrite!
This comment is an insult to ‘Joe Friday’ – pick another moniker. How about, ‘fellow traveler’?
Pizza4Boys would be a better name
If as Brennan claims Clinton’s actions were legal – so would have been the actions that Clinton/FBI alleges Trump committed.
If this is one of several documents – then lest see the rest.
Beyond that – this is not merely about a document. In this instance Brennan personally brief Obama and Comey.
That demonstrates that CIA director Brennan thought this was important.
Frankly I would like more evidence that the whole claim was not made up by Brennan – I would like to know that there is actual intelligence from the CIA to support this claim.
There have been several claims this document was manufactured by Trump. What is ignored is that it could be manufactured by Brennan.
This could be Hillary through Brennan sending a message to Obama to get the FBI to investigate Trump while attempting to create a basis for doing so.
That is a reach. But there is no spin that you can put on this document that makes it inconsequential.
You claim the acts in it were not criminal. Fine – then neither were those Trump is alleged to have committed.
I would further note that this document pretty much obliterates any claim that Trump actually worked with Russia to hack the DNC.
And equally important it means the FBI/DOJ KNEW that in July 2016 – FROM THE RUSSIANS.
Brennan has not denied that the notes are his own. He hasn’t denied it becuase he knows a great deal about handwritting analysis.
The Dems and their MSM dismiss anything brought against Obama, Biden, or any of the Democrats as “nothing illegal” or “nothing wrong”….
They investigated “Russian collusion” for three years and $35 million tax payer dollars and “collusion” is exactly what Hillary’s campaign and the MSM and the Mueller team and the FBI and the CIA did before, during and after the 2016 campaign! Oh but it “wasn’t illegal” and they “didn’t do anything wrong” they all say in unison.
Same thing Joe Biden and MSM say about any mention of Hunter Biden’s outrageously unethical, highly concerning corruption done all during his father’s terms as VP: They all simply repeat over and over: Hunter did nothing illegal! Hunter did nothing wrong! Nothing to investigate, nothing to report on, nothing to analyze or even discuss on the air! No need to even ask Joe Biden about any of it! Move along!
They skip right past the ethics problems, the corruption, the graft, the slime, the national security issues – all of it is dismissed as “nothing illegal” and “nothing wrong.”
That’s all Trump has to say from now on: I did nothing illegal and nothing wrong. Period. Move along.
So now Proffesor Turley is a Russian stooge. Actual notes from Brennan in his own handwritting that are used for political purposes are not okay, but a phony made up dossier used for political purposes is somehow totally permissible and is greedily consumed by the hyena left. The thing is that you know what you are doing.
This is why I don’t bother with most MSM anymore. I might as well pan for gold as try and filter out the truth from that rubbish. I read Politico, The Hill, Professor Turley’s blog, and Fox News. Different editorial viewpoints, and in my experience, more reliable than the rest. That should handle any confirmation bias on my part.
Just the News, too.