Below is my column in The Messenger, the new digital news platform created by Jimmy Finkelstein (the former owner of The Hill). Finkelstein’s signature has always been balanced publications where all viewpoints are represented and objectivity remains the touchstone for reporters. That puts him at odds with the “advocacy journalism” model sweeping other publications. The start of the new platform is good news for many of us who believe that the media is facing an existential choice in the coming years. I am happy to be able to contribute to the rollout of the site and look forward to working again with Jimmy and my old Hill editors.
Here is the column:
“Raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated.” Those words from the Durham Report summed up one of the most damning investigations in the Justice Department’s history.
In the 305-page report released Monday, special counsel John Durham concluded that the Trump-Russia investigation was launched without a required minimal level of evidence and shattered a host of departmental standards. Let that sink in: The Justice Department — as well as the media that covered it — effectively shut down a duly elected presidency, based on what turned out to be a politically engineered hoax.
That would make anyone angry. Really angry. Trump-level angry.
The fact is, in this instance, Donald Trump was correct when he said he was the target of a political hitjob funded by the Clinton campaign and maintained by virtually every media outlet. There is a word for that: disinformation.
Democrats such as former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California have pushed for censorship by claiming that disinformation is a threat to democracy. Well, this is that threat — the real one. This actually left an administration mired in a faux scandal for years, with high-ranking officials paraded before grand juries and their guilt then proclaimed nightly on cable news shows.
Even after the Mueller investigation found insufficient evidence of collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, Rep. Schiff assured the public in March 2018, that “I can certainly say with confidence that there is significant evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia” and he repeatedly promised to reveal it in his committee.
He never did, of course. Instead, he regularly criticized Durham’s investigation and called for it to end, to prevent this report from ever being released.
Others on the intelligence committee, like Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), also insisted there was clear evidence of collusion. No less a figure than Obama’s former national intelligence director James Clapper suggested Trump was a Russian “asset.”
For its part, most of the media portrayed the now-infamous Steele dossier — the original basis for the collusion claims — as true, and the New York Times and Washington Post received Pulitzer Prizes for a story that not only has been debunked but shown to be the product of Hillary’s Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The Durham report is everything that the FBI investigation was not. It is dispassionate, detached and detailed. It exposes the origin of the collusion effort in the Clinton campaign, which hid its funding in legal fees. (The campaign was later fined by the Federal Election Commission for that concealment.) A few reporters did ask about a possible connection to the campaign, but Clinton campaign officials lied and denied it.
There was little need for concealment, however, when there was so little interest in investigating the story, either by key FBI figures or by the media.
American intelligence discredited the Steele dossier early on as likely Russian disinformation; the credibility of specific sources for the dossier was shredded. Yet then-FBI Director James Comey opened the most extensive investigation ever into an American president based on that tawdry, tattered record.
The lack of supporting evidence did not matter.
Instead, Comey clearly relished the dossier’s more salacious details. For example, in a 2018 interview, he declared: “Honestly, I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don’t know whether the current President of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013.”
The “pee tape” story was repeated endlessly by the media and by Comey. Durham, however, eventually showed that the source of the story was a Clinton associate.
For Comey, though, it appeared to be one of those stories that was just too good to fully check. Nor did he appear concerned that, before the Clinton campaign pushed the dossier to the media and the FBI, then-CIA Director John Brennan had briefed President Obama and his national security team on Hillary Clinton’s alleged “plan” to tie candidate Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.”
According to Durham, Comey — who later wrote and sold a book on “ethical leadership” — led the FBI to use “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence” to effectively tie up a duly elected president for three years.
Durham reports that FBI personnel admitted they disregarded standards for surveillance despite “acknowledging — both then and in hindsight — that they did not genuinely believe there was probable cause to believe that the target was knowingly [working for a foreign power].”
In the end, it is not a crime to be unethical or incompetent, so no charges will be filed as a result of the report. Durham clearly hopes that the belated transparency provided by his report will produce greater future accountability. That may be the only naive aspect of his findings.
Of course, the FBI promptly issued a statement that it has — once more — reformed itself in light of its failures. But who really believes this is unlikely to occur again?
Indeed, the same pattern and figures reemerged in 2020, when another false narrative was created to dismiss the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Some of the officials involved in the false Russia collusion conspiracy were signatories on the letter by 51 former intelligence officials claiming that the laptop story was likely “Russian disinformation.” And the media again pushed that version before the 2020 election — only to admit, two years later, that the laptop was authentic all along.
Conspicuously missing in the aftermath of Durham’s report is the one thing that would establish a clear commitment to reform: an apology. Clinton, Comey, members of Congress and others could apologize to the American people — and, yes, even to Trump.
That, of course, will never happen. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in releasing a report that concluded this investigation never should have occurred, made no statement whatsoever.
Thus, Durham was left throwing haymakers in an empty political boxing ring — and those who perpetrated this scandal on the nation are left to carry on making money on books, speeches, TV commentary and lectures about political or electoral ethics. The media, meanwhile, is offering little more than a shoulder-shrug and more spin.
So, in the relative silence of media coverage following the report’s release, Durham can contemplate an ultimate Zen-like question: If a 305-page report proves a concerted political hoax but no one is there to read it, does it make a difference?
Jonathan Turley, an attorney, constitutional law scholar and legal analyst, is the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at The George Washington University Law School.
It seems that 18 USC § 1001 might be a place to start.
Trere’s another few words about all that: 18 USC § 372, Conspiracy to impede or injur a officer.
Like I said before, this “outrage” won’t last long enough to keep the “rage” going. Turley sure seems to want to keep fanning it as much as possible. The Durham report is not a “nothing burger” it’s just another bite of the same burger the IG released years ago. The FBI already made the corrections that the Durham report “recommended” anyway.
This was just another excuse to give republicans something to feed to their gullible supporters something that is not even substantively new. Marcy Wheeler on her empty wheel blog makes a far more detailed analysis of the report and she points out Durham left out a LOT. That was not surprising. All those raging over the report will forget about it within a week at best. One thing seems to be true even for republicans, this was a huge waste of time and pointless.
The IG Report accepted the fiction that a predicate existed; Durham has demonstrated very thoroughly that it did not.
LOL!! No it didn’t. All it did was rehash previous allegations. He didn’t prove anything in the end. Just like his ‘prosecutions’ they ended up with nothing to show for it except one prosecution over mislabeled dates on a memo.
Svelaz, the Trump crowd lives in a alternative universe and no matter what Durham or the IG write, they will only see and read what they want to read and see.
Yep.
The DoJ/FBI absolutely gutted the FISA warrant process. Strange that the same people violating civil rights is exactly the same people that need to prosecute themselves.
Why do the communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) in America have an overwhelming all-consuming need to prevaricate and lie.
Answer: Because nothing the communists have implemented since 1860 or propose currently is constitutional.
Article 1, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution and the 5th Amendment of the Bill of Rights comprehensively preclude the principles of the Communist Manifesto.
They allow no:
– Central Planning (EVs, solar panels, etc.)
– Control of the Means of Production (unconstitutional regulation)
– Redistribution of Wealth
– Social Engineering
– “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
The American Thesis is: Freedom and Self-Reliance.
The Communist Manifesto forcibly imposes the “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
The Constitution and Bill of Rights rigorously and severely restrict and limit the power and authority of government.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights provide maximal and near-total freedom to individuals.
Whatever good is Judicial Review if it is never exercised in adherence to the clear and evident meaning and intent of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The singular American failure has been and continues to be the corrupted judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
The biggest mistake the FBI made in these cases (Clinton’s private server, Trump-Russia hoax) was when Director Comey and his staff assigned these “political” cases to themselves at Headquarters 7th floor.
Do you remember back to Watergate, how Director Gray took over control of the Watergate break-in investigation in order to quash it and protect the President? He destroyed evidence by throwing it in his fireplace, and bullied Agents who were amassing a solid case into backing off.
Has that changed at the FBI? Do they have a process for neutral, apolitical assignment of politically-sensitive cases? Why not assign them regionally to the Field Offices? Or have a special unit, vetted for and sworn to neutrality (one standard), and independent from appointee-managerial influence?
All high-stakes competitions need a neutral referee role to make the players compete within the rules. Referees need the power and speed to make corrections in the instant — the FBI’s policy to put investigations out of view until after the election invites dirty tricks. The policy provides cover until the election is over.
I don’t believe Merrick Garland or Director Wray would give up the power to commandeer sensitive cases into their own sphere of power. That’s how self-serving they are.
We need a Federal Law Enforcement Commission to recommend how to de-politicize the handling of political casework, and how to resolve cases rapidly so that voters are given the information before voting, not after.
I have no problem with an apology from Clinton, Comey, members of Congress and others to the American public or to Trump. I would like to know when Professor Turley and others will issue a demand to Trump and his supporters to apologize to the American public for the Big Lie that the election was stolen from him and that voter fraud was widespread in the 2020 election.
peltonrandy, for four years the Democrats said that Trump did not win the election and you come on this forum and holler about Trump saying that there were irregularities in the election process that had never happened in any other Presidential election. For your entertainment I have in a link the actual denial of an election result by Democrats. I guess you missed this one in your bubble. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uoMfIkz7v6s. You then go on to compare the collusion of the Democratic Party with the FBI, the CIA and the mainstream media to control the outcome of an election with the Trump so called “Big Lie”. The real “Big Lie” is found in the link that I provide and it was told over and over again for four long years. Your comparison of the damage caused to the nation is a bias without merit or honesty. I hope you enjoy your kool aid
Trump lies’
The govt is spying on my campaign and the office of President
Trump is communicating with Russia through Alpha Bank
The news media is FAKE
Those lies?
Have you learned nothing. It is the media and the Govt lying.
The exact same scam is happening with the fake Document scam at MAL
And the fake election case in Georgia.
All lies.
If you have a question of Mr. Trump, how about going on his site and asking, instead of asking Prof. Turley?
The two most important Democrats accepted the 2016 election results that helped ensure a peaceful transition of power. Hillary Clinton privately and publicly conceded the election to Trump the morning after the election and attended Trump’s inauguration (both the ceremony and the congressional lunch). Barack Obama phoned Trump to congratulate him on his victory the the day after the election, hosted Trump at the White House two days after the election, and attended Trump’s inauguration.
After Obama spied on Trump before he was elected. He already started the process that the FBI and the other Intel Agencies took over for him.
Clearly illegal election activities, voter fraud and ballot harvesting are on record as having been successfully prosecuted. The Founders established restricted voting per criteria set by States – “Crazy Abe” illegally modified the Constitution with a gun to America’s head. One man, one vote democracy IS the communist “dictatorship of the proletariat.” America is a restricted-vote republic – turnout was 11.6% in 1788 in the election of President George Washington. The Constitution requires a “DAY,” 24 hours, and a “PLACE” for elections, both of which are impossible under vote-by-mail, which is unconstitutional. Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin exploited the “China Flu, 2019” pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election. Real President Donald J. Trump was on his way to a massive landslide victory in 2020. “China Flu, 2019” was released to be effective six months before the 2020 election – Biden got the nomination by default because no sane person would attempt to run against Real President Donald J. Trump.
I am forced to conclude that you are a much better at being a communist than at being an American.
It’s cute that you don’t believe the fraud happened after what they DID do to Trump prior to that.
There are basically three kinds of people familiar with the Russia-Collusion Hoax:
(1) those who knew it was fake all along and said so,
(2) those who knew it was fake all along but pretended to believe it,
(3) the very-small minority of absolute morons who actually believed it — and still do, because there’s nothing more stuborn than pure boneheaded stupidity.
NONE of these people are likely to read Durham’s entire report — except for those who MUST read it for professional journalistic reasons. I know I won’t read it. Being in category (1) it would be a waste of my time, as it would be for those in category (2). And, of course, those in category (3) wouldn’t be in category (3) if they had the slightest interest in dispelling their own impenetrable cloud of ignorance.
So for all the work that went into it, Durham’s report will just lay there like a day-old carp at the fish market — stinking up the place worse than Weekend at Bernie’s III or Home Alone 4 stink up a local movie theater.
You’ve forgot what I think may be a sizeable fourth category, and one into which I fall – those who at first suspended judgment in case actual evidence appeared, but quickly realized the emperor had no pee tape.
I’ve no reason to doubt your word — although I tend to doubt how “sizable” your fourth category actually is. I guess it depends on how soon one began following the events leading up to the 2016 election. If one wasn’t following the Hillary email scandal that preceded the Collusion Hoax, I suppose one might not have recognized the Hoax for what it was — political retribution in spades — revenge for revealing just how dishonest Hillary and her crew were.
It clicked for me when I first caught the timeline of certain events in proximity and relationship to one another. It came very clear. I do think it’s fairly natural to approach life with, as Robertson Davies’ character in his last two novels, Hugh McWearie, says, ‘a fine credulity about everything, kept in check by a lively scepticism about everything.’ My preference, anyway.
Perhaps Davies should’a relied more on his sense of smell. Once you’ve gotten a whiff of a day-old dead carp, there’s no mistaking it the next time that scent rolls in on the Lake Erie breeze.
Ralph: there is NO “hoax”. Trump cheated with the help of Russian hackers. Read the REPUBLICAN Senate Committee report. Check out what Dan Coats, lifelong Republican, former member of Congress, and appointed by Trump to head up all intelligence agencies, says about this, as well as the Mueller Report. Then, consider the fact that ALL polls predicted Trump would lose, which he did–he lost the popular vote, but his crafty campaign planners came up with a plot to sway enough voters in swing states–those who might be vulnerable to believing lies about Hillary Clinton–to get enough Electoral College votes. THAT’s how America got stuck with this loser–he lost the popular vote, and the will of the American people was defeated. As a result, over one million of us died from COVID, by estimates,130,000 unnecessarily died due to Trump’s utter incompetence and lies. Schools, businesses and restaurants were forced to shut down for about 2 years, and school kids haven’t caught up yet. He damaged our relations with EU and NATO allies, he took the successful economy he inherited and turned it into the worst recession since the Great Depression, with 10% unemployment. He started a trade war with China, the effects of which we still suffer from, that resulted in shortages of consumer goods and computer chips that is helping to drive inflation. 25% of our national debt was incurred while he was in office, contributed to by a massive tax break that mostly benefitted the very wealthy. He normalized racist tropes, xenophobia, kidnapped migrant children to serve as a deterrent to others seeking asylum, and constantly lied–lied about Mexico building a wall, lied about fake COVID “cures”, trashed anyone who wouldn’t kiss his ring, caused our scientists and drug makers to be distrusted, made up a story about the Chinese deliberately releasing COVID, causing Asian people to be attacked, and pandered to White Supremacists. He got his fans to attack the Capitol based on the Big Lie–he just can’t stop lying about losing in 2020. His stolen “presidency” was a disaster by any rational analysis. He is considered one of the worst presidents in US History.
Durham was on a mission, which was, by all reasonable accounts, a total flop. There were two prosecutions that ended in acquittals. But, he HAD to come up with something favorable to Trump, so he did, but the huge point you members of Cult 45 won’t admit is that nothing Durham has to say changes the fact that Trump’s campaign solicited and accepted help from Russian hackers who used insider polling information to know where to target lies about Hillary Clinton that would be enough to swing enough votes to get the Electoral College. These are established facts. Trump cheated to get into office, and America is the worse for it. According to John Bolton, leaders of other countries consider him to be a joke. He is no patriot, either–he calls people who serve in the military “suckers and losers”, and he dodged the draft. Yet, he thinks that he belongs in our White House, and that somehow, he can get back in. He will have to find another way to cheat because most Americans can’t stand him.
There’s no reason to read Durham’s report, because it is biased and does not change the fundamental fact that Trump’s campaign did collude with Russian hackers, and that’s how he won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote. There is no “hoax” here–other than Trump. It’s truly sad that there are people like you who refuse to believe the truth and buy into the “Russia hoax”, because that’s just another of his lies, driven by has massive ego.
You need help. You are brainwashed by the Propagandists in the media.
What did the Russians hack?
Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russian hackers.
Gigi
It is hard – often impossible to prove a negative – Btu you are actually fighting against one of the rare instances in which that has been done.
No Trump did not collude with Russian Hackers.
That claim was absurd from the start.
Why would a multi-billionaire risk prison to get a tiny amount of help from Russia, when he could just as easily through a few million more into his campaign with far greater effect ?
You constantly accuse Trump of being a bumbling incompetent,
Yet you concurrently beleive he pulled off one of the greatest bits of spycraft ever – as a rank amateur leaving no evidence at all that the FBI, CIA, NSA, Mueller, and all the media in the world could find.
Despite reporting to the contrary – the ACTUAL conclusion of the CIA and many intelligence agencies – because they are NOT as stupid as they appear, is that Putin Favored Clinton – he could work with her, While Trump’s policies were directly harmful to russia, and he was likely (which he did) to go through with them.
Proving that alteast once the CIA was as smart as an ordinary person.
The left spent months ranting about the Trump Tower Moscow, even convicting Cohen of lying about it. But failing to grasp the most critical point.
Trump Tower Moscow NEVER got approval to be built. You would think that if Trump was a russian asset or favored by Putin that Trump’s Moscow project would have been fast tracked. Instead it died on the vine.
There is much much more than this.
Your living in LaLa land.
Wanting something to be true does not make it so.
How about a reality check:
Hillary is actually crooked.
Of all the classified documents cases – her conviction was a slam dunk.
Hillary actually colluded with possible Russian Spy Danchenko to construct the Steele Dossier.
Trump was spied on
Cross fire hurican was a politically driven witchhunt.
The Mueller Special Counsel was a politically driven witch hunt.
The US did not get involved in any new wars under Trump – the first time that has occured since Ford.
Trump negotiated the first peace deal in the mideast since jimmy Carter, and the biggest one ever.
Trump was the first US president in the 21st century to ACTUALLY work to get the US out of mideastern conflicts.
And we are now out. Biden deserves credit – despite botching the withdrawl for completing that.
Trump averaged almost 3% economic growth for the first 3 years of his presidency, and still managed 2% growth despite a year of Covid.
He left Biden with 1.4% inflation and 6% growth in Jan 2021.
Trump reduced the mess at the southern border to the lowest levels in 40 years – Biden is now setting historic records.
The Hunter Biden laptop is real.
The Biden clan was heavily involved in influence pedaling accross the globe – including with numerous hostile foreign power.
Much of this was done while Joe Biden was VP, and continues today.
The entire Biden family is involved in REAL crimes, provable beyond a reasonable doubt. And there is plenty of evidence of further criminal conduct that may yet be proven to that high standard.
Biden has inarguably been the worst president in the 21st century, the worst president in 100 years, and probably the worst president in US history.
While not likely the most corrupt politician in Washington, and probably not the most corrupt US president, he certainly is the most provably corrupt US president.
The FBI and various alphabet agencies DID interfere in the 2016 election, the 2020 election, and the 2022 election in numerous ways.
This is illegal and unconstitutional. Obama was involved and directed atleast some of this. As was Biden.
There is nothing even close in history to pervasive political corruption on this scale in the US government.
This is far worse than WaterGate. The 2016 efforts by the FBI in particular in conjuction with other agencies is ACTUAL: sedition, Insurection and an attempted soft coup. That has never happened in the US before.
“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
– Barack Obama
______________
“President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to insuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities “by the book.”
– Susan E. Rice
_____________
“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
___________________________________
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before 40.”
– Peter Strzok to FBI parmour Lisa Page
_________________________________
“People on the 7th floor to include Director are fired up about this [Trump] server.”
– Bill Priestap
___________
The Obama Coup D’etat in America is the most egregious abuse of power and the most prodigious crime 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, Emmet Sullivan, Gen. Milley, George Soros, John McCain,
Marc Elias, Igor Danchenko, Fiona Hill, Charles H. Dolan, Jake Sullivan, Strobe Talbot,
Cody Shear, Victoria Nuland, Ray “Red Hat” Epps, Don Berlin, Kathy Ruemmler, Rodney Joffe,
Paul Vixie, L. Jean Camp, Andrew Whitney et al.
There have been three reports on this matter.
Mueller and the IG found that Russia did interfere in our election.
Durham’s only disagreement with those reports is over whether or not there should have been a full investigation or merely a preliminary one.
To argue that Durham proves corruption of any kind is to delude oneself.
In what way exactly did Russia interfere with the 2016 Presidential election? It should be easy for you to answer this question if your assertion is true?
There’s no question Russia attempted to interfere. Whether it had any impact is dubious.
The Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg was tasked by the Kremlin with interfering to disrupt the 2016 election. One tactic was to join Facebook and Twitter using fraudulent credentials, and then be posting material intending to incite paranoias and hatreds among Americans.
Another was “probing” State Elections systems for hacking opportunities…the FBI was onto these fairly early, and coached State Elections Officials on counter-measures.
Natalia Veselnitskaya (claiming to be an “independent” lawyer) asked the Trump campaign to meet at Trump Tower, where she lobbied for Trump to repeal the Magnitsky Act if elected. She offered to help that outcome by providing unspecified “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Trump was not present at this meeting, and declined to take up the offer. The media downplayed his rebuff of the Russians, even after it became obvious he had.
During the Transition, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak met discreetly with Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner, proposing a direct communication line between the Kremlin and President-elect Trump, circumventing the national security establishment. This was perhaps the most audacious “ask” of the Russians. Again, Trump was not in attendance, and when presented with the idea, killed it.
Does that answer your question?
Yes, it does. There was no interference that you can identify. There is no interference that anyone can identify. Yet the lie keeps being repeated and repeated and repeated by the propagandists. Somehow, you suggest that any contact by “one of those Russians” with an American politician, even an incoming President, constitutes “interference.” This is the stuff of paranoia. Consider how much we actually do interfere in the elections in other countries, e.g. Ukraine, and then compare it to the weak examples you provide.
Mueller and the IG found that Russia did interfere in our election.
You keep telling the lie. But never respond and tell us how.
Only a dope believes your nonsense.
Egad Turley! You are such an unfunny joke. You work for a media platform that exists to spew misinformation and, yet, you have the gall to claim: “The start of the new platform is good news for many of us who believe that the media is facing an existential choice in the coming years.” Then, you launch into your usual diatribe of purchased tropes to keep the disciples bellieving: “For its part, most of the media portrayed the now-infamous Steele dossier — the original basis for the collusion claims — as true, and the New York Times and Washington Post received Pulitzer Prizes for a story that not only has been debunked but shown to be the product of Hillary’s Clinton’s presidential campaign.” The statement “the original basis for the collusion claims” is an outright lie, and you know it, Turley. It’s one of the many themes Fox has pushed for years to divert the disciples’ attention away from Trump and his proven crimes, his absolute disasterous “presidency” that he stole from Hillary Clinton and the insurrection he started because of his mental illness. Another theme: that Mueller’s investigation did not uncover wrongdoing by Trump. That’s because Trump refused to cooperate–to testify for produce documents. Yet, Mueller obtained dozens of criminal convictions. You never mention that Hillary Clinton sat for questioning for 11 hours in the “Benghazi” investigation that turned up nothing. Kevin McCarthy is on tape admitting that Benghazi was all about smearing her. Somehow you missed this political story.
Contrary to your paid advocacy for Durham’s work, it is far from “dispassionate”–he was sent on a mission to attack the FBI, and he did so. Nothing Durham did disproved the findings of both Mueller and the Republican Senate Committee. The two criminal prosecutions he brought resulted in acquittals. You claim that investigations of Trump’s campaign’s collusion with Russians “tied up a duly elected President”. No, Turley, the pig was not ” duly elected” because he cheated to defeat the will of the American people–that has been proven. Today’s piece is meant to divert the disciples’ attention away from this inconvenient fact. I’m actually beginning to feel sorry for you, Turley.
Hillary Clinton suffered from severe memory loss during all her depos.
Memory loss to such a degree that if she were elected in 2016, the incoming Congress of 2017 would have incontrovertible evidence she was mentally unfit and should be immediately removed under the 25th Amendment.
YNOT;
I highly doubt you claim. Regardless, as YOU stated it, it is an argument for mental competence – which makes here “forgetfullness” all the more damning.
Trump ran rings arround the CNN anchor at the recent townhall.
That does not prove his policies are good – though you can listen to what he says and decide for yourself.
But it does prove his mental competence.
I have no doubt Clinton is mentally competent.
She is also negligent, reckless, politically corrupt and criminal.
Trump is also very competent, And his CNN performance contrasts with Biden who each day proves he is not all there.
YNOT;
If you want people to trust an election – follow the law, Conduct the election in the sunlight, do not hide what you are doing. thoroughly Investigate allegations of misconduct, do not fight against transparency and investigation tooth and nail.
Jim Comey sleeps well at night because he knows that Merrick Garland is manning the watch tower with a fist full of FISA warrants ready to criminally charge anyone who gets close to exposing him. They are treasonous all. And I have some suggestions on what we should do with traitors. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
I see that Biden went to a Black University to say that White supremacy was our worst domestic enemy. Its another “put you all back in chains” opportunity. He said that he’s always believed this when in the past he called for the continuing if segregated schools to keep white kids from the blackman’s jungle. Their was a black man who told it like it is. I’m gonna tell you like it really is. Every election year these politicians are sent up here to pacify us! They’re sent here and setup here by the White Man.
“This is what they do!
They send drugs in Harlem down here to pacify us!
They send alcohol down here to pacify us!
They send prostitution down here to pacify us!
Why you can’t even get drugs in Harlem without the White Man’s permission!
You can’t get prostitution in Harlem without the White Man’s permission!
You can’t get gambling in Harlem without the White Man’s permission!
Every time you break the seal on that liquor bottle, that’s a Government seal you’re breaking!
Oh, I say and I say it again, ya been had!
Ya been took!
Ya been hoodwinked!
Bamboozled!
Led astray!
Run amok!”
This man was named Malcolm X. It’s a sad thing that Biden continues to do the same thing and the Black community is now taking the words of Biden over the words of Malcolm X. Maybe some people need to get woke.
Number 1. “if you vote for Trump, you ain’t black” ~ Biden on the campaign trial 2020
*number 2. everybody knows that, so there is no use denying it .. .
Just a footnote, perhaps: inre the true origin of the pee perversion story. The same perversion was previously attributed to Adolf Hitler, I believe.
Button – you are correct. I read the story many years ago. Somehow it involved his half-niece, Geli Raubal, who killed herself. I wish I could remember the book, but recollection of the story is clear. The Left has a limited store of slanders. Everybody who offends them is Hitler reborn
Imagine what would happen to the relatively defenseless average person if they somehow attracted the ire of these politicians and government actors.
Put miscreants in office, get tyranny: That’s how it works.
But as long as people act stupidly at the voter’s booth, they will continue to suffer the politicians they deserve.
‘The government you elect is the government you deserve’ – Thomas Jefferson.
YNOT;
Trump directed his Ire at Actual Government officials in state government over-which he has no power.
Further Trump’s ire was a verbal tongue lashing – not the full force abnd power of a federal criminal investigation.
Daren was less than perfect in his word choice – it is not the words of those in government we care about it is their actions.
Trump has said many things he should not have.
Democrats keep doing things they should not.
There is no parity.
All’s fair in lust and abortion.
All things are permissible to gain power is the policy of of the Democratic party. The Idea that there is a moderate wing of the Democratic party is an oxymoron. Their tool box includes framing people for things that the haven’t done, encouraging the fire bombing of American cities and rigging the elections by suppressing information that the public has a right to know. Their heroes included the head bomb maker from the Weather Underground. The good people of the nation voted for Obama because he would be the first black man to become the President. The people wanted to say through their vote that racism was over in America. They did so overlooking that his known associates where hard core Communists. With the help Of Hillary Clinton he brought his philosophy to the Whitehouse. We are now living through the result of the do what ever it takes to win mindset. We should not forget their history. We do so at our peril. https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/28339-obama-and-bill-ayers-together-from-the-beginning/
“…. There is a word for that: ̶d̶i̶s̶i̶n̶f̶o̶r̶m̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶. ….”
There is a word for that: Soft Coup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_coup
Dear Prof Turley,
Hard to believe there is not a tort, statute, regulation or law to be found anywhere prohibiting the FBI, CIA and/or other official organs of government using their considerable powers to undermine elections?
Seems to me they cut down many laws to get after the devil. .. or at least their oath of office.
*This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!” ― Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts
It all started with a couple of socialist community organizers. I don’t have to name names I’ll just give you a hint. One was a she and the other one was a he. They were both disciples of Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground and they brought his philosophy all the way to the Whitehouse. https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/weather-underground-bombings. Understanding the source of their philosophy is to understand their desired outcome for America. Their compatriots are still the leaders in the Democratic Party.
You mean the guy who spied on Trump before he was elected?? THAT Bill Ayers disciple??
First thank you for letting us know of a new news outlet, lead by Mr. Finkelstein. I bookmarked it, will make it part of my daily reading, and let others know there is a better news source out there.
Secondly, while MSM will attempt to ignore the Durham report, others like you, and most of your vistors to your blog have read it. Or are reading the takeaways in other publications.
Wrong doers, liars, at the FBI, DOJ, CIA, the Obama admin to include Biden, and of course the Clinton campaign will get away with it with no consequences.
America truly is a banana republic.
Even if Trump is the candidate, which I would rather see DeSantis, vote for whomever the GOP candidate is.
Even if Trump is the candidate, which I would rather see DeSantis, vote for whomever the GOP candidate is.
Pope John Paul II helped bring down communism with the help of President Ronald Reagan. Those of us who have personal experience with communism, were relieved that evil was defeated in Europe vis a vis JPII and Reagan. Today we have no consensus as Fr. John Courtney Murray, SJ, articulated in 1960 with his prescient book, We Hold These Truths: Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition. The Preface includes the following:
The unifying thread of these 13 essays, fashioned over the previous decade, was Murray’s effort to explore, on a high level of reason and rhetoric, America’s public philosophy, the civic consensus whereby a people acquires its identity and sense of purpose. With the Founding Fathers, Murray held that there exists an ensemble of substantive truths that “command the structure and the courses of the political-economic system of the United States” (We Hold These Truths, p. 106), truths that can be known by reason—not indeed self-evident but reached by “careful inquiries” of “the wise and honest” (p.118). Reduced to its skeleton, the consensus affirmed a free people under a limited government, guided by law and ultimately resting on the sovereignty of God.
JPII and Reagan were formidable leaders of a people who embraced religion and patriotism. Today, both of those institutions are gone. You have told us many times you are not religious so there you go. How is your diet of consumption of high level of reason and rhetoric? I suspect better today than a few years ago. Americans need to return to a diet of high level of reason and rhetoric, and less emotive, amygdala, fits and starts ala impulsive behaviors. A civilization can not live based on impulsive behaviors. USSR, China, Cuba, N. Korea, et al all run their nations based on manipulating the people via emotive messaging. NYT, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Breitbart, NY Post, Daily Mail, etc, all do likewise.
Fr Murray argued that America’s Founding Fathers wrote the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution on the unifying theme of natural law. Natural Law has served as a foundational unifying force since early Christianity. The Fall of the Roman Empire (4th Century AD) and the rise of Christendom (Western Civilization) gave us a robust Europe and Americas, esp. United States. With natural law being discarded by left wing SCOTUS Justices like she who shall remain nameless of “I am not a biologist” ill-repute, Democrats since Lyndon Baines “I’ll have them n******** voting Democratic for the next two hundred years” Johnson, and present day Republicans like Newt Gingrigh, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, who just served divorce papers to an unsuspecting husband of 18 years, clearly our answer is not in our political leaders. Yet, here we are continually, foolishly, bantering around who the better candidate is for x, y and z political office. Trump was and always will be a horrific choice, much like Hillary Clinton and Joseph Biden. However, this is what a people who abandon religion and patriotism do, and choose instead a life without a rudder (rejecting natural law). People like me are prisoners in a country to a people who defend to the death a carnival barker like Donald Trump or a demeted pervert like Joseph Biden or a liar like Clinton Inc.
I’ve said it in the past, and as time moves forward, I am convinced that our best disposition is to act like the early Christians when Rome fell. St Augustine’s “City of God” explained it best.
The City of God by St. Augustine
https://archive.org/details/st.-augustine-the-city-of-god
Estovir, I guess it comes down to which man believes in the right to freedom of speech. If your looking for a perfect vessel you will be looking for a very long time. Would you vote for an imperfect vessel who believes in free speech or an imperfect vessel who wants to take away your most important right. One imperfect vessel wants take away a right that will guarantee the slavery of your children and grandchildren. With this possibility no choice is not an option.
My observations in life and scientific training have taught me black / white, either/or absolutes are believed by those seeking facile journeys. Choose the road less traveled, i.e. think it through
talk about false dichotomy!!!
thank you for proving my point in less than 120 secs. Well done
” . . .black / white, either/or absolutes are believed by those seeking facile journeys.”
That is hilariously self-contradictory.
Estovir,
An interesting and thought provoking comment.
Something to ponder on.
Thank you.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so the United Negro Foundation TV ad told us in the 1970s. Me thinks they were right
“I am convinced that our best disposition is to act like the early Christians when Rome fell. St Augustine’s “City of God” explained it best.”
And yet again: What was human life like for the some 1,000 years after the publication of the “City of God”?
If you are “convinced,” it is only by evading and whitewashing that horrific history. Or worse.
Turley sums up the reality that is Washington, DC: “It is not a crime to be unethical or incompetent.” And that the Attorney General passed on the Durham Report without comment tells us that the reality is deeply embedded and not likely to change anytime soon, if ever.
The Durham Report focused on many questions the answers for which are ominous. “Sobering” is the word the report uses for its findings and conclusions.
Some of the most pertinent questions:
Was there adequate predication for the FBI to open the Crossfire Hurricane investigation from its inception on July 31, 2016 as a full counterintelligence and Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) investigation given the requirements of The Attorney General’s Guidelines for FBI Domestic Operations and FBI policies relating to the use of the least intrusive investigative tools necessary?
Was the opening of Crossfire Hurricane as a full investigation on July 31, 2016 consistent with how the FBI handled other intelligence it had received prior to July 31, 2016 concerning attempts by foreign interests to influence the Clinton and other campaigns?
Similarly, did the FBI properly consider other highly significant intelligence it received at virtually the same time as that used to predicate Crossfire Hurricane, but which related not to the Trump campaign, but rather to a purported Clinton campaign plan “to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services,” which might have shed light on some of the Russia information the FBI was receiving from third parties, including the Steele Dossier, the Alfa Bank allegations and confidential human source (“CHS”) reporting? If not, were any provable federal crimes committed in failing to do so?
Was there evidence that the actions of any FBI personnel or third parties relating to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation violated any federal criminal statutes, including the prohibition against making false statements to federal officials? If so, was that evidence sufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?
Was there evidence that the actions of the FBI or Department personnel in providing false or incomplete information to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISC”) violated any federal criminal statutes? If so, was there evidence sufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?
Absolutely. Andy McCabe lied to FBI investigators on 3 occasions about leaks he originated. Michael Horowitz obtained proof of this penal code violation. There is no special “cutout” in the law for the FBI AD allowing him to lie to a fellow FBI agent — but they simply confer themselves law-breaking powers through non-enforcement “discretion”.
There was ample evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It was used to force McCabe to retire.
But, the system takes care of its own. The law just doesn’t apply the same way. Self-serving corruption.
Durham left out a lot in his report that would support the FBI’s need to investigate. For example in the entire 300 page report you don’t see the infamous meeting between the Trump campaign and Russians connected to the Russian government at the Trump tower offices.
Neither is mention of Paul Manafort’s sharing of polling data with the Russians. Why would he need to share such data with Russian nationals connected with the FSB?
What is missing from the report is far more interesting than what’s in it.
It’s just another bite from the same burger instead of being a “nothing burger”.
That you do not see mention of the “infamous” meeting at the Trump Tower is because, just as the Mueller Report had concluded, there is no evidence the meeting was a criminal conspiracy aimed at subverting anything.