Patterico's Pontifications

9/2/2017

DoJ’s Friday News Dump: Trump’s Tweets About Being Wiretapped Are Unsupported (Plus Bonus RANT)

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 3:00 pm



On March 4, 2017, President Donald J. Trump took to his Twitter account and issued a series of baseless tweets accusing President Obama of having “tapped” his phone. For example:

A spin machine went into overdrive trying to justify Trump’s irresponsible and baseless accusations.

Well, guess what? Last night, in a Friday news dump, the Department of Justice confirmed that there is no basis for Trump’s accusations. The Washington Examiner reports:

The Department of Justice has acknowledged in a court filing no evidence of any wiretaps on Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign, directly contradicting a claim President Trump made in March.

The Justice Department filed a motion Friday evening acknowledging that it didn’t have any evidence to back up the president’s assertion.

The motion was filed in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit from the transparency group American Oversight. It found that neither the National Security Division or the FBI had any records of wiretapping that President Trump alleged.

“The FBI and Department of Justice have now sided with former [FBI Director James] Comey and confirmed in writing that President Trump lied when he tweeted that former President Obama ‘wiretapped’ him at Trump Tower,” the group said.

You can read the original court filing here. The relevant statement in the filing reads as follows:

Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets.

Here is a screenshot:

doj-admission

In light of this, it is instructive to revisit the spin effort that was mounted on behalf of Trump in the wake of the tweets — because much of the so-called evidence traced back to certified lunatic Louise Mensch.

After Trump published his tweets, the Washington Post‘s Fact Checker asked the administration for the basis of Trump’s claims. Administration officials said they were relying on reports “from BBC, Heat Street, New York Times, Fox News, among others.” These reports fell into two broad categories.

The first category was a series of reports showing that DoJ did engage in wiretapping, and that Trump aides were captured on some of those wiretaps. For example, every person who has ever discussed this issue on Twitter with a Trump supporter has had the following screenshot tweeted back at them:

nyt-headline

But that story never said that the Trump aides were the targets of any wiretaps. It said merely that “American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions” as part of the Russia investigation. Trump supporters who use that screenshot conflate the issue of whether wiretaps were used at all with the issue of whether Trump or his aides were actually the targets of the wiretaps. Indeed, the article specifically warned: “It is not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to do with Mr. Trump’s campaign, or Mr. Trump himself.” Thus, the New York Times article and reports like it did not support Trump’s accusations.

The second category of articles relied on by Trump all trace back to a Heat Street article by Louise Mensch, which said:

Two separate sources with links to the counter-intelligence community have confirmed to Heat Street that the FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia.”

. . . .

The FISA warrant was granted in connection with the investigation of suspected activity between the server [in Trump Tower] and two banks, SVB Bank and Alfa Bank. However, it is thought in the intelligence community that the warrant covers any ‘US person’ connected to this investigation, and thus covers Donald Trump and at least three further men who have either formed part of his campaign or acted as his media surrogates.

Mensch’s article did not mention wiretaps. But in January (before Trump’s tweet), Andrew C. McCarthy seized on the Heat Street report to proclaim: “the idea that FISA could be used against political enemies always seemed far-fetched. Now it might not be.” On March 3, the evening before Trump’s March 4 tweets, both the McCarthy piece and the Heat Street article itself were linked by a Breitbart article (based on a Mark Levin radio rant) that was reported to be the impetus for Trump’s tweets.

After Trump farted out his accusations on Twitter on March 4, many, many folks on the right used the Heat Street report as evidence Trump was right. For example, McCarthy doubled down on his accusations on March 5, after Trump issued his tweets. And at the Daily Wire, John Nolte seized on the Heat Street report as evidence that Trump was “exonerated” on the wiretapping issue.

One problem: Louise Mensch turns out to be a loon who was widely ridiculed when she said the “Marshal of the Supreme Court” had told Trump about articles of impeachment that had been drafted against him. And to nobody’s surprise, it has recently been revealed that Mensch was the dupe of a hoaxer who had pretended to be an employee in the New York Attorney General. Mensch never took even rudimentary steps to verify the hoaxer’s identity, merely parroting the hoaxer’s claims uncritically.

I said from the beginning of this sorry episode that 1) the notion that Obama or his DoJ might have targeted Trump or his aides for a politically motivated investigation was not outlandish, and 2) there was a danger that an investigation nominally directed at Russians might have been truly motivated by a desire to investigate Trump. These remain valid concerns.

But I also said, right out of the gate, that there was no evidence that Trump’s accusations were actually true:

There’s Good Trump, who nominates great Justices and rolls back regulations, and Crazy Trump, who is uninformed and TV-obsessed and has a short attention span and goes around saying bizarre things. The fact that we like Good Trump doesn’t mean we have to defend Crazy Trump’s insane rants.

So investigate away. When you uncover new actual evidence that Barack Obama actually wiretapped Trump’s phone — something that we all know he’s capable of, but we have no evidence he actually did — then get back to me. (Yes, I meant to use variants of the word “actual” three times in that sentence.) Until then, I’m going to go back to ignoring this.

Now that we have solid evidence on the record from DoJ saying that there was no basis for Trump’s tweets, it would be nice if the people who fiercely defended him on this point issued a mea culpa — for relying heavily on Louise Mensch, and for pretending that reports of incidentally intercepted communications proved that Trump had been wiretapped by Obama.

I’m not holding my breath.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

126 Responses to “DoJ’s Friday News Dump: Trump’s Tweets About Being Wiretapped Are Unsupported (Plus Bonus RANT)”

  1. Because if I did I would quickly expire. And that would be sad!

    Patterico (115b1f)

  2. I guess that means we have to take the feds’ word for it. How about not a hundred percent? And if Trump was working off the NYT’s article that the feds were surveilling the Trump Tower, he’d be within the bounds of reason (particularly considering the character of the Obama admin) to presume he was the target.

    Richard Aubrey (0d7df4)

  3. I’m not holding my breath…

    Hold him accountable, instead; just how much did the Twitter-In-Chief cost the United States government in time and money running those silly tweets to ground.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  4. “No evidence of any wiretaps” is not evidence that there were no wiretaps. Taking them at their word, it is only evidence that whoever was looking for evidence of wiretaps did not find any evidence of wiretaps.

    nk (dbc370)

  5. Muddy teh Mudskipper!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  6. it’s hard to know for sure

    the corrupt comey fbi keeps refusing to release any documents and the lying clapper cia’s busy entertaining itself with a smorgasbord of tranny porn and totino’s pizza rolls

    meanhwile the corrupt incompetent US military keeps running into cargo ships and killing our own mans

    and harvardtrash buttwart Ted Cruz is trying desperately to look serious and appealing as he begs for money for texas

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  7. I remember in civil procedure, when they taught us the technique of pleading in the alternative.

    You say my client borrowed your teapot and broke it before he gave it back to you? Well, we say:

    You never owned a teapot. My client never borrowed the teapot you owned. The teapot always belonged to my client anyway. The teapot was already broken when you loaned it to my client. The teapot was fine when my client gave it back to you, you must have broken it later. My client doesn’t even like tea. A little man came in through the window and broke the teapot. The teapot broke itself. That
    teapot deserved to be broken, and you should thank my client for breaking it.

    Trumpkins are great at pleading in the alternative.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  8. ikes that should have said *meanwhile* the corrupt incompetent US military keeps running into cargo ships

    (and killing our own mans)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  9. nk’s right that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. But it is evidence that he who has the burden of persuasion has failed to carry it.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  10. “DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF 21st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS AND THE 21st CENTURY IS REALLY NOT WORKING OUT THE WAY I HAD HOPED CATEGORIES: “Obama Service Award Recipient Now Researching ‘Butt-Fisting’” and bestiality, the Washington Free Beacon reports, along with some presidential-level trolling in their choice of photos to accompany the article…”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/274555/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  11. instapundit’s lovely wife helen did a linker today where i found a lovely cast iron teapot of a nice size for a really good price

    i didn’t get it cause of i commissioned a teapot from a potter i’m fond of some months ago and have yet to use it

    i brought my one home from work and that’s been what i use

    and then my dentist said tea is pretty much the most stainy stuff you can drink

    so I’m all at sea with this whole business and as I’m anticipating moving i’ve already tossed all the tea I had anyways

    but that’s a good buy, that amazon teapot

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  12. Trump blew it when he wrote “wiretaps”. He should have written “eavesdropping”. Because I believe that the NSA was eavesdropping on overseas conversations by members of the Trump campaign which may have been improperly unmasked. Susan Rice was supposed to have been behind some of that. Where did that story go anyway?

    nk (dbc370)

  13. President Trump didn’t blow it the petty nevertrumps will attack him for no reason or any reason cause of they’re sad about how poor ugly mopey harvardtrash ted, like nasty yalepig hillary, will never ever be president

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  14. ‘Mea culpa

    That’s Greek to them, Patterico. Have you noticed how many so- called never Trumpets still feel they must defend him, as though he represented their principles. I think most of it is the result of spousal abuse.

    Ben burn (426255)

  15. So they have the name of the fisa judge, right or who did the unmasking like ambassador samantaower right?

    narciso (d1f714)

  16. I keep reading stories that Trump misses his old life. Repeating my prediction that he will resign and never look back.

    Ben burn (426255)

  17. Have you noticed how many so- called never Trumpets still feel they must defend him, as though he represented their principles.

    I don’t Ben burns. In fact I don’t know one single solitary *never Trumpets* as you put it that feel the need to defend him then, now or ever.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  18. And I pointed out the bogus basis for these intercepts the crowdstrike report and the fusion dossier which was paid for the magnitsky subject parties

    narciso (d1f714)

  19. President Trump’s doing a good job we’re very lucky he’s the manager on duty that’s for sure

    meanwhile perverted Mitt Romney’s working his tongue all up in it and his sleazy boy toy Paul Ryan wants to give free tuition to all them illegal dreamers instead of to for reals Americans!

    🙁

    i think we should thank our lucky horseshoes we have President Trump doing orange stars yellow moons pink hearts and green clovers

    he’s magically delicious and i love how he makes it sparkle

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  20. All that sugar is worse for your teeth than tea is.

    nk (dbc370)

  21. wants to give free tuition to all them illegal dreamers instead of to for reals Americans!

    When will people realize that colleges and universities are workfare for the administrators and professors, and stop resenting the poor students who are only the funnel that fills the trough?

    nk (dbc370)

  22. This is the federal government’s version of taqiyya.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  23. good point

    we can do that early next year

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  24. ugh i have a chippered tooth right now i look like the hills have eyes

    but i don’t have anything really compelling on the calendar and I need to swing by dentist in october anyways

    so i’m kinda just having fun with it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  25. In point of fact, they apparently didn’t find anything of note in the flynn or don Jr communication, that’s why they are fishing for a crime.

    narciso (d1f714)

  26. Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets

    Isn’t the operating phrase “as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets”? You could drive an 18 wheeler through that opening. Don’t trust them, don’t believe them. New reports out about Comey and Hillary certainly reinforce my believes.

    lynndh (6af2e0)

  27. When is a total denial not a blanket denial? FTA:

    DOJ noted in the motion that FBI and the DOJ can’t “confirm or deny the existence of any other responsive records” beyond the wiretaps.

    The DOJ also noted it neither confirms nor denies the existence of other records related to the “wiretap” portion of the lawsuit because “merely acknowledging whether or not responsive records exist would itself cause harms protected against by FOIA exemptions.”

    When national security exceptions allow it to be withheld. On balance I don’t think we actually know anything more than we already did.

    crazy (11d38b)

  28. Isn’t there a penalty for falsely reporting a crime?

    How much prison time is Trump facing for this offense?

    And since the White House has said that Trump’s tweets are official statements, wouldn’t this create further culpability and exposure to impeachment and prosecution, since Trump’s corrupt and fraudulent attempt to traduce an innocent citizen was thereby perpetrated while acting under color of law?

    Dave (445e97)

  29. President Trump’s a true war hero not a john mccain one.

    He’s got fresh appeal and a style what says hey whirl, check ME out.

    As we journey together towards an uncertain future, President Trump’s calming our fears and focusing our efforts on making a positive impact.

    He’s perhaps THE key figure in America’s struggle to recover from eight years of a soros-fellating food stamp presidency.

    I’d keep an eye on this guy if I were you.

    He’s on the move!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  30. President Trump’s a true war hero not a john mccain one.

    Vaginas are landmines.

    Don’t ever get together with Ben burn — there will be a large explosion.

    nk (dbc370)

  31. Hey happy, a post just opened…better get there before the Sheff’ http://www.thedailybeast.com/john-kelly-pushing-out-omarosa-for-triggering-trump?yptr=yahoo

    urbanleftbehind (847a06)

  32. Message in bottle from 1968

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/05/new-study-shows-riots-make-america-conservative.html?fref=gc&dti=953271591385492

    To a degree there was even a localized effect in la. As it ended tom brafleys long reign

    narciso (d1f714)

  33. like a bret easton ellis novel he sees this zany postmodern whirl as it is – not how we’d simply like it to be

    and he engages in this whirl with gusto – not as a feckless passive-aggressive douchebag like how Barack Obama approached life

    the lofty heights he’s attain afford President Trump a panoramic view of the America as it presents in the most current moment… RIGHT NOW (underscore underscore underscore)

    if I were to be honest, I’d have to say I’m a little bit in awe of him

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  34. oopers *attained* i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  35. if Tom Jones dies who’s gonna sing Kiss

    we’re all gonna be in a goddamn kissless pickle

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  36. 26… no, because both Comey and Clinton are honorable… above reproach. They did nothing wrong according to the same people who are saying there was no monitoring by the expanded NSA.

    So what if folks hang their hats on this crock of excrement, it fits their narrative.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  37. So I went to see my doctor because I had the “The Green, Green Grass of Home” running through my head for weeks and I couldn’t make it go away. He said, “You have Tom Jones Syndrome”. I asked, “Is that common?” He said, “It’s not unusual”.

    nk (dbc370)

  38. Now it happens that the national security division, is now held by boente, who was replaced by rosenstein, who might as well be on a carton of milk, for all the supervision he is doing of mueller.

    narciso (d1f714)

  39. 🙂

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  40. Which one of you left with teh panties?

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  41. Jones had a running for many years battle with Lou Rawls about who copied who’s vocal style.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  42. you’ll never find

    think i wanna dance now

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  43. @Beldar

    “Trumpkins are great at pleading in the alternative.” A lawyer who doesn’t plead in the alternative is incompetent. How do you plead?

    “he who has the burden of persuasion has failed to carry it.” Oh, is the hearing over? What hearing? The hearing of anti-Trump opinionators? Time is long, and we’ll see. Send us a note in 5 or 10 years.

    The rest of us non lawyer folk say that Trump wrote loosely but accurately. The deep state was doing everything in its power to spy on him and his.

    Plus, as is repeatedly mentioned, Comey, Clapper et al. and their minions are liars and troopers in the army of Trump opponents.

    And I can’t be a Trumpkin, I’m not even American, just an amused bystander laughing at the further proof that man is a rationalizing animal, not a rational one, choosing his conclusion then creating his argument.

    Fred Z (7ed74e)

  44. the trashy corrupt fbi, which is a bought-and-paid-for part of america’s seedy and polluted “department of justice” (which itself, nominally run by a thieving bigot from alabama)

    but as i say, the trashy corrupt fbi

    the trashy ill-shod foot soldiers of the polluted and risible department of justice

    they are trash and yes yes

    i can hear the screaming of the lambs clarice

    you sick trashy fbi twist

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  45. I remember in civil procedure, when they taught us the technique of pleading in the alternative.

    Wow, so the Chewbacca Defense is actually a thing they teach you guys in law school?

    And here, all this time, I thought it was just an over-the-top parody…

    Dave (445e97)

  46. Regarding the DOJ and FBI, someone once noted that “elections have consequences”. I’m confident that under Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, the whole place was purges and then crammed with political operators.

    I have lost trust in the FBI and in the various Circuit courts because they are all so highly politicized

    steveg (e8c34d)

  47. Things that make you go mm:

    washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-standoff-brews-between-senate-fbi-over-trump-dossier/article/2633288#!

    narciso (d1f714)

  48. So let me get this straight, the same DOJ that that turned justice on its head to protect Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Hillary Clinton, the same DOJ that made a mockery of investigating Hillary and her witting accomplices in the email scandal, the same DOJ that gave co-conspirators sweetheart immunity deals, the same DOJ that allowed subpoenaed cell phones to be turned with missing SIM cards, the same DOJ that refused to see any link between millions in Russian ‘contributions’ to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary’s approval for those same Russians to acquire 1/5th of US uranium stockpiles, the same DOJ that refused to see anything suspicious when Bill Clinton doubled his ‘speaking fees’ to Russian audiences when his wife signed off on the aforementioned uranium deal.

    Is that the same DOJ that’s now claiming Obama didn’t tap Trump’s communications?

    Really?

    ropelight (db9e35)

  49. Norks test 60KT bomb, call it H-bomb.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  50. Controls all 3 branches of government, and has to invent a shadowy conspiracy to explain why everyone keeps screwing up. Here’s a conspiracy for you: Neither Trump nor congress expected Trump to win. Trump, much like half of the initial Republican candidates were in it to sell something – books, their brand, whatever. Congress expected Hillary to win, so they could go back to their no-effort “oppose everything” stance. Well, the dog caught the car and now it doesn’t know what to do. Trump just wants to watch TV and pound out angry tweets, and congress is now stuck having to govern when they were expecting to just have to posture. From 2011 to 2014, there were 54 votes in the house to repeal some or all of Obamacare. Anyone watching this who believed that their representatives were acting in good faith was a fool. Coming soon will be some sort of tax cut, skewed strongly towards the wealthy. It will end up being a budget buster, but deficits don’t matter when the Republicans are in charge, another blatant example of posturing.

    There is no conspiracy, no “soft coup”. Trump is happy to repeat any inanity he sees in the wingnut news media, and all of the “what he really meant” wishful thinking is far more effort than he put into the tweet.

    Davethulhu (3a2442)

  51. Norks test 60KT bomb, call it H-bomb.

    Looks like they’ve pegged our president for the fatuous, know-nothing blow-hard that he is, doesn’t it?

    Dave (445e97)

  52. “It is the reputation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation itself that is even more dangerously tarnished. The conventional wisdom is that there are plenty of good, patriotic civil servants in the FBI — and that is undoubtedly true — but not since the days of J. Edgar Hoover has the organization’s leadership been so suspect, their opaque decision-making process so fraught with defensive self-preservation and political bias. Sometimes, it seems the “G-men” spend far more time dodging FOIA requests — redacting almost everything in sight, lest it be “misunderstood” by we in the great unwashed — than in stopping crime. That may not be so, but the reasons for the perception are undeniable.

    Something must be done and quickly. The latest revelations about Comey make the recusal of Mueller more urgent, but the overall situation is yet more severe. The FBI itself needs some form of investigation and reorganization. A true reform. Otherwise a huge percentage of the country will continue to distrust it and that distrust, pending the results of the closely tied Mueller-Russia inquiry, will only continue to grow. That is untenable in a democratic republic.”

    — Roger Simon

    But some can’t see the forest for the trees.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  53. Dave is just so darned conservative!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  54. “Neither Trump nor congress expected Trump to win.”

    So true, but Trump would never admit unless there was a Payday. Once in, the only honorable thing for him to do was fulfill his $10 billion fantasy making the WH his own money tree.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  55. Copied from ropelight above so that you do not miss it that is perfect for Patterico- naive fairy tale believer

    “So let me get this straight, the same DOJ that that turned justice on its head to protect Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and Hillary Clinton, the same DOJ that made a mockery of investigating Hillary and her witting accomplices in the email scandal, the same DOJ that gave co-conspirators sweetheart immunity deals, the same DOJ that allowed subpoenaed cell phones to be turned with missing SIM cards, the same DOJ that refused to see any link between millions in Russian ‘contributions’ to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary’s approval for those same Russians to acquire 1/5th of US uranium stockpiles, the same DOJ that refused to see anything suspicious when Bill Clinton doubled his ‘speaking fees’ to Russian audiences when his wife signed off on the aforementioned uranium deal.

    Is that the same DOJ that’s now claiming Obama didn’t tap Trump’s communications?

    Really?”

    Copied above from ropelight

    william elbel (647cbe)

  56. Who has credibility to those like ropelight et al?

    The Serial Prevaricator?

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  57. Sorry. That means LIAR!

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  58. It’s really sad to see what the radical left has done to the country. Nobody with any sense can believe the DOJ any longer nor the FBI. They are stooges for leftists. The numbers that are cranked out by the CBO are ludicrous on their face and become ridiculous in historical context. Every time the CBO begins to get numbers they don’t like they change the algorithm. It’s like Glow-ball Warming, don’t like the facts, just change’em. And all those years of the media saying the obligatory “The non-partisan CBO reported”…puuleeze! They are as non-partisan as antifa. Finally, the media has done their best to hide, lie, obfuscate any bad news for the left while doing a never-ending 24/7 cycle on any bad news for the right (or what passes for right any more). They’ve infected Hollywood and even sports with their one sided refusal to understand people are allowed to disagree and they may just be correct in their disagreement.

    So basically the left has made it pretty much impossible to believe anything that comes out of the mouth of government or the media. The two entities we need to be able to trust at least on important things now have zero reliability because of so much unbridled and unabashed obvious collusion with the left. We always knew the politicians were liars and spinners (not just Trump you haters, all of them) but we had a reasonable expectation of some form of honesty from “official numbers”, “official sources” and a fact-check by the “impartial” media. No more, brother, no more.

    BTW, you can be a Trump hater all you want but is was his win last November that made these lying pigs called journaLists break down in tears on TV and fall apart showing us and the world their real, radical, very, very partial delivery of what they call “news” but which is their Alinsky agenda and their Soros narrative.

    When Newsweek so proudly declared “We are all Socialists Now” on their cover they were really saying they are all Liars.

    https://mail.aol.com/webmail/getPart?uid=74970&partId=3&scope=STANDARD&saveAs=image009.jpg

    I’ve now switched to One America News to try and get some semblance of truth in reporting. That is until they sell out to the leftists.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  59. Dave would cheer the sun going nova, if he could blame it on Trump.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  60. Sorry. That means LIAR!
    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/3/2017 @ 8:02 am

    -Sigh-

    Isn’t Ben a treasure? Poor guy, he is our very own Basil

    felipe (023cc9)

  61. Ben Burn would be sure we didn’t know what “nova” or “sun” meant.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  62. No offense Kevin but the stupid is strong so I never assume literacy.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  63. Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 9/3/2017 @ 8:47 am

    Kevin, I wouldn’t blame you if you knocked that one out of the park.

    felipe (023cc9)

  64. You have to understand Ben. He’s a leftist. That’s the sort that thinks the idiot on the right in this picture knows more about grace and style than the lady on the left.

    http://www.truthrevolt.org/sites/default/files/styles/content_full_width/public/field/image/articles/43180.jpg?itok=k5WzsArj

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  65. 62.Ben Burn would be sure we didn’t know what “nova” or “sun” meant.

    Sure he does. “Nova” is a Chevy and “sun” is his father’s male child.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  66. It’s Donald Trump who needs to issue a mea culpa. Not so much his defenders, because he did have maybe what to rely on. But the accusation by Mark Levin was a leap of logic – that actually was illogical.

    Sammy Finkelman (a279f3)

  67. Ben, few things would please me more than to be able to establish mutual respect between us. Without telling me what I should do, would you opine on the matter? I will refrain from telling you what I think you should as well.

    felipe (023cc9)

  68. “It’s Donald Trump who needs to issue a mea culpa.”

    Has he once in 70 years taken accountability?

    The spoiled- rotten toddler has never worn the long pants of adulthood. Insulated in his Tower like the Hunchback, he bangs his bells from the safety of his perch and projects his vomitusnon the hapless street- goers below and congratulates himself on his brilliant ascendancy. He’s Billy Mumy the powerful psychopath in Twilight Zone.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  69. Everyone is free to believe this is a story pushed by a corrupt DOJ and the media, but it comes from a DOJ pleading filed in a FOIA court case. A liberal group filed suit to compel Trump’s DOJ to produce evidence that Trump was wiretapped as he had tweeted. The DOJ filed a Motion for Summary Judgment last Friday, September 1, 2017, asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit because there is no evidence Trump was wiretapped as claimed in Trump’s tweets.

    However, the DOJ’s supporting Statement of Material Facts suggests there could be other wiretaps/surveillance, because it states that it will neither confirm nor deny the existence of other responsive records. My guess is there are/is Russian wiretaps/surveillance that may have picked up contacts between Russians and Trump and/or his agents but, if he wasn’t the target, then Trump’s tweets were incorrect when he said he was being wiretapped.

    DRJ (15874d)

  70. I don’t expect Trump to understand the difference between being the target of a wiretap and being picked up on wiretaps/surveillance targeting someone else. Maybe most people wouldn’t understand the distinction but I think the people at this blog do, and they understand why it makes a difference.

    DRJ (15874d)

  71. DRJ (15874d) — 9/3/2017 @ 9:07 am

    Your point is well taken, DRJ. But I see the liberal group who filed the suit as the shill to the DOJ con man. As Omar Sharif’s character said to King Faisel’s servant: “Can you not see they are Master and man?”

    felipe (023cc9)

  72. Thoughts and prayers for Perry… from the Daily Mail:

    “Approximately 70,000 people from all over the world have gathered for the annual Burning Man festival, which is taking place in the Black Rock Desert. But crowds were horrified when one reveller made a beeline for the giant wooden effigy and was engulfed by the flames…”

    Colonel Haiku (d47fa2)

  73. If you think the DOJ lawyers are lying to the court, felipe, then Trump hasn’t got a chance to drain the swamp. He might as well quit and let someone else try since after 4 months in office, Trump hadn’t even bothered to nominate 201 out of 205 DOJ jobs.

    DRJ (15874d)

  74. DRJ (15874d) — 9/3/2017 @ 9:12 am

    I will humbly admit that there are many nuances I can otherwise detect, but all discernment crumbles when I fall to the temptation of taking offense, nay, prefer to take offense in a situation that offends my sensibilities.

    If this is true of me, can I not help but let this temper my view of another? The greater the person, the greater the failure.

    felipe (023cc9)

  75. DRJ (15874d) — 9/3/2017 @ 9:26 am

    I completely agree, DRJ.

    felipe (023cc9)

  76. This is not rocket science, felipe.

    Either this pleading is true or it isn’t. If it is true, then Trump doesn’t understand what he is talking about — even though most people can understand it when they consider it.

    If it is not true, then the DOJ culture is corrupt and Trump needs to change the culture. But he obviously isn’t even trying because he isn’t changing the personnel that make the culture what it us.

    DRJ (15874d)

  77. But I do not expect DJT to quite. He will, with great suffering and tears, please Gos, rise to the challenge in as far as he is able with God’s grace.

    It is God’s way to use the fool to chastise the wise.

    felipe (023cc9)

  78. Sorty, felipe, I thought your comment 76 was a response to my 75.

    DRJ (15874d)

  79. If it is not true, then the DOJ culture is corrupt and Trump needs to change the culture. But he obviously isn’t even trying because he isn’t changing the personnel that make the culture what it us.
    DRJ (15874d) — 9/3/2017 @ 9:33 am

    This is my current position.

    felipe (023cc9)

  80. Does it matter drj if the warrant is illegitimate founded upon the bogus dossier and the compromised to say the least, crowdstrike report, we see how Mr. Hardys response to everything is to put it in the round file. Re the Tampa cell pre 9/11 or some tenuous okc bombing connection.

    narciso (364166)

  81. No worries, DRJ.

    felipe (023cc9)

  82. And how many since In the last four, and how many has McConnell acted on?

    narciso (364166)

  83. I don’t think it is God’s way to honor foolish leaders, so I hope Trump is not foolish.

    DRJ (15874d)

  84. After all that has happened over the last 8.5 years, are there still people who don’t believe the DoJ has been thoroughly politicized and corrupted? That should be considered before wondering why this administration has not performed vector control.

    Colonel Haiku (d47fa2)

  85. Trump, who is not known for pulling punches when it comes to criticizing McConnell, blames the Democrats for delays in confirming his nominations. But I think the only additional nominee he has named is the DOJ Criminal Division head, reducing the total open jobs from 201 to 200.

    DRJ (15874d)

  86. True, DRJ.

    The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. Ps 14:1

    felipe (023cc9)

  87. It’s Trump’s fault for not putting his own people in the DOJ in the pas 7+ months. He is the President but he acts like the job he wants to do is Press Secretary or Director of Communications.

    DRJ (15874d)

  88. if this suit helped sleazy nevertrump forestall an investigation of the seedy corrupt FBI then it’s achieved its purpose i suppose

    but thanks to President Trump we now have the full measure of how fascist and dangerous the lawless thugtrash at the FBI have become

    but we’re still left with the troubling matter of cowardpig John McCain

    this remains unresolved

    the entire country’s embroiled in a wholly fabricated trump-colluded-with-the-russians farce

    and the only evidence of genuine collusion is that treasonous filthy cowardpig John McCain colluded to deliver Russian disinformation to the corrupt FBI for so they would have a pretext to use intelligence agency resources to target a duly elected president

    this is horrifying and i know it’s horrifying

    you know it’s horrifying

    it’s treason

    and they want to desecrate a national cemetery with this pig’s traitorous nasty war hero corpse?

    how ghastly

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  89. It would be a good thing for Trump to overcome his tendency to get caught up in the petty nonsense dished out daily by the MSM and NeverTrumpinistas and TCB.

    Colonel Haiku (d47fa2)

  90. Would someone explain why in the world Samantha Power needs to unmask the identities of Trump associates?

    “Ms. Power’s job was diplomacy. Unmaskings are supposed to be rare,” a Wall Street Journal report states, “and if the mere ambassador to the U.N. could demand them, what privacy protection was the Obama White House really offering U.S. citizens?” Also in on the action were National Security Adviser Susan Rice and CIA Director John Brennan. Why are they so interested in this unmasking?

    The infamous NY Times story of Jan. 20 (the day of the inauguration) was part of the deep state resistance of Trump. The NY Times has backtracked over the use of the word “wiretap” in the headline because of the Trump push back.

    But the systematic effort of the Obama Administration to unmask and then leak this to the NY Times was an effort to delegitimize the results of the election. A fair argument can be made that this abuse of the unmasking law amounts to wiretapping. The pattern of unmasking had a specific target and purpose.

    The Trump people were in fact tacit targets of the surveillance. Of course there are no records of direct wiretapping of Trump associates.

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  91. Colonel Haiku (d47fa2) — 9/3/2017 @ 9:49 am

    I am with you on that, Colonel. What would it take? What possible event would prove to be the catalyst for such a personal change? Dare I say it – conversion?

    felipe (023cc9)

  92. At the top of the “To Do” list should be the replacement of the career leftist lawyers in the Justice Department – if it’s too difficult to fire them, neuter them by placing them in tedious rolls in undesirable locales.

    Colonel Haiku (d47fa2)

  93. But the systematic effort of the Obama Administration to unmask and then leak this to the NY Times was an effort to delegitimize the results of the election.

    nevertrump is quite on board with this I fear

    their vaunted principles have flown the coop, and now whatever shall we do about eggses?

    troubling.

    that said

    here is what I propose

    succotash!

    fresh sweet corn’s on sale at the mariano’s for 25 cents an ear, and last I saw the tomatoes looked serviceable if a bit picked-over

    I’ve never made me own succotash

    the recipe I have calls for what seems an inordinate amount of butter

    let it be so

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  94. 92… yes, AZ Bob… so obvious one wonders why some completely disregard it in their zeal to carry out their petulant denunciations and virtue signaling.

    Colonel Haiku (d47fa2)

  95. I tend to believe both, felipe. I doubt the DOJ would lie about whether Trump was the target, but Obama’s DOJ wouldn’t have been so clumsy as to target Trump directly. Obama’s DOJ would have noticed Trump or his agents were talking to specific Russians and then targeted those Russians. So this could have been politically motivated targeting and still be true that Trump wasn’t the target.

    However, Trump isn’t doing anything to drain the DOJ swamp. It’s as if Trump wants to complain more than he wants to drain … which I think is also true.

    DRJ (15874d)

  96. I’m not sure he has it in him, Felipe. But that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t point out how some willfully choose to overlook the obvious bias, petty vindictiveness and childish peevishness of many critics.

    Colonel Haiku (d47fa2)

  97. DRJ (15874d) — 9/3/2017 @ 9:59 am

    Thank you, DRJ I find myself persuaded.

    felipe (023cc9)

  98. the DoJ DRJ describes has no place in America. It should be held to account and thoroughly reformed.

    Colonel Haiku (d47fa2)

  99. The whole point to winning elections is to change/fix things. It isn’t to travel, hold rallies, enjoy the crowds, or press the flesh — although those can be byproducts of change. With Trump, we’re getting the byproducts but only one long-lasting change (Gorsuch), and Gorsuch isn’t enough to change much of anything.

    DRJ (15874d)

  100. My sincere thanks to everyone for the ideas you have expressed this morning. Happy Sunday to Colonel, DRJ, and to all of good will. I am off to enjoy God’s creation.

    felipe (023cc9)

  101. It should, Haiku, but nothing is happening and it takes time and people inside the DOJ to fix it. Time is running out.

    DRJ (15874d)

  102. The same doj that went after Bob McDonnell, that incited riots in sanford and ferguson, the same fbi which practically directed the garland shooters to geller and co, who used that bogus video to go after bassoulay. The naivete is a little striking.

    narciso (364166)

  103. Frankly, it’s probably too late gor Trump’s DOJ. The good lawyers don’t trust Trump now because of the way he treats people on “his side.” I suspect the reason he initially had trouble filling the slots was that he didn’t care about the DOJ, but now he may be having a hard time finding good lawyers who will work for him. (He can’t even get them to represent him, let alone the DOJ.) He kills careers and exposes everyone to civil and criminal liability.

    DRJ (15874d)

  104. Have a blessed day and week, felipe.

    DRJ (15874d)

  105. the pitiful corrupt Department of Justice has been handicapped with a dirty Alabama bigot at its titular head, who is as sidelined as he is malignant

    nevertrump would poop if this man, who is indeed a filthy useless, were to be removed and replaced with someone effective and possessed of honorable intention

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  106. I agree with you DRJ. Trump won in the hopes by some, myself included, that by NOT being Hillary and a part of the political/lobbyist complex he would get some needed reforms done. It would be bloody. The media would howl at what a fascist he is by building a wall and telling foreigners they actually have no right to come here, but he would get some it done. I was not a Trump supporter but I did vote for him. The reason is obvious: I love watching leftist media and celebrities cry. But it was also for things like Gorsuch but a whole lot more and I too am disappointed. I realize the entire *non-deplorable* country is mobilized against Trump every day 24 hours a day. He has no support even from Republicans especially you “neverTrumpers” out there but still I want him to do more. Maybe with all these forces united to ruin his presidency it’s more than one man can pull off. I mean if neverTrump Republicans have more in common with antifa I guess we are going back to the slow slide to socialist death the left will reinstate after we loose the next election.

    Rev.Hoagie® (630eca)

  107. Mueller is utterly unacountable, yes rosenstein is a good cigar store Indian. Getting rid of general Flynn also served as pretext to purge all those strongest against iran’scmschination which are backed by russia, as they are in Venezuela and cuba.

    narciso (af34ef)

  108. Rex Tillerson the low-wattage climate change pansy who couldn’t be in more over his head is known to literally dress up like a cheerleader – fake breasts and all – to inspire a jihadi-like fervor among his State Department staff whenever the wisdom of Barack Obama’s deal with Iran is called into question

    rabidly anti-semitic US Army general HR McMaster expects no less of him of course, but Tilly is said to surpass his every expectation

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  109. No person of quality would want to work for Trump, that’s a given.

    nk (dbc370)

  110. that’s an assertion demonstrably belied by evidences most plentiful Mr. nk

    for example, I’m quite smitten with this Sarah Huckabee – she’s a spitfire and the goodness of her soul quite shines through for all to see

    Ryan Zinke’s proven capable and focused, notwithstanding his goofy tranny-loving daughter’s determination to make an ass of herself at every opportunity

    Mr. Pruitt is doing well at the EPA, if not yet at a level commensurate with the reform that is required

    And Linda McMahon at the SBA has her eye on the ball, and we shall see what she produces soonly enough:

    “As I travel the country meeting with small business owners, I hear over and over again about the volume of regulations they must comply with and how difficult it is to manage the burden. So I’ve appointed a taskforce here at SBA to help identify SBA regulations that need to be changed or eliminated.” McMahon said. “Your feedback will help SBA do its part to identify which SBA regulations may be impeding small business economic growth, innovation and job creation.”

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  111. My friend clarice can tell you how the govt can countenance the unthinkable for their own ends.

    Why manafort get the archer treatment but podesta a simple subpoena.

    narciso (d1f714)

  112. No but like George Schultz who had been the head of a firm with major middle East interest.

    narciso (d1f714)

  113. As in Cyndi archer whose treatment was approved by the 7th circuit.

    Btw it was the previous dhs that covered up a suspect in the hallums kidnapping who had been admitted to this country from iraq

    narciso (d1f714)

  114. 103… I don’t disagree, DRJ.

    Colonel Haiku (d47fa2)

  115. Which puts a lie to that dhs memo admitted as evidence

    narciso (d1f714)

  116. Dave is just so darned conservative!

    Explain to me what is conservative about making insane threats and failing to back them up.

    “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
    – Donald Trump threatening nuclear war if North Korean makes another threat

    How many dozens of threats have they made with impunity since then? How much credibility will Trump’s next hate-Tweet threatening nuclear war have? (Hint: less than none)

    Dave would cheer the sun going nova, if he could blame it on Trump.

    It’s comforting that there are a handful of things that even Trump, for all his ignorance and immorality, is incapable of screwing up.

    Unfortunately, for those of us living in southern California, there will be little practical difference between the sun going nova and a NorKo bomb exploding over LA.

    At least we can enjoy Trump’s empty and increasingly unhinged threats on Twitter until his idiocy and incompetence vaporize us.

    Dave (445e97)

  117. No, narciso, it doesn’t make the Memo a lie. Let’s assume Obama DOJ targeted Russians because it thought it could catch the GOP/Trump in bad optics, or worse. Do you really think the Republicans wouldn’t do the same if the roles were reversed? I’m sure both sides would convince themselves that, even though they would benefit politically, it is in the national interest to know if American political leaders are privately talking to agents from Russia and similar countries.

    And maybe it is. Wouldn’t you want to know if the Democrats are talking to the Syrians, the Chinese, or the Russians outside of diplomatic circles?

    DRJ (15874d)

  118. It was time for you to ben dover and kiss your keister g’bye a long time ago, Dave.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  119. then all praise is due, under this thinking, to nasty tranny-sexual Bradley Manning, to wikileaks, to Mr. Snowden, and to the corrupt Comey Clapper FBI CIA trash who’ve rationalized the leaking of all sorts of yummy and multitudinous on-goings and goings-on

    and they’d all claim to have done so in the national interest

    but lawlessness has no small consequence, as the gentle reader would soon learn as the saga of the last days of failmerican democracy began to unfold before his eyes

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  120. So we are assured the DoJ didn’t have Dragnet-suited operatives planting actual devices on Trump’s telephones.
    Okay, then. Nothing to worry about.
    I mean, I’d expect the DoJ to lie about that, too, if they still had any of those old clunkers around.

    Richard Aubrey (0d7df4)

  121. Leaking classified information (as Bradley Manning and others did) is a crime, hf. But you know that. I thimk you like to change the subject.

    DRJ (15874d)

  122. i think you know me rather too well DRJ

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  123. I think the FISA motion is less exonerating with regard to Trump’s claims — if you treat them generically rather than specifically — that is being suggested.

    The motion makes a very specific point — that the requested information about “wiretaps” is broader than the statements made by Trump in his tweets.

    The motion says there are no responsive documents regarding “wiretaps” as the term was used by Trump.

    But at Paragraph 9, the Gov’t says “Because Plaintiff’s request is broader than the category of alleged wiretaps described in those statements (Trump’s statements), however, FBI and DOJ do not confirm or deny the existence of any other responsive records.

    At Paragraph 10, the motion states: “… information withheld by NSD (National Security Division of DOJ) is protected by Exemption 1.

    At Paragraph 10 the motion states: “… information withheld by the FBI is protected by Exemption 1.

    So, buy parsing Trump’s twitter comments, and then making the point that the FOIA applicant’s request was broader than Trump’s twitter comments, DOJ was able to withhold information about surviellance which likely confirms that persons associated with Trump’s campaign were intercepted by intelligence “wiretaps” — or more like by NSA signals intelligence collection — which was really the essence of Trump’s twitter comments.

    This whole issue falls down on the idea that when Trump said “wiretaps” the only thing in his mind was the old-fashioned Title III wiretap of a phone number. DOJ and FBI can easily say “we didn’t do that” while refusing to rule out that signals intelligence was gathered in another manner.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)


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