Patterico's Pontifications

4/22/2018

The Conspiracy Theories About Comey’s Dossier Briefing Are Absurd

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 10:30 am



The latest conspiracy theories about Trump and the pee tape really are ridiculous. Jonathan Chait has an excellent piece in New York Magazine debunking those conspiracy theories with surgical precision. If you are the sort that cannot distinguish facts and logic from the person offering them, stop reading now. You’ve already heard all you need to know. If facts and logic matter to you, read on.

Hemingway’s conspiracy theory is that Comey’s informing Trump about the dossier was an operation intended to give CNN a news hook to report on it. Chait dismantles this nonsense in a few sentences, pointing out that plenty of news hooks already existed:

If you read the CNN report on the dossier that Hemingway describes, though, literally the first sentence describes the fact that President Obama was briefed on the dossier before Trump was told about it: “Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.” And then, if you go a few paragraphs down in the CNN story, you learn that the dossier’s allegations were also “mentioned in classified briefings for congressional leaders last year.”

So CNN knew Congress had been briefed on the dossier in 2017. And it also knew Obama had been briefed on the dossier. Hemingway’s theory is that CNN would not have reported either of these facts without the additional revelation that Trump had also been briefed on the dossier.

I have an extremely hard time believing CNN would refuse to run a story revealing for the first time that there was a dossier of explosive allegations against the president-elect that had been shared with both Congress and the president of the United States, because they needed the additional information that the president-elect had also been briefed in order to run it.

York’s conspiracy theory starts with Hemingway’s silly premise and makes it even sillier. He claims that when Trump demanded loyalty from Comey, he was really saying, in essence: “Please don’t blackmail me.” Chait is able to dismantle this nonsense in a couple of paragraphs:

This analysis obviously omits a massive amount of context: Trump asking Comey specifically to let off Michael Flynn (who, at the time, was the only official known to be under investigation for his Russian ties); Trump’s months and months of attempting to control multiple aspects of the Department of Justice, including demands that it investigate his opponents; and indeed Trump’s long-standing belief that the Department of Justice has always been and always should be a weapon to protect the president’s interests. To believe Trump’s demand for “loyalty” was anything other than an insistence that the FBI protect his interests requires ignoring everything Trump’s said and done about this subject for his entire career.

What’s more, if it’s true, as York says, that Trump’s demand for loyalty was merely merely an innocuous request that Comey not leak anything hostile to him, why didn’t Trump say this himself? Indeed, why has he spent a year denying he ever said this at all? As soon as Comey reported having been asked for loyalty in 2017, the White House insisted no such words were ever uttered. As recently as this week, Trump has been claiming, “I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty.” York has produced an alibi on Trump’s behalf that Trump never thought to use himself over all these months.

Chait concludes by asking: what if Comey had hidden the existence of the pee tape from Trump, and he had been blindsided by it later. Would these people have praised Comey for that?

Of course not. He’s damned either way, according to the analysis of mindless partisans.

Hemingway’s premise is ridiculous. York’s is even worse. Chait destroys them both. Before the era of Trump, the previous three sentences, in that order, would not be something I would ever expect to write. But much has changed in the Bizarro world in which we live.

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

142 Responses to “The Conspiracy Theories About Comey’s Dossier Briefing Are Absurd”

  1. You’re a bad person for writing this post, and you should feel bad.

    Dave (445e97)

  2. Chait concludes by asking: what if Comey had hidden the existence of the pee tape from Trump, and he had been blindsided by it later. Would these people have praised Comey for that?

    Of course not. He’s damned either way, according to the analysis of mindless partisans.

    Bingo.

    Another nonsensical thing about the blackmail conspiracy theory is that multiple news organizations apparently had the dossier, or parts of it. It was not a classified government document, it was the property of the private citizens who originally paid for it (the Clinton campaign), and they were free to distribute it to whomever they pleased.

    Since it was potentially damaging to someone the owners of the material despise, the chance of it remaining under wraps indefinitely was exactly zero.

    Dave (445e97)

  3. We know the sequence of events. Nobody had reported on the coward-ass war hero John McCain’s dossier.

    CNN reported on the dossier only after clapper had his dirty fbi slutboy brief President Trump.

    We also know comey only briefed the president elect on the urinating hookers, so this was not a legitimate professional intelligence briefing.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  4. oopers

    the coward-ass war hero John McCain’s dossier

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  5. Byron York
    @ByronYork
    So what did Trump mean when he said he needed Comey’s loyalty? Maybe he meant an FBI director he didn’t have to worry would blackmail him.

    Harkin (379712)

  6. Hogwash! Comey’s meeting with the President-elect and discussions of the laughably salacious fairytales contained in Hillary’s ‘dirty dossier’ was only a pretext for Comey’s contrived accusatory ‘memos to the file’ which he subsequently leaked in order spur the appointment of a Trump assassin.

    Comey is (was) a high dragon in the Deep State’s ongoing plot to protect Hillary and Obama from the consequences of their many criminality treasonous felonies and their central roles in attempting to subvert a legitimate presidential election.

    All three (along with a number of others) should face the harshest consequences for their criminal betrayals. In a more civilized era they would likely be subject to the death penalty prosecutions they so clearly deserve.

    ropelight (e06d37)

  7. the trashy men and women of the fbi would blackmail their own mothers if they could get a better parking space out of it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  8. And then Comey turns around with his OWN conspiracy theory that Putin might be blackmailing Trump. It’s really hard to know which how many players are crazy any more.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  9. ropelight brings up some good questions:

    What has prevented the current DoJ from reopening investigations into Hillary’s mishandling of TS material, or the bribes emoluments donations from foreign states to her Foundation following favorable actions of hers as SoS?

    Why is there still no investigation into the IRS’s selective political audits?

    Why is there no investigation into the Obama WH possession of NSA intelligence on political enemies?

    Why was Bill Clinton never charges with obstruction and perjury?

    etc. Sessions has been a true disappointment, only working to further drug prosecutions.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  10. 1. It was a dossier being pushed by an oppo reasearch firm, to media outlets (we know this). The media outlets quite rightly took an attitude that it was silly (just read the part of the dossier where Trump names his poops Obamas (that screams Internet troll). News outlets treated it like anonymous letters. The hook was that it was was being looked at by the government.

    2. Comey was disengenous in not briefing Trump on the source of the dossier or on the entire contents. He should not be teaching ethics. Intent to deceive. It was a very slanted briefing. He only shared the silliest parts of the dossier, not the serious ones. Why bother?

    3. Given the material was being looked at by intelligence agencies, it is reasonable that the discussion should be classified. Comey then shared this with others.

    —-

    Whether there was a coordinated, pre-planned meeting to leak, who knows. Maybe not. But don’t miss the point. The US law enforcement and intelligence was deeply involved with oppo research (look at the Ohr husband and wife). If it was serious (I don’t think so), it still should not have been leaked.

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  11. Another factor to consider is ex-FBI Director James Comey’s admission that he conspired to secretly leak “memos” to the New York Times in hopes of publicly damaging President Trump enough to spur appointment of a special counsel – which seemed to work according to plan. If this was part of an “insurance policy” plan, then it’s possible that the planners also predetermined that the special counsel should – or would – be ex-FBI Director Robert Mueller.

    There’s no denying that the manner in which dirty butt comey went about providing CNN with a news hook to report on the dossier tracks with how he rolls.

    He took the dirty FBI to new heights of sleaze and corruption.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  12. I find ropelight’s comment to be morally despicable on a number of levels.

    Leviticus (0b0b02)

  13. I’d be interested in the evidence behind this claim:

    “…Trump’s long-standing belief that the Department of Justice has always been and always should be a weapon to protect the president’s interests.”

    Daiwa (44faac)

  14. virtue signal noted Mr. Leviticus but please to explain what’s despicable about anything Mr. ropelight said

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  15. Comey’s meeting with the President-elect and discussions of the laughably salacious fairytales contained in Hillary’s ‘dirty dossier’ was only a pretext for Comey’s contrived accusatory ‘memos to the file’

    yes yes we know corrupt jim comey only did memos on president trump, nobody else

    not obama or any other democrats

    these memos were part of his treasonous scheme to bring down President Trump

    ‘memos to the file’ which he subsequently leaked in order spur the appointment of a Trump assassin.

    sleazy fbi suckboy Jim Comey has openly admitted to this

    Comey is (was) a high dragon in the Deep State’s ongoing plot to protect Hillary and Obama from the consequences of their many criminally treasonous felonies and their central roles in attempting to subvert a legitimate presidential election.

    yes the left in America including fbi slut Comey and dirty deeps state slut Clapper (a dirty pentagon piggy by way of the sleazy US air force) abjure the peaceful transfer of power

    All three (along with a number of others) should face the harshest consequences for their criminal betrayals. In a more civilized era they would likely be subject to the death penalty prosecutions they so clearly deserve.

    yes yes if we let this dirty coup go unpunished we turn out back on our democaratic heritage

    it’s a lot like when the dirty trannied-trash US military let Beau Bergdork off the hook for desertion – they pissed away what was left of their honorable heritage

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  16. oopers two errors to note

    *democratic* – i did a misspeller there

    and it should be *tranny*-trash US military not trannied

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  17. oh and i forgot a blockquote tag on the line about ‘memos to the file’

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  18. Trump asking Comey specifically to let off Michael Flynn (who, at the time, was the only official known to be under investigation for his Russian ties

    and who we now know even sleazy unethical Mueller couldn’t pin a crime on for anything to do with his remit, and the crime they nailed him on was one even fascist fbi suckboy Jim Comey said he wasn’t guilty of

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  19. IIRC:

    It was Buzzfeed that broke the story, and ran a version of the dossier, and CNN ran its story because BuzzFeed did.

    It could be that BuzzFeed needed the news peg taht Donald trump had been briefed on this in order to run it, or maybe the leakers needed it.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  20. CNN, however, lapped it up, informed its readers of the existence of scandalous reports on Trump, and BuzzFeed, a clickbait site owned in part by NBC, then published the dossier, a portion of which, it seems, was provided by infonerd
    bulletin board 4 Chan.

    As Iowahawk tweeted: “Unconfirmed Denial of Unsourced Blockbuster Allegations Raises Questions, According To Insiders Who Requested Anonymity.”

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  21. Jan 10, 2017: https://www.recode.net/2017/1/10/14232186/trump-memo-allegations-buzzfeed

    Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/01/11/after-the-trump-dossier-james-comey-is-running-out-of-excuses/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ce7d1841a4c9

    The WP is not clear on who published first, but CNN did not want toi be scoopred in any case.

    It could be that the motive for telling Trump was to create a news peg to leak the allegations and have someone publish it, but any number of people could have had that thought. Any person involved in the decision to brief Trump about it.

    It coukd ve eve this had it backward, i.e. someone wanted to leak oit but not surprise Trump, so he was informed in advaance of the leak. Another idea, of course, is that someone became aware it had been leaked because they were getting questions about it. In either case the leak and the briefing were indeed related events.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  22. It could be that the motive for telling Trump was to create a news peg to leak the allegations and have someone publish it, but any number of people could have had that thought. Any person involved in the decision to brief Trump about it.

    well how did CNN fake news propaganda slut Jake Tapper report it?

    Intel chiefs presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  23. Trump asking Comey specifically to let off Michael Flynn

    Whixch contrary to his testimony, Comey immediately did:

    Things turned on a dime:

    At 6:25 am February 15, Zero Hedge has this: (that’s Feb 15 in spite of the URL saying Feb 14)

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-14/mike-flynn-may-face-felony-charges-lying-fbi

    But by 10 pm Zero Hedge reports:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-15/fbi-reportedly-will-not-pursue-charges-against-cooperative-and-truthful-mike-flynn

    https://mobile.twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/832013379124486148?p=v

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  24. what if Comey had hidden the existence of the pee tape from Trump, and he had been blindsided by it later

    there is no tape

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  25. I find calling for the execution of your political enemies to be morally despicable.

    Leviticus (0b0b02)

  26. The word today is Gravitas. The Trump dossier is made up of a number of really strange and weird accusations which were not being taken seriously by the news media and Congress, because the media is *full* of crap like this about any politician. In order to get some weight behind the accusations, they had to be presented to Trump as if they were serious, and from that point the press could run wild by saying “The FBI briefed Trump on the details of (fill in the blank here)”

    So either Comey was ‘In’ on the scheme to add credibility to the dodgy and still unverified dossier, or he was a blithering incompetent who allowed himself to be used against his boss. Either way, he deserved to be fired shortly after the news media began to run 24/7 on the dossier contents.

    He serves at the pleasure of the president. Trump does *not* need a reason to fire him. The reason above is just gravy on the turkey.

    Georg Felis (0fff9e)

  27. In a more civilized era they would likely be subject to the death penalty prosecutions they so clearly deserve.

    this isn’t tantamount to calling for the execution of political enemies

    Mr. ropelight’s calling for the indictment and prosecution of malfeasance: for the rule of law to be applied to the lawless FBI, to Hillary, to the sleazy CIA

    this is not despicable

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  28. Here’s my take on the accuracy of the article:

    Jonathan Chait is an American liberal commentator and writer for New York magazine. He was previously a senior editor at The New Republic and an assistant editor of The American Prospect. He writes a periodic column in the Los Angeles Times. Wikipedia

    EPWJ (f4224b)

  29. Oh, fer chrissakes… Jonathan Chait? What next…

    Colonel Haiku (1a00eb)

  30. Just a few steps left to the full dark side…

    Colonel Haiku (1a00eb)

  31. Just spend some time googling and reading Chait’s articles over the last decade plus… you have got to be fvcking kidding.

    Colonel Haiku (1a00eb)

  32. “In 2008, Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin electrified conservatives in a way the more sober presidential nominee could not. People who paid close attention to Palin saw her as a dangerous buffoon. Anti-intellectualism was her driving impulse, as Noam Scheiber aptly demonstrated in a 2008 profile. She knew so little about public policy (she believed England was literally and not just symbolically ruled by a queen, she did not realize North and South Korea were separate countries, and so on) that the McCain campaign frantically scurried to conceal her ignorance, and some members of her team were actually prepared to publicly warn America against her before the election if they felt she had a chance to win. Despite those efforts, Palin’s crude ignorance shined through for anybody who cared to see it. But most conservatives (outside the McCain campaign) chose not to see it. They fervently defended Palin as an authentic populist beset by sinister liberal elites.”

    —- Jonathan Chait

    Colonel Haiku (1a00eb)

  33. Did you mean: what is a buffoon
    Here’s the Real Reason Everybody Thought Trump Would Lose – NYMag
    nymag.com › intelligencer › 2016/05 › h…
    May 11, 2016 · Why did almost everybody fail to predict Donald Trump’s victory in the Republican primaries? Nate Silver blames the news media, disorganized Republican elites, and …
    How Conservatism Created Donald Trump – NYMag
    nymag.com › intelligencer › 2016/01 › h…
    Jan 22, 2016 · People who paid close attention to Palin saw her as a dangerous buffoon. Anti-intellectualism was her driving impulse, as Noam Scheiber aptly demonstrated in a 2008 …
    Jonathan Chait on Twitter: “Yup. German elites didn’t think Hitler was Hitler. They thought Hitler was Trump. https://t.co/eWv4Nn7Bkr…
    https://mobile.twitter.com › status
    Mar 19, 2017 · Jonathan Chait added,. Benjamin HartVerified account @realaxelfoley. Like Hitler, Trump was initially dismissed as a buffoon. Unlike Hitler, Trump actually is a …
    Jonathan Chait on Twitter: “Thanks for the branding advice. I’ll return the favor: Associating yourself with a racist authoritarian buffoon is probably poor branding …
    https://mobile.twitter.com › status
    Nov 11, 2016 · Anthony ScaramucciVerified account @Scaramucci. You could have called me and had a civil and intellectual conversation rather than hurt your brand like that.
    Jonathan Chait on Twitter: “Ironically, the scenario the film conjured to imagine nuclear war seems more believable than the current “Americans elect unhinged …
    Twitter › jonathanchait › status
    Jan 2, 2018 · Ironically, the scenario the film conjured to imagine nuclear war seems more believable than the current “Americans elect unhinged buffoon as president” …
    Jonathan Chait on Twitter: “Trump has legal authority to undermine US intel, or to do almost anything. The law can’t stop him. Impeachment can. https://t.co
    Twitter › jonathanchait › status
    May 16, 2017 · … ChaitVerified account. @jonathanchait. Writer for New York magazine. jbchait@gmail.com. Notifications turned off. Washington, D.C.. nymag.com/author/jonatha…
    Jonathan Chait on Twitter: “Right, but being a huge racist buffoon, vs. a smooth reassuring Latino, is a bigger liability than policy https://t.co/s7yceqxOak
    https://mobile.twitter.com › jonathanchait
    Jan 26, 2016 · Jonathan ChaitVerified account. @jonathanchait. Writer for New York magazine. Notifications turned off. Washington, D.C.. nymag.com/author/jonatha… Joined June …
    Defending the Netroots | The New Republic
    https://newrepublic.com › article › defen…
    Apr 29, 2007 · Other pundits the netroots love to hate include Joe Klein, whose work Chait also disapproves of; Thomas Friedman, a buffoon; and Maureen Dowd, who I’d hardly …
    Deception in journalism, &c. | National Review
    https://www.nationalreview.com › 2006/10
    Oct 19, 2006 · #ad#The point of the piece is that Rumsfeld’s admirers now look like buffoons, as his name has turned to mud. Chait mentions recent books, such as Bob Woodward’s, …
    Jonathan Chait is wrong: Trump supporters aren’t stupid. They’re mostly racists who are successfully sticking it to the establishment – Salon.com
    https://www.salon.com › 2016/05/12 › jo…
    May 12, 2016 · “It was simply impossible for me to believe that Republican voters would nominate an obvious buffoon,” he adds, before concluding that he will now have to revise his …

    Colonel Haiku (1a00eb)

  34. That about does it… thanks for the memories.

    Colonel Haiku (1a00eb)

  35. @6.Comey is (was) a high dragon in the Deep State’s ongoing plot…

    Dragons???

    Ever visited the State of Deep, ropelight? The soil is dark and muddy where magic mushrooms line Ruby-paved roadways lit by candy cane streetlights; where Life-Savers serve as coin of the realm; where children play with an octopus named Oswald while their parents party with a rabbit named Harvey. And from the capital at Happydale, Governor Haiku and several Roosevelts named Teddy charge up and down the land throwing lavish tea parties serving Buckeye pie, smoking chocolate cigarettes and blowing Hershey kisses to everyone craving a sweet smack. But no dragons, ropelight; that’s a fantasy.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  36. @35. See #36. Another bus leaves in an hour, Mr. Feet. Try the Buckeye pie.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  37. Welcome back swc.

    Dave (445e97)

  38. @34. Today’s Deep State Directive: Conserve electrons. There is no Deep State.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  39. I find it easy to believe any or all of the following:
    1. By the time of the transition, Comey was a deranged flake who didn’t know which end was up and was only going through the motions of being an FBI director out of conditioned responses;
    2. He was a dimestore J. Edgar Hoover who entertained hopes of getting Trump to keep him on by blackmailing him with the fake dossier; or
    3. He was still deeply invested in the Obama regime just as he was in the summer of 2016 and wanted to do all he could to derail the new administration and its policies from the beginning.

    I’m inclined to go with all three. What I don’t believe he was is an honest and sincere public servant who tried to do his best when faced with difficult situations and simply made some mistakes.

    nk (dbc370)

  40. If Brennan/Clapper leaked a secure briefing for the president/elect that is some nasty, nasty stuff. For one thing it compromises secure information and by implication methods of gathering and analysis. For another thing it compromises internal discussions of secure information by the elected leader.

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  41. oh my goodness

    sleazy judge kimba boomboom licklick

    her dirty sleaze-court has some leaks to look into

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  42. What does Judge Wood have to do with it? As for lispy Dr. Carson selling out HUD to the Trump-Kushner real estate interests and their cronies, that was a given. Fred Trump’s fortune was made with government contracts during and after WWII. The deals with Hannity are small potatoes.

    nk (dbc370)

  43. she got a dirty taint team all up in it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  44. Did swc get the boot again? I see his name in the sidebar, but I don’t see his comments anymore.

    BuDuh (46b893)

  45. I had to take down several swc comments. It has not been a month.

    Patterico (b1f26f)

  46. HUD’s one of the top ten stupidest cabinet departments in the whole whirl

    it shouldn’t even be allowed to exist

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  47. I’ll generally reinstate anyone on a vacation after a sincere apology. Otherwise, a month is a month.

    Patterico (b1f26f)

  48. It’s crazy how fake conspiracies can take hold. Some even result in FISA warrants and special counsels.

    random viking (f2f14e)

  49. Here’s the CNN article in question posted 1/10/2017 (and updated 1/12/2017) after the Trump Tower Clapper/Brennan/Rogers/Comey meeting with Trump days earlier. The Trump briefing was the key piece of the story about what everybody else in the know already knew.

    Classified documents presented last week to President Obama and President-elect Trump included allegations that Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump, multiple US officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.

    The allegations were presented in a two-page synopsis that was appended to a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The allegations came, in part, from memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative, whose past work US intelligence officials consider credible. The FBI is investigating the credibility and accuracy of these allegations, which are based primarily on information from Russian sources, but has not confirmed many essential details in the memos about Mr. Trump.

    The classified briefings last week were presented by four of the senior-most US intelligence chiefs — Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers.

    These senior intelligence officials also included the synopsis to demonstrate that Russia had compiled information potentially harmful to both political parties, but only released information damaging to Hillary Clinton and Democrats. This synopsis was not an official part of the report from the intelligence community case about Russian hacks, but some officials said it augmented the evidence that Moscow intended to harm Clinton’s candidacy and help Trump’s, several officials with knowledge of the briefings tell CNN.

    CNN has confirmed that the synopsis was included in the documents that were presented to Mr. Trump but cannot confirm if it was discussed in his meeting with the intelligence chiefs.


    CNN has reviewed a 35-page compilation of the memos, from which the two-page synopsis was drawn. The memos have since been published by Buzzfeed.


    At this point, CNN is not reporting on details of the memos, as it has not independently corroborated the specific allegations. But, in preparing this story, CNN has spoken to multiple high ranking intelligence, administration, congressional and law enforcement officials, as well as foreign officials and others in the private sector with direct knowledge of the memos.


    Some of the memos were circulating as far back as last summer. What has changed since then is that US intelligence agencies have now checked out the former British intelligence operative and his vast network throughout Europe and find him and his sources to be credible enough to include some of the information in the presentations to the President and President-elect a few days ago.

    On the same day that the President-elect was briefed by the intelligence community, the top four Congressional leaders, and chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees — the so-called “Gang of Eight” — were also provided a summary of the memos regarding Mr. Trump, according to law enforcement, intelligence and administration sources.


    The two-page summary was written without the detailed specifics and information about sources and methods included in the memos by the former British intelligence official. That said, the synopsis was considered so sensitive it was not included in the classified report about Russian hacking that was more widely distributed, but rather in an annex only shared at the most senior levels of the government: President Obama, the President-elect, and the eight Congressional leaders.

    One high level administration official told CNN, “I have a sense the outgoing administration and intelligence community is setting down the pieces so this must be investigated seriously and run down. I think [the] concern was to be sure that whatever information was out there is put into the system so it is evaluated as it should be and acted upon as necessary.”

    Ironically, since Comey says he chose to withhold the two-page synopsis shown to Obama and the “Gang of Eight” and only share the most salacious and unverified claims with Trump orally, it’s fair to say he’s not the likely suspect for this leak to CNN. Chalk this one up to Clapper, Brennan or that high level administration official that wanted “to be sure whatever information was out there is put into the system…” and that everyone including CNN knew about it.

    Compare the minimal info that was shared with Trump to what was being shared among senior Obama administration officials and Congressional leadership. The two-page summary held back sources and methods that are normally shared with recipients at that level. Comey held back even more that would have leading Trump to ask that it be investigated and Comey pushed back saying that’s a bad idea while withholding the fact that that’s exactly what they’d been doing months.

    Comey documented his meetings with Trump whether warranted or not because he was meeting with a subject of the ongoing investigation he didn’t want to tell the incoming President about.

    As Jack Goldsmith says in the Guardian, “At no other time have we seen such a profusion of sensitive leaks from the deep state with such an overtly political aim.”

    crazy (d99a88)

  50. 7.the trashy men and women of the fbi would blackmail their own mothers if they could get a better parking space out of it

    It’s a deep conspiracy, eh Mr. Feet; they keep Atlantis off the maps and the Martians under wraps…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoSLiHKrzRU

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  51. Oh, fer chrissakes… Jonathan Chait? What next…

    About the type of response I expected from some,including you. I already said what I think of such responses in the post. I really have nothing more to say to you or people like you. If you’re flouncing, get on with it.

    Patterico (98df0d)

  52. If you’re a partisan who cares more about the source of an argument than its truth, here’s a PSA: I don’t like your style of commentary, I don’t want it here, and your threats to leave are irritating only to the extent that you don’t follow through. I don’t how to make myself any clearer. You don’t like it here? Then go. Go. Go now. Leave.

    Patterico (98df0d)

  53. My reaction to those who squeal that I am not kissing Trump’s rear end is not to stop the criticism. If anything, my reaction is to criticize him more. It’s not done to drive you away — but if it does, I consider it a happy side effect of speaking the truth. Not a sad one. A happy one.

    Why do you want to keep this happiness away from me?

    Patterico (98df0d)

  54. @49. Deep State is just a crazy fantasy.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  55. Ironically, since Comey says he chose to withhold the two-page synopsis shown to Obama and the “Gang of Eight” and only share the most salacious and unverified claims with Trump orally, it’s fair to say he’s not the likely suspect for this leak to CNN. Chalk this one up to Clapper, Brennan or that high level administration official that wanted “to be sure whatever information was out there is put into the system…” and that everyone including CNN knew about it.

    That is certainly possible. Clapper is known to be dishonest. But this cocksure certainty that Comey set up Trump is silly, and ignores the several already existing news hooks that CNN had.

    But a couple of people say it, and immediately half the right is repeating it like it’s Gospel. This is very weird to behold.

    Patterico (98df0d)

  56. I’m totally fine with people criticizing a source if it is relevant to the argument. Like, if we had to trust Chait rather than simply test his assertions according to the public record.

    But if it’s just a cheap shot and has nothing to do with the argument, what is the point other than to antagonize me?

    And if you can’t do it without insulting me, then honestly: get off my blog. We’ll both be happier.

    Patterico (63b565)

  57. This is very weird to behold.

    Agreed, it’s weird. If only Hemingway and York had the full power of government law enforcement to pursue their conspiracy theories, to wiretap, leak, indict — I’d start to be concerned about it.

    random viking (f2f14e)

  58. Patterico @55. I agree. I don’t think Comey was setting up Trump as much as Brennan/Clapper were setting up Comey by sending him in to tell the new boss what they’d all been doing for the last 6-9 months and what the old boss told them to tell the new boss.

    crazy (d99a88)

  59. @49. Deep State is just a crazy fantasy.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/22/2018 @ 5:47 pm

    I bet it’s as unlikely as Richard Prior and Marlon Brando sharing a bed.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  60. Like, if we had to trust Chait rather than simply test his assertions according to the public record.

    We have reached the point – largely thanks to Trump’s Orwellian campaign to convince his cultists that the whole world and everyone in it is just as dishonest as he is – where the truth of an assertion made by one of his critics is immaterial, since it will be shouted down in a frenzy of tu quoque and character assassination regardless.

    Dave (445e97)

  61. I’ll generally reinstate anyone on a vacation after a sincere apology. Otherwise, a month is a month.

    Patterico (b1f26f) — 4/22/2018 @ 5:20 pm

    There’s no overcrowding problem in the Spam Filter System-like The Bottle City of Kandor.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  62. We have reached the point – largely thanks to Trump’s Orwellian campaign to convince his cultists that the whole world and everyone in it is just as dishonest as he is – where the truth of an assertion made by one of his critics is immaterial, since it will be shouted down in a frenzy of tu quoque and character assassination regardless.

    Dave (445e97) — 4/22/2018 @ 6:41 pm

    A lot of the character assassinations look like the Oktoberfest scene from The Pink Panther movie.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  63. Agreed, it’s weird. If only Hemingway and York had the full power of government law enforcement to pursue their conspiracy theories, to wiretap, leak, indict — I’d start to be concerned about it.

    But you don’t get concerned when vast numbers of people start repeating nonsensical conspiracy theories that are wholly speculative in nature?

    Patterico (63b565)

  64. @60. Three’s Company; two’s a crowd.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  65. a frenzy of tu quoque and character assassination

    character assassination is what sleazy jim comey was doing on trump by getting the John McCain dossier into the press

    we’ll never know what the entirety of comey’s plan was to bring President Donald Trump down cause the slicked up and sassy womanish moron never realized he would get fired

    the dossier was a part of it but…

    this was back when the mccain dossier was routinely described on CNN Jake Tapper fake news as having been commissioned by “an unnamed Republican candidate”

    the dirty fbi needed that story to stick as long as possible

    but here’s the thing

    given how little herr mueller and his fbi gestapo have accomplished, it’s safe to say they knew the phony russia collusion thing wasn’t going to suffice, so there was a lot more to comey’s scheme, and his memos-to-the-file were slated to play a really big role in it

    i think our biggest clue is that at the time comey was running this op on Trump, he was focused on the urinating hookers, not collusion

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  66. and dirty jim focuses on more than just the pee-pee hookers

    he made a big point of doing a memo about how putin bragged about how slutty the russian hookers are

    so when you think about michael cohen being a new development, remember how long the dirty gestapo fbi have been doing illegal wiretaps on people

    the real fbi game all along has been to contrive a hooker scandal all up in it i think

    but all they have so far is a one night stand with dirty stormy and her funguses like when Titanic was still in theaters

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  67. But you don’t get concerned when vast numbers of people start repeating nonsensical conspiracy theories that are wholly speculative in nature?

    Yes, I do. But, I don’t see vast numbers of people signing on to Hemingway and York’s theory. There are probably more people who think John buried Paul or that Elvis is alive.

    random viking (f2f14e)

  68. famous attorney Paul Mirengoff has a piece up about the Guardian article linked upthread

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  69. @60. Three’s Company; two’s a crowd.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/22/2018 @ 7:10 pm

    Did you think I was kidding? Richard Prior’s Widow

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  70. even if you ignore the pedophilia issues Mitt Romney’s simply not a Utah kind of guy

    he likes good food and country clubs and abjures hiking and the stout utah women

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  71. There may be many possible ways to explain Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ bizarre behavior, here are a few: Sesions may be the offspring of the union of a rabbit with a jellyfish; he could be an infortunate Zombie completely under the mind control of Rod Rosenstine; Hillary’s FBI files, stolen from under J Edgar Hoover’s death-bed, might contain enough damning blackmail material to make Povlov’s dog roll over on command; or Sessions is a charter member of the cabal and has been a secret mole in Trump’s team all along and is really up to his chinny chin chin in the Deep State’s treasonous plot.

    Otherwise, other than marking him down as a useless fool, how to explain his decesions to facilitate the assault on Donald Trump and his presidency at every turn?

    ropelight (e06d37)

  72. sessions has that same womanish quality comey has

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  73. I agree about Sessions. Nobody who endorsed Trump so early and so earnestly in the primary could possibly be a person of worth.

    nk (dbc370)

  74. For the love of David Hogg, this is why I carry everywhere even, no, especially Waffle House

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  75. waffle house gets no-carb

    they really do

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  76. i like to grab a seat by the window

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  77. nk, are you trying to get my goat?

    ropelight (e06d37)

  78. Don’t sit at the counter or you’ll be scattered, smothered and covered.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  79. yikes! sounds authentic though

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  80. Jonathon Chait, the guy who criticized the ever-offended PC culture he spent over two decades helping to create?

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/01/not-a-very-pc-thing-to-say.html

    harkin (379712)

  81. “Ahh, but the strawberries that’s… that’s where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with… surgical precision… that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I’d have produced that key if they hadn’t of pulled the Caine out of action”.

    harkin (379712)

  82. is it spicy

    is it culturally relevant

    ok then no your analysis has failed

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  83. DCSCA is gonna get a TRO thrown on you, harkin.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  84. This is what happens when the two monopoly parties give us “Trump vs Clinton.” Perhaps the investigation should be into them, and whether it was a conspiracy to destroy the United States.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  85. if only it had been jeb! v clitty

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  86. @84. Not strawberries– he fudged it, PP; still takes that geometric logic to ‘splain the surgical precision of pounding a square peg in a round hole.

    @70. Stella-dor’ya, PP; they’re a dead issue.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  87. Ok guys. This Waffle House shooter got arrested previously at The White House because he claimed he wanted to set up an appointment with Trump. So the Sheriff’s Department in Tazewell County, Il. seized four weapons from him, or he surrendered them. At a certain point Taylor Swift started stalking him so he moved to Nashville and 25 hours ago NMT he shot up the Waffle House in south Nashville (Antioch). It looks like the TSD turned the weapons over to his dad and the kid used an AR from that collection in his psycho crime spree. Strangely enough he was captured in a town north of here named White House. MK Ultra has a dark sense of humor.

    Pinandpuller (8f6e25)

  88. Shortly after his release, Reinking was interviewed by the FBI in Illinois, where he lived at the time.
    Tazewell County, Illinois, authorities revoked Reinking’s firearm authorization and seized four weapons after the interview. According to a report from the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office, authorities seized a Kimber 9 mm handgun, a Bushmaster AR-15 style rifle, a CZ-USA .22-caliber rifle, a Remington 710 and random ammunition. The AR-15 style rifle listed was the same weapon used in Sunday’s Waffle House shooting, which killed four people, according to the Metropolitan Nashville Police.
    Police later returned the seized weapons to Reinking’s father, Jeffrey Reinking, and told him to keep the weapons secure and away from his son. However, Nashville police learned Sunday that Jeffrey acknowledged giving the guns back to his son, police said.

    CNN

    Pinandpuller (8f6e25)

  89. We have reached the point – largely thanks to Trump’s Orwellian campaign to convince his cultists that the whole world and everyone in it is just as dishonest as he is – where the truth of an assertion made by one of his critics is immaterial, since it will be shouted down in a frenzy of tu quoque and character assassination regardless.
    Dave (445e97) — 4/22/2018 @ 6:41 pm


    So let me get this straight, comrade Dr. Dave. After “diagnosing” Trump as criminally insane you now paint him as Orwellian and anybody who supports him as cultists but in a rabid fit of irony complain of “character assassination” by others. The biggest thing you radical leftists have is your ability to project who and what you are onto others and actually believe that projection.

    BTW, the only people “shouted down in a frenzy of tu quoque and character assassination” in this country are conservative speakers on leftist propaganda mills called universities. Or for that matter any non-hive non leftist trying to speak anywhere.

    The complete separation from reality you demonstrate with a statement like: “where the truth of an assertion made by one of his critics is immaterial” is astounding. First, Trump has no critics. That ship has sailed. After 20 months of constant whining all Trump has are assassins made up almost entirely of leftists and pro communist/socialist or moslem/illegal immigrant backers and sympathizers. Oh, and Black Lives matter, New Black Panthers and other assorted and sundry leftist racist organizations.

    Furthermore, after a constant din of bullshit attacks, leaks, lies and petty nonsense for 18 months why would any reasonable person consider any “assertion by one of his critics” to be truthful or even founded in reality? You’re all a bunch of emotionally unhinged children having a collective long running tantrum because you didn’t get your way.

    Once you stop accepting the results of an election even when you don’t win, the ability for a peaceful transition of power is negated and soon the Republic becomes a banana republic.

    Rev.Hoagie (1b0402)

  90. https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/04/fusion-gps-co-founders-signal-next-phase-in-attempted-trump-takedown-has-started/

    So Fusion GPS is behind the investigation into Trump’s private business dealings. Color me shocked.

    NJRob (b00189)

  91. Today AG Jeff Sessions announced an investigation into Obama, Holder, Lynch programs to channel taxpayer funds to their many street thug protest/disruption groups.

    Bravo, Jeff Sessions. I’ve written some strong and unkind criticism of the AG, but when he’s doing his job Sessions deserves recognition, and gratitude.

    ropelight (8dc16d)

  92. His full legal name is Dushaun Megal Anthony Henderson-Spruce

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  93. I am pretty hard on elected officials that lie to us and sometimes their supporters as well. And I am sure that I would say things a little differently on here if I took credit for those comments with my full name. But not too much.

    You do have to wonder what some of you would write here if you did have to put your name down. Would happyfeet write anything at all? I think even he has the sense not to take ownership for things like “if only it had been jeb! v clitty”.

    “Gee, I haven’t had attention for four minutes now. I am gonna write ‘poop’ this time. No…. ‘clitty’. Whoa! That’s it!”

    noel (b4d580)

  94. you’re mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  95. “Before and after the last election, the Democrats conspired to rig their primaries, plotted to tamper with the general election, and then sought to reverse its outcome and tamper with the next election. In the typical manner of the left, they justified their crimes by attributing them to their victims. Extensive coordination between political operatives, elements in the justice system, law enforcement, the State Department and the media manufactured crimes and built investigations around them. Some call this network, a “Deep State.” But that shifts responsibility from the Democrats to an amorphous conspiracy that encompasses everything. And that lets the Democrats off the hook. The investigations of Trump aren’t tainted because everyone in the FBI is bad. They’re tainted because Democrats tried to use them to rig one election and are trying to use them to rig another one.” —- Daniel Greenfield

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269954/deep-state-or-democrat-state-daniel-greenfield

    So, by all means, tell us more about these ridiculous conspiracy theories…

    Colonel Haiku (43fb26)

  96. “Deep State”. I am sorry but I have to chuckle whenever you guys conjure up those words. I believe that Comey’s actions reopening the Clinton email investigation COULD have cost Democrats one or two percent and the election. As for the Russians and Wikileaks… who knows? But you don’t see me manufacturing ridiculous conspiracies to prove these things.

    Its easy to win every argument (in your own mind) if they start and end in conspiracy theories.

    noel (b4d580)

  97. “Michael Cohen, President Trump’s lawyer, was forced to drop his lawsuit against Fusion GPS over the smears peddled in its Clinton-Steele dossier because of the recent raids by the FBI.

    Aside from Trump, Cohen was one of the few people with the standing to sue Fusion GPS and discovery might have pulled back even more of the curtain on the process by which Clinton opposition research was used to justify eavesdropping on Trump officials while manufacturing the Russia conspiracy theory.

    Going after Cohen not only seizes control of materials normally protected by attorney-client confidentiality (at least until Hillary Clinton’s disgraced pick for Attorney General decided they shouldn’t be), but also protects Fusion GPS and suppresses a further line of inquiry into FBI misconduct.

    The government investigations of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have also doubled as cover-ups.

    Taking down Flynn protected a vital weak point at the National Security Council. McMaster sabotaged any investigation of unmasking abuses by Susan Rice, Samantha Power and other Obama associates. Those NSC figures who insisted on looking into them were summarily forced out.

    The real climax of the Hillary investigation came when immunity agreements were handed out to her associates like candy in exchange for their “cooperation”. When Hillary and her people lied to the FBI, it wasn’t a crime. Not only wasn’t it a crime, but the whole point of the exercise was immunizing her people from prosecution so that a Trump administration would have little leverage against them.

    The investigations are also crimes. And they not only abuse government power to suppress political opponents, but also work to suppress any counter-investigation of the crime being committing.

    While Trump and Cohen had their attorney-client privilege shattered, Cheryl Mills inappropriately claimed attorney-client privilege in her relationship with Hillary Clinton, even though she had been a government employee, and not only did the FBI respect the claim, but she got an immunity agreement.

    What do these three cover-ups have in common?

    All three abused law enforcement resources to protect Democrat political assets. The Cohen raid, Flynn’s prosecution and the Clinton immunity agreements protected, respectively, Fusion GPS, Susan Rice and Huma Abedin, as well as other related figures. But protecting them was also a matter of self-protection for the key FBI and DOJ people who had been doing their bidding. Clintonworld and Fusion GPS had injected the materials into the government on which the illegal investigation of Trump was based. And Rice, Power and others had then abused the materials that came out the other end.

    The cover-ups protected the political links to the investigations so that they would appear to be impartial criminal and national security affairs. Every exposure of the political links to these investigations has undermined confidence in their integrity and respect for their outcome.

    The two most explosive secrets of this game were the Steele dossier that was the basis for the conspiracy theory of the investigation, and the eavesdropping and unmasking of Trump officials.

    After all the obstruction, the Steele dossier was exposed as Clinton campaign opposition research. Part of its pathway into the bowels of the system was charted. But much of the map is still missing. And shutting down further examination of Fusion GPS helps protect its accomplices in the government.

    But Cohen’s lawsuit also threatened to discredit the founding document of the investigation. Going after him forcefully changes the subject. It allows Mueller and his media allies to spin more defenses of the dossier’s credibility. Its origins have been exposed, but Cohen’s court case would have revealed the laughable nonsense the conspiracy theory was based on. And the incompetence and corruption of everyone in the FBI who had treated it as a serious document would have made them look like clowns.

    Comey, McCabe and the gang are the type who begin writing their autobiographies in elementary school. They’re eager to be interviewed about their martyrdom, but they hate being laughed at.

    And an extensive dissection of the errors in the Clinton-Steele dossier would have been hilarious.

    The revelation that the Trump investigation was based on the work of political operatives was damaging, but it’s just dynamite. The nuclear bomb is that political operatives made extensive use of the resulting eavesdropping. The Clinton-Steele dossier can be written off as a dirty trick. But the unmasking climax is Watergate a thousand times over. It’s the worst scandal in political history.“

    Colonel Haiku (43fb26)

  98. noel: You do have to wonder what some of you would write here if you did have to put your name down.

    noel, if your employer is anything like mine, I would suddenly start writing about how much I despise Trump, and Republicans in general. Not only Trump, but Bush, Romney, McCain, too — anybody with an R next to their name.

    Is it really news to you that some of us can’t speak our minds and put our name to it, without getting fired? Or, is this how you like it?

    random viking (6a54c2)

  99. I think I see why I’m being moderated. Sorry.

    Rev.Hoagie (1b0402)

  100. He claims that when Trump demanded loyalty from Comey, he was really saying, in essence: “Please don’t blackmail me.” Chait is able to dismantle this nonsense in a couple of paragraphs

    dismantle?

    This analysis obviously omits a massive amount of context: Trump asking Comey specifically to let off Michael Flynn (who, at the time, was the only official known to be under investigation for his Russian ties)

    and Flynn proved to be innocent of wrong-doing

    Trump’s months and months of attempting to control multiple aspects of the Department of Justice, including demands that it investigate his opponents

    the alleged loyalty discussion was on Feb 14 – Mr. Trump had been president for just over a month, and he had yet to even contemplate firing jimmy, and he had already stated months before that he didn’t wish to pursue an investigation of dirty Hillary

    and indeed Trump’s long-standing belief that the Department of Justice has always been and always should be a weapon to protect the president’s interests.

    this is just Chait emoting, while describing the corrupt Holder/Lynch justice department to a t

    To believe Trump’s demand for “loyalty” was anything other than an insistence that the FBI protect his interests requires ignoring everything Trump’s said and done about this subject for his entire career.

    in the context of a discussion about leaks it’s actually really easy to believe President Trump viewed leaking as a form of disloyalty

    What’s more, if it’s true, as York says, that Trump’s demand for loyalty was merely merely an innocuous request that Comey not leak anything hostile to him, why didn’t Trump say this himself?

    what exactly was so pernicious about President Trump’s (alleged) invocation of loyalty? There was no ultimatum attached; no dire implication whatsoever

    Indeed, why has he spent a year denying he ever said this at all? As soon as Comey reported having been asked for loyalty in 2017, the White House insisted no such words were ever uttered. As recently as this week, Trump has been claiming, “I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty.” York has produced an alibi on Trump’s behalf that Trump never thought to use himself over all these months.

    why does President Trump require an alibi exactly?

    Comey’s memos don’t allege that President Trump was attempting to obstruct justice in any way

    Chait’s argument has no logical force whatsoever.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  101. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, former FBI Director James Comey and special counsel Robert Mueller and Attorney General Jeff Sessions…. the “Deep State” allied against Republicans.

    Now, conspiracy theorists, tell me how many are registered Democrats? (I just love hearing the response to this.)

    noel (b4d580)

  102. Now, conspiracy theorists, tell me how many are registered Democrats?

    Flake, McCain, Sasse, etc. are all Republicans. Your point?

    random viking (6a54c2)

  103. OK random viking. Good point. Why are they Republicans? Maybe…. maybe cuz they are conservative?? Just thinking out loud here.

    noel (b4d580)

  104. The “CNN hook” theory is perfectly plausible no matter how many “hooks” already existed.
    News is only news when it is “new” .. who knew ?

    Neo (d1c681)

  105. Or does “conservative” now mean agreeing with Trump’s latest tweet?

    noel (b4d580)

  106. noel, I wouldn’t try to make a point that goes something like “no Republican or conservative would try to undermine Trump”. Not on this site.

    random viking (6a54c2)

  107. There you go again, Random Viking. I did not say “no Republican or conservative would try to undermine Trump”.

    That is YOUR quote.

    noel (b4d580)

  108. It is closer to say that you, Random Viking are the one claiming ALL of those Republicans are out to get him.

    Ridiculous.

    noel (b4d580)

  109. as time goes by many of these people are less concerned with undermining President Trump than they are with preventing the exposure of the full scope of corruption at the FBI

    the dirty FBI never expected Mr. Trump to win, and all the sleazy things it’s done were never supposed to draw any kind of notice whatsoever

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  110. noel, feel free to quote yourself accurately. Maybe then I’ll understand the point you’re trying to make.

    random viking (6a54c2)

  111. And happyfeet has made such claims since the second hour of the Mueller investigation.

    noel (b4d580)

  112. Every time Trump tweets a criticism, happyfeet is ready in minutes with his “creative” insults for Trump’s target.

    noel (b4d580)

  113. I love President Trump so much he’s my sun and my moon Mr. noel

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  114. Sun and moon equal eclipse. Dark hours ahead.

    noel (b4d580)

  115. the dirty FBI never expected Mr. Trump to win,

    They probably felt that way about Bugsy Siegel, too. That he’d never be President, I mean. And they were right. So you can’t blame them for thinking the same thing about Bugsy Trump.

    nk (dbc370)

  116. but the FBI are the gangsters now Mr. nk

    and the trashy sleazy men and women of the FBI have forfeited the trust of the people

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  117. Seriously, did anybody think Trump would win?

    nk (dbc370)

  118. nobody thought Mr. Trump would win – he surpassed everyone’s expectations

    and now herr mueller and the gestapo fbi want to do a coup on him

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  119. Everybody was prepared for Hillary, not Trump. It’s like you when you’re traveling to a foreign country and you’ve had your cholera, malaria, typhoid and tse-tse fly vaccinations and you land and find that there’s a smallpox epidemic.

    nk (dbc370)

  120. BTW, I don’t think there’s a tse-tse fly vaccination.

    nk (dbc370)

  121. It’s funny how they can be caught red handed discussing “insurance policies” if trump wins and openly laughing that they knew Clinton wasn’t going to be charged months before she was interviewed in text messages but yeah sure it’s a conspiracy to think anything negative. Yep shining examples of morality all of them. So far multiple people have been fired or moved from their positions, magically all linked to both the Clinton sham investigation and trump spying, and yet our friends on the left refuse to say anything is wrong simply because they hate trump.

    Tell me how tf the exact same band of merry men works on both cases, the Clinton email and the Trump “Russia” bs? Tell me how tf their tactics aren’t the same? We can’t notice how one crew was interviewed at their home, not even under oath, with attorneys present then given immunity in exchange for nothing (literally nothing, can anyone tell me what they got for it?)….while the other team has their houses raised at gunpoint and is subject to trap interviews?

    Hi (b3a967)

  122. My experience there are rarely if ever conspiracies. You know what there is? A lot of selfish bad actors. You know who are the worst of those? Those that don’t believe they are selfish bad actors, but do evil for “the greater good”.

    The conspiracy against was to convince a large percentage of the smart set that Trump represented an existential evil. Trump didn’t help himself in that regard.

    What if I said Trump = Hitler? Over and over? And that only you, brave hero of the republic, had a chance to stop him. Would you do it? What if you had to violate some sort of policy norms, leak information, lie, and otherwise do things you would not normally do. Would you do it? I mean, he’s Hitler.

    That explains every single thing we have seen. And the self righteousness of the malefactors. They did it to save us all don’t you know. Instead of being indicted, they should get medals. There was no coordinated plan, just a lot of people willing to bend the rules against Trump.

    The dossier didn’t come out because it was garbage right up to the election. After the election, suddenly it becomes a matter of great interest, but only after Trump is briefed. What happened? News organizations thought Trump would lose. Why sully your reputation if it didn’t matter? After the election, lots of people, independently thought, we have to get rid of this guy. So one feeds the other. There didn’t have to be a conspiracy of anyone to do any specific thing. Just a lot of people willing to do bad things to get trump.

    And hey, if Trump was Hitler, it might have worked. But Trump was never actually that guy. That was the lie this whole house of cards was built on.

    Cassandra (a815b9)

  123. I was in NYC on election day. Planted right between the two campaign headquarters. Eating at a deli in the afternoon, a young lady who was going to Clinton’s election night party talked to me and asked what I thought would happen. I said that I thought Hillary would win the popular vote but the electoral college was close. She was horrified by that response. I was horrified by the thought of either of them winning.

    So I was in NYC to witness history. Either the “glass ceiling” would be broken… or the floor would be penetrated. Either way, I knew it would end deplorably. But I had to see it anyway.

    noel (b4d580)

  124. noel: “You do have to wonder what some of you would write here if you did have to put your name down.”

    Said the fellow who didn’t put his name down.

    And also – what of it? It shows that we feel threatened by the internet for having disfavored positions and policies. “How free might your words be, if they didn’t threaten your livelihood?”

    Very free. What is your point?

    Signed,

    Silenece Dogood

    Cassandra (a815b9)

  125. If you read my post, you know what my point is. Pretend like you don’t if you wish.

    noel (b4d580)

  126. And to answer noel’s rather silly question – Trump is not a Democrat or a Republican. He is outside the norms of both parties. He is not a conservative or a progressive. I doubt he thinks much about labels.

    Thing about Trump is, there is no there there. He doesn’t have a core set of beliefs that drive him. He sees only goals, strategy, and tactics. Right now, those goals are as follows – Make America Great Again. Short list, not all the complicated.

    Fortunately for conservatives, Making America Great Again involves pursuing a series of policies that are mostly at ease with conservative thinking. If Trump thinks pursuing progressive policies will Make America Great, he would do that instead. Sure Trump doesn’t care much about some of your conservative hobby horses. He cares about enough if them, and most of the important ones, to matter.

    And budget blah blah, and planned parenthood, blah blah. Such tiresome arguments from conservatives. Yes, he is not doing something at the moment there. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. I’ll bet, if you could convince him it will Make America Great, he’ll jump right on it. Just point the cannon the right way.

    Lastly is style and tactics. Trump has a hustle, a negotiating tactic, that is new to politics, but not new to the world of commerce. The insults, the back and forth, the sudden hard positions, then complete about face. This is how the investment real estate market works. Heck, is is how every street hustler in Queens works. It’s jive talk. It’s three card monty. It is a hustler going about his business. It is how the street makes deals. Everyday.

    I know you don’t like it, or think it is low, or unbecoming of a president. It is. But frankly, outside of these street tactics, what choice is there for us to advance our agenda? the leftists have closed down every other avenue, constrained our conversations to a point where we start from the premise they are right, and work backwards.

    Cassandra (a815b9)

  127. “So I was in NYC to witness history. Either the “glass ceiling” would be broken… or the floor would be penetrated. Either way, I knew it would end deplorably. But I had to see it anyway.”

    One of the great ironies of election night was that the Hillary Campaign spent more on the ‘Glass Ceiling Being Shattered’ special FX stunt produced by Hollywood specialists (but never used) to thrill those attending her [cough] ‘Victory Celebration’ than they did on TV ads in Wisconsin.

    harkin (379712)

  128. I doubt he thinks much

    Agreeing with Cassandra

    Davethulhu (7e7722)

  129. I’m inclined to go with all three. What I don’t believe he was is an honest and sincere public servant who tried to do his best when faced with difficult situations and simply made some mistakes. nk (dbc370) — 4/22/2018 @ 4:08 pm

    What is Comey? It’s obvious – he believed that Trump = Hitler, and that he, the righteous man, would stop him by whatever means necessary. Oh, and we would all applaud him for it. Hence his on-going confusion.

    Comey has a long history of moral preening and self important views of himself. His stories always revolve around him, the hero, making the tough call. Saving the day. He also likes to tell these stories, waaaay too much, which says all you need to know about his character.

    Cassandra (a815b9)

  130. @94. ‘happyfeet’ may merely be a traitorous patriot to the British crown, a gout-ridden dirty old man or worse, a Canadian-born senator from Texas, ‘noel’– or is it really ‘leon’… as the old ad says, ‘only your hairdresser knows for sure’–

    ‘Benjamin Franklin used pseudonyms extensively throughout his life, sometimes to express an idea that might have been considered slanderous or even illegal by the authorities; other times to present two sides of an issue, much like the point-counterpoint style of journalism used today… Silence Dogood, Caelia Shortface, Martha Careful, Busy Body, Anthony Afterwit, Alice Addertongue, Richard Saunders, Polly Baker, Benevolus, Harry Meanwell and Timothy Turnstone were a few of the many pseudonyms Franklin used throughout his career.’ – pbs.org

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  131. A former White House counsel and attorney general with extensive first-hand experience dealing with Comey, however, paints a very different picture of what happened in that hospital room, and disputes numerous key details. In this account, Comey’s actions showcase a duplicitous, secretive schemer whose true loyalties were not to the officials to whom he reported, but to partisan Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). To fully understand and appreciate Jim Comey’s approach to politics, the writings and testimony of Alberto Gonzales, who served as both White House counsel and attorney general during the events in question and is intimately aware of Comey’s history of political maneuvering, is absolutely essential.

    Gonzales’s descriptions of his interactions with Comey, included in his 2016 book “True Faith And Allegiance,” are detailed and extensive. While his tone is measured, the language he uses to describe Comey’s actions in 2004 and 2007 leaves little doubt about the former top Bush official’s views on Comey’s character. Gonzales’s opinion is clearly colored by the fact that Comey cravenly used him to jumpstart his own political career by going public with surprise (and questionable) testimony that Gonzales had attempted to take advantage of a deathly ill man in order to ram through authorization of an illegal surveillance program.

    Bush’s Attorney General John Ashcroft had taken ill and was in the hospital at a pivotal time. The legal authorization of a surveillance program meant to find and root out terrorist threats was days from expiring. What happened in Ashcroft’s hospital room in March of 2004 later became political fodder for a hearing in which Senate Democrats used Comey to dredge up the 2004 hospital meeting to tar Gonzales’ credibility and suggest he was unfit to continue serving as attorney general. As the 2004 and 2007 sagas show, Comey is clearly no stranger to using the unarguably legal dismissal of government employees as the backdrop for casting himself as the story’s protaganist standing up to the forces of corruption.

    “[I] told my security detail that I needed to get to George Washington Hospital immediately. They turned on the emergency equipment and drove very quickly to the hospital,” Comey testified. “I got out of the car and ran up — literally ran up the stairs with my security detail.”

    “I was concerned that, given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that,” Comey said.

    Comey’s use of the phrase “overrule me” is especially noteworthy, given that the authority he referenced belongs not to the deputy attorney general, but to the attorney general himself. However, unbeknownst to anyone at the White House on that day, Comey had assumed for himself the authorities attendant to Ashcroft’s position. Rather than personally informing anyone at the White House, including the president, the vice president, the White House chief of staff, or the White House counsel, the Department of Justice sent a mere fax to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue noting the change in power. For some reason, the newly designated acting attorney general didn’t feel compelled to personally inform any of his superiors that he was now a cabinet official.”

    http://thefederalist.com/2017/05/17/former-attorney-general-on-comeys-integrity-jims-loyalty-was-more-to-chuck-schumer/

    Colonel Haiku (43fb26)

  132. I don’t do weasal moves… he says

    crazy (d99a88)

  133. @97 noel

    Usually conspiracy theories are generated to explain why the candidate didn’t win. Like Russian Facebook point shavers.

    Pinandpuller (5d1e4d)

  134. Colonel Haiku @133

    This is very important and worth mentioning.

    Comey is still sticking to his story as far as I understand. He’s probably sticking to every tale he’s told. Comey’s version of the details of the Ashcroft incident was supposedly verified by notes of Mueller (I believe) except that those notes do no such thing.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/washington/17inquire.html

    Mr. Mueller was not at the meeting between Mr. Ashcroft and Alberto R. Gonzales, then the White House counsel, and Andrew H. Card Jr., then the White House chief of staff. He arrived at the hospital shortly afterward, and his entries include an account of his hospital-room meeting with Mr. Ashcroft as well as what he says Mr. Comey told him about the earlier confrontation….

    …Mr. Mueller’s notes had some entries deleted or heavily edited by officials at the F.B.I. and the Justice Department. Judiciary Committee aides said that the agencies had justified the deletions on the grounds that the material pertained to internal deliberations. In his statement, Mr. Conyers said the panel still hoped to review the deleted parts, possibly on condition that the material not be publicly disclosed.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  135. #119, nk, et al, I expected Trump to win and defended his candidacy from start to finish, and so did a very few others here. As the Primary Elections ended and the contest narrowed more commenters here joined in supporting the GOP candidate, some with growing intensity and some with significant reluctance.

    Mostly Cruz loyalists, but others as well, too disappointed to think straight and increasingly bound together in their delusional indignation, coalesced into an informal opposition movement dedicated to attacking both Donald Trump and those brazen enough to support his candidacy or worse: sing his praises.

    The election and its aftermath created a chilly rift between our host and his like minded followers (#NeverTrumpers), with the loyal and farsighted patriots here frequently dismissed as (Trumpkins or some variation) who backed the right horse.

    Our sin was embarrassing the troglodytes and our crime was independent thought.

    ropelight (8dc16d)

  136. Seems to me , ropelight, our sins were not being vain enough to believe faux virtue determines who one should vote for and our crime was actually voting for the one person who could have, and did, stop the preordained ascension of The Hillary. While the others preened about how vile and vulgar Trump was we did the dirty work and made sure a filthy commie criminal didn’t take the reins from the Kenyan. Does anyone here believe we would be better off with Hillary? Would anyone here rather have Hillary running the DOJ, IRS, FBI etc? They are NOT the ones we’ve been waiting for. They are radical leftists who if put in power will try to do to America what their policies have don to Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, Newark, Camden, Trenton, and many parts of Cali. They are Traitors to the American Idea.

    Rev.Hoagie (1b0402)

  137. Our sin was embarrassing the troglodytes and our crime was independent thought.

    Fossils tell a story.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  138. …from their BarcaLoungers…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  139. No official U.S intelligence from our IC was used to start this Russian Collusion investigation per Devin Nunes. Now Nunes is no Jonathan Chait, but still seems like that should trouble non-partisan champions of probity.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  140. Who knew!?!?

    DNC shuns it’s anti-Trump Kremlin dossier in collusion law suit.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)


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