A Significant Inaccuracy in #TheMemo Calls Its Credibility Into Question
Amid all the excitement over the Devin Nunes #TheMemo, it is important to remember that it is a partisan summary of FISA warrant applications that we the People have not been allowed to see. And in determining whether you trust Nunes’s summary, it might be relevant that it inaccurately summarizes something that is public record: James Comey’s testimony in 2017 regarding whether the allegations in the memo had been verified. Here is the claim in Nunes’s memo:
Got that? Nunes claims that James Comey testified in June 2017 that “the Steele dossier” was “salacious and unverified.” The claim is not that a particular portion of the dossier is salacious and unverified. The claim is that Comey testified that the dossier (“it”) is salacious and unverified. That’s what Nunes says in the memo excerpt above.
And it’s not true. That’s not James Comey’s testimony.
I already examined this issue exhaustively in a post from January 2, rebutting a similar allegation made by Andrew C. McCarthy. Refer to that post for more detail, which I will summarize here. As I noted, Comey was specifically asked whether the FBI had confirmed any criminal allegations in the dossier, and he refused to answer the question in an open setting. Here is one example from the transcript:
BURR: In the public domain is this question of the “Steele dossier,” a document that has been around out in for over a year. I’m not sure when the FBI first took possession of it, but the media had it before you had it and we had it. At the time of your departure from the FBI, was the FBI able to confirm any criminal allegations contained in the Steele document?
COMEY: Mr. Chairman, I don’t think that’s a question I can answer in an open setting because it goes into the details of the investigation.
Had Comey specifically said in closed session that nothing in the dossier had been verified, you’d be reading about it in this environment of politicized intelligence. But you’re not reading that, are you? Why do you suppose that is?
Later in his testimony, Comey referred to certain material as “salacious and unverified” — but he later implied that there were parts of the dossier that were verified and parts that were not. Here is the testimony where Comey used the term “salacious and unverified”:
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Comey, let me begin by thanking you for your voluntary compliance with our request to appear before this committee and assist us in this very important investigation. I want first to ask you about your conversations with the president, three conversations in which you told him that he was not under investigation. The first was during your January 6th meeting, according to your testimony, in which it appears that you actually volunteered that assurance. Is that correct?
COMEY: That’s correct.
COLLINS: Did you limit that statement to counterintelligence invest — investigations, or were you talking about any FBI investigation?
COMEY: I didn’t use the term counterintelligence. I was briefing him about salacious and unverified material. It was in a context of that that he had a strong and defensive reaction about that not being true. My reading of it was it was important for me to assure him we were not person investigating him.
Note well: Comey doesn’t say the entire dossier is “salacious and unverified.” He says he briefed the President about “salacious and unverified material.” Later, under questioning from Tom Cotton, Comey once again said Trump denied the “unverified and salacious parts”:
COMEY: The president called me I believe shortly before he was inaugurated as a follow-up to our conversation, private conversation on January the 6th. He just wanted to reiterate his rejection of that allegation and talk about—- he’d thought about it more. And why he thought it wasn’t true. The verified — unverified and salacious parts.
Again, the phrase “unverified and salacious parts” is clearly a reference to the peeing on the bed allegation, and perhaps a related mention of prostitutes. But “unverified and salacious parts” is language that pointedly does not rule out the concept that there were verified and non-salacious parts as well. Indeed, the pee-on-the-bed story was hardly the only allegation in the Steele dossier. When you put this together with the fact that Comey flat-out refused to answer (at least in an open setting) whether any parts of the dossier had been verified, it’s clear that the testimony is not what #TheMemo claims it is.
I have no idea what Andrew C. McCarthy thinks about #TheMemo today; his opinions on this whole topic have been something of a moving target. But there was a time when he said something I agree with, and here it is:
The FBI plainly did not dismiss the dossier out of hand. If it used some of the dossier’s information in a FISA-court surveillance application, that would only be problematic if agents failed to verify that particular information before seeking the warrant. That would be highly irregular. For now, we don’t know what happened.
Indeed. The real issue, which Nunes’s memo does not shed any real light on (and indeed almost purposefully obscures) is a) what specific parts of the dossier were used in the FISA application, and b) were those parts verified. As to those questions, we’re no closer to a real answer today than we were yesterday — except that if Nunes could give us chapter and verse, his presentation would be more convincing. And yet, he doesn’t.
Remember: Nunes is someone who already showed himself to be of questionable credibility when it came to defending Trump’s claim that Obama wiretapped him. Now he’s misrepresenting public testimony that anyone can read. Yet we’re supposed to believe his summary of a still-classified FISA warrant based on these broad-brush smears?
Nope. No sale. I said before that it’s a terrible hashtag, but #ReleaseTheDocumentation — specifically the FISA application. If you don’t do that, I have no interest.
[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]
Yes, the memo is not exactly very accurate.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:11 pmThe FISA warrant probably was even less accurate.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:12 pmWould have thought releasing an “edited” and incomplete memo different from the incomplete and edited memo the committee actually voted to release instantly rendered it media catnip for 48 hours before the Big Game anyway.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:17 pmYou have taken the correct position on domestic surveillance from the beginning and an unpopular one amongst the reformed members of your audience who have only recently been made aware because their ox is being gored.
I salute you Patterico.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:29 pmThat’s quite the nit that being picked in this post.
If one is going to pick nits, let’s be clear that the Nunes memo itself does NOT say that the “entire dossier is ‘salacious and unverified'”, as Patterico claims. So this post is inaccurate. To claim that something is salacious does not imply that it is “entirely” salacious.
A.S. (23bc66) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:30 pmThis memo is being roundly savaged.
That was quick.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:33 pmA.S.: Nah, Patterico is right, the Nunes memo goes too far based on what is publicly known, but Nunes wrote a political document, not an appeal brief.
Fred Z (05d938) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:38 pmFor me the real question is what was the court told in the ex parte application.
Has anyone ever asked them? If not, why not? Cannot someone go to the court and move to set aside or re-open the matter? If not, why not?
The American justice system looks more and more Stalinist all the time.
Fred Z (05d938) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:40 pmThree and a half pages…
FRIDAY NIGHT DATA MINI DUMP
It’s so explosive.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:40 pmwhere does disgraced FBI lickspittle Jim Comey ever testify that they *had* verified John McCain’s salacious dossier?
nowhere
cause they never did is why
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:41 pmThe standard of evidence for FISA is probable cause. Nothing has to be “proven” or “verified”. All that is necessary is a reasonable suspicion.
Like all the other treasonous geniuses in the Trump campaign, Page and Papadopoulos were not particularly careful about their work with the FSB and SVR. If (and we don’t know the details, so it is only a plausible guess) the Steele dossier initially brought that work to the FBI’s attention originally, it would have likely taken little to no effort to assemble enough corroboration (e.g. travel history, bank records, independent verification from people in Russia working for us, etc) to meet the relatively easy burden of reasonable suspicion.
Dave (c071e2) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:48 pmremember
Mr. Nunes has made a LOT more of a case that the corrupt FBI lied to the FISA court to get surveillance authorized on a presidential campaign than dirty slutboy Robert Mueller has made about anything remotely approaching “collusion.”
And that’s got to be very uncomfortable for the sleazy “rank-and-file” what are looking forward to a suh-weet pension at the end of this gig.
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:50 pmSo there s too much salt in the water, that’s why the Warnock floated.
narciso (24b3a2) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:50 pmTrump could declassify that — the actual source document — as opposed to a questionable memo.
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:54 pmthis memo has already started a healthy and valuable conversation about the extent of corruption at the FBI
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:58 pm3. DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:17 pm
The changes are reported to be:
1) Minor grammatical changes
2) Changes in two places that the FBI and the Democrats asked for (that is it was toned down)
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:03 pmPage who had been contacted three years earlier by the fbi, who it was,alleged had some part of the rosneft deal? Odd he didn’t look Qatari Italian or chinese.
narciso (24b3a2) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:08 pmIANAL but
.. how you must hate that kickoff ..
Surely the standard for such a document should be “does this provide a basis for further investigation” rather than.. hmm… “prosecutorial scrupulosity”?
Where such scrupulosity uniformly applied there could be a case for it, but Caesar’s wife man, Caesar’s wife.
phunctor (bf276f) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:11 pm12. happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 12:50 pm
Not exactly true.
Lied, or omitted material information from the FISA application, YES.
The big takeaway is supposed to be that they knew, but concealed from the FISA court, that Steele had been hired by the Democratic Party. (To Rush Limbaugh that means the contesnts were made up)
It’s not clear what the FISa court was told about how the information was developed.
Surveillance on a presidential campaign , NO.
The surveillance was on Carter Page, who had a minimal role in with the campaign.
This was not a pretext to obtain politically useful information. None was obtained, as far as we know.
Neitehr was this a pretext to get on the record some unrelated embarrassing, unethical or illegal activity on the part of Donald Trump or people woring for him that they knew or suspected. That didn’t happen really.
The reason they wanted it is because they believed the dis=information in the steele dossier to be true!!
They were seeking evidence that Russia was paying off Donald trump, or that Donald Trump was co-ordinating with Russia.
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:13 pmI’d like to see not just the original application, but the renewal applications too.
I’m persuaded that our host has flagged an inaccuracy in the memo, but I don’t think we can assess its materiality without more information, and I can imagine scenarios in which the inaccuracy isn’t very material at all.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:20 pmNote well: Comey doesn’t say the entire dossier is “salacious and unverified.”
Note well: The Nunes memo ALSO doesn’t say the entire dossier is “salacious and unverified.”
Here’s how Mr. Nunes refers to Comey’s testimony…
The Nunes memo’s saying the material FBI suckboy Jim Comey briefed the president on was “salacious and unverified.”
What I think you’re missing is that the pronoun “it” refers to “a summary of the Steele dossier.”
And this summary that FBI lickspittle Jim Comey briefed the president on (President Trump) is the same summary that he later averred contained material that was “salacious and unverified.”
There’s no gotcha here.
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:22 pm“At least seven officials signed off on the renewals each 90 days—strongly suggesting, though not confirming, that Page remains under FBI surveillance and the intelligence committee may have revealed it”
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:24 pm@Dave #13:
“The standard of evidence for FISA is probable cause. Nothing has to be “proven” or “verified”. All that is necessary is a reasonable suspicion.”
No, “reasonable suspcion” is a lower standard than probable cause. (See Terry v Ohio)
A.S. (23bc66) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:25 pmOngoing investigations are apparently compromised.
A compromising win for Trump?
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:26 pmFull text of memo
https://www.vox.com/2018/2/2/16957588/nunes-memo-released-full-text-read-pdf-declassified
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:31 pmWhat I think you’re missing is that the pronoun “it” refers to “a summary of the Steele dossier.”
the same summary that he later averred contained material that was “salacious and unverified.”
Heh. Comey barfed the dossier through a strainer, waved the big chunks under Trump’s nose, and commented “unsavory”.
Ah that was good.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:40 pmHow about them FBI agents camped out on Page’s couch since 2014? Don’t they owe him rent or something?
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:43 pmEven with all the nit picking, we have the FBI colluding with the Russians, with the assistance of one political party, to develop evidence to justify investigating if the other political party colluded with Russia. Very bad for the country.
Bruce (6f45b5) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:46 pmapparently the propaganda sluts are all going with a “what’s in it and what’s not” formulation where they can mostly talk about crap the memo doesn’t address
because journalism
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:49 pmSome questions of legal practice for the lawyers here: Is the written application for these warrants supplemented by oral representations from the lawyers? If so, is a transcript or recording made and kept? Once again, has anyone asked for these things, and, if not, why not?
If the reason why not is secrecy, could Trump declassify it?
Fred Z (05d938) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:50 pmBruce@28 – Why do you say that the FBI was trying to justify investigating if a “political party colluded with Russia”? If Carter Page was no longer part of the Trump campaign as of October 2016, which I think has been reported, then wasn’t it just an investigation into Carter Page, not Trump or any political party?
Just some guy (f0eec7) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:50 pmHere is a link to the dossier:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kenbensinger/these-reports-allege-trump-has-deep-ties-to-russia?utm_term=.fbv61q66X#.ocDmr4mmv
I find it hard to believe that any portion of this could have been verified and we would not have heard of it via leaks from the DOJ and FBI.
Significant inaccuracy calling into question its credibility? I doubt it….the lack of evidence that would verify the veracity of the dossier is probative.
Lenny (5ea732) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:53 pmHow is any of this different than using a drug dealing CI to swear out a warrant on a suspected drug kingpin’s friend with the search yielding rolling papers and resisting arrest?
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/2/2018 @ 1:58 pmI used to think criminals were dumb for speeding with 80 kilos of weed in the trunk. And some are
But more likely cops already suspected the people, but they can’t get a warrant so they lie about illegal lane changes etc. Some of the time.
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:08 pmI suspect that the only reason for the FBI investigation was so that the political higher ups could leak vague information to dirty up Trump in retribution for winning and as a means of diminishing his administratiion.
Bruce Ohr’s conflict of interest is evidence of the politization of federal law enforcement.
AZ Bob (ac212f) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:09 pminsurance policy they call it
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:14 pmIt will be interesting to see what is contained in the D’s response. I wonder when we will get that?
Ipso Fatso (7e1c8e) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:31 pmHow about them FBI agents camped out on Page’s couch since 2014? Don’t they owe him rent or something?
You’re sounding as pathetic as Trump.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:32 pmSome of the time.
Always irrelevant.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:34 pmNow imagine—bear with me—that it’s 2020, and Sanders is elected with a somewhat radicalized Democratic Party in Congress. Or if that’s too much to swallow, imagine some version of that (not necessarily Sanders or the Democrats but an empowered electoral left) in 2024. Or a realignment of the sort the US saw in 1932. Realignments always involve a contestation over norms; realignments change norms; realignments erode norms. And all of these counsels against norm erosion and polarization—which many people in the media and academia are invoking against Trump and the GOP—will now come rushing back at the left.
http://crookedtimber.org/2018/01/29/democracy-is-norm-erosion/#more-43785
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:36 pmAlso, is there a tie in with Flynn’s judge’s recusal? Was Judge Rudolph Contreras on the FISA court?
Ipso Fatso (7e1c8e) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:36 pmImportant detail I think.
Rep. Lee Zeldin “McCabe did in fact testify under oath that there would not have been a FISA warrant if not for the dossier. It was recorded.”
in case somebody wants to do the drunk talk with an Aussie Ambasssador in a London bar thing.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:37 pm“* The Steele dossier formed an essential part of the initial and all three renewal FISA applications against Carter Page.
* Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.
* The four FISA surveillance applications were signed by, in various combinations, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Dana Boente, and Rod Rosenstein.
* The FBI authorized payments to Steele for work on the dossier. The FBI terminated its agreement with Steele in late October when it learned, by reading an article in Mother Jones, that Steele was talking to the media.
* The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications.
* DOJ official Bruce Ohr met with Steele beginning in the summer of 2016 and relayed to DOJ information about Steele’s bias. Steele told Ohr that he, Steele, was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected president and was passionate about him not becoming president.
The FBI and Justice Department mounted a monthslong effort to keep the information outlined in the memo out of the House Intelligence Committee’s hands. Only the threat of contempt charges and other forms of pressure forced the FBI and Justice to give up the material.“
http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/house-intelligence-memo-released-what-it-says/article/2647937
harkin (8256c3) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:37 pmCongress has made inquiries concerning an issue of great importance for the country and concerns have been raised about the Department’s performance,” he said after its release. “I have great confidence in the men and women of this Department. But no Department is perfect.”
-Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:39 pmNo Department is perfect…is perfect.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:40 pmlittle miss sessions is recused off this whole topic anyways
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:41 pmBen Burn posits that the 4th amendment is a dead letter. One way of looking at it.
I think Carter Page has a case. Can defamation be brought against the FBI? What about all the cases (did they bring any cases?) of people convicted on evidence brought forward by Jim Comey, now that we know he deals in the phoney stuff, are they in question waiting for appeal?
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:50 pmThanks for pointing this out. I’m not surprised since Nunes has revealed that he’s an untrustworthy, incompetent, partisan nut anyway. Captain “Spanky” Chaos likes to surround himself with that type.
Tillman (a95660) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:52 pmI’m trying to figure out why I should care whether Comey testified that the entire dossier was “salacious and unverified”, and all I can come up with is that the host thinks he caught an inaccuracy and therefore that makes it important.
We know that Carter Page visited Russia. This allegation from the dossier is verified, and that was the only verified detail offered by McCabe. So, yes, it is inaccurate to say that the entire dossier is “salacious and unverified.” Congratulations.
random viking (6a54c2) — 2/2/2018 @ 2:55 pmCourtesan gossip.
Perfumed and powdered. Makes the world go round, until something else.
I wish sometimes the blood they spill would haunt them more. But then, they would have to seek honor.
Pretty much cancels the pension. Porn.
neal (7b607d) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:10 pmSamantha Power unmasked so many people she had to say people were forging her signature. If true, they should be prosecuted. If a lie, she’s good for obstruction of justice.
AZ Bob (ac212f) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:15 pm@4. “Batteries Not Included:” Ben, remember, if your cellphone is on, “they” know where you are.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:15 pmBefore FISA, didn’t the sleazy corrupt DOJ just fill out its own “administrative warrants”?
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:16 pmAnd can’t they still do same, with the sleazy corrupt President’s “certification”, to arrest someone and hold him incommunicado in a navy brig or Gitmo for months and years and then go back and git mo?
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:20 pmI’ll read it as soon as I have some spare time, but I am not predisposed to cutting that chump Comey any slack.
Colonel Haiku (bfabc4) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:21 pmJust another banana peel on the pavement.
When the bad guys try to escape the good guys and dash down a blind alley, they always tip over a few garbage cans in retreat before they surrender to fate or do the big shoot out.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:22 pmthe FBI’s dirty Mr. Bob
Mueller Comey Wray they’ve perverted the FBI beyond all decency
contrast them with our noble and perspicacious president, President Trump
he’s disgusted with what they’ve done
and the dirty fbi slutboys, they can’t even look him in the eye, they’re so ashamed
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:23 pm“Nunes’ Recusal” would make a great board game for the next GOP retreat.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:24 pmIn the other thread, aphrael wrote:
Yup.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:24 pmA rather insignificant takeaway in my estimation… right up there with Shep Smith.
Colonel Haiku (bfabc4) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:24 pmYup
Communicate that word salad to the American public? The folks who think economic trends occur instantaneously?
Quack! Quack!
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:29 pmMethinks law enforcement doth protest too much.
While everyone picks it apart for accuracy – and they should – let’s pick apart the reactions.
“Grave danger to national security”. Blah blah blah. When everyone makes a huge stink about releasing something that was neither a bombshell nor particularly full of sensitive information in my view, there was way too much protest.
Sorry, folks needs to be held accountable and exposed to some oversight. The amount of whining makes me say, “more of this please”. A lot of people trying to escape scrutiny for behavior that looks worthy of questioning in the light of day even if it’s nothing very new or bombshell like.
My takeaway: basically the White House can spy on anyone it wants including political opponents by finding one person in their inner circle whom you can create a very questionable dossier of largely unverified allegations (maybe not all) as long as it seems superficially plausible and worthwhile.
/Sarc on. Hard to believe that would ever get abused again. Clearly a one time incident. /sarcasm off
PrincetonAl (567a20) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:37 pmthe significant takeaway is this must just be the tip of the iceberg Mr. Colonel
we know now that FISA judges are rubberstampin’ trash who don’t ask any serious questions
and we know the slutty fbi maggots lie without compunction
so there’s literally an untold number of people they’re spying on, and all they had to do is go to some fat-ass loser FISA judge and spew a bunch of lies
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:38 pm@63. Banana splits, Mr.Feet: “more memos to come”- Curly Nunes is moving on to State.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:43 pmi’m just glad the lines are drawn now
you have meghan’s cowardly warpig daddy openly taking sides with the sleaze and corruption of the tainted disgraced fbi
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:46 pmthey really messed with that boy’s head huh, them vietnamesers
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:47 pmWhen The Rod Meets The Ax
As it was in the days of Sulla
When magistrates sought refuge
Behind the symbols of their office
So it shall be in the days of
“The World Ruler”
The magistrate cries out
“I have been betrayed by my unvested pension”
When The Rod meets The Ax
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:52 pmwhy does anyone rely on anything James Comey says or doesn’t say? His handling of the Hilary server investigation has destroyed any integrity he may have ever had.
kaf (d7a519) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:53 pmbye bye Miss America’s pie you’re so heavy in your chevy cause you ate too much pie
and all them fbi boys they go to FISA and lie cause of FISA makes it easy to spy
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:55 pmwe know now that FISA judges are rubberstampin’ trash who don’t ask any serious questions
and we know the slutty fbi maggots lie without compunction
so there’s literally an untold number of people they’re spying on, and all they had to do is go to some fat-ass loser FISA judge and spew a bunch of lies
And so it was in the beginning and so it shall be unto the end.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:55 pmit makes me feel so sad Mr. nk
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:56 pm@66. Is he even at work or is he still on some kind of extended medical leave? Being Senator is his job; not his birthright and if he can’t show up to legislate and vote, there comes a point where the interests of Arizona are not being served.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:57 pmhe’s clearly not capable of doing the job Mr. DCSCA but he doesn’t have the grace or class to retire
he’s trashy
and cowardly
and juvenile
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:07 pmCurley Nunes..
Thanks for that.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:08 pmUnder this strained reading, the memo says that the summary is salacious and unverified, not that the material contained in the summary is.
So the strained reading makes no sense at all.
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:09 pmWhat I would like to see is a list of US persons who were intercepted under the Carter Page warrant. Or at least a count. How many hops are they allowed?
Kevin M (752a26) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:10 pmThat was a serious question in my #53. Didn’t the sleazy corrupt Ass-Covering-For-9/11 Patriot Act allow wiretapping without a judge — just the DOJ (but it could be the NSA) filling out a form and having some sleazy corrupt political appointee sign it?
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:12 pmnk, I think that they can do whatever they want so long as the target is overseas. It’s US persons on US soil that are “protected” by the FISC.
Kevin M (752a26) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:14 pmPutting aside the memo, one aspect of this that hasn’t received nearly enough attention — the FBI and DOJ ignoring document and information requests from those who have oversight responsibility. Gowdy, Goodlatte, Grassley, and Nunes had to threaten senior managers with contempt before any responsive documents were provided. That sheer arrogance is indicative of the FBI’s and DOJ’s contempt for the rule of law and fosters the mistrust many have toward the institutions we are supposed to be able to count on.
The departures of high level bureaucrats Rybicki, Comey, and McCabe and the reassignments of Strzok, Baker, and Page hopefully point to a recognition that all is not well.
Lenny (5ea732) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:16 pmBruce says,
If the memo is telling the truth.
random viking says,
random viking,
It’s a total mystery. I can see why you’re so confused. You’d have to read all the way to the second sentence of the post to see why it matters:
I thought the post was quite clear that, since the partisans are not releasing the underlying documentation, there is reason to question their summaries — especially when they can’t even correctly summarize things I can check in the public record.
Does grappling with the things I actually say make you break too much of a sweat?
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:16 pmI just don’t see what sense it makes to assert “the dossier was not unverified but our summary of it was.”
but it was lickspittle Jim who did in fact assert that he briefed President Trump on a summary of salacious and unverified material, not the Nunes memo
the Nunes memo says ok licky you said you briefed President Trump on a summary of stuff that was salacious and unverified, and that’s also what your boys took to the fat-and-happy rubberstampin’ FISA judge
and you know what we have a problem with that
it’s very straightforward!
you can see this very clearly by just asking the question
where in any testimony does lickspittle Jim ever say that the dossier has been meaningfully verified in any way
he never goes there cause he can’t
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:19 pmhappyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 3:55 pm
lol. you go, girl.
felipe (023cc9) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:19 pmI have it on questionable authority that both Comey and McCabe had their fingers crossed when they took the oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
ropelight (4ae36e) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:20 pmIt looks like Trump/Nunes gambit was the kerfluffle we expected.
All show. No go.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:21 pmHeh. What do Evangelical Sanhedrin say, Felipe?
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:23 pmIs anybody more bothered by Comey’s actions than this insignificant “gotcha”?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:23 pmSoon “lickspittle” will be a banned word.
Kevin M (752a26) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:24 pmTrump is the original deflated buffoon balloon.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:25 pmThis dossier was used repeatedly. I guess that’s of no concern.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:25 pmI’m pretty sure I used “lickspittle” first in Trumpian context to describe his spear carriers and cup bearers — from Bannon to Gateway Pundit.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:28 pmit’s also not a strained reading it’s just reading
the antecedent of “it” is the “summary of the Steele dossier” that lickspittle Jim briefed our President on, and this is confirmed when you refer to Comey’s statement that “I was briefing him about salacious and unverified material.”
It’s all about that briefing.
That briefing was on a summary of the dossier, NOT the entire dossier, so the idea that anyone in this context is talking about a wholly verified John McCain dossier is a chimera.
Comey brought a summary of the dossier which he admitted was salacious and unverified.
And that’s specifically what the Nunes memo is commenting on – the briefing.
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:28 pmAnd all in-between.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:29 pmDoes anyone remember when Bill Clinton’s passport and travel file was pulled during his first election?
Compare, contrast with, this coy, well was the fisa memo used or not, what the real question is, why the surveillance in the first place.
Russians and Americans have been co mingling in business, society since Gorbachev.
But now it’s worthy of expensive fisa surveillance?
And they can expand into surveillance on anyone Carter Page was interacting with.
Think on that, it was of the highest national security to need to go to the fisa court for this.
Riiiight…
So who cares if Comey was coy and hinted that the dossier had some facts right, which could have meant that Donald trump was in Russia or his name was spelled correctly, a one percent of the dossier.
Geez
EPWJ (a12526) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:29 pmi’m taking lickspittle back
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:30 pmYou Trumpkins must be devastated.
I am so sorry.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:30 pmThis will come to be known as the “turd in the punchbowl defense”. Since the turd only affects the delicious beverage in the immediate vicinity, it can’t spoil the remainder.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:30 pmIts in keeping with how comeys operated against Gonzalez, teamed up with Mueller and goldsmith, yes the future editor of lawfare, the way he raised a mountain out a molehill re a passel of us atty, how he missed the anthrax mailer on two different occasions. Even a decade later, he refused to investigate the Tampa tie to 9/11. Then you have weismans destruction of Arthur Anderson.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:32 pmIt’s only stinky and unsavory in that portion of the punchbowl where it floats…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:32 pmi’m not devastated
the whole entire Mueller Comer Wray FBI brand is burning in a glorious dumpster fire
people know how sleazy they are now
they know they can’t be trusted
do you think even piggy pelosi will ever trust the FBI again knowing what she knows now?
them fbi slutboys, they have their own agenda
there’s no way to put that worm back in the toothpaste
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:33 pmVery fussy, I would say.
Hmmm… Do I trust Devin Nunes or Adam Schiff?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:35 pmAbsolutely. The whole point is, I don’t trust Nunes’s summary. Show us the underlying documents.
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:36 pmThis will come to be known as the “turd in the punchbowl defense”. Since the turd only affects the delicious beverage in the immediate vicinity, it can’t spoil the remainder.
Unintentional humor.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:37 pmoopers Mueller *Comey* Wray FBI brand i mean
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:37 pmMy answer is: no.
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:37 pmMr. Nunes would be happier than Leigh Corfman on a first date to show you the underlying documents.
You just have to get the sleazy Rod Rosytwat DOJ to release them.
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:38 pmPatterico, at 104: this memo seems to demonstrate that they’re both untrustworthy.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:38 pm35… he’s not convinced, AZBob…
“8 inches or less!”
— Flo n’Eddie – 200 Motels
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:42 pmthe Nunes memo is incontestably a thousand times more accurate than any story the CNN Jake Tapper fake news propaganda sluts have produced about how it is that the sleazy FBI came to spy on Mr. Trump’s associates
it’s literally the first piece of real journalism to come out of the Russia investigation
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:42 pmReveal underlying documents even if it compromises the investigation and gives a pyrrhic victory to Trump.
LANCE THIS GOVERNING CARNUNCLE
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:42 pmCarbuncle..
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:42 pmMr. Nunes, by his own admission, has not seen the underlying documents
Davethulhu (fab944) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:42 pmYou gotta choose one
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:43 pmIt’sa Hypeface boogie
Gonna boogie yo’ scruples away
and as I said
there’s a hell of a lot more proof that the sleazy FBI hornswoggled the dippy FISA clowns than there is that President Trump colluded with Russia
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:44 pmMr. Nunes, by his own admission, has not seen the underlying documents
pls to refer to my second sentence in that comment Mr. thulhu
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:45 pmwhy is it always my job to stand up for justice
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:45 pm“The four FISA surveillance applications were signed by, in various combinations, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Dana Boente, and Rod Rosenstein.“
The Five Horsefaces of teh Necropolis
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:47 pmBack in the day you had Elizabeth Bentley and Whitaker chambers, willing to testify to soviet operations, the closest to that is bill broader who was subject to dezinforma, by the same Glenn Simpson, even after the physical evidence provided by chambers, the left denied the evidence fir nearly 50 years
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:47 pmthe left denied the evidence fir nearly 50 years
And Arms to Tewwowists for Hostages gives us common ground.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:50 pmFunded by cocaine of course..
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:51 pm“No foreign intelligence service could learn anything from the House Republicans’ memo except that the FBI retailed the mercenary inventions of a retired British spook and concealed the provenance of its information. Some may consider it dangerous to expose senior officials of America’s counterintelligence service as political hacks and fools. They needn’t worry. America’s adversaries have been well aware of this for a long time.”
https://pjmedia.com/spengler/trump-triumphs-release-house-intel-memo/
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:52 pmAnd when Lawrence duggan took his own life, and William remington went to prison, crocodile tears were shed, hiss could only be gotten on simple perjury, for the Venona documents that showed his gru recruitment wouldn’t be widely available till 1995
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:55 pmThat’s a total distortion. Trump is the one with the authority to release the underlying documents. Yet for some odd reason he hasn’t done so. Andrew McCarthy has been making that point for months.
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:02 pmhttps://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/dow-drops-almost-700-points-logs-worst-week-two-years-n844176
Goose/Gander…you can’t take credit for trends unless you take blame for same.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:04 pmWeatherreaders take credit/blame for the weather…stupidly.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:05 pmPerhaps the release of the memo will open the gates on the release of other information that will shine a spotlight on the criminal behavior of some and the irrefutable politicization of our intelligence agencies and federal law enforcement apparatus.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:07 pmDesperate, they jump the shark.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/02/nunes-memo-treason-paul-gosar-386089
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:07 pmYes, yes perhaps 125. Good catch.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:08 pmi think we saw the reason today
it’s not odd
President Trump has his own agenda
and he picks his battles shrewdly
he doesn’t want pouty sleaze-pig Chris Wray to slink away and then have to deal with putting some other loser in charge of that wholly corrupted and wholly unsalvageable poophole organization
today was a HUGE win for President Trump
them sad little fbi weenie boys are exposed to the whole whirl for the dirty lying lickspittles that they are
meanwhile President Trump can move forward like he has been
while the lickspittles lick each other’s … let’s say wounds
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:09 pmNow hold on. For X amount of days, weeks perhaps, the memo has been available to Congress in it’s entirety.
No gamesmanship, no leaks, no inadvertent ( don’t know how the Times got it early. wink wink) disclosures.
Have you seen Adam Schiff on the video lately? A clearness of spirit particularly around the eye, now that he doesn’t have to trot out bs reasons not to release the memo anymore. He lost the crazy eye.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:11 pmTrump is the one with the authority to release the underlying documents. Yet for some odd reason he hasn’t done so.
The dilemma of a statist authoritarian.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:11 pmPatterico,
Did you claim previously that Comey saying parts were salacious and unverified meant that the parts he didn’t say that about were verified?
NJRob (aad6a6) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:11 pmSpeaking toward who is trustworthy or not.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:12 pm“Instead of a hand of friendship as some have said, he [Trump] presented a clenched fish.”
—- Nancy Pelosi
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:13 pmIf a summary of those documents is ragnarok, then the full megilla is crisis on infinite earths. Meanwhile wyden a fair William hickey impressionist threatens to leak real classified info.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:14 pmThe dilemma of a statist authoritarian.
you’re calling President Trump a statist authoritararian but he’s actually really nice
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:14 pm“Wanna cookie, my dear?”
—-Don Corrado Prizzi
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:19 pmSo McCabe testified that but for the dossier, the FISA warrants would not have been granted. Several high echelon personnel lied repeatedly to the FISA court.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:22 pmRichard condoned the author of both manchurian and the prizzi series, was a real jackalope,
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:23 pmWhat a nothingburger.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:23 pmhttps://www.axios.com/adam-schiff-memo-response-abc40097-f9b6-4c44-88ee-d3166e292f04.html
Veto it just for the halibut.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:25 pmRegardless there has been precious little intelligence going onninnthat committee, and ulto0imately that served the Russians purpose and Iran and the remnants of Islamic states
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:25 pmGo peddle that stale, dessicated crap to the 35cents. They buy big.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:27 pmAndrew McCarthy and others.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:28 pm“The memo adds, “The Carter Page FISA application also cited extensively a September 23, 2016 Yahoo News article by Michael Isikoff, which focuses on page’s July 2016 trip to Moscow. This article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News….Steele has admitted in British court filings that he met with Yahoo News—and several other outlets—in September 2016 at the direction of Fusion GPS [the firm paid by the Democrats to get dirt on Trump]. Perkins Coie [hired by the Democratic National Committee] was aware of Steele’s initial media contacts because they hosted at least one meeting in Washington, D.C. in 2016 with Steele and Fusion GPS where this matter was discussed.”
In other words, the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign paid for a pile of inflammatory rumors about Trump, which it then sold to the press. The FBI—in full knowledge of this—then took the press reports to a court as “evidence” to obtain permission to surveil the Trump campaign…….
……The United States is spending over $57 billion a year on intelligence. In response to the September 2011 terror attacks and other threats, it has created vast, overlapping and reduplicative bureaucracies that by their nature are remote from central oversight and difficult for the House and Senate intelligence committees to monitor. They have fostered the careers of thousands of senior civil servants whose advancement depends to one extent or another on being on the right side of politics.
Angelo Codevilla, a top staffer at the Senate Intelligence Committee during the Reagan years, observes that the intelligence services have vast powers to cover up their own errors.
No foreign intelligence service could learn anything from the House Republicans’ memo except that the FBI retailed the mercenary inventions of a retired British spook and concealed the provenance of its information. Some may consider it dangerous to expose senior officials of America’s counterintelligence service as political hacks and fools. They needn’t worry. America’s adversaries have been well aware of this for a long time.”
https://pjmedia.com/spengler/trump-triumphs-release-house-intel-memo/
harkin (8256c3) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:30 pmThey renewed the warrant twice after the inauguration and coincidentally the many inexplicable leaks of Presidential meetings and phone calls to foreign leaders ended about the same time.
crazy (d99a88) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:31 pmIt’s noticeable.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:31 pmThey renewed the warrant twice after the inauguration and coincidentally the many inexplicable leaks of Presidential meetings and phone calls to foreign leaders ended about the same time.
Uh, this has been a decade long discussion. Did you just fall off the turnip truck?
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:37 pmyou’re calling President Trump a statist authoritararian but he’s actually really nice
He’s America’s Numero Uno Cop Buff and this has got to be breaking his heart.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:41 pmI hope solar industry sues Trump for tanking their stock price.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:43 pmYes commie apologists have a good cry:
https://babalublog.com/2018/02/02/obama-state-dept-holdover-tom-shannon-announces-retirement-dictatorships-in-cuba-and-venezuela-will-not-be-happy/
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:46 pmHe’s very sensitive
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:48 pmBlumenthal and Himes, two corksoakers from Connecticut.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:50 pmI don’t want to be unfair. It comes with the territory for the President to be authoritarian and to protect government secrets. If he goes around declassifying documents willy-nilly, then how can we justify prosecuting Hillary, Susan Rice, Bradley Manning, Reality Winner, Edward Snowden ….
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:53 pmwe’re gonna get through this
we just have to trust Him
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:56 pmZap fair point, Carlos slims bozos were fine when assuage burned operations from Algeria to Zimbabwe.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 5:56 pmThe Nunes memo is just the beginning. There is more to come.
if i were a slimy corrupt fbi rank-and-file maggot this would give me anxious feelings
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:01 pmwtf does rank-and-file even mean
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:02 pmBeldar lay off the scotch you have homework
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:03 pmBTW, “willy-nilly” is from Shakespeare I’m pretty sure:
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:06 pmAndy McCarthy’s view of what the HPSCI memo tells us and what it doesn’t.
crazy (d99a88) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:09 pmwtf does rank-and-file even mean
Those are the soldiers that stand in neat rows, while the officers stroll up and down in front of them.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:09 pmPer Hannity, we’re now at Watergate x 1000.
Davethulhu (99cc74) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:09 pmThe rank and file agents innthe new York office were the ones that forwarded. Carlos dangers lap top to mccabe, where he didnt look at it for three weeks. This was in the same time they were passing the dossier to Evert tom Dick and harry
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:11 pmthat sounds like a recipe for discontent and ennui
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:12 pmSurprising considering his own researcher Mr sears was working for fusion, they didnt give him a heads up:http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/02/isikoff-stunned-carter-page
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:16 pmCan you frame it in the form of a question:
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:21 pmhttp://www.breitbart.com/video/2018/02/02/cnns-wolf-blitzer-attacks-gop-memo-release-putin-succeeded
Meanwhile…an actual significant inaccuracy:
“Another reminder — Steele Dossier was first paid for by conservative outlet Washington Free Beacon to find damaging info about Trump during the primary in order to help other GOP candidates. REMEMBER — the GOP DID NOT WANT Trump to win the nomination.https://t.co/Zk6SrK1M4x — Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) February 2, 2018
—-
James Hasson
harkin (8256c3) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:23 pm@JamesHasson20
No. Fusion hired Steele after the Clinton campaign took over their contract. How are you still getting this wrong 4 months later? “
Inquiring minds want to know:http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/02/gohmert-jail-comey-ohr
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:25 pmGohmert’s a nutcase.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:27 pmSo I just heard Michael Isikoff interviewed on CNN, in which he said: He had no foreknowledge of his story being used in the FISA application. He doesn’t know what from his story was included in the application, but that some of his sources for background information regarding Carter Page were unrelated to Steele or his dossier — both fair points. But then he confirmed, in response to a direct question, that yes, the information in his story about Page and Russia came from Steele, to whom he had been introduced by Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, who had reached out to Isikoff rather than the other way around.
In short, to the extent of his vantage point permitted, Isikoff confirmed what the memo said about him and his story, and he was indeed the Dems’ cats-paw — surely at least a willing one, although he may still claim not to be a completely knowing one.
I was unsurprised that CNN was able to line him up so quickly for an interview — Isikoff and David Corn have a book coming out, and they’re surely giddy for this publicity — but I was surprised to learn from him on CNN that what he had to say didn’t undercut the memo in any material way.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:31 pm“I think it’s important to know who the FISA-pig judge was, and why with all the info he’s had for some time, he hasn’t put anyone in jail for committing fraud on his court.”
there was a time in failmerica that yes
this would have been very important
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:34 pmRight his researcher just happened to work for fusion gaps, well it wasnt as irresponsablecas his Korean in a toilet at gitmo, which sparked a riot in Pakistan (yes you might say what doesn’t spark a riot, perhaps an honor killing.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:35 pmnarciso, your link in #165 above about Isikoff’s podcast is consistent with what I heard him say just now on CNN, and more detailed, and indeed he mentioned that podcast on CNN.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:36 pmlet us eat hummus together
and weep for what might have become
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:37 pmseriously
could cage-dwelling lickspittle coward John McCain be more of a useless ponce than he is right now today
it’s a sobering prospect to be sure
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:40 pmi don’t think for a second though that johnny suckboy wrote a single word of that
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:41 pmIt actually goes back to Anglo Saxon times
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/willy-nilly.html
Kishnevi (9052c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:42 pmActually no, the attribution of tv 5 was to an Algerian fellow, the German one to an Iraqi, they used equipment from a shop in the UK, owned by a Pakistani.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:45 pmAh David corn, who misrepresented valerieplames status, even the source of the 47% tape, in fact one of his sources in the previous brouhaha had misrepresented his rank in the company,
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:50 pmDo they even exist:
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 6:52 pmhttp;//investmentwatchblog.com/the-memo-has-been-released-meanwhile-the-james-comey-memos-will-remain-secret
Some people ain’t no damn good
John Mellencamp takes a knee during performance on Colbert.
Probably a condition for his appearance.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:11 pmis he still banging meg ryan’s carcass?
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:15 pmyou know sometimes i’m not very nice
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:16 pmRosenstine’s request to the FISA Court for an extension of the wiretap warrent puts the spotlight on his appointment of Mueller. Both
should resign
ropelight (4ae36e) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:23 pmIt’s ok, happyfeet. Thanks to looking up who Meg Ryan is I found out that there is a place called Ruthenia.
nk (dbc370) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:26 pmNew York Times readers were dabbling with something approximate to warm regard for the FBI today. Might bleed over onto the BLM into a general respect for police officers, if someone could just get a collar on pandering lounge singers.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:27 pmBecause they focused on the right enemy of the people, a real progressive target would bring out the waterworks
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:30 pm169.Gohmert’s a nutcase.
Texas. ‘Nuff said.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:31 pmi don’t think a “significant inaccuracy” in #TheMemo calls its credibility into question
i think the memo nicely documents how stinky the no-results lickspittle fbi has become
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:57 pmI found out that there is a place called Ruthenia.
maybe Justin Timberlake would be happy there
he could do spirit fingers in the woods forever and ever
and dance a merry jig
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:58 pmSaying oops on 14 different occasions re terrorist plots, dies make one a little less confident.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/25/ben-carson-facebook-response-white-house-bible-studyB&b
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 7:59 pmLinking this here is slightly meta, but note the points raised in the second half
Kishnevi (9052c0) — 2/2/2018 @ 8:02 pmhttps://hotair.com/archives/2018/02/02/salacious-unverified-memo-misquote-comey-dossier/
A few times I do recall comeys expressing his true feelings, likecwhen hecsaid. Visitors to Islamic state, I presume like the fellow who blew him in idlib have a right to return here,
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 8:08 pmChristopher Steele is betwixt a rock and a hard place. He’s forced to defend his dossier as more than supposition to U.S. authorities, but has to downplay it in the libel suit filed by Gubarev against him in the UK.
What’s a pawn to do?
Lenny (5ea732) — 2/2/2018 @ 8:17 pmNot the smartest knife innthe drawercsince he accused a passel of oligarchs as well.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 8:24 pmI don’t get it. The memo says Comey briefed Trump on a summry of the dossier, even though he earlier testified it was salacious and unverified. And that is what he testified, that he briefed the president on salacious and unverified material.
So, the material he briefed the president on, a summary of the dossier, was salacious and unverified. I don’t get the inaccuracy, unless you define a summary as only a part of the dossier instead of an account of the main points in the dossier. Which would be inaccurate, calling the credibility of this post into question.
TheBas (33b771) — 2/2/2018 @ 8:43 pm@196
Our esteemed host has explained this twice. Elements of the dossier are salacious and unverified. It was these elements that were in the briefing. The briefing was not on the entirety of the dossier.
Davethulhu (99cc74) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:00 pm@196 – sometimes a salacious and unverified dossier is just a salacious and unverified dossier.
Lenny (5ea732) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:02 pmI mean, I guess it makes sense if Comey only talked to the president about bed wetting hookers, but that seems highly unlikely to me. I’m sure Trump would want to know everything in the dossier, especially since it contained the aforementioned hookers, and I have a hard time believing Coney would blow off such a request from the president he was supposedly reassuring wasn’t personally being investigated.
TheBas (33b771) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:05 pmMeg Ryan is a cautionary tale for the dumb blonde from Big Bang Theory. And Louie Gohmert represents West Louisiana…that part of Texas will eff up SB 4.
urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:05 pm“The briefing was not on the entirety of the dossier.”
You know this as fact?
TheBas (33b771) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:09 pmFrom a WaPo article suggesting that the FISA court had information about the political nature of the application:
This is actually being quoted in defense of the application, but, if true, paints a terrible picture of the FISA court itself — that the court willingly signed off on a partisan wiretap adventure.
Kevin M (752a26) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:13 pmAs the day goes on and I listen to talking head after talking head on this memo stuff, I’m wondering whether someone on the GOP side of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — possibly Gowdy — came up with this whole memo plan to execute what used to be called (before Uncle Remus and his tales of Brer Rabbit became politically correct) a “tar-baby strategy”:
Schiff & Co. on the minority side seem to have been quite effectively manipulated yesterday and the day before into grossly overselling the risk to national security or sources & methods from this memo — crying wolf falsely, in other words — and that blew up in their faces today. Now they’ve been lured into the opposite position, and they’re attacking the memo on grounds of cherry-picking and incompleteness.
But those are assertions that can indeed be conclusively rebutted, too, if the detailed source material in fact generally supports the substance of today’s summary memo. So at the Dems’ demand, with prompt acquiescence from both the Committee GOP members and the White House, there may well be a steady stream of previously classified source docs that the FBI brass, for institutional reasons, isn’t happy seeing in .pdf form on a government website, as the memo is here. As additional info comes out — including, surely, a transcript of relevant testimony from McCabe’s testimony before the Committee and probably the FISA application and renewal applications, and possibly some other stuff that gets declassified at the Dems’ request for purposes of their promised rebuttal counter-memo — the Dems may continue finding themselves further dismayed.
By the way, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out some more of the Committee majority’s handiwork today in this six-page, very detailed “Charge & Response” memo, as in: The minority charges x, and we in the majority say y and z about that.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:38 pm*politically incorrect, I meant
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:38 pmOne recalls judge Royce Lambert was unwilling to sign off an a particular fisa warrant I think for moussaouis computer, right before 9/11, because he had been burned previously on a previous one
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:38 pm@201 – Here is Comey’s testimony about his briefing President-elect Trump [all bold mine]:
Is Comey saying that the IC assessment was assembled in part using the dossier? Information that even the Keystone Kops would have known was complete BS?
Comey goes on to say that media reports of “the material” were imminent. I would ask a) how do you know that, and b) why would they only report the salacious and unverified aspects? Wouldn’t they also report the non-salacious and verified aspects as well? And if they were going to report the latter, wouldn’t you tell the President-elect that as well?
Comey’s testimony makes no sense. They are the remarks of a liar.
Lenny (5ea732) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:40 pmBeldar, I saw that Charge and Response memo and was impressed that they had anticipated the specific blowback – not what I have come to expect from Republicans.
Lenny (5ea732) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:46 pmFor those of you who saw Nunes’ interview this afternoon with Bret Baier, what did you think of his performance?
I thought that substantively, he was mostly okay. But I did not think he struck the right notes and tones quite a bit of the time: There was too little stress on Congress’ legitimate oversight role and too much stress on what dirty lying dogs the Dem members of his Committee are. I’m not arguing with him about the latter. But given his personal history, including his unfortunate visit to the WH and resulting sorta-kinda-he-says-it-wasn’t recusal, and his open partisan rage, I don’t think he’s the most effective spokesperson the Committee could have. He’s nowhere remotely as persuasive and credible as Gowdy, but I think the best thing Nunes could do for both his Committee (and therefore Congress) and for the POTUS would be to turn this back over to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX11).
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:55 pmYeah, it was pretty prompt and sharp messaging, right, Lenny?
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/2/2018 @ 9:56 pmDoes anyone remember when Bill Clinton’s passport and travel file was pulled during his first election?
EPWJ (a12526) — 2/2/2018 @ 4:29 pm
I was looking for info about that. As I recall the guy who did that died soon after.
Do you remember when someone pulled Hillary Clinton’s, John McCain’s and Barak Obama’s passport files?
A key witness in a federal probe into passport information stolen from the State Department was fatally shot in front of a District church, the Metropolitan Police Department said yesterday.
Lt. Quarles Harris Jr., 24, who had been cooperating with federal investigators, was found late Thursday night slumped dead inside a car, in front of the Judah House Praise Baptist Church in Northeast, said Cmdr. Michael Anzallo, head of the department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
Cmdr. Anzallo said a police officer was patrolling the neighborhood when gunshots were heard, then Lt. Harris was found dead inside the vehicle, which investigators would describe only as a blue car.
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/2/2018 @ 10:05 pmEmergency medics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Remember who he worked for, john brennans analytical company.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 10:08 pmhttp://www.washingtonexaminer.com/carter-page-to-update-his-lawsuits-against-the-press-after-nunes-memo-release/article/2647950
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 10:13 pmThere are two things I don’t want revealed about this dossier Mr Director. One is salacious and the other is unverified.
OK Mr Chairman, what are the two things?
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/2/2018 @ 10:14 pmIf you ignore the liberty depriving elements, how did you like the play Mrs Lincoln, this is like our man in havana or getsmart, nines has to go under the cone of silence to get the documents.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/2/2018 @ 10:22 pmWASHINGTON — George Bush Administration officials did “stupid, dumb and indeed partisan things” in searching Bill Clinton’s passport files during the 1992 presidential campaign but committed no crime, an independent counsel concluded Thursday in a report on a major election-year controversy.
Joseph E. DiGenova sharply criticized as incompetent and naive the initial investigation of the matter conducted by former State Department Inspector General Sherman Funk, which led to DiGenova’s appointment as independent counsel.
At the same time, he apologized “on behalf of the United States government” to former presidential assistant Janet G. Mullins, the only named target of the investigation, and to others he said had been “unjustly accused” of wrongdoing.
DiGenova’s investigation covered whether Mullins or other officials violated any laws in searching Clinton’s passport files to check on a rumor that he had tried to renounce his citizenship while he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University in order to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War. The inquiry included whether Mullins lied or otherwise impeded Funk’s investigation or conspired with others to commit any offense against the United States.
LA Times
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/2/2018 @ 10:43 pmIn an ironic twist, after Clinton became president, he was personally involved in attempting to influence the Russian re-election of Boris Yeltsin in 1996. He was even given the codename “Governor of California” for the operation. An American team went so far as to script a Clinton summit meeting with Yeltsin, where the Russian leader lectured the American president about “Russia’s great-power prerogatives” as Clinton stood down and listened.
According to Time Magazine “Democracy triumphed” as a result of American election meddling in Russia, “and along with it came the tools of modern campaigns, including the trickery and slickery Americans know so well. If those tools are not always admirable, the result they helped achieve in Russia surely is.”
If some of that “trickery and slickery” came home to roost in the form of Russian Facebook ads attacking Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election, perhaps she has her husband to thank.
Who What Why
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/2/2018 @ 10:48 pmLast year, a coroner said it was likely Mr Williams, 31, from Anglesey, had been unlawfully killed in August 2010.
But the Metropolitan Police said an evidence review had found “it was more probable” no other person was present when he died in his London flat
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said he was satisfied it was “theoretically possible” Mr Williams could have padlocked the bag from the inside, although “many questions remain unanswered” as to the circumstances of his death.
But he said there was no evidence that the MI6 officer had intended to take his own life or that his death was connected to his work.
So he was accidentally killed and purposely stuffed in a ruck or purposely killed and accidentally stuffed in a ruck? Or he purposely stuffed himself in a ruck in a full bathtub and accidentally killed himself after padlocking it shut?
BBC
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/2/2018 @ 11:22 pmIm glad you mention the BBC. Imagine the BBC has Judge Napolitano on in 2005 for a segment, and pays him X amount. Perfectly natural transaction.
In 2017 President Trump nominates the Judge as legal advisor, but because of his politics a collection of Justice Department officials (lets say Sally Yates, Dana Boente, Rod Rosenstein, and Jim Comey) officially register the BEEB as a “foreign agent” then investigate Judge Napolitano for taking bribes from a foreign agent.
That would be a hatchet job perpetrated by crooks shoplifting the title of Justice Department officials.
Well that’s exactly the type of “investigation” James Comey is referencing, the hatchet job on General Flynn, when he says;
He was talking about the private meeting he had with President Trump, the same that he had prior to this congressional testimony took it upon himself to disclose to the press through a second party.
He hasn’t the first concern what is classified. His only concern was what informaation would be incriminating to his hatchet job and shop lifting of authority for his own ends.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 12:15 amI’m tellin ya. He’s dirty. [YouTube]
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 12:49 amMeanwhile, in other less distracting news- Phil saw his shadow… and ah-so, for crimea-out-loud:
Russian official approves deployment of warplanes to Japanese island
“MOSCOW — Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved the deployment of Russian warplanes on a disputed island near Japan, accelerating the area’s militarization at a time when Moscow’s ties with Tokyo are strained over the roll-out of a U.S. missile system.
In a decree published late on Thursday, Medvedev allowed the Russian Defense Ministry to use a civilian airport on the island of Iturup as it is known by Russia, or Etorofu as it is known by Japan, for its warplanes.
The island was one of four seized by Soviet forces at the end of World War Two and is located off the north-east coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s biggest prefecture.
The dispute over the islands, known as the Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, is so acrimonious that Moscow and Tokyo have not yet signed a peace treaty to mark the end of the war.
Medvedev’s decree is the latest step in a Russian military build-up that has seen Moscow deploy some of its newest missile defense systems to the islands and plan to build a naval base there even as it continues talks about the territorial dispute.
The decree was published days before deputy foreign ministers from the two countries are due to hold talks about co-operation on the disputed islands and at a time when Russia is concerned that Japan is allowing Washington to use its territory as a base for a U.S. military build-up in north Asia under the pretext of countering North Korea.
It is unclear whether Russia will permanently deploy warplanes to the disputed island, which hosted a Soviet air base during the Cold War, or use its airport as and when needed.
The Kommersant daily cited an unnamed military source as saying the move would give the Russian military more options.
“This move should show the aerodrome’s readiness for fighter planes that patrol our borders to be temporarily based there,” the source was quoted as saying.
The same source was quoted as saying that Russia was particularly concerned about a Japanese plan to deploy more Aegis U.S. missile systems in its Akita and Yagamata prefectures.
The Japanese embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Kommersant cited it as saying that the new Russian move would boost Moscow’s military power on the disputed islands.
That contradicted Japan’s own stance on the dispute, it was cited as saying, but Tokyo would keep trying to resolve the problem through talks.” – NY Post.com
Spacaba, Donald.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/3/2018 @ 1:43 amhttps://armyhistory.org/the-philippine-scouts/
Not really off topic because we still recruit Filipinos. They’re the only foreign nationals I’m aware of that we recruit. Talk about loyalty.
https://armyhistory.org/the-philippine-scouts/
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 2/3/2018 @ 1:57 amThe next book on my reading list is The Twilight Riders.
I’m not even good with horses.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 2/3/2018 @ 2:05 amDogs. I’m good with dogs.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 2/3/2018 @ 2:06 amhttps://assets.huckberry.com/uploads/post/image/423/hero_Cavalry.jpg
Charge! I learned that from my dad. Reinforced by the Comanche, and Bushido.
Steve57 (0b1dac) — 2/3/2018 @ 2:18 amMove the American embassy to Etorafu. Are Russia and Israel the only countries required to give back land after they are attacked and prevail?
Pinandpuller (25013a) — 2/3/2018 @ 2:28 amBeldar @ 203: If you are reading me:
I think you are exactly correct.
Trey Gowdy is the principle author of this memo. He went to DOJ and read the underlying documents. Nunes said multiple times today he has not read the underlying documents.
I think Gowdy and Nunes agreed to let this be called the “Nunes Memo”, and for Nunes to take all the flack, because Gowdy is going to be pouring forth more memos in the days and weeks ahead. Nunes is going to be Gowdy’s beard as long as he can get away with it.
And I think this is behind Gowdy’s recent decision to 1) not seek re-election, and 2) not accept a nomination to the 4th Circuit that he was offered — he would have to go through Senate Confirmation, and he will not be able to do so if he carries forward.
There are more than 1000 pages of DOJ records that he reviewed. I’m 1000% it would take him more than 4 pages to summarize the pertinent findings.
Trey Gowdy understands this effort has got to withstand the first line attack which is that its all a sideshow to undermine Mueller — so he was out front today saying this memo does not undermine Mueller, and his investigation needs to continue.
So what is Trey Gowdy’s end-game over the next 10 months? I think he’s convinced from the Clinton Email investigation and the beginnings of the Russia probe that the top echelons of both DOJ and FBI — as well as the other intelligence agencies — have been politically compromised by Dem appointees and “imbeds”, and his effort is going to be to drive them out.
Bruce Ohr was first in line. The two paragraphs mentioning Bruce Ohr are career enders for him.
I think we will see in the days and weeks ahead that Trump and the WH will have no problem declassifying the source documents, and putting them out in redacted form. They are going to call the Dems’ and media’s bluff on that.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 2/3/2018 @ 2:56 amAnd there is a lot of misreporting on the issue of what McCabe said in closed testimony about whether the Page FISA application would have been made without the Steele Dossier. The memo put put out that claim, and this is an area where the Dem majority is arguing that the application has a lot more info about Page than just the dossier, as the FBI has been looking into Page and his Russian connections since 2013.
But the reporting fails to understand something of significance when it comes to warrants. The FBI had an investigation into Page in 2013, and Page has a documented history of activities in Russia, has done business in Russia, and has had contacts with Russian intelligence official. But that investigation was closed at some point. Including that information the FISA application would have been important and significant background, but its not a basis to support the claim in October 2016 that Page was an agent of a foreign government, which is the basis for issuing a FISA warrant.
In the parlance of federal warrants, the 2013 information would have been considered meaningful but “stale”. It would not have established anything in connection with Page acting as a Russian agent in 2016. The Steele dossier gave the FBI new information from the summer of 2016, which provided the non-stale factual basis to establish probable cause in Oct. 2016 to surveil Page as a possible Russian agent at that point in time.
So, yes, the application certainly had all the historical information about Steele and his contacts with Russia.
But it was the information from the Steele dossier in the summer of 2016 which was the basis for seeking a new FISA warrant — so the memo is likely accurate in characterizing McCabe as having testified that without the Steele dossier there would not have been a new Page FISA application.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 2/3/2018 @ 3:09 amI think the basis to fire Rosenstein is likely baked into the fact that he signed renewal applications for the Page FISA warrant several months into the Trump Presidency — probably twice. The original was late Oct. They have to be renewed every 90 days, and the renewals are usually processed 5 days or so ahead of the expiration of the exiting order.
So an original late Oct. 2016 warrant would have been up for renewal in late Jan, late April, and late July, 2017.
I think Rosenstein had to have signed both the April and July renewals — and remember that Sessions is recused from all issues involving Russia and the campaign, so he wouldn’t have known anything about these.
Who wants to venture a guess about whether the WH was told that Page was still being actively monitored in the late summer and early fall of 2017???
Now, who can make the case that it was legally and ethically appropriate to not advise the WH of the ongoing surveillance??
If it turns out that Rosenstein, working first with Comey and later with McCabe — and maybe even consulting with Mueller — authorized renewals of that FISA warrant but kept that from the WH, then he’ll be out of job soon.
We shall see.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 2/3/2018 @ 3:48 amI’m trying to find the testimony from a few months ago — which I think was one of only a couple times that McCabe testified on the dossier in public session — but he did clearly testify in response to question from either the House Intel or Judiciary Comm that the only part of the Steele Dossier with respect to Page that had been verified was that Page had, in fact, traveled to Moscow in the summer of 2016 to speak at a conference. The dossier goes on to claim that Page met with specific Russian gov’t officials there, including intelligence officials, and the discussed various deals they hoped to get agreement on with Trump if he were to win, and what Trump would get in return.
Page denied all those details once they were made public, and McCabe was asked what about Page in the dossier had been verified and he said only the fact that he had made the trip, nothing about the details.
So, the idea that there are portions of the Steele dossier that have been verified but just never publicly confirmed is belied in part by McCabe’s testimony.
And your reference to McCarthy’s earlier article, and his stated expectation that it would be the normal practice of the FBI to take info like that found in the Steele dossier and then verify it before making use of it, was a comment by McCarthy on what — in his experience — would be the normal “best practices” of the FBI. And the column in which he made that comment came before the public disclosure of the text messages between Strzok and Page that revealed a personal and political animus by them towards Trump.
I think he would express shock today — to the extent he hasn’t already — at the manner in which the FBI made use of the Steele dossier given the apparently minimal verification that had been accomplished.
AND, its no small thing that in the fall of 2016 the FBI did a “source assessment” after the cut Steele off. Those are formal investigations into a source gone bad to see if the handling agent was any way at fault, and what risk to ongoing investigations might be posed by cutting the source loose.
I had a few of those in cases I handled over my 23 years with DOJ, and I will say it would have been EXTRAORDINARY for an agent to continue relying on information produced by a source that had been terminated for misconduct the way Steele was cutoff for revealing his relationship with the FBI to the press.
The fact that the agents continued to rely on information in the Steele dossier as part of the renewal applications is quite contrary to my experiences. Normally, that source would have been “dead to the Bureau”, and not used for any purpose unless reopening the source could be justified.
Those are all upper level management decisions. After Steele was cut off, it would have been a decision by McCabe whether or not the information supplied by Steele would continue to be used in the renewal applications.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 2/3/2018 @ 3:59 amSorry for the multiple posts — spent all day from from the East Coast back to home, and then had to catch up on some lost sleep.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 2/3/2018 @ 4:00 am“If all this is not a scandal — then the following protocols are now considered permissible in American electoral practice and constitutional jurisprudence: An incumbent administration can freely use the FBI and the DOJ to favor one side in a presidential election, by buying its opposition research against the other candidate, using its own prestige to authenticate such a third-party oppositional dossier, and then using it to obtain court-ordered wiretaps on American citizens employed by a candidate’s campaign — and do so by deliberately misleading the court about the origins and authors of the dossier that was used to obtain the warrants……..
……The current internal efforts in the middle of a campaign to weaponize the FBI and DOJ are something new. And it illustrates a larger effort of the prior administration to warp FBI investigations of Hillary Clinton’s unauthorized and illegal email server and other purported improper behavior, as well as efforts of Obama-administration officials to improperly request unmasking of improperly surveilled Americans for improperly political purposes. These efforts come on top of previous attempts to politicize the IRS in order to oppose perceived political opponents and to monitor journalists reporting stories deemed unfavorable to the administration. Finally, unlike past administration scandals, when the press posed as custodians of the public interest and demanded transparency from government agencies, this time around the media are arguing for secrecy and suppression of documents, and are unconcerned with likely violations of the civil liberties of American citizens by overzealous federal officials likely breaking the law.”
http://amp.nationalreview.com/corner/456084/nunes-memo-fbi-doj-corruption-ticking-memo?__twitter_impression=true
harkin (8256c3) — 2/3/2018 @ 4:12 amOne takeaway: James Comey is above reproach and all of his virtue-signaling, ponce-on-the-street tweeting are attempts to share what a valiant, honorable and truly heroic mench he is.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/3/2018 @ 4:22 amIt’s a swimming pool’s worth of info, our host thinks he’s spotted a turd, demanded they empty the pool and we find it’s just a Baby Ruth.
Caddyshack Day.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/3/2018 @ 4:31 am1. FBI Used News Articled Sourced By Steele To Corroborate His Dossier.
2. FBI Knew Steele Was Being Paid By DNC, Hillary Clinton, Chose Not To Tell The Court
3. Without The Steele Dossier, FBI Wouldn’t Have Sought the Warrant To Spy On Carter Page
4. FBI Spied On Trump’s Associate For Nearly a Year
5. FBI Dismissed Steele As a Source Soon After It Secured The Initial FISA Warrant
6. FBI Did Not Tell The Court It Had Dismissed Steele
7. DOJ Official’s Wife Was Getting Paid By Fusion GPS
http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/02/the-7-biggest-bombshells-in-the-house-intel-memo-on-fisa-abuses/
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/3/2018 @ 4:37 am“When Comey “briefed” Trump about the memo, he also withheld from Trump the dossier’s partisan origins as well as the unreliablity (and firability) of its alleged author.
Note I always put “briefed” in quotes when I speak of this “briefing,” because this briefing was not for the President’s information, but for CNN’s: The plan was to make the dossier “reportable” by giving it a newsworthy angle (It’s so explosive the president was briefed on it!).
CNN was almost immediately leaked the news of this “briefing.” It should be pointed out that one of the four reporters pushing this leak to the public was Evan Perez, who is a best friend of Fusion GPS’ Glenn Simpson.”
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/373674.php
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/3/2018 @ 4:42 amhttps://i.imgur.com/5SYLTap.gif
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/3/2018 @ 4:49 amBush & Cheney are headed in a motorcade to an airport one morning before dawn. And they see the lights of an all-night diner.
“I haven’t eaten yet, and I’m hungry. How about you?” “Yeah, me too. Let’s stop.”
The waitress is flustered, to say the least, to see these two suddenly appear out of nowhere, along with a boatload of Secret Service types.
She swallows her nervousness and asks, “Mr. Vice President, what can I get for you?” Cheney replies, “Two eggs over easy, hash browns and toast”.
“Very good. And what can I get you, Mr. President?” Bush smiles and replies, “I’ll have a quickie”.
“Mister President!!! I can’t believe you just said that!! Why, why, why, that’s something I might have expected from your predecessor, but not from you! How dare you?” And she stomps off without taking his order.
Cheney leans over to see what item on Dubya’s menu he had his finger on, and he says, “Uh, George. I believe that’s pronounced ‘Quiche'”.
Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 2/3/2018 @ 5:24 amLenny @206. I always believed that so-called briefing to be Comey trying to blackmail Trump to keep him on, a la J. Edgar Hoover and his dossiers.
nk (dbc370) — 2/3/2018 @ 5:30 amSWC, your Gowdy breakdown is very insightful and likely true. Given this eeeks train collision in Virginia and late night homicides in DC mentioned in the thread, I’d vamiose out if town too. On that note, I don’t think you will see full gentrification of the District; you need some people to point to when u
urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/3/2018 @ 5:55 am…need someone rubbed out. Old school D.C. provides plenty of plausible deniability.
urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/3/2018 @ 5:57 amNow this fellow who was part of Hillary’s task force was in contact with one of the Chapman ring before 2010, but was there any surveillance on him
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/advisory-boards/global-development-council/members/patricof
This is the same FBI that didnt flag the bureau,
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 6:18 amThanks for the insight shipwrecked, the only caveat is goody seems still to be vouching for Mueller, do you have to kill someone to get the shade thrown in this town,
http://neoneocon.com/2018/02/02/and-the-incredibly-fair-and-unbiased-james-comey
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 6:25 amBureau sebsutivities re the awan bros, the pashtun crowders who were protected by s directorate in aapbara, (the Islamabad suburb where the isi is based)
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 6:42 amHoward Cosell reads the future. [jpg]
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 6:43 amAny pictures of Howudd with that young owner of the New Jersey Generals? As much as he seemed to be male Bella Abzug, he was one of the first victims if PC (The Alvin Garrett contriversy).
urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/3/2018 @ 6:58 amViolating Page’s civil liberties is a particularly strange way to complain about conduct that probably did not violate his civil liberties.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/thoughts-nunes-memo-we-need-talk-about-devin
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:02 amAnd as a result you have idiots who have no undestanding of the game, calling play by play, but they have the right mindset.
Its ironic that Co yes 60 minute interview was so high minded re the mlk surveillance (of course levison and O’neill were sure to get hovers attention) and his concern was over cyberdefense (this was around the time Shawn Henry moved over to crowdstrike and they had falzely attributed the Sony hack to n Korea)
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:08 amAmid a roaring stock market and a planet of upbeat CEOs, few are even thinking about the havoc that a multi-trillion-dollar financial system gone rogue could inflict upon global stability. But watch out. Even in the seemingly best of times, neglecting Wall Street is a dangerous idea. With a rag-tag Trumpian crew of ex-bankers and Goldman Sachs alumni as the only watchdogs in town, it’s time to focus, because one thing is clear: Donald Trump’s economic team is in the process of making the financial system combustible again.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/02/nomi-prins-trumps-financial-arsonists.html
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:10 amDemagogues and authoritarians do not destroy democracies. It’s established political parties, and the choices they make when faced with demagogues and authoritarians, that decide whether democracies survive.
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/policy-and-politics/2018/2/2/16929764/how-democracies-die-trump-book-levitsky-ziblatt?__twitter_impression=true
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:15 amLike mf global tell me another bedtime tale, countrywide after a pittance, got into the subprime student loan business.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:17 amBond market works in inverse ratio to Stocks. The Trumpkins are just learning this..
People are starting to really get increasingly uncomfortable with the rapid rise in interest rates that we have seen and the uncertainty of how that is actually going to start to play out relative to competition for stocks,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana.
https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1FM1KC
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:24 amThis isnt the first time, or even the fifth, that Mueller and his minions have abused their legal authority, but previously very few would call them out.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:26 amTea Baggers still after Eisenstein.
https://youtu.be/9G9I1p_Ptw4
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:27 amRosenstein…
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:28 amIt’s ironic that the voter depends on Democrats to fix Republican fiscal genius..Clinton/Obama don’t get any thanks for being the adults.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:33 amIf we use Patterico’s logic to discredit the Nunes memo, then the credibility of the Fusion GPS dossier should also be called into question. Is is really an important distinction whether parts or all of it are salacious and unverified? Hillary showered a bunch of sleazy politicos with $12 million to get this dossier. One FBI agent involved had his wife on the Fusion GPS team that drafted it. Is it a good idea to use opposition research as the basis for an affidavit for a wire tap? According to the Nunes memo, a Yahoo story that relied on English spy Christopher Steele was corroboration for Steele’s dossier. Steele verified Steele.
Bottom line is that corruption in federal law enforcement has been verified. And as they say, a fish stinks from the head down. The political arming of the FBI and DOJ was not the end of it. Look at the State Department. Samantha Power, who was not a law enforcement officer, unmasked so many people that she had to say that people were forging her name in order to get around FISA protections. The names were fed to the media a proof that Trump was dirty. Obama, the head of the fish, got the ball rolling early in his administration with Lois Learner’s IRS punishing conservative groups.
For the past year, we have been getting rumor and innuendo from the drive by media that the Trump team colluded with the Russians. I don’t even know what colluded means but it sure sounds bad. Yesterday, all I heard from the drive byes was that the Nunes memo was to discredit the Mueller investigation. The Mueller horse has left the barn and I think Trump learned a lesson after firing Comey, so don’t expect Mueller to be fired. Rosenstein is another matter.
Shouldn’t there be some concern about how the Obama Administration weaponized the federal government, including law enforcement, to go after opposition? I am disheartened that Patterico has not shown alarm by the behavior of the FBI and DOJ in the so called Russia investigation.
AZ Bob (f60c80) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:36 amThe Wray subplot attracts so much attention not just because the anxious politerati needed something to occupy themselves, and not just because of the gravity of Trump potentially pushing out a second FBI director, but because of the resonances of the 1973 Saturday Night Massacre, in which Richard Nixon’s attorney general and deputy attorney general both resigned rather than fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. The resignations and firing (done by Solicitor General Robert Bork) marked the beginning of the end for Nixon.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/stop-searching-for-a-new-saturday-night-massacre/552209/
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:40 amHence the origin of Borked!!
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:41 am
Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:44 amAbsolutely not, AZ Bob. The weaponizing of any entity from schools to Hollywood to news media to government agencies including law enforcement in the name of radical leftist objectives is a virtue. Ask any “progressive”. This just means the left has successfully done to the 4th amendment what it has done to the rest of the Constitution.
It’s high time Samantha Power done got softly milked.
Colonel Haiku (bfabc4) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:46 amWhomever Trump appoints for firing should know their professional career will be over.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:50 amOur host appears to be on the fence, AZBob. I think the host wrote that he didn’t know what to think about the corruption and politicization at the highest levels when last I asked.
Colonel Haiku (bfabc4) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:51 amTrumpenfuhrer inspires..
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-shooting-macerata/african-migrants-injured-in-italian-drive-by-shootings-police-idUSKBN1FN09W
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:53 amThe lesson of Iraq, according to samanta powers in instead of fighting the salafi, in Iraq and Afghanistan, arm them in Libya and Syria.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:54 amJust noticed PP used Amber Phillips to judge Nunes’ credibility….
Is this the same Amber Phillips who declared Steele a ‘Boy Scout’ and that Fusion GPS was not funded by the Democrats?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/09/its-not-a-fabrication-six-times-the-company-behind-the-trump-russia-dossier-contradicted-trump/?utm_term=.5a807bfbd2ef
harkin (8256c3) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:55 amIf all this is not a scandal — then the following protocols are now considered permissible in American electoral practice and constitutional jurisprudence: An incumbent administration can freely use the FBI and the DOJ to favor one side in a presidential election, by buying its opposition research against the other candidate, using its own prestige to authenticate such a third-party oppositional dossier, and then using it to obtain court-ordered wiretaps on American citizens employed by a candidate’s campaign — and do so by deliberately misleading the court about the origins and authors of the dossier that was used to obtain the warrants. —Victor Davis Hanson
AZ Bob (f60c80) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:56 amThe standard is comey can pretend to write memos that no one can confirm, and that triggers special counsel, nunes tries to uncover what was going on and that subjects himto a phone ethics committee timeout:
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 7:58 amhttps://www.city-journal.org/html/nunes-memo-just-opening-act-15704.html
Yes the same company hired to pour luminol on the magnitsky crime scene, that actually slandered browder and for good measure thorn halvorsen as well.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 8:02 amit’s been very revealing Mr. Bob
the fascist impulses and the wholesale lack of integrity that underlie nevertrump
we see it in the cavalier smugness of pedophile Mitt “no proof no problem” Romney
we see it in cowardly warpig John McCain’s sleazy dossier shenanigans
we see it in the sickening lawlessness of DOJ suckboy Rod Rosytwat
and we see it in the tacit approval of harvardtrash sacky-slurper Ted Cruz
this is nevertrump
they are dirty filthy hypocritical trash and an affirmative danger to American democracy
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/3/2018 @ 8:02 amMy guy hired the g.o.a.t. Canadian Footballer [wiki] to quarterback the New Jersey Generals. (All Hail Flutie PBUH [Youtube])
Numero uno! despite being 4’11”. Top that.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 8:05 amYes AZbob.
Where you been?
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 8:14 amNo I think you can differentiate Cruz from that crew, rosenstein has yet to remove all doubt, as for Romney you don’t usually get this level of compliance in a nominal opposition except in venezuela.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 8:39 amHere’s a picture. Obama embracing a domestic terrorist. Had to beat feet out of the country for to give/get that hug, because of the exposure.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 8:40 amA collaborator with the late Moammar in his anti imperialist shindigs, think of it like comic con for agitators.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 8:42 amYou want to kick chair out from under Cruz because he’s being quiet?
He might be enjoying the show, for all we know.
Maybe he’s working on his day job.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 8:46 amhe’s a man of very poor character
weak and sleazy
not a leader
Texas can do better than a pusillanimous harvardrash slutworm like Ted Cruz
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:00 amNo it can’t exhibit a John Cornyn, who doesn’t slap down Fidel o flake or corked bat with a,rolled up newspaper.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:02 amWe should focus on the incredible amount of bipartisanship that Senor Comey has cultivated across the blogisphere.
“Comey” is the past participle form of “amity” after all.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:03 amAs in shark infested vacation spot, then yes.
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:06 amIt’s cool how English has the perfectly nuanced word, with the tucked in meaning, for these special occasions.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:15 amwell lets look at the facts. comey gave Martha stewart, probably more jail time, than the plea deal he gave kirikaou, the fellow who leaked the names of fellow operatives to al queda, both he and Mueller botched the anthrax investigation twice, even doug jones got it right the second time,
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:24 amok, he got a year and a half more, for what could be characterized as treason,
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:26 amNars, you think Lex Luthor with a tan Will be better than any of those no-income tax state brethren?
urbanleftbehind (aa10ca) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:29 amit’s a question of degree, urban,
https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/democrats-lie-baldly-memo/
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 9:31 am“Significant inaccuracy”? I do not find Patterico’s argument compelling.
Joe (7c9c87) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:00 amComey is a liar by commission and omission. He lied to Congress at least once when he claimed that he exonerated Hillary after she was interviewed. He failed to report the FBI counter terrorism operation to Congress as required.
But even if he is telling the truth and portions of the dossier are true, how do we know they are relevant to the Fisa court? McCabe admitted that the FBI had “minimal” verification that the dossier is credible. This was corroborated by Priestap. Yet Comey used it. Maybe the dossier noted that Carter Page made a trip to Russia in 2016? That is true. But so, what?
As others pointed out, FBI used the Yahoo article which was fed to Isikoff by Simpson as corroboration for the dossier. And they continued to use the dossier even as they questioned Simpson’s credibility.
Another professional prosecutor yawns at #TheMemo
Dave (445e97) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:02 amJust as they yawned over Hillary’s secret server, Obama’s weaponizing of the IRS and Justice Dept. & the DNC’s torpedoing the Sanders campaign?
harkin (8256c3) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:09 amabout the size of it:
https://www.steynonline.com/8431/un-candid-in-camera
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:11 amThese visits have been associated with Trump’s decision not to enforce congressionally mandated sanctions, claiming that the threat of sanctions is already working even as Mike Pompeo insists that Russia remains a threat. In lieu of providing a mandated list of Russians who could be sanctioned, Treasury basically released the Forbes list of richest Russians, meaning that the sanction list includes people who’re squarely opposed to Putin. In my opinion, reporting on the Forbes list underplays the contempt of the move. Then, today, Treasury released a memo saying Russia was too systematically important to sanction.
https://www.emptywheel.net/2018/02/02/under-cover-of-the-nunes-memo-russian-spooks-sneak-openly-into-trumps-administration/
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:24 amEventually the facade falls away for the Trumpkins who are aren’t insane, just flirting with the notion. How many of you still justify Watergate as a kerfluffle?
That’s a tell..
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:27 amso typical
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:27 amPeople have to talk themselves into believing in law and order. Maybe that’s because down deep they just don’t care.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:30 amthe poop’s getting real with these nasty #metoo chicks
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:31 amlaw enforcement in america is comprised of unethical trash (particularly the gestapo FBI)
the not believing in law and order?
it starts with *them,* not with real people
happyfeet (28a91b) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:33 amthat is truly dangerous, Tariq is the fair haired boy of the moslem brotherhood
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:33 amand guess who gave him a visa to enter this country, despite known islamist sympathies, the cost whether cash or check was not made available,
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:35 amExcept Carter Page was not employed by the candidate’s campaign when the surveillance occurred. See my just-published post.
Patterico (115b1f) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:36 amwell that’s makes it even worse, ie patricof and the chapman ring,
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:37 amMaybe that’s because down deep they just don’t care.
This keeps coming up. Apathetic voters reflect lazy thinking and maybe hypothyroidism, or Lymes Disease or somesuch.
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:40 am@ Dave, who wrote (#286),
That CNN op-ed, written by a criminal defense lawyer who (like many such) is a former state-court DA, is a crock. These warrants aren’t like the warrants he dealt with. These applications for surveillance must, by statute, be approved by a Senate-approved — meaning, politically accountable POTUS appointee — DoJ high official. That’s a deliberate requirement in order to elevate the scrutiny given by the DoJ to each of these applications, a statutory requirement that the DoJ create the kind of paper trail that the Committee is now going back through, specifically to prevent the kind of abuses that appear to have occurred here and, when they’ve occurred anyway, to assist in their exposure and the fixing of consequences for that. They’re not for garden-variety targets on garden-variety matters (like those the CNN author describes), and even I (a non-prosecutor) know that his experiences (as a garden-variety prosecutor who didn’t even practice in the federal court system, much less with FISA applications) are irrelevant. I’ve never been a prosecutor, but I know enough about the law on this kind of stuff to know that guy’s blowing thin smoke. Definitely third-string.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:52 amConDave for teh Loss…
Colonel Haiku (bfabc4) — 2/3/2018 @ 12:13 pmCrossing the streams:
narciso (d1f714) — 2/3/2018 @ 1:33 pmhttps://nypost.com/2018/02/03/fbi-was-slow-to-probe-nassar-while-list-of-accusers-grew/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow
Eventually the facade falls away for the Trumpkins who are aren’t insane, just flirting with the notion. How many of you still justify Watergate as a kerfluffle?
That’s a tell..
Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/3/2018 @ 10:27 am
I got a movie for that. The Watchmen posits a world where a} super heroes exist b} are all law abiding Republicans [except for the one Democrat] and c} assist America in fighting [and winning] the Vietnam War.
Key features – the Presidential term limits are repealed. Nixon is working on his fourth term.
Downside – the movie never speaks toward Watergate, so one is left to assume in this alternate reality Nixon , having won the war and several elections, never gets paranoid, so he doesn’t feel the need to spy on the Democrats, which is a real shame because one superpowered Democrat with a God complex ends up destroying the planet. Oh… spoiler alert.
papertiger (c8116c) — 2/3/2018 @ 1:58 pmPatrick– you are really grasping at straws. The tiger will not eat you last.
SD Harms (84960b) — 2/4/2018 @ 4:51 amThe red State version of this post was mentioned in the New York Post on Monday:
https://nypost.com/2018/02/04/comey-didnt-denounce-the-dossier-and-other-comments
This is a collection of summaries of various opion pieces.
It inncluded:
Sammy Finkelman (02a146) — 2/8/2018 @ 4:43 pm