“How To Prepare For The Impending Justice Department Inspector General Report
What can we expect from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s probe into abuses at the Department of Justice and FBI? For starters, don’t get your hopes up.”
—–
“The review dragged on from weeks to months to more than one year and eight months. It is reportedly being released on Monday and will be several hundred pages long. If reporters’ handling of previous Inspector General reports is prologue, few will read it substantively before opining on its meaning.
Instead, many have allowed themselves to be used by their sources to spin the reports’ meaning in advance. Samples of that effort include this whitewash of Lisa Page’s various unseemly actions, cartoonishly biased pieces about Attorney General Barr not agreeing with Horowitz’s alleged exoneration of the Department of Justice, and pieces implausibly suggesting that surveillance of Trump campaign affilites did not constitute “spying,” in any meaningful sense, among many others.
What should people expect from the report?
1) First off, lower expectation of justice for wrongdoing
The widespread surveillance of the Trump campaign, according to published reports, included the use of human informants, overseas intelligence assets, wiretaps and national security letters. Many critics of that surveillance hope that this Inspector General report will bring some justice. They should get rid of that hope as soon as possible.
Inspector Generals are like the human resource arm of a corporation. Human resource divisions do not exist to help employees but to help corporations. They take care of problems and protect the corporation. Similarly, Inspector Generals exist to help their agency deal with problems and messes. Sure, they may be forced to admit wrongdoing on the part of the agency and its employees, but they will always downplay it. If there’s a conceivable way to say that the department didn’t violate the policy or law, they will do that. And they will characterize the bad behavior that they must concede as limited to rogue employees and not representative of the larger agency.
Now having said that, Michael Horowitz has actually been willing to admit some of the wrongdoing by James Comey and Andrew McCabe, both of whom he referred for criminal prosecution. He has harshly criticized Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, and many other people whose politicized decision-making reflected poorly on the department. Of Lisa Page and Strzok, he said that they “brought discredit to themselves.”
But if Horowitz were an actual prosecutor, he would have rung up dozens of employees on crimes. Instead, we’re hearing rumors of just a couple of employees are being held slightly accountable for what they did in 2016. That’s not an impressive number given what we already know about what they were doing.
“California Shocked To Find Bill Decriminalizing Retail Theft Resulted In… More Retail Theft”
“A few years ago, California passed one in a series of bills aimed at emptying the jails and prisons. Proposition 47 carried the disingenuous name of “the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act and its stated purpose was to keep non-violent offenders out of jail. To achieve this goal, the state decriminalized a number of lesser offenses, including retail theft. The law raised the value of the amount of merchandise someone could steal while still only being charged with a misdemeanor to nearly one thousand dollars.
To the great surprise of the government, people noticed this change and began taking advantage of it. They have now recorded multiple years of steadily increasing, organized robbery. These plots are known as “mass grab and dash” thefts and they generally involve large numbers of young people all entering a store at the same time, grabbing armfuls of merchandise and dashing back out to their vehicles and hitting the highway. Not only are robberies on the rise, but arrests and prosecutions are down. Who could possibly have predicted this? (CBS Sacramento)
After searching police reports and arrest records, CBS13 found that while the rate of these grab and dash crimes is on the rise, the rate of arrest is down. We turned to law enforcement and the retail industry for answers. Both blame a California law intended to make “neighborhoods safe.”
“It’s a boldness like we’re seeing never before and just a disregard for fellow human beings,” said Lieutenant Mark Donaldson, Vacaville PD.
He explained these crimes have evolved into more than just shoplifting. It’s organized retail theft and he says it’s happening across the state. Cities like Vacaville, with outlets and shopping centers located near major freeways, tend to be a target for these organized retail crime rings.
Nobody is seriously contesting the numbers. The local and state police organizations blame prop 47. FBI crime data supports the contention. Retail sales organizations have tracked this trend and agree.
This is a trend that’s been building in a number of blue states and now it seems that the petty crime chickens are coming home to roost. The fact is that there are always going to be a certain number of people who will be willing to break the law if they don’t feel the risk of significant punishment is too high. An understanding of this fundamental principle is why the “broken windows” policies enacted in New York City and other municipalities in the 90s were so effective. If you crack down on even smaller crimes, you lower crime rates overall.”
“Lindsey Graham on Impeachment: “I am going to end this as quickly as I can”
“This is a joke of a process. It’s dangerous for the country.”
“Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared on Fox News Sunday morning and blasted House Democrats in general and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-NY) in particular. Graham, who serves as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also shared his intention to end the impeachment trial “as quickly as I can for the good of the country.”
To that end, Graham states that he has no intention of calling as a witness either the “whistleblower” or Schiff (or the Bidens). He says that he doesn’t want to give the “joke of a process” House impeachment “any more credibility than it deserves.”
Newsmax reports:
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., “is doing a lot of damage to the country, and he needs to stop,” according to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
“The whole process is illegitimate in the House,” Graham told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “It’s not just the whistleblower. You don’t want to create a situation where an anonymous person can start impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States.
“This is a joke of a process. It’s dangerous for the country.””
“Rep. Devin Nunes laid out a list of topics Sunday he hopes will be explained in a forthcoming Justice Department watchdog’s report on the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign, including details of a piece of exculpatory information regarding former Trump campaign aide Carter Page that the Republican says was withheld from surveillance court judges.
“We know there’s exculpatory evidence that we’ve seen on Carter Page that they didn’t give to the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] FISA court. That’s critical,” Nunes said in an interview on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” hosted by Maria Bartiromo.”
“What’s Going on With Drudge? Rasmussen Claims ‘Matt’s Not There Anymore…Word Is He Sold'”
“What happened to Drudge?”A lot of people have been asking that question lately. If you talk to conservatives these days, you’ll hear that Matt Drudge’s eponymous news aggregation site has gone over to the dark side—that Matt’s joined the anti-Trump resistance. And now, Rasmussen Reports, an arguably reputable polling operation, is calling Drudge out on Twitter, even suggesting that the site has been sold.”
—————-
And we have another alternative now. Last week it was the Bongino Report debut, now we have the Citizen Free Press.
Chairman Nadler has no choice but to postpone Monday’s hearing in the wake of a last-minute document transmission that shows just how far Democrats have gone to pervert basic fairness.https://t.co/iGBGrgFAYq
““Chairman Nadler has no choice but to postpone Monday’s hearing in the wake of a last-minute document transmission that shows just how far Democrats have gone to pervert basic fairness. Nearly a month after every Republican on our committee asserted our clear right to see all underlying documents held by the committees involved in the impeachment investigation, we have received no response from the chairman. Instead, Democrats waited until after Speaker Pelosi announced that articles of impeachment were imminent and chose the eve of the Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearing to share loads of documents that Chairman Schiff has had since this investigation began. It is impossible for Judiciary members to sift through thousands and thousands of pages in any meaningful way in a matter of hours,” said Collins.
“Moreover, Democrats still refuse to release all documentation in their possession, though Republicans have demanded this according to rules of the House — which Democrats themselves adopted in January. The information Democrats released today is partial, biased and curated to support accusations that have, to date, been thinner than cotton candy.
“Americans still don’t have access to any information that Adam Schiff hasn’t chosen to weave into his trail of lies. On behalf of millions of American voters who deserve the truth, Chairman Nadler must postpone this hearing while the Judiciary Committee examines these documents. At the same time, Chairman Schiff must release to House members the complete body of underlying evidence that he has concealed.
“The unfairness and dishonesty of this impeachment sham continue to be unprecedented. In violating the rules that this House adopted democratically, Democrats have violated their oaths of office. Under Speaker Pelosi’s leadership, House Democrats have eroded the integrity of our chamber and sacrificed the confidence of Americans who trust Congress to balance power, not abuse it.””
Re: 5.22
Those idiots don’t understand human nature at all.
Petty theft in stores was a minor theft issue and had to be dealt with as a small issue.
But it had to be dealt with.
Now. If it is not an issue. Something else will have to be the minor issue.
California will soon find out.
It explains, however, why we have more bold thefts–that are now including high-speed races through neighborhoods–just another reason to shop on line. Sigh.
“Todd responded, “No, but Senator, is it – let me ask you this. Is it not possible that this president is capable of creating a false narrative about somebody in order to help him politically?”
“Except that’s not what happened,” Cruz responded. “The president released the transcript of the phone call. You can read what was said on the phone call. And let me point out –”
“Look, on the evidence, Russia clearly interfered in our election,” Cruz continued. “But here’s the game the media is playing: Because Russia interfered, the media pretends nobody else did. Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election. The sitting ambassador from Ukraine wrote an op-ed blasting Donald Trump during the election season.”
Cruz persisted in getting his point across despite numerous interruptions from Todd, saying, “Chuck, Chuck, I understand that you want to dismiss Ukrainian interference, because, A) they were trying to get Hillary Clinton elected, which is what the vast majority of the media wanted, anyway, and B) it’s inconvenient for the narrative. You know, it’s hysterical. Two years ago, there was article after article after article in the mainstream media about Ukrainian interference in the elections. But now, the Democrats have no evidence of a crime, no evidence of violating the law. And so suddenly, Ukrainian interference is treated as, the media clutches their pearls. ‘Oh, my goodness. You can’t say that.’ Last week, Chuck, you called Senator John Kennedy, basically, a stooge for Putin.”
“I have been in multiple briefings. I have been in multiple briefings, year after year after year, about foreign interference in our election,” Cruz continued. “Russia has tried to interfere in our elections. China’s tried to interfere in our elections. North Korea’s tried to interfere in our elections. Ukraine has tried to interfere in our elections. This is not new. 2016’s not the first year they did it. And they’re going to keep trying. And so we need to be strong in dealing with it.”
“But the media needs to actually report facts. This is a kangaroo court in the House,” Cruz concluded. “They’re going to impeach, not because they have the evidence, but because they hate the president, want to do the election. But it’s going to go to the Senate. It’s going to go nowhere. I think the American people know this is a waste of time. And this is Democrats putting on a circus.””
“IG Report: FBI Doctored Evidence To Falsely Paint Carter Page As Russian Spy
The Department of Justice’s inspector general found that a top FBI lawyer blatantly doctored evidence to falsely smear Carter Page as a Russian spy.”
A wide-ranging investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general (IG) found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deliberately doctored evidence it presented to the nation’s top spy court in order to gain authority to spy on a key Trump affiliate.
The 476-page report from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI falsely claimed to the FISA Court not only that Carter Page was a Russian agent, but also falsely claimed that an unnamed intelligence agency had told the FBI that Page was “not a source” in their efforts to surveil and curtail Russian intelligence efforts.
Page, who had previously been an informant and witness for the United States in a federal espionage case against a Russian intelligence official, was targeted by the Obama FBI as a Russian spy helping Putin to steal the election from Hillary Clinton in 2016. According to the IG report, before the FBI and DOJ went to the FISA Court to apply for a warrant to spy on Page, an unnamed U.S. intelligence agency had told the FBI that Carter Page had previously assisted that agency’s efforts against Russian spies. Although exculpatory information about potential spy targets is required in spy warrant applications, Obama’s FBI and DOJ deliberately withheld that information from the spy court in order to paint Page in the worst possible light.
The FBI’s malfeasance in the matter did not stop there. Ahead of an application to renew the spy warrant in 2017, a top FBI lawyer doctored evidence from the unnamed agency which confirmed that contrary to FBI claims that he was a Russian spy, Page had in fact assisted the United States in its efforts to counter Russian operations. An e-mail from the agency that clearly stated Page was “a source” for them was doctored by Kevin Clinesmith, a top FBI national security lawyer, to give the opposite impression to the federal spy court.
“The [Office of General Counsel] Attorney altered and sent the e-mail to a [supervisory special agent], who thereafter relied on it to swear out the third FISA application,” the IG report notes. Upon learning that a top FBI lawyer doctored evidence against a former Trump campaign affiliate to justify spying on him, the IG referred the attorney to DOJ for criminal prosecution.”
Trump has been right, and truthful, all along as the above shows. He and his people were spied on using fraudulent methods and lying to the FISA Court.
He’s correct in his statement today as well.
And Durham, unlike the IG, can indict the guilty.
——
TRUMP: “This was an overthrow of government, an attempted overthrow, and a lot of people were in on it and they got caught, they got caught red-handed. And I look forward to the Durham report which is coming out in the not-too-distant future. He’s got his own information, which is this information plus, plus, plus. It’s an incredible thing that happened and we’re lucky we caught them. I think I’m going to put this down as one of our great achievements because what we found and what we saw, never, ever should this happen again in our country.”
“US Attorney Durham objects to IG findings on Russia probe origins in stunning statement”
“The U.S. attorney who is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of the origins of the Trump-Russia probe released a rare statement Monday saying he disagrees with conclusions of the so-called FISA report — after DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found in that review that the probe’s launch largely complied with DOJ and FBI policies.
“Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened,” U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a statement.
Horowitz released his report Monday saying his investigators found no intentional misconduct or political bias surrounding efforts to launch that 2016 probe and to seek a highly controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the early months of the investigation. Still, it found that there were “significant concerns with how certain aspects of the investigation were conducted and supervised.”
“I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff,” Durham said. “However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.”
As Horowitz has conducted his review of DOJ actions during the Russia probe, Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, has also been conducting a wider inquiry into alleged misconduct and alleged improper government surveillance on the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
Fox News reported in October that Durham’s ongoing probe has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation.
Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr ripped the FBI’s “intrusive” investigation after the release of Horowitz’s review, saying it was launched based on the “thinnest of suspicions.”
“The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Barr said in a statement.
Barr expressed frustration that the FBI continued investigating the Trump campaign, even as “exculpatory” information came to the light.”
“It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory,” Barr said. “Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration.”
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller acknowledged in his report that investigators did not find evidence of a conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and the Russians in 2016 – which the FBI probed extensively.
Barr said the FISA report shows a “clear abuse” of the surveillance process.
“In the rush to obtain and maintain FISA surveillance of Trump campaign associates, FBI officials misled the FISA court, omitted critical exculpatory facts from their filings, and suppressed or ignored information negating the reliability of their principal source,” Barr said.””
So is traitor Comey, the man whose watch much of this happened under.
Exonerated? The report states 17 significant “inaccuracies and omissions” in the four FISA warrant applications. Seems like abuse of the system by those in FBI. But not Comey of course. As a citizen John you should be concerned with most of what was released. You should read it.
Of applications for warrants to spy on US citizen Carter Page, IG says "numerous instances in which factual representations in those applications were inaccurate, incomplete, or unsupported by appropriate documentation."
In fact, IG specifically says "our role in this review was not to second-guess discretionary judgments by Department personnel about whether to open an investigation" — something spin from media and their sources on IG's view of opening investigation neglected to mention.
IG says officials all agreed that they should launch massive counterintel probe on basis of that one uncorroborated tip and not tell campaign (which included US Sen. and future AG Jeff Sessions and former NJ Gov. Chris Christie, notably) in case they were all in on it.
IG previously reported (contrary to some claims recently made in media) and states again that texts were "not only indicative of a biased state of mind but, even more seriously, impl[y] a willingness to take official action to impact [Trump's] electoral prospects."
THREAD: You will probably see plenty of spin and headlines today claiming the FBI is exonerated in this report. That is laughable, to put it lightly. The report eviscerates senior officials who broke rules and abused power.
If you see someone harping on the "bias" point, they are giving you a broad, misapplied talking point to distract from the specifics within the IG report that are damning.
What IG report page 341 tells you: the FBI used a defensive briefing with the Trump campaign as a tool for an investigation into its members. Unbelievable.
Another IG report nugget: as we suspected, FBI kept using Chris Steele even after he was terminated for cause. Bruce Ohr met with the FBI 13 times (!) to pass along information he had been given by Steele, who had been fired.
Comey is his usual pious self. He calls for others to apologize, but he is the one who owes three apologies: 1) To Carter Page, who the FBI wrongfully accused of being a Russian agent. 2) The FISA court for deceiving them. 3) President Trump for relying on the Steele dossier. https://t.co/EXL68d9A6n
2/ For example, the report notes on p. X, on errors in the 1st Page FISA application and the failure to inform the FISA court of problems and biases of the Steele Dossier which was used in this application, DOJ and FBI officials did not fully cooperate with the IG investigation. pic.twitter.com/QTkqpoT45N
3/ This is why the IG could say it did not find "documentary or testimonial evidence" of misconduct or political bias by FBI or DOJ officials. Their cooperation was limited and the IG did not speak to Comey.
4/ In addition, on pp 413 and 414, there was clear language that concerning erroneous and misleading FISA warrant requests, DOJ and FBI officers provided explanations that the IG did not regard as satisfactory or accurate. pic.twitter.com/g59oYPa0m0
5/ In my view, these excerpts and other parts of the report indicate the DOJ IG knew it was being lied to about misconduct and political bias but did not find evidence to prove this because DOJ and FBI officers were evasive and did not provide truthful and forthcoming responses.
6/ I'm still reading the DOJ IG report, but from what I've seen so far, it provides a devastating account of FBI and DOJ misconduct and their politicized investigations of a presidential campaign. I am hopeful the Durham report will provide more definitive conclusions on this.
Wandering Views 
First up today, low expectations. The swamp never cleans itself.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/06/how-to-prepare-for-the-impending-justice-department-inspector-general-report/
“How To Prepare For The Impending Justice Department Inspector General Report
What can we expect from Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s probe into abuses at the Department of Justice and FBI? For starters, don’t get your hopes up.”
—–
“The review dragged on from weeks to months to more than one year and eight months. It is reportedly being released on Monday and will be several hundred pages long. If reporters’ handling of previous Inspector General reports is prologue, few will read it substantively before opining on its meaning.
Instead, many have allowed themselves to be used by their sources to spin the reports’ meaning in advance. Samples of that effort include this whitewash of Lisa Page’s various unseemly actions, cartoonishly biased pieces about Attorney General Barr not agreeing with Horowitz’s alleged exoneration of the Department of Justice, and pieces implausibly suggesting that surveillance of Trump campaign affilites did not constitute “spying,” in any meaningful sense, among many others.
What should people expect from the report?
1) First off, lower expectation of justice for wrongdoing
The widespread surveillance of the Trump campaign, according to published reports, included the use of human informants, overseas intelligence assets, wiretaps and national security letters. Many critics of that surveillance hope that this Inspector General report will bring some justice. They should get rid of that hope as soon as possible.
Inspector Generals are like the human resource arm of a corporation. Human resource divisions do not exist to help employees but to help corporations. They take care of problems and protect the corporation. Similarly, Inspector Generals exist to help their agency deal with problems and messes. Sure, they may be forced to admit wrongdoing on the part of the agency and its employees, but they will always downplay it. If there’s a conceivable way to say that the department didn’t violate the policy or law, they will do that. And they will characterize the bad behavior that they must concede as limited to rogue employees and not representative of the larger agency.
Now having said that, Michael Horowitz has actually been willing to admit some of the wrongdoing by James Comey and Andrew McCabe, both of whom he referred for criminal prosecution. He has harshly criticized Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, and many other people whose politicized decision-making reflected poorly on the department. Of Lisa Page and Strzok, he said that they “brought discredit to themselves.”
But if Horowitz were an actual prosecutor, he would have rung up dozens of employees on crimes. Instead, we’re hearing rumors of just a couple of employees are being held slightly accountable for what they did in 2016. That’s not an impressive number given what we already know about what they were doing.
2) Don’t rewrite history”
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Head. Desk.
https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2019/09/26/california-shocked-find-bill-decriminalizing-retail-theft-resulted-retail-theft/
“California Shocked To Find Bill Decriminalizing Retail Theft Resulted In… More Retail Theft”
“A few years ago, California passed one in a series of bills aimed at emptying the jails and prisons. Proposition 47 carried the disingenuous name of “the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act and its stated purpose was to keep non-violent offenders out of jail. To achieve this goal, the state decriminalized a number of lesser offenses, including retail theft. The law raised the value of the amount of merchandise someone could steal while still only being charged with a misdemeanor to nearly one thousand dollars.
To the great surprise of the government, people noticed this change and began taking advantage of it. They have now recorded multiple years of steadily increasing, organized robbery. These plots are known as “mass grab and dash” thefts and they generally involve large numbers of young people all entering a store at the same time, grabbing armfuls of merchandise and dashing back out to their vehicles and hitting the highway. Not only are robberies on the rise, but arrests and prosecutions are down. Who could possibly have predicted this? (CBS Sacramento)
After searching police reports and arrest records, CBS13 found that while the rate of these grab and dash crimes is on the rise, the rate of arrest is down. We turned to law enforcement and the retail industry for answers. Both blame a California law intended to make “neighborhoods safe.”
“It’s a boldness like we’re seeing never before and just a disregard for fellow human beings,” said Lieutenant Mark Donaldson, Vacaville PD.
He explained these crimes have evolved into more than just shoplifting. It’s organized retail theft and he says it’s happening across the state. Cities like Vacaville, with outlets and shopping centers located near major freeways, tend to be a target for these organized retail crime rings.
Nobody is seriously contesting the numbers. The local and state police organizations blame prop 47. FBI crime data supports the contention. Retail sales organizations have tracked this trend and agree.
This is a trend that’s been building in a number of blue states and now it seems that the petty crime chickens are coming home to roost. The fact is that there are always going to be a certain number of people who will be willing to break the law if they don’t feel the risk of significant punishment is too high. An understanding of this fundamental principle is why the “broken windows” policies enacted in New York City and other municipalities in the 90s were so effective. If you crack down on even smaller crimes, you lower crime rates overall.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Post the truth, Twitter bans you.
Unless the manifesto comes from a right winger, then it’s a must read they’ll help you spread far and wide.
————–
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7769709/Fox-host-Pete-Hegseth-BANNED-Twitter-sharing-manifesto-Pensacola-shooter.html
“Fox and Friends host Pete Hegseth is ‘BANNED from Twitter’ after sharing anti-American ‘manifesto’ of Pensacola shooter Mohammed Alshamrani
The TV journalist posted screenshots Sunday which showed his original tweet
In it he said the actions of the gunman, who killed three, was ‘Islamist terror’
Hegseth followed up with an image of his appeal after the tweet was removed
Alshamrani’s social media, which was taken down after the attack, appeared to show a variety of anti-Israel postings and a quote from Osama bin Laden
It also included a lengthy manifesto posted hours before the shooting Friday
It was sharing a screengrab of this post that Hegseth said led to his Twitter ban
‘Big tech does the bidding of the Left, especially to include anyone who speaks truth about the threat of radical Islam’, Hegseth, 39, wrote Sunday”
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YouTube gets in some censorship of their own…..
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Not legitimate.
————–
https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/12/lindsey-graham-on-impeachment-i-am-going-to-end-this-as-quickly-as-i-can/
“Lindsey Graham on Impeachment: “I am going to end this as quickly as I can”
“This is a joke of a process. It’s dangerous for the country.”
“Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared on Fox News Sunday morning and blasted House Democrats in general and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-NY) in particular. Graham, who serves as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also shared his intention to end the impeachment trial “as quickly as I can for the good of the country.”
To that end, Graham states that he has no intention of calling as a witness either the “whistleblower” or Schiff (or the Bidens). He says that he doesn’t want to give the “joke of a process” House impeachment “any more credibility than it deserves.”
Newsmax reports:
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., “is doing a lot of damage to the country, and he needs to stop,” according to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
“The whole process is illegitimate in the House,” Graham told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “It’s not just the whistleblower. You don’t want to create a situation where an anonymous person can start impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States.
“This is a joke of a process. It’s dangerous for the country.””
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The FBI hid evidence?
Sadly, that’s not shocking at all. They seems to make a habit of that.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/12/08/devin-nunes-exculpatory-carter-page/
“Rep. Devin Nunes laid out a list of topics Sunday he hopes will be explained in a forthcoming Justice Department watchdog’s report on the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign, including details of a piece of exculpatory information regarding former Trump campaign aide Carter Page that the Republican says was withheld from surveillance court judges.
“We know there’s exculpatory evidence that we’ve seen on Carter Page that they didn’t give to the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] FISA court. That’s critical,” Nunes said in an interview on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” hosted by Maria Bartiromo.”
————
LikeLiked by 1 person
This would make sense. Regular visitors to Drudge have noticed the changes.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/whats-going-on-with-drudge-rasmussen-claims-matts-not-there-anymore-word-is-he-sold/
“What’s Going on With Drudge? Rasmussen Claims ‘Matt’s Not There Anymore…Word Is He Sold'”
“What happened to Drudge?”A lot of people have been asking that question lately. If you talk to conservatives these days, you’ll hear that Matt Drudge’s eponymous news aggregation site has gone over to the dark side—that Matt’s joined the anti-Trump resistance. And now, Rasmussen Reports, an arguably reputable polling operation, is calling Drudge out on Twitter, even suggesting that the site has been sold.”
—————-
And we have another alternative now. Last week it was the Bongino Report debut, now we have the Citizen Free Press.
https://www.citizenfreepress.com/
—————–
The more alternatives to the MSM, the better.
LikeLike
Dems are trying to rig the game again.
————-
https://republicans-judiciary.house.gov/press-release/collins-demands-democrats-postpone-hearing-after-massive-document-transmission/
““Chairman Nadler has no choice but to postpone Monday’s hearing in the wake of a last-minute document transmission that shows just how far Democrats have gone to pervert basic fairness. Nearly a month after every Republican on our committee asserted our clear right to see all underlying documents held by the committees involved in the impeachment investigation, we have received no response from the chairman. Instead, Democrats waited until after Speaker Pelosi announced that articles of impeachment were imminent and chose the eve of the Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearing to share loads of documents that Chairman Schiff has had since this investigation began. It is impossible for Judiciary members to sift through thousands and thousands of pages in any meaningful way in a matter of hours,” said Collins.
“Moreover, Democrats still refuse to release all documentation in their possession, though Republicans have demanded this according to rules of the House — which Democrats themselves adopted in January. The information Democrats released today is partial, biased and curated to support accusations that have, to date, been thinner than cotton candy.
“Americans still don’t have access to any information that Adam Schiff hasn’t chosen to weave into his trail of lies. On behalf of millions of American voters who deserve the truth, Chairman Nadler must postpone this hearing while the Judiciary Committee examines these documents. At the same time, Chairman Schiff must release to House members the complete body of underlying evidence that he has concealed.
“The unfairness and dishonesty of this impeachment sham continue to be unprecedented. In violating the rules that this House adopted democratically, Democrats have violated their oaths of office. Under Speaker Pelosi’s leadership, House Democrats have eroded the integrity of our chamber and sacrificed the confidence of Americans who trust Congress to balance power, not abuse it.””
————–
Preach it.
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Re: 5.22
Those idiots don’t understand human nature at all.
Petty theft in stores was a minor theft issue and had to be dealt with as a small issue.
But it had to be dealt with.
Now. If it is not an issue. Something else will have to be the minor issue.
California will soon find out.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That was 6:33. But you knew that.
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As a California resident, I did not know that.
It explains, however, why we have more bold thefts–that are now including high-speed races through neighborhoods–just another reason to shop on line. Sigh.
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More winning. 🙂
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/usmca-agreement-reached-sources
“USMCA trade agreement reached
The deal still needs to be ratified by all three countries”
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Chuck knows all this, but he’s a hack, so…..
https://www.dailywire.com/news/cruz-shreds-far-left-journalists-publications-on-ukraine-meddling-in-2016-election
“Todd responded, “No, but Senator, is it – let me ask you this. Is it not possible that this president is capable of creating a false narrative about somebody in order to help him politically?”
“Except that’s not what happened,” Cruz responded. “The president released the transcript of the phone call. You can read what was said on the phone call. And let me point out –”
“Look, on the evidence, Russia clearly interfered in our election,” Cruz continued. “But here’s the game the media is playing: Because Russia interfered, the media pretends nobody else did. Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election. The sitting ambassador from Ukraine wrote an op-ed blasting Donald Trump during the election season.”
Cruz persisted in getting his point across despite numerous interruptions from Todd, saying, “Chuck, Chuck, I understand that you want to dismiss Ukrainian interference, because, A) they were trying to get Hillary Clinton elected, which is what the vast majority of the media wanted, anyway, and B) it’s inconvenient for the narrative. You know, it’s hysterical. Two years ago, there was article after article after article in the mainstream media about Ukrainian interference in the elections. But now, the Democrats have no evidence of a crime, no evidence of violating the law. And so suddenly, Ukrainian interference is treated as, the media clutches their pearls. ‘Oh, my goodness. You can’t say that.’ Last week, Chuck, you called Senator John Kennedy, basically, a stooge for Putin.”
“I have been in multiple briefings. I have been in multiple briefings, year after year after year, about foreign interference in our election,” Cruz continued. “Russia has tried to interfere in our elections. China’s tried to interfere in our elections. North Korea’s tried to interfere in our elections. Ukraine has tried to interfere in our elections. This is not new. 2016’s not the first year they did it. And they’re going to keep trying. And so we need to be strong in dealing with it.”
“But the media needs to actually report facts. This is a kangaroo court in the House,” Cruz concluded. “They’re going to impeach, not because they have the evidence, but because they hate the president, want to do the election. But it’s going to go to the Senate. It’s going to go nowhere. I think the American people know this is a waste of time. And this is Democrats putting on a circus.””
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A disgusting abuse of power by the “leaders” at the FBI.
https://thefederalist.com/2019/12/09/ig-report-fbi-doctored-evidence-to-falsely-paint-carter-page-as-russian-spy/
“IG Report: FBI Doctored Evidence To Falsely Paint Carter Page As Russian Spy
The Department of Justice’s inspector general found that a top FBI lawyer blatantly doctored evidence to falsely smear Carter Page as a Russian spy.”
A wide-ranging investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general (IG) found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deliberately doctored evidence it presented to the nation’s top spy court in order to gain authority to spy on a key Trump affiliate.
The 476-page report from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI falsely claimed to the FISA Court not only that Carter Page was a Russian agent, but also falsely claimed that an unnamed intelligence agency had told the FBI that Page was “not a source” in their efforts to surveil and curtail Russian intelligence efforts.
Page, who had previously been an informant and witness for the United States in a federal espionage case against a Russian intelligence official, was targeted by the Obama FBI as a Russian spy helping Putin to steal the election from Hillary Clinton in 2016. According to the IG report, before the FBI and DOJ went to the FISA Court to apply for a warrant to spy on Page, an unnamed U.S. intelligence agency had told the FBI that Carter Page had previously assisted that agency’s efforts against Russian spies. Although exculpatory information about potential spy targets is required in spy warrant applications, Obama’s FBI and DOJ deliberately withheld that information from the spy court in order to paint Page in the worst possible light.
The FBI’s malfeasance in the matter did not stop there. Ahead of an application to renew the spy warrant in 2017, a top FBI lawyer doctored evidence from the unnamed agency which confirmed that contrary to FBI claims that he was a Russian spy, Page had in fact assisted the United States in its efforts to counter Russian operations. An e-mail from the agency that clearly stated Page was “a source” for them was doctored by Kevin Clinesmith, a top FBI national security lawyer, to give the opposite impression to the federal spy court.
“The [Office of General Counsel] Attorney altered and sent the e-mail to a [supervisory special agent], who thereafter relied on it to swear out the third FISA application,” the IG report notes. Upon learning that a top FBI lawyer doctored evidence against a former Trump campaign affiliate to justify spying on him, the IG referred the attorney to DOJ for criminal prosecution.”
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Trump has been right, and truthful, all along as the above shows. He and his people were spied on using fraudulent methods and lying to the FISA Court.
He’s correct in his statement today as well.
And Durham, unlike the IG, can indict the guilty.
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TRUMP: “This was an overthrow of government, an attempted overthrow, and a lot of people were in on it and they got caught, they got caught red-handed. And I look forward to the Durham report which is coming out in the not-too-distant future. He’s got his own information, which is this information plus, plus, plus. It’s an incredible thing that happened and we’re lucky we caught them. I think I’m going to put this down as one of our great achievements because what we found and what we saw, never, ever should this happen again in our country.”
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And Barr and Durham disagree with the IG on some of this. Which is also bad for the guilty parties, as they can bring the pain.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-blasts-fbi-over-intrusive-probe-of-trump-campaign-in-wake-of-fisa-report
“US Attorney Durham objects to IG findings on Russia probe origins in stunning statement”
“The U.S. attorney who is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of the origins of the Trump-Russia probe released a rare statement Monday saying he disagrees with conclusions of the so-called FISA report — after DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found in that review that the probe’s launch largely complied with DOJ and FBI policies.
“Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened,” U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a statement.
Horowitz released his report Monday saying his investigators found no intentional misconduct or political bias surrounding efforts to launch that 2016 probe and to seek a highly controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the early months of the investigation. Still, it found that there were “significant concerns with how certain aspects of the investigation were conducted and supervised.”
“I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff,” Durham said. “However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.”
As Horowitz has conducted his review of DOJ actions during the Russia probe, Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, has also been conducting a wider inquiry into alleged misconduct and alleged improper government surveillance on the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
Fox News reported in October that Durham’s ongoing probe has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation.
Meanwhile, Attorney General William Barr ripped the FBI’s “intrusive” investigation after the release of Horowitz’s review, saying it was launched based on the “thinnest of suspicions.”
“The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Barr said in a statement.
Barr expressed frustration that the FBI continued investigating the Trump campaign, even as “exculpatory” information came to the light.”
“It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory,” Barr said. “Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration.”
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller acknowledged in his report that investigators did not find evidence of a conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and the Russians in 2016 – which the FBI probed extensively.
Barr said the FISA report shows a “clear abuse” of the surveillance process.
“In the rush to obtain and maintain FISA surveillance of Trump campaign associates, FBI officials misled the FISA court, omitted critical exculpatory facts from their filings, and suppressed or ignored information negating the reliability of their principal source,” Barr said.””
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The media is spinning like a washing machine. 🙂
So is traitor Comey, the man whose watch much of this happened under.
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https://twitter.com/MelissaTweets/status/1204155122084909058
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Yes, let’s…..
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Own it Jimmy.
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https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1204096700807299079
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https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1204102160579006471
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Disgusting.
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/status/1204103547333292033
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