This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!
One wonders if Nunes has any knowledge of that time in 1950 when Joseph McCarthy pulled out a "list" he claimed had the names of 200 people in the State Department whom he accused of politically motivated wrongdoing. It didn't end well.
It's been 72 hours or so since the Devin Nunes Memo was released, and it's clear that despite wall-to-wall coverage, the entire spectacle changed nothing. For Fox News pundits and their associates in the GOP, it proves there was a conspiracy among FBI and Department of Justice leadership to destroy Donald Trump. For everyone else, it shows that the rationale for the Russia investigation was a legitimate line of inquiry.
Sean Hannity said that this memo makes clear that charges must be dropped against Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn -- for some reason, even though the latter has already pleaded guilty to a crime. Donald Trump Jr. ranted inanely that Democrats were both McCarthyites and "commies," which is a neat trick. He also said something truly reckless:
There is a little bit of sweet revenge in it for me and certainly probably the family in a sense that if they wouldn't have done this, this stuff would be going on. This would be going on at the highest levels of government. They'd be continuing doing it to my father, trying to undermine his actions.
And here we all thought the president's decision to declassify the memo was all in the interest of transparency and national security.
On the other side of that argument is everyone else, even including some heavy-hitting Republicans like the scourge of Benghazi, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., who went to great lengths to explain that the memo had nothing whatsoever to do with special counsel Robert Mueller and the Russia investigation. This obviously came as news to the president, who tweeted this:
Gowdy's deviation from the Trumpian line on this, echoing Paul Ryan's from last week, is a perfect case of trying to have it both ways. Ryan was the ultimate enabler of this farce, signing off on the Nunes crusade, and Gowdy is the guy who read the underlying FISA warrant application documents on which the memo was based. So nobody should get too excited about their supposed "independence" on this. They were primary facilitators.
It's true that a few others have joined that chorus, signaling that at least a handful of Republicans don't want to be associated with the notion that this memo "vindicates" the president. (Notably, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was not among them. )
Chairman Nunes is undeterred. Axios reported on Sunday:
The House Intelligence chair and his team have told members and associates they've found other examples of politically motivated "wrongdoing" across various agencies, including the FBI, the broader Justice Department, and the State Department . . . Republicans close to Nunes say there could be as many as five additional memos or reports of "wrongdoing."
One wonders if Nunes has any knowledge of that time in 1950 when a senator named Joseph McCarthy pulled out a "list" he claimed had the names of 200 people in the State Department whom he accused of politically motivated wrongdoing. It didn't end well.
Apparently, the Nunes team think they have more "evidence" of political interference having something to do with longtime Clinton associate and right-wing punching bag Sidney Blumenthal, as well as a man named Cody Shearer, who traveled in Clinton circles 20 years ago .
I have no idea what Blumenthal (who was once the Washington editor of Salon) is accused of doing this time. The Guardian recently reported that Shearer, a former journalist, had evidence pertaining to the Russia investigation which the FBI had been looking at since October 2016. Shearer's "dossier" was turned over to the FBI by the former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, who didn't vouch for his information but noted that it dovetailed with what some of his own sources had told him. Whether the FBI has verified any of Shearer's information remains unknown.
It's easy at this point to imagine the high-pitched howls of outrage spilling forth from the mouth of Sean Hannity over this news. The case right-wingers seem to be building here is that the FBI and the Department of Justice (and apparently other departments as well) are thoroughly corrupted by associations with Democrats and must be purged of the taint. Indeed, the central thrust of the Nunes Memo is that the FBI used information from a source (i.e., Steele) who had been paid by Democrats, which renders the information useless.
Over the course of the last few days, legal experts patiently explained that the motivation of informants and sources is not relevant to the question of whether the information they provide is true. Cases are made every single day on the basis of testimony and evidence provided by people whose motives are anything but pure: gangsters, jailhouse snitches, angry spouses, whatever. It's not as if the authorities just take their word for it. Information has to be corroborated, and apparently the FISA warrant application process is particularly demanding in that regard.
Nonetheless, Trump and his loyalists are arguing that any Democratic member of the government bureaucracy is automatically suspect, and any information that comes from a Democratic partisan must be immediately discounted as unreliable. This is very interesting, considering Republicans' partisan history of feeding information to law enforcement and special counsels.
Most recently, we had the FBI open a case to investigate the Clinton Foundation partially on the basis of charges in the book "Clinton Cash," a partisan hit job by right-wing journalist Peter Schweizer, who is co-founder and president of Steve Bannon's Government Accountability Institute, a conservative nonprofit funded by right-wing mega-donors Robert and Rebekah Mercer. After President Trump repeatedly expressed his anger and frustration that the FBI was not " going after Hillary Clinton, " it was announced just this month that the Little Rock office has re-opened the case. The recently exhumed Uranium One "scandal " sprang from the same partisan poison pen.
This Republican practice goes way back. The Whitewater scandal was a product of a coordinated partisan campaign called " the Arkansas Project, " financed by a right-wing millionaire named Richard Scaife. The Department of Justice, the FBI and the independent prosecutors of that era chased their tails for years running down all the "tips" they got from anti-Clinton sources, from the so-called "elves" who set up the Paula Jones case to the malevolent Lucianne Goldberg , who encouraged Linda Tripp to trap Monica Lewinsky into talking about her affair with Bill Clinton on tape.
The idea that right-wingers are "projecting" their own disorders onto others is probably overdone, but in this case it holds up. Republicans who claim that because the Steele dossier was (partially) paid for by Democrats it is therefore a completely unreliable partisan attack against the president are simply reflecting their own patterns and practices -- which continue as we speak. It's absurd for anyone to take their criticisms seriously. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to be a deterrence to Devin Nunes and his lieutenants. They've got memos lined up from here to Election Day. Their boss will be so pleased.
Nunes isn't just an embarrassment to the Republican Party. He is an embarrassment to the United States Of America.
As usual, you're wrong. It tainted the Mueller witch hunt, cast doubts on the integrity and honesty of the Democrats, the left stream obedient media, and several higher up in the FBI and DOJ, not to mention Obama and Hillary. That's why the lefturds were so against it being released. Instead of being a "nothing burger, it will eventually turn out to be a "Whopper", as more shoes will continue to drop.
The Republican / right wing "god" Trey Gowdy has specifically stated that the Nunes memo has no relevance to the Mueller investigation.
Also this just in:
"Judge Andrew Napolitano said Monday Republicans Overpromised and Underdelivered, FISA Memo Does Not 'Vindicate' Trump
It was a big fat nothingburger
Trump and his lapdogs have been claiming for many months that Carter Page played no role in the Trump campaign. Now Trump and his lackeys are incensed that the FBI surveiled someone who they say is insignificant. They give their true motives away so easily and yet don't even realize it.
You're privy to everything Mueller has going on, then?
You are wrong. Carter Page is a person of interest in the Mueller investigation.
It was never just the memo itself that might be a "constitutional crisis." It was how your EnormousDouchebag® (a.k.a. "president" Trump) might try to use it to further obstruct, if not completely dismantle, the investigation into FatOrangeNixon®'s (also a.k.a. "president" Trump) campaign's connections to Russian election hacking.
Trump disagrees with the Mueller investigation and has said so, which is his right, but he has done nothing to hinder or obstruct it.
NT right wing Trumpsters-
try and comprehend this
Any proof of you invalid assertion?
Did you read the seeded article? If you had , you wouldn't have asked such a dumb question.
"Their was no Collusion"
Apparently, our Genius-in-Chief never learned the difference between "there," "their," and "they're."
Most of his "base" doesn't know the difference either. That's why he likes them dumb.
Wow! What a profound and deep statement!
Whatever. Just seems like there's a bunch of Russians in the periphery of the Trumps. The real bottom line is the money. Trump can't even get a loan for a used car at an American bank. There is a reason for that. He is a risk. The Russians are the risk takers, they have nothing to lose.
As far as Trump, he is a liar, cheat and a fraud. His business acumen is zilch and his integrity is even lower.
Nunes? A pimple to be popped.
Sure, Trump is just worthless. Anybody can beat a dozen experienced life long politicians to get a nomination in a hostile party and then beat another politician who proved she will cheat and steal with a 98% chance of winning. Happens every day.
Too many Russians. We do not ( that ) or ( them ) here.
Trump is a credit risk. Why?
Am unable to see what you see in Trump. I see The Goebbels Philosophy. And, it does work.
After the Democrats retake Congress they need to launch an all out investigation of Trump's business ties with Russian oligarchs and organized crime figures. It's for damn sure something that the GOP in Congress will never do.
Congress is not looking into Trump's financial ties with Russia. Hopefully Mueller is.
Congress needs to do so as well, but that will have to wait until the Dems retake Congress.
If you're looking for a good historical parallel for what going on, then your best ones would be officials in Ancient Rome or medieval Europe conspiring among themselves to bump off a leader threatening the fat easy lives they're used to. Except instead of stabbing Caesar to death in the forum they use the media and bogus accusations.
There is no such thing as a bogus allegation against Trump. Some of them may turn out not to be true, but there has been enough smoke to validate investigation. He's a lifelong fraud, cheat and crook.
Can you list some of those wispy tendrils of smoke? Are any of them thick enough to charge and convict?
Rex, there is an ONGOING investigation. One that has not leaked.
We don't know what useful info came from surveiling Carter Page, if any.
Federal judges repeatedly agreed that there was sufficient reason to "spy" on him. Do you feel like you are expert enough to disagree with those judges?
I would like you to PROVE that the FBI provided the FISA court with insufficient reasons to surveil Carter Page. Can you do that? It would be a miracle if you could, because we don't yet know what information was on the application.
Still you keep babbling about this.
You didn't answer his question John.
Which question is that?
1.1.2.; 8.1.1.
I assume you are referring to this
Name one thing in the memo that wasn't factual.
The falsehood in the memo is the blatant suggestion that the dossier was the only basis for the FISA application. The Democrats who have seen the application say that the Nunes suggestion is false. That would make in unfactual.
Can you list some of those wispy tendrils of smoke? Are any of them thick enough to charge and convict?
Am I supposed to list all the connections between the Trump campaign and Russians (wait while I google it , although such has been posted on this forum many previous times)?
We don't know what merits charging and conviction because the authorities have not revealed the fruits of their investigations.
That's simply not true. The memo says it was an essential basis, which plainly means there would have to be other basis for the dossier to be called essential.
Thanks for the reply John.
I wonder if the author is aware of 2018, where Democrats are calling everyone who disagrees with them Russians or Russian stooges. Every day, over and over, the liberal parrots on this site dutifully regurgitate their talking points allege treasonous behavior on behalf of Russia against any and all of their enemies without any evidence.
Some even allege, on this board, that those who didn't vote the way they like should be executed for treason.
With their constant cries of RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA, todays progressives would make even McCarthy blush with their obsessive denouncing of everyone from the President on down as a treasonous Russian agent.
Congrats, progressives, on bringing actual McCarthyism into the the next century.
When Trump's peculiar associations with Russia were unfolded to the authorities, it is only natural that said authorities like the FBI would look into it.
Frankly, it seems like they havent investigated it enough, as we know little from LE or Congress about trump's financial dealings along the lines of money laundering.
Hopefully in time the public will be informed as to what our president was up to.
It's not about merely adovacating for an investigation into Trump's Russian connections.
The go-to argument from the left on pretty much every topic is to denounce every non-progressive as a traitor working for Russia. Seriously, pay attention when reading through these threads how often the traitor argument gets deployed.
At long last, has the gop no decency? Anyone else notice those are all Republicans being purged from Justice?