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Monday, May 11, 2020
Obama meeting could be behind corrupt Michael Flynn probe
I hope the Durham Report can pick this apart as well as Mollie Hemingway and finally we get some justice. All the culprits involved in this have a smirk on their face as if to say...we're untouchable. Our last hope is Durham to remove it.
Media leaks is a key strategy Barry and his crew used. I posted this once before but now it is more pertinent then ever. Allow me to introduce Pelosi explaining exactly how it works. Now Snopes will tell you she's talking about Republicans and they have proof to back it up. Listen very closely and you decide what party is actually engaged in this.
Folks this is like tag team wrestling!
The Wrap-up Smear
Notice when she says..."The smear we made"
Guess the bitch let the cat out of the bag.
Wouldn't you just love to give Barry and his crew a polygraph test?
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Information released in the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the case it brought against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn confirms the significance of a Jan. 5, 2017, meeting at the Obama White House. It was at this meeting that President Barack Obama gave guidance to key officials who would be tasked with protecting his administration’s utilization of secretly funded Clinton campaign research, which alleged Donald Trump was involved in a treasonous plot to collude with Russia, from being discovered or stopped by the incoming administration.
“President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia,” National Security Adviser Susan Rice wrote in an unusual e-mail to herself about the meeting, which was also attended by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, FBI Director James Comey and Vice President Joe Biden.
A clearer picture is emerging of the drastic steps that were taken to accomplish Obama’s goal in the following weeks and months. Shortly thereafter, high-level operatives began intensely leaking selective information supporting a supposed Russia-Trump conspiracy theory, the incoming national security adviser was ambushed, and the incoming attorney general was forced to recuse himself from oversight of investigations of President Trump. At each major point in the operation, explosive media leaks were a key strategy in the operation to take down Trump.
Not only was information on Russia not fully shared with the incoming Trump team, as Obama directed, the leaks and ambushes made the transition chaotic, scared quality individuals away from working in the administration, made effective governance almost impossible and materially damaged national security. When Comey was finally fired on May 9, in part for his duplicitousness regarding his handling of the Russia-collusion theory, he orchestrated the launch of a special counsel probe that continued his efforts for another two years. That probe ended with Robert Mueller finding no evidence of any American colluding with Russia to steal the 2016 election.
This analysis of the timeline from early 2017 shows a clear pattern of behavior from the federal officials running the collusion operation against the Trump campaign. It also shows how essential media leaks were to their strategy to cripple the ability of the incoming administration to run the country.
Jan. 4: Following the closure of a pretextually dubious and politically motivated FBI investigation of Flynn at the beginning of January, the leadership of the FBI scrambled to reopen a case against Flynn, the man who, in his role as national security adviser would have to review their Russia-collusion investigation. FBI officials openly discussed their concern about briefing the veteran intelligence official on what they had done to the Trump campaign and transition team and what they were planning to do to the incoming Trump administration. Flynn had to be dealt with. The FBI’s top counterintelligence official would later memorialize discussions about the FBI’s attempts to “get [Flynn] fired.” No reopening was needed, they determined, when they discovered they had failed to close the previous investigation. They found this mistake “amazing” and “serendipitously good” and said “our utter incompetence actually helps us.” Even more noteworthy were texts from the FBI’s No. 2 counterintelligence official, Peter Strzok, to FBI lawyer Lisa Page noting that the “7th floor,” a reference to Comey and his deputy director, Andrew McCabe, was running the show.
Jan. 5: Yates, Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper briefed Obama on Russia-related matters in the Oval Office. Biden and Rice also attended. After the Obama briefing, the intelligence chiefs who would be leaving at the end of the term were dismissed and Yates and Comey, who would continue in the Trump administration, were asked to stay. Not only did Obama give his guidance about how to perpetuate the Russia-collusion-theory investigations, he also talked about Flynn’s conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, according to both Comey and Yates. Interestingly, Clapper, Comey and Yates all said that they did not brief Obama about these phone calls. Rice likely briefed Obama on the calls and would have had access to the intelligence. Comey mentions the Logan Act at this meeting.
It was this meeting that Rice memorialized in her bizarre Inauguration Day e-mail to herself that claimed Obama told the gathered to do everything “by the book.” But Rice also noted in her e-mail that the key point of discussion was whether and how to withhold national-security information, likely including details of the investigation into Trump himself, from the incoming national-security team.
Jan. 6: An ostensibly similar briefing about Russian interference efforts during the 2016 campaign was given to President-elect Trump. After that briefing, Comey privately briefed Trump on the most salacious and absurd “pee tape” allegation in the Christopher Steele dossier, a document the FBI had already used to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign affiliate Carter Page. He did not mention the dossier was completely unverified or that it was the product of a secretly funded operation by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Jan. 10: In an amazing coincidence, CNN found the excuse to publish the Russia claims after a high-level Obama intelligence operative leaked that Comey had briefed Trump about the dossier. This selective leak, which was credulously accepted by CNN reporters Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto, Jake Tapper and Carl Bernstein, may have been the most important step in the operation to harm the incoming administration. The leak of the briefing of Trump was used to legitimize a ridiculous dossier full of allegations the FBI knew to be false and that insinuated he was being blackmailed by Russia.
Jan. 12: The next part of the strategy was the explosive leak to David Ignatius of The Washington Post to legitimize the use against Flynn of the Logan Act, a likely unconstitutional 1799 law prohibiting private individuals, not public incoming national-security advisers, from discussing foreign policy with foreign governments. Ignatius accepted the leak from an Obama official. He wrote that Flynn had called Kislyak. “What did Flynn say, and did it undercut the US sanctions?”
Flynn’s routine and appropriate phone call became fodder for a developing grand conspiracy theory of Russia collusion. In discussions with investigators, both DOJ’s Mary McCord and Comey conspicuously cite this Ignatius column as somehow meaningful in the approach they would take with Flynn. The leak-fueled Ignatius column would later be used by FBI officials to justify an illegal ambush interview of Flynn in the White House.
Jan. 24: Comey later admitted he broke every protocol to send agents to interview Flynn and try to catch him in a lie. FBI officials strategized how to keep Flynn from knowing he was a target of the investigation or asking for an attorney to represent him in the interview. A leak-based Jan. 23 Washington Post article that falsely stated that Flynn was not an FBI target was key to that strategy. Although the interviewing agents said they could detect no “tells” indicating he lied, he later was induced to plead guilty to lying in this interview. Presumably in light of what Flynn had told them about the calls, Yates would go to the White House the next day and insinuate Flynn should probably be fired.
Feb. 9: The strategy to get Flynn fired didn’t immediately work so another leak was deployed to Greg Miller, Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima of The Washington Post. That article, headline “National Security Adviser Flynn Discussed Sanctions with Russian Ambassador, Despite Denials, Officials Say,” was sourced to people who happened to share senior FBI leadership’s views on the Logan Act. This article was also based on criminal leaks of top-secret information of phone call intercepts and laid out the FBI’s case for why Flynn’s contacts with a foreign adversary were a problem. The fact that such phone calls are routine, not to mention Flynn’s case that improved relations with Russia when China, North Korea and Iran were posing increasing threats, never made it into these articles for context.
Feb. 13: The operation finally succeeded in getting Flynn fired.
March 1: Flynn was the first obstacle who had to be overcome. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was the next. The Trump loyalist with a strong Department of Justice background would also need to be briefed on the anti-Trump efforts unless he could be sidelined. Comey admitted that early in Sessions’ tenure, he deliberately hid Russia-related information from Sessions because “it made little sense to report it to Attorney General Sessions, who we expected would likely recuse himself from involvement in Russia-related investigations.” To secure that recusal, yet another leak was deployed to The Washington Post’s Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller. The leak was intended to tar Sessions as a secret Russian agent and was dramatically spun as “Sessions Spoke Twice to Russian Envoy: Revelation Contradicts His Testimony at Confirmation Hearing.” One meeting was in passing and the other was in his function as a US senator, but the hysteria was such that the authors could get away with suggesting Sessions was too compromised to oversee the Department of Justice’s counterintelligence operations involving Russia. It is worth noting that the special-counsel idea was pushed in this article.
March 2: Sessions recused himself from oversight of the FBI’s anti-Trump operation, providing no meaningful oversight to an operation that would be spun into a special counsel by mid-May. With the removal of Trump’s national security adviser and his attorney general, there was no longer any chance of Trump loyalists discovering what Obama holdovers at the FBI were actually doing to get Trump thrown out of office. After Trump fired Comey for managerial incompetence on May 9, deceptively edited and misleading leaks to The New York Times, ordered by Comey himself, were used to gin up a special-counsel run exclusively by left-wing anti-Trump partisans who continued the operation without any meaningful oversight for another two years.
This stunning operation was not just a typical battle between political foes, nor merely an example of media bias against political enemies. Instead, this entire operation was a deliberate and direct attack on the foundation of American governance. In light of the newly declassified documents released in recent days, it is clear that understanding what happened in that Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting is essential to understanding the full scope and breadth of the corrupt operation against the Trump administration. It is long past time for lawmakers in Congress who are actually interested in oversight of the federal government and the media to demand answers about what really happened in that meeting from every single participant, including Obama and Biden.
Iranian missile fired during training exercise hits support ship, killing 19 sailors
Remember when they lied about shooting down the Ukrainian air liner? First they denied it and then said it was an accident. Now they accidentally killed 19 of their own sailors with a missile fire during a training exercise. Makes you wonder about the safety precautions needed to be utilized for nukes.
The nukes Barry gave them $150 billion to build.
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An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise struck a support ship in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday, killing 19 sailors and injuring 15 others, according to a report on Monday.
The missile struck Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, which Iranian media said was too close to a target during the exercise. The incident was called an accident.
The ship that fired the missile was a Moudge-class frigate called Jamaran. The missile reportedly struck the Konarak ship, Iran’s Tasnim news agency said.
The Konarak had been placing targets for other ships to fire upon. The Dutch-made 155-foot ship had been overhauled in 2018 and was able to launch sea missiles. It normally has a crew of about 20 sailors and had been in service since 1988 -- with a capacity of 40 tons.
The incident occurred near the port of Jask, about 790 miles southeast of Tehran.
Iran regularly holds exercises in the region, which is close to the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through.
The vessel was towed into a nearby naval base after the strike. A photograph released by the Iranian army showed burn marks and some damage to the ship.
Iranian frigate "Jamaican" is seen during naval drills in December 2019
“The circumstances of the incident are currently undergoing technical examinations,” Iran’s Students News Agency ISNA said, according to Reuters.
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which monitors the region, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iranian media rarely report on incidents during its exercises. This incident also comes amid months of heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S.
It marks the second serious incident involving a misfired missile by Iran's armed forces this year. In January, after attacking U.S. forces in Iraq with ballistic missiles, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people on board.
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Gunman, 29, found dead after killing man, 86, and his wife, 85, at Delaware veterans cemetery
An 85-year-old woman and her husband, 86, were both killed in a shooting at a veterans cemetery in Delaware on Friday morning.
Delaware State Police on Friday night identified the victims as a married couple from Elkton, Maryland.
Police say they later discovered the 29-year-old suspect, named as Sheldon C. Francis, dead from a gunshot wound a few hours later in a wooded area.
It is not known if the gunman knew his victims.
Gov. John Carney said: 'To think of a situation like that on that facility is just heartbreaking...the final resting place of the men and women who served our country.'
The state-owned cemetery is overseen by the Office of Veterans Services, a division of the Delaware Department of State.
The elderly couple were at Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bear, pictured
It was not immediately clear whether the suspect shot himself or was hit by police in the earlier exchange of gunfire, police said.
No officers were injured in the shooting.
Top Republican wants John Durham to speed up criminal inquiry with an eye on Biden
There’s been a stench emanating from Biden long before we heard about Tara Reade. I think Scalise is right. The people should have ALL the facts (about Biden) before they vote. Of course, Barr poured cold water on it. I just don’t get Barr. He sure as hell doesn’t stand behind Trump like ‘Stedman’ did for Barry. When a Trump confidant supposedly lied they go to jail. When someone in the FBI lies its ‘downgraded’ to soften the blow. The DOJ refers to their sabotage as inaccuracies, sloppiness, lack of candor, etc despite the fact there is a treasure trove of text messages proving they tried to rig an election going as far as to implicate Barry! This is total bullshit! Moreover we may get the same from Durham. If you’re in the FBI shouldn’t you be held to even a higher standard?
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Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the minority whip, said people have a right to know the extent of any misconduct in the Obama administration before they go to the polls in November, particularly because former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, could have been privy to the actions taken by the FBI to investigate the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.
"Joe Biden has serious questions to answer," the congressman told Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on Saturday.
Scalese explained that the role Republicans in Congress will play is drawing attention to the controversy while the Justice Department takes the lead in rooting out any criminal misconduct.
As for Durham's investigation, Scalise said, "I want to see it sped up. I sure have been vocal about that."
He said it is because the election is coming up, and concerns have been raised about the appearances of such an inquiry reaching a climax right before the big event.
"Justice has to be served and not next December," Scalise said. "There is an election coming up and the American people have a lot of decisions to make. All of this needs to be factored into what they decide. To see some of the dirty stuff that went on all the way possibly to President Obama at the time and Joe Biden when he was vice president."
Pirro brought home the idea that Biden could have been a knowing player in the Russia controversy by noting the former vice president attended a White House meeting about the Intelligence Community Assessment during the presidential transition period.
After that meeting, newly released notes show, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was asked to stay behind along with then-FBI Director James Comey and was surprised to learn from Obama details about retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn's intercepted phone calls with a Russian envoy.
"Biden was very much a part of this," she said. "This is the Obama-Biden administration. ... This was something that was discussed constantly."
Attorney General William Barr, who appointed Durham to review the Russia investigation, has not dismissed the possibility of criminal prosecutions. He told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last month that the 2020 election will have no bearing on the Connecticut prosecutor's inquiry. Barr also stressed that he doesn't believe any major candidate for president was under scrutiny.
“As far as I’m aware, none of the key people that, whose actions are being reviewed at this point by Durham, are running for president,” Barr said.
"I think, in its core, the idea is, you don’t go after candidates," he added. "You don’t indict candidates or perhaps someone that’s sufficiently close to a candidate, that it’s essentially the same, you know, within a certain number of days before an election. But, you know, as I say, I don’t think any of the people whose actions are under review by Durham fall into that category.”
In leaked audio obtained and reported by Yahoo News on Friday, Obama told former administration officials the "rule of law is at risk" after the Justice Department filed to drop its criminal case against retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who was President Trump’s first national security adviser.
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