(NBC) Biden says he would not pardon Trump

Joe's right... you can't pardon anybody from behind bars.

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Biden committed to ensuring that any prosecutorial decisions would be dictated by the law, in contrast to what he called the "dereliction of duty” by Trump and his attorney general, William Barr.

Mike Memoli is an NBC News correspondent.May 14, 2020, 11:56 PM EDT

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he would not pardon President Donald Trump if elected and insisted any prosecutorial decisions would be left to a more independent Justice Department.

Answering questions in a virtual town hall-style event on MSNBC Thursday, the Democratic presidential hopeful was asked by a voter about whether he’d follow the lead of former President Gerald Ford, who pardoned Richard Nixon in large part to help the nation move beyond the Watergate scandal.

Biden, while not speaking to any specific potential charge, committed to ensuring that any prosecutorial decisions would be dictated by the law, in contrast to what he called the "dereliction of duty” by Trump and his attorney general, William Barr.

"It's hands off completely. The attorney general is not the president's lawyer. It's the people's lawyer,” Biden said. “We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office like we see it today.”

During the exchange, Biden was also asked to clarify whether he was aware of or participated in decisions related to incoming Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn during his final weeks as vice president in 2017. The president and his allies this week have accused Biden and former President Barack Obama of a conspiracy to entrap Flynn as part of a larger scheme to undercut the incoming administration, which they have dubbed “Obamagate."

The Justice Department announced last week their intent to drop the case against Flynn, a decision the judge in the case is now weighing after Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI.

"I was never a part or had any knowledge of any criminal investigation into Flynn while I was in office, period. Not one single time,” Biden told O’Donnell.

The answer clarified what he had told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos days earlier when asked about a January 5 meeting in the Oval Office in which Flynn was discussed. Biden was asked how he didn’t know anything about the FBI investigating Flynn at the time when “you were reported to be at a Jan. 5, 2017, meeting where you and the president were briefed on the FBI's plan to question Michael Flynn over those conversations he had with the Russian Ambassador Kislyak.”

BTW...If Flynn's conversation with Sergey Kislyak amounted to Russian collusion (and they had to be wiretapped) that would mean neither one of them could be trusted right?

So why in March 2017 did Sergey Kislyak attend a Trump Joint Session Congressional Speech? The Russian ambassador was noted in numerous conversations with Senate Democrats and was seated on the Democrat side of the venue.

WH records show Kislyak was in Barry's oval office at least 22 times!

So if Flynn's conversation with Kislyak was tantamount to subversion what do you call the Dems interaction with him?

That question was not accurate, according to a senior Obama administration official with direct knowledge of the meeting, who said the meeting did not include any discussion of an FBI investigation into Flynn or of FBI questioning of Flynn about his contacts with the Russians.

Much of Thursday’s hour-long Q&A with Biden was focused on how he as president would respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and included a notable personnel commitment.

“I hope if I'm president that Dr. Fauci will stay on in the administration,” Biden said, offering a vote of confidence in the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as Trump has ratcheted up criticism of him.

(NBC) Biden says he would not pardon Trump

The Contradiction

The Contradiction

Richard Grenell hits pay dirt

There is one missing 'mug shot'.

Anyone believe they acted alone without Barry's consent? According to FOX Joe Hiden requested the unmasking of Flynn 8 days before the Trump administration was to take over. At that point if it wasn't politically motivated what was it?

Watch this Biden and Stephanopoulos interview. He acts like he has no knowledge of the Flynn fiasco. When Stephanopoulos asks him about it Joe said, "Its all about diversion" he's right. Biden tried to skirt the questions on Flynn and instead changed the subject to Trump's handling of C-19. I guarantee you if Stephanopoulos asked...Did you request the unmasking of Michael Flynn? Biden would have said NO.  

Video 559

What is unfolding now is likely the reason Barry didn't endorse Biden until the very last minute. He knows what a gaffe-prone asshole Biden is and wanted him to ride off into the sunset rather than risk Biden exposing The Obama Corruption Machine.

Richard Grenell hits pay dirt

'The Leader America Needs:' Stacey Abrams Formally Endorses Biden as she Lobbies for VP

So if Joe becomes president and selects Abrams for VP then a year later jumps off we now have what is tantamount to a Walmart clerk serving as POTUS.

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Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams offered her formal endorsement of presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday morning:

Abrams is said to be under consideration for a vice presidential tap, and has made it clear that she thinks that her presence on Biden’s ticket is the best-case scenario:

“I would be an excellent running mate. I have the capacity to attract voters by motivating typically ignored communities,” she said in April. 

Abrams’ political accomplishments are severely limited, having only been elected to Georgia’s state legislature. For Biden to pick Abrams would leave the Democratic nominee with a vice presidential candidate with virtually no political experience; Abrams elected not to run for either of Georgia’s open Senate seats, making her higher ambitions clear. 

The Georgia Democrat also emerged as one of Biden's defenders against the allegations of sexual assault coming from former Biden aide Tara Reade, claiming that she believes the former vice president's innocence and does not find Reade to be credible:

If this defense does not make Abrams' vice presidential hopes clear, nothing will; her defense of Biden is a complete pivot from her rhetoric against then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who faced allegations that were less credible, unsubstantiated and uncorroborated. Abrams claimed that Kavanaugh was in the middle of a job interview during his confirmation to the highest court, but turns the other way as Biden, who is seeking the most powerful office, is accused of sexual misconduct.

An Abrams pick would also bring identity politics to Biden's ticket. The Georgia Democrat gained her name recognition during her 2018 gubernatorial run against Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R); rather than concede her defeat to Gov. Kemp, Abrams credited her loss to "voter suppression" and deemed Republicans as racist for recognizing Kemp as governor.

'The Leader America Needs:' Stacey Abrams Formally Endorses Biden as she Lobbies for VP

Grenell declassifies names of Obama officials who ‘unmasked’ Flynn

If this pans out Grenell may be the man of the hour. A guy I didn't expect to finally blow the lid off Obamagate!!! 

The ball is in Barr's hands. Is he going to run with it or fumble on the 2-yard line like he did with McCabe?

(I mean, he did read the Strozk/Page texts didn't he?)

"Asked if former President Barack Obama's name is on the list of officials involving in unmasking Flynn, the source would not say but stressed the list would make waves."

These 4 are on the list.

Guaranteed

  I was concerned the only collision that ever took place was the FBI colluding to derail the Trump's presidency. By that I mean including the destruction of any evidence of their maleficence. So I was surprised when recently Flynn's lawyers dug this up.

FBI Asst. Director for Counterintelligence Bill Priestap then asks the question: “what is our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”

If they were stupid enough not to destroy this what other skeletons are in the closet?

BTW...How can we clean up the FBI? Make Flynn the Director.

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Obama says Flynn got off 'scot-free,' worries about rule of law

Is that all the former president is worried about? Former federal prosecutor Doug Burns reacts.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has decided to declassify information about Obama administration officials who were behind the “unmasking” of Michael Flynn -- whose calls with the former Russian ambassador during the presidential transition were picked up in surveillance and later leaked -- and their names could soon be made public, a source confirmed. 

NBC NEWS ADMITS EDITING ERROR

(This sounds like it was evaluated by Horowitz...it was an 'error' not deliberate)

Fox News confirmed that a new round of documents is expected, in the wake of a document dump last week that renewed focus on the Russia investigation and specifically the treatment of Flynn. The unmasking concerns events between the November 2016 election and Inauguration Day 2017, Fox News is told.

Another source familiar with the intelligence told Fox News that Grenell is moving to declassify several pieces of intelligence in stages, with this being one part of it. Asked if former President Barack Obama's name is on the list of officials involving in unmasking Flynn, the source would not say but stressed the list would make waves.

The Wall Street Journal, which reported on the looming release overnight, cited a senior government official who called Grenell's move unprecedented, as it came just days after the Justice Department dropped its case against Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser. It is now up to Attorney General William Barr to release the names publicly.

DURHAM MOVING FULL-THROTTLE ON RUSSIA PROBE REVIEW

Unmasking occurs after U.S. citizens' conversations are incidentally picked up in conversations with foreign officials who are being monitored by the intelligence community. The U.S. citizens' identities are supposed to be protected if their participation is incidental and no wrongdoing is suspected. However, officials can determine the U.S. citizens' names through a process that is supposed to safeguard their rights.

Officials in the Obama administration have acknowledged that they unmasked some Americans in intelligence reports, but insisted that their reasons were legitimate. Susan Rice, Obama’s former national security adviser, said she unmasked the identities of Trump officials during the transition, according to ABC News. She has denied leaking their identities or being politically motivated.

An official told ABC News that Grenell visited the Justice Department at some point last week and had the list with him. The move coincided with the department's stunning reversal in the Flynn case, which was previously seen as special prosecutor Robert Mueller's signature case from the Russian collusion investigation.

The decision to drop the case was made even though prosecutors, for the past three years, have maintained that Flynn lied to the FBI in a January 2017 interview about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. Flynn pleaded guilty to this, but later sought to withdraw the plea.

Recent documents released in the case included handwritten notes in which FBI officials questioned what the purpose of interviewing Flynn. "What is our goal?" one of the notes read. "Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?"

In court documents filed last week, the Justice Department said that after reviewing newly disclosed information and other materials, it agreed with Flynn’s lawyers that his Jan. 24, 2017 interview with the FBI should never have taken place because he had not had inappropriate contacts with Russians. The interview, the department said, was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”

Sidney Powell, one of Flynn’s lawyers, told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” that FBI agents did their best to hide their investigation and attempted to entrap Flynn. She mentioned a meeting on Jan. 5, 2017 at the White House that included Obama, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.

Powell said the “whole thing was orchestrated and set up within the FBI, Clapper, Brennan and in the Oval Office meeting that day with President Obama,” she told anchor Maria Bartiromo.

Bartiromo asked Powell if she believed the scandal reached up to Obama, and Powell responded, “Absolutely.”

Trump later tweeted, “OBAMAGATE,” indicating that he believes that Obama worked to undermine his presidency.

When asked by a reporter in the Rose Garden what crime he is accusing Obama of committing, Trump responded: “Obamagate, it’s been going on for a long time, it’s been going on from before I got elected, and it's a disgrace that it happened. You look at now all of this information that’s being released and from what I understand that’s only the beginning.”

Grenell declassifies names of Obama officials who ‘unmasked’ Flynn