Mueller closing in on Trump in Russian probe

I am familiar with the summary and purpose of the memo. It has been in the news for over a week. You didn't know that?

Once again, a Trumpian is using his own ignorance to defend Trump.

 

You mean what Schiff for brains claims?

 

So you would seem to think the FBI is infallible and uncorruptable it would seem. I believe we are going to find out that Obama/Clinton turned the upper echelons into the "KGB".

 

Pretty much so, yes, although Comey really screwed up. You don't have any info on that KGB crack. You just made that up.

The basis of the memo is flawed. The Nunes memo argues that FBI leadership is biased against Trump. That makes absolutely no sense. Eleven days before the election the FBI director re-opened the investigation against Clinton. Her huge lead in the polls evaporated during the following week and Trump won the election.

The FBI handed the election to Trump!

Do you consider yourself a Republican? Do you support conservatism? If you answered "yes" to both those questions, please explain to me why you support attacks on the DOJ and FBI.

I happen to be a conservative. One of the tenets of conservatism is a stable government. For a President to attack two agencies vital to his government, the DOJ and the FBI, is the very antithesis of conservatism.

Wouldn't you agree?

 

I have always said Trump makes a good stand-up comedian. He was a barrel of laughs in his comments during the falsified hype concerning his SOU speech.

"I want to see our country united," Trump said during a pre-speech lunch with network news anchors. "If I could unite the country, I would consider it a tremendous success."

His entire administration has been based on "if's."

That said, he wants to unite this country, but he also wants to release the Nunes memo which attacks two bastions of our government, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But he is holding the release of that memo until after his SOU speech.

In capsule form, that is the entire story of the Trump Presidency. He says one thing, but does something else entirely. He consistently wants it both ways. He wants to unite the country, but he also wants to attack the parts of his government that are involved in the Russian probe in an attempt to discredit the investigation. He says he wants the investigation to come to a conclusion soon. Then takes steps to prolong the investigation. He says he is looking forward to an interview with Mueller. Then says the interview is subject to the decisions made by his lawyers, and the last thing they want is for him to be interviewed by Mueller.

It is inexcusable that Trump wishes to attack two vital agencies of our government while, at the same time, saying he wishes to unite the country. The point being, you can't trust a damn thing that man says!

Seriously, do you have a reading problem. The OP reads, "Congress voted almost unanimously to pass the bill last year that punished Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US election and aggression in east Ukraine."

 

Liberatarians as well as myself have been concerned about FISA warrants for a long time now Sandy. We concede they are of great service to track down foreign terrorists but always feared they could be turned against American citizens. Of course you must believe that could never happen and they are all above board, but now we have evidence of "partisanship " within those agencies and we're going to look into it. When those agencies are weaponized for political purposes the Republic is in danger. We have seen the media weaponized already. Got to go....the SOTU is about to start. Enjoy!

 

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department had reason to suspect that former Trump campaign associate Carter Page was a Russian agent, according to a Republican memo.

The contentious and secret memo, allegedly created by Republicans to discredit the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, shows that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approved an application to continue surveillance of Page, sources told The New York Times.

The memo alleges that the FBI and Justice Department did not adequately explain to a judge that they were relying partly on research by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele when they sought to renew a warrant for surveillance of Page from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Court (FISA). Steele was the author of the highly controversial Russia dossier that alleged that Russia had been cultivating Trump for years.

Page, an oil industry consultant and former investment banker, worked as a foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential campaign. He has long-standing ties to Russia, and the Steele dossier claims that Page had met with representatives of Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft during the time he worked for Trump.

Page also traveled to Russia during the 2016 campaign, although he said it was in a personal capacity only.

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-campa...-been-russian-agent-justice-department-793554

Concern over FISA warrants does not justify Trump's attacks on his own DOJ and FBI, two essential agencies within the federal government. That is scary. I mean really scary.

Are you trying to justify Trump's actions in this regard?

"now we have evidence of "partisanship " within those agencies"

Tell me. What is that evidence?

 

In a phony build-up to Trump's SOTU address, I wrote in a post a couple hours before the speech, "CNN reports, "President Donald Trump will give "eye-opening" remarks Tuesday on US efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear weapons program, a source familiar with the President's State of the Union speech said.

"The President will talk about the North Korean threat in a "strong and serious way," the source said."

"It will be eye-opening," the source added, predicting the portion of the address dedicated to North Korea is likely to drive headlines on Wednesday."

"Trump is a showman. No doubt the source was Trump, directly or indirectly.

"What more can be said about North Korea? He said it all, from "fire and fury" to "don't waste your time, Rex." What is he going to say? Announce a preemptive strike on Pyongyang?"

I was right. It was a bogus promotion for his speech, undoubtedly from Trump himself. He simply repeated the rhetoric we have been hearing from him for the past several months combined with a heart-wrenching story of a North Korean refugee. His speechwriters apparently forgot Trump's ban on refugees included those from North Korea. Uncool.

 

The evidence will show that the Clinton financed, political dossier was the justification for the FISA warrant. Going back to the Hillary private server fiasco the FBI lover boy was in charge of dismissing any charges before she was even interviewed. Bias in his e-mails show the fix was in. Also contempt for Trump reveals the reason for the "special council". If there was to be a special council....it should have been for Clinton. Comey admitted she did things that were felony related and you know it! They copt out and said they couldn't prove intent....which has no bearing. Corruprtion is at the top of these agencies and yes it is VERY scary. You just want to turn your back on it and we just want to drain the swamp!

 

Trump refused to invoke sanctions passed by a nearly unanimous vote in Congress and a bill signed by him. Trump refuses to acknowledge Russia's interference in our election.

Trump has more respect for Russia than his own justice department and law enforcement agency. I wonder why.

It appears as though the President is going to disregard the concerns of his justice department and his law enforcement agency. Trump was overheard telling a lawmaker on Tuesday he has "100%" plans to release a controversial memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance tools.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein visited the White House in December seeking Trump's help. The top Justice Department official in the Russia investigation wanted Trump's support in fighting off document demands from House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. Instead, he received a lecture from Trump on the Russian probe. Trump also wanted to know whether Rosenstein was "on my team."

Trump appointee, FBI Director Christopher Wray, publicly clashed with Trump on Tuesday over the controversial Nunes memo, furthering the rift between the President and the agency investigating ties between his campaign and Russia.

CNN reports, "Wray sent a striking signal to the White House, issuing a rare public warning that the memo about the FBI's surveillance practices omits key information that could impact its veracity. The move set up an ugly confrontation between Wray and Trump, who wants the document released."

"With regard to the House Intelligence Committee's memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it," the FBI said in a statement. "As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."

White House chief of staff, John Kelly, also wishes to attack the justice department and the FBI. Kelly predicted the memo would be released "pretty quick" and that "the whole world will see it" in the spirit of transparency. However, Kelly's version of full transparency is Trump's idea of transparency. The Democratic version remains withheld from the public. Neither Trump nor Kelly wish the public to see it.

Folks, this is scary, okay. The President attacking his own justice department and the FBI is a direct attack on our government. It is a Deep State threat to all we hold dear.

 

The House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy is done with politics. He is calling it quits. That makes nine Republican chairmen who are quitting. This is becoming a pattern. 38 Republicans are leaving or have left the House.

Gowdy played an integral role in the Nunes memo. On Monday, the House Intel Committee, of which Gowdy is a member, voted to make the controversial memo public over the objections of the DOJ and the FBI. On Wednesday, Gowdy is gone.

Politico reports, "A rising star that many Republicans once considered a dark-horse for speaker of the House, Gowdy announced Wednesday he would not seek reelection or any political office and would instead return to the justice system. Sources close to him say he wants to return home, practice law and maybe teach and write a book with his friend Sen. Tim Scott."

 

You asked for it. I chose not to do all the typing. In short, getting a FISA warrant requires a great deal of corroborating evidence, not a single source. That is what Trump doesn't want you to know. There was other evidence to support the Steele dossier. No wonder he wants to shut down Mueller.

Now read what is involved in getting a FISA warrant.

During summer of the 2016 presidential campaign, the FBI obtained a warrant from a secret court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, to monitor a Donald Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page due to Page’s communications with Russian agents, according to the Washington Post.

What does this look like in practice? Well, say, hypothetically, that a group of U.S. persons seem to have not infrequent contact with diplomats known to be Russian spies, whom the FBI are already monitoring. (Pro-tip: While it’s possible that such contacts could be accidental – I mean, hypothetically, the Trump inner circle could be a riot to hang out with socially – spies, particularly Russian ones, are pretty good at what they do and don’t spend time with people unless there’s a good reason.) The FBI might determine that, if the U.S. persons have access to classified information or could otherwise be “developed” for intelligence purposes by a foreign spy service, a significant enough threat exists to open an investigation – this would require at least one layer of approval within the FBI, and possibly more if the investigation concerns high-profile individuals.


The case still wouldn’t be FISA bound. FISA warrant investigations can’t be opened “solely on the basis of First Amendment activities,” so mere fraternization, even with sketchy people, wouldn’t be enough. The FBI would have to gather evidence to support a the claim that the U.S. target was knowingly working on behalf of a foreign entity. This could include information gathered from other methods like human sources, physical surveillance, bank transactions or even documents found in the target’s trash. This takes some time, and, when enough evidence had been accumulated, would be outlined in an affidavit and application stating the grounds for the FISA warrant. The completed FISA application would go up for approval through the FBI chain of command, including a Supervisor, the Chief Division Counsel (the highest lawyer within that FBI field office), and finally, the Special Agent in Charge of the field office, before making its way to FBI Headquarters to get approval by (at least) the Unit-level Supervisor there. If you’re exhausted already, hang on: There’s more.


The FISA application then travels to the Justice Department where attorneys from the National Security Division comb through the application to verify all the assertions made in it. Known as “Woods procedures” after Michael J. Woods, the FBI Special Agent attorney who developed this layer of approval, DOJ verifies the accuracy of every fact stated in the application. If anything looks unsubstantiated, the application is sent back to the FBI to provide additional evidentiary support – this game of bureaucratic chutes and ladders continues until DOJ is satisfied that the facts in the FISA application can both be corroborated and meet the legal standards for the court. After getting sign-off from a senior DOJ official (finally!), a lawyer from DOJ takes the FISA application before the FISC, comprised of eleven federal district judges who sit on the court on a rotating basis. The FISC reviews the application in secret, and decides whether to approve the warrant.


Now, it’s true that since its inception in 1978, the FISC has approved the vast majority of the over 25,000 FISA applications it has reviewed – some estimates put the number at over 99 percent. But that’s not surprising given the extensive process described above. In fact, if some reports are true that the initial FISA applications submitted to the FISC were rejected, prompting the FBI and DOJ to change its targets to the Russian banks doing business with Trump associates rather than the associates themselves (which would only require showing probable cause that the banks are a “foreign power,” which by definition they are), then a FISA application for Trump Tower, if one exists, would have been subject to even more scrutiny than would normally be the case.


In short, the FISA warrant process is designed to protect against the very abuse of power that the President has accused his predecessor of exercising. You could even say that FISA applications go through an “extreme vetting” process before being granted – something that the Trump administration ought to support.

https://www.justsecurity.org/39886/high-bar-fisa-warrant-monitor-carter-page/

 

Mueller found out about the biased texts from "lover boy" and his girlfriend and he was relieved six months ago. His girlfriend was dismissed before that.

CNN reports, "Washington (CNN)Emails obtained by CNN show the FBI agent at the center of a Capitol Hill storm played a key role in a controversial FBI decision that upended Hillary Clinton's campaign just days before the 2016 election: the letter to Congress by then-FBI Director James Comey announcing the bureau was investigating newly discovered Clinton emails.

"The new revelation about FBI agent Peter Strzok comes as Republicans accuse him of being sympathetic to Clinton while seeking to undermine Donald Trump during the heat of the 2016 campaign season.

"Strzok, who co-wrote what appears to be the first draft that formed the basis of the letter Comey sent to Congress, also supported reopening the Clinton investigation once the emails were discovered on disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner's laptop, according to a source familiar with Strzok's thinking. The day after Strzok sent his draft to his colleagues, Comey released the letter to Congress, reigniting the email controversy in the final days of the campaign."

Why does Trump want to attack the FBI? The FBI is the reason he got elected.

 

Then why do you accuse Trump of obstruction for firing Comey?

 

Because he fired Comey to stop the Flynn investigation...or try to.

He's still trying..

 

Gold.

 

You forget....Flynn was fired because he lied.

 

yabberefugee said: ↑
.... Free Press is a great thing but they are not free when they slant one direction 95% of the time.

 

Are you trying to amplify that you have no understand of Freedom of the Press, yabber -- cause, if you didn't know, you sure are doing a good job of it.

 

The dummycrats are gonna take it in the shorts tomorrow when that memo is released. LOL

 

There are Editorials where you can say anything according to your opinion....that's fine. There is "investigating journalism" where you report verified facts not based on predetermined opinion. The leftist MSM poses as "investigative journalism" and all they do is negative reporting about an administration they detest and have openly joined the "resistance movement". Sure, free press does not permit you to make stuff up. Your understanding of a free press seems to be, they are free as long as they toe the leftist line. You seem very confused.

 

....And he did it again. Serious myopia and zero understanding of Freedom of the Press.

Do you have an inkling of a clue of what the press was like starting from our founding? I doubt it.

 

At this stage I find it hard to believe that you would ask me that question. Are you really that oblivious to this issue? This is really old, oft-repeated material.

That said, I will help you to understand. Trump asked Comey to drop the Flynn investigation of the deal Flynn made for Trump with the Russian ambassador. Trump asked Comey to "let it go." Comey didn't drop it. This was before Trump was President, and Flynn was a private citizen.

As FBI director, Comey was leading the investigation into the Russian probe and he was looking into Trump's involvement.

Trump fired Comey.

Trump committed obstruction of justice.

 

You asked about the Comey firing, not the Flynn firing.

Yeah, I know, it gets confusing. So many people have been fired or left the Trump Presidency. I can't keep track of them all, either.

 

Trump is getting the attention he deserves.