Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2018 23:58:32 GMT -5
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 18, 2018 6:13:50 GMT -5
Treasonous House Republicans continue to participate in obstruction of justice on behalf of Trump: President Trump’s allies are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign to undercut the Russia investigation by exposing the role of a top-secret FBI source. The effort reached new heights Thursday as Trump alleged that an informant had improperly spied on his 2016 campaign and predicted that the ensuing scandal would be “bigger than Watergate!” The extraordinary push begun by a cadre of Trump boosters on Capitol Hill now has champions across the GOP and throughout conservative media — and, as of Thursday, the first anniversary of Robert S. Mueller III’s appointment as special counsel, bears the imprimatur of the president. The dispute pits Trump and the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee against the Justice Department and intelligence agencies, whose leaders warn that publicly identifying the confidential source would put lives in danger and imperil other operations. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bigger-than-watergate-trump-joins-push-by-allies-to-expose-an-fbi-source/2018/05/17/db211542-59ea-11e8-8836-a4a123c359ab_story.html?utm_term=.eee559ee70ce
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njhoya78
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Post by njhoya78 on May 18, 2018 8:08:18 GMT -5
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 18, 2018 8:26:30 GMT -5
If there is any method in Rudy's madness it is simply to sow confusion. However, given that Carter Page was properly subject to surveillance under FISA at one point in 2013 and later in 2016, it wouldn't be out-of-bounds to use a confidential informant or undercover FBI agent pursuant to the DIOG (Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide) and the Attorney General Guidelines both of which govern which investigative techniques which may be used. Generally, the least intrusive technique available must be used first. In Page's case it may have been part of a foreign counterintelligence investigation of Page as an agent of a foreign power (the predicate for a FISA order), not of the Trump campaign per se. Under a FISA application, the target could never be the "Trump Campaign" but an individual. A fine distinction but a legally correct one.
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on May 18, 2018 8:34:44 GMT -5
If there is any method in Rudy's madness it is simply to sow confusion. However, given that Carter Page was properly subject to surveillance under FISA at one point in 2013 and later in 2016, it wouldn't be out-of-bounds to use a confidential informant or undercover FBI agent pursuant to the DIOG (Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide) and the Attorney General Guidelines both of which govern which investigative techniques which may be used. Generally, the least intrusive technique available must be used first. In Page's case it may have been part of a foreign counterintelligence investigation of Page as an agent of a foreign power (the predicate for a FISA order), not of the Trump campaign per se. Under a FISA application, the target could never be the "Trump Campaign" but an individual. A fine distinction but a legally correct one. You are spot on with that analysis. The next question will invariably be “did any properly collected information re Page find its way to political people who had no business seeing it?”
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 9:36:23 GMT -5
Pretty amazing that the discussion around an “FBI informant” speaking to Papadopoulos and Page has been transformed into “the FBI was spying” on the Trump campaign. It's like people forgot all the shady stuff Trump's camp were doing. There's people who have already pled guilty and Manafort is still facing trial.
Despite that, It appears no amount of scrutiny is allowable to Republicans....
Nobody cares, they just want a talking point...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 9:49:56 GMT -5
It would be really awkward if, say, on top of this, during the convention, language hostile to Russia was inexplicably deleted from the Republican Party platform. It truly is a mystery why the FBI started looking into the Trump Campaign.
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TC
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Post by TC on May 18, 2018 10:02:42 GMT -5
You are spot on with that analysis. The next question will invariably be “did any properly collected information re Page find its way to political people who had no business seeing it?” You seem very concerned with hypotheticals that never seem to have come into play during the election when there's a lot of clear abuses, obstructions, and treasons sitting out here in plain view. www.buzzfeed.com/anthonycormier/trump-moscow-micheal-cohen-felix-sater-campaign?utm_term=.pkJ32Am8n#.jx99KyR1BQuestion : Dust is an encrypted messaging app where messages are supposedly only kept in RAM, never written to disk, expire after 24 hours, and are deleted upon read. If someone screenshots your Dust, you get alerted to that. (Details : www.usedust.com/faqs ) How does Sater have such a solid recall of volatile memory text messages that seem to have happened six months to a year ago?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 12:36:07 GMT -5
Republicans and the MAGA media love conspiracy theories and when the go poof, they just pretend it never happened, and move on to the next one... Will this time be any different?
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 19, 2018 7:28:54 GMT -5
Ironically, the FBI’s apparent attempt to protect the campaign by investigating Russia’s efforts quietly is now being weaponized against it. Accusations that the FBI was “spying” on the Trump campaign — rather than spying on foreign spies, which is its job — erase the important distinctions between counterintelligence and criminal investigations. It also displays a shocking ignorance of the devastating consequences to our national security if the Justice Department hands over the information that Nunes is demanding: “Burning” the FBI’s purported source and exposing how it obtained intelligence against Russia’s efforts only helps Russia cover its tracks, change tactics and improve its future operations against the United States. The Trump administration’s assault against the FBI’s efforts to assess a national security threat posed by suspected foreign agents only raises more questions about what went on in 2016. Trump has repeatedly insisted that he is innocent of colluding with Russia and had no idea about his campaign staff’s Russia contacts. So he should be glad to know that the FBI appears to have been trying to thwart a hostile country’s efforts to infiltrate his campaign. That he and his allies in Congress do not even acknowledge that these individuals posed a national security threat and instead attack the FBI for apparently doing its job suggests that they would have been happy for whatever Russia was doing in 2016 to continue unimpeded. www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/18/if-the-fbi-used-an-informant-it-wasnt-to-go-after-trump-it-was-to-protect-him/?utm_term=.66b8f70747f0
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TC
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Post by TC on May 19, 2018 9:28:08 GMT -5
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 19, 2018 11:21:09 GMT -5
[Strassel] was echoing Nunes himself, who during an earlier interview with Fox News used the term “setup” rather than Strassel’s fancier word. But the idea was the same, and by week’s end it was everywhere. The influential Townhall website went with “spying.” The website for radio bigfoot Rush Limbaugh referred to “an infuriating story of entrapment.” Of course, there’s nothing surprising about pundits under the influence of the president attacking U.S. intelligence agencies while minimizing the threat from Russia. As a candidate and in office, Trump has denounced and ridiculed the FBI and CIA, while putting more stock in Putin’s protestations of innocence than he placed in the work of American analysts. But what struck me like the Shiloh field suddenly teeming with startled wildlife was this language of setups and entrapment because, where I come from, only guilty people trot out the I-was-stung defense. Indeed, the most infamous use of this jargon in Washington — the late Marion Barry’s “Bitch set me up!” — followed the mayor’s dismayed realization that his crack-smoking had been caught on hidden camera. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/now-we-know-what-trump-will-say-when-we-learn-what-hes-hiding/2018/05/18/e7c5dcd4-5ac5-11e8-858f-12becb4d6067_story.htmlA valid entrapment defense has two related elements: (1) government inducement of the crime, and (2) the defendant's lack of predisposition to engage in the criminal conduct. ... Inducement is the threshold issue in the entrapment defense. Mere solicitation to commit a crime is not inducement. www.justice.gov/usam/criminal-resource-manual-645-entrapment-elements
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 19, 2018 13:18:15 GMT -5
The plot thickens. . . Not only Russians but Saudis, Emiratis . . And Nader is reportedly cooperating with Mueller. Remember, it is illegal to accept foreign assistance/contributions in U.S. elections. Once again, Forgetful Donald Jr. in the middle of it with no apparent hesitation of receiving help from Nader who reportedly represented the Saudis and Emiratis. WASHINGTON — Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes. The third was a Republican donor with a controversial past in the Middle East as a private security contractor. The meeting was convened primarily to offer help to the Trump team, and it forged relationships between the men and Trump insiders that would develop over the coming months — past the election and well into President Trump’s first year in office, according to several people with knowledge of their encounters. Erik Prince, the private security contractor and the former head of Blackwater, arranged the meeting, which took place on Aug. 3, 2016. The emissary, George Nader, told Donald Trump Jr. that the crown princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president. The social media specialist, Joel Zamel, extolled his company’s ability to give an edge to a political campaign; by that time, the firm had already drawn up a multimillion-dollar proposal for a social media manipulation effort to help elect Mr. Trump. The company, which employed several Israeli former intelligence officers, specialized in collecting information and shaping opinion through social media. www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/us/politics/trump-jr-saudi-uae-nader-prince-zamel.html
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 20, 2018 6:31:04 GMT -5
But what happens when the intentional outing of U.S. intelligence assets is the province not of rogue insiders, not of foreign hackers or foreign agents, not of people who end up spending the rest of their lives as fugitives, but of senior officials in two branches of this country’s government who are most responsible for protecting those assets? To wit, what happens when the Chairman of the House intelligence committee and the President of the United States team up to out an FBI informant over the strenuous objection of the bureau and the Department of Justice—and manage to get the job done? And what happens when they do so for frankly political reasons: to protect the president from a properly predicated counterintelligence investigation involving the activity of an adversary foreign power? As a conservative lawyer, who at one point considered taking a job in the administration and still has close ties to it said to one of us last night: “All this man [the source] wanted to do was to help our country. And this was a legitimate counterintelligence inquiry with more than an adequate foundation and a perfectly appropriate method. Trump and Nunes have defiled the oaths they took. It’s just obscene.” www.lawfareblog.com/day-we-cant-protect-human-sources-president-and-house-intelligence-committee-burn-informant
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 9:38:36 GMT -5
11,000 US service members & a key air base in Qatar
That anti-Qatar move also closely followed the Qataris refusing to help Kushner’s family with big bucks; when Qatar turned pro-Kushner financially, Trump turned pro-Qatar on the blockade.
Funny how that works...
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 20, 2018 9:50:17 GMT -5
11,000 US service members & a key air base in Qatar That anti-Qatar move also closely followed the Qataris refusing to help Kushner’s family with big bucks; when Qatar turned pro-Kushner financially, Trump turned pro-Qatar on the blockade. Funny how that works... That's a nice little country you have there. It'd be a shame if something were to happen to it . . .
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2018 10:01:01 GMT -5
Probably slipped his mind, oops... Perjury is hard to prove but 0 chance Nunes would go after him, let alone pursue a referral...
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 21, 2018 5:30:11 GMT -5
Rosenstein's referral to the DOJ IG is a good move. Defuses the insane President's order and ties it up for many months and gives Mueller time to continue his properly predicated investigation. It seems the closer Mueller gets to the truth, the more panicked this malignant narcissist becomes. Under pressure from President Trump, the Justice Department on Sunday asked its inspector general to assess whether political motivation tainted the FBI investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign — a remarkable step officials hoped might avert a larger clash between the president and federal law enforcement officials. Trump, who spent much of Sunday railing against the year-old special counsel probe, tweeted in the afternoon that “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” Hours later, the Justice Department responded by saying it had asked its inspector general to expand an ongoing review of the applications to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser “to include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/justice-department-calls-for-inquiry-after-trump-demands-probe-into-whether-fbi-infiltrated-or-surveilled-his-campaign/2018/05/20/636a05a0-5c7d-11e8-b2b8-08a538d9dbd6_story.html?utm_term=.9dd971945995
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2018 10:26:58 GMT -5
Something people always seem to forget:
Rob Goldstone: "The Crown prosecutor of Russia…offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia…This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump...I can also send this info to your father via Rhona, but it is ultra sensitive so wanted to send to you first."
Don Jr: "if it's what you say I love it especially later in the summer."
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SSHoya
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Post by SSHoya on May 22, 2018 7:46:33 GMT -5
Does anyone remember the 8th specification in Nixon's Article of Impeachment for obstruction of justice? Can anyone here seriously argue that Trump's conduct and the conduct of his subordinates (Pence, Sanders, Conway et al) is any different from Nixon's and his subordinates regarding Mueller's properly-predicated investigation? RESOLVED, That Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanours, and that the following articles of impeachment to be exhibited to the Senate: ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT EXHIBITED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE NAME OF ITSELF AND OF ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AGAINST RICHARD M. NIXON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT OF ITS IMPEACHMENT AGAINST HIM FOR HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS. ARTICLE 1 In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has prevented, obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice, in that: On June 17, 1972, and prior thereto, agents of the Committee for the Re-election of the President committed unlawful entry of the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, District of Columbia, for the purpose of securing political intelligence. Subsequent thereto, Richard M. Nixon, using the powers of his high office, engaged personally and through his close subordinates and agents, in a course of conduct or plan designed to delay, impede, and obstruct the investigation of such illegal entry; to cover up, conceal and protect those responsible; and to conceal the existence and scope of other unlawful covert activities. 8. The means used to implement this course of conduct or plan included one or more of the following:making or causing to be made false or misleading public statements for the purpose of deceiving the people of the United States into believing that a thorough and complete investigation had been conducted with respect to allegations of misconduct on the part of personnel of the executive branch of the United States and personnel of the Committee for the Re-election of the President, and that there was no involvement of such personnel in such misconduct: or watergate.info/impeachment/articles-of-impeachment
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