**President Trump 2018 Thread**

[caulfield12]

James Comey

@Comey

That’s it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.

 

Carter Page

The brave and assiduous oversight by Congressional leaders in discovering this unprecedented abuse of process represents a giant, historic leap in the repair of America’s democracy.Now that a few of the misdeeds against the Trump Movement have been partially revealed, I look forward to updating my pending legal action in opposition to DOJ this weekend in preparation for Monday’s next small step on the long, potholed road toward helping to restore law and order in our great country.

 

Uh, huh. Sure.

 

 

The irony here is the Republican Party has always been the party pushing for the broadest possible government surveillance powers, beginning with The Patriot Act after 9/11. When the term “permanent mass surveillance” comes up, do progressives EVER get listed as staunch defenders?

 

As a result, a lot of Republicans who previously have been pro-surveillance are having some qualms as well about the issues civil liberties advocates have focused on for years. For example:

 

“Incidental collection”, where US citizens’ information is “accidentally” collected along with the foreign citizens being targeted

 

A series of “deeply troubling” leaks from the intelligence services to the press

 

The NSA once again admitting routinely violated their terms for “upstream collection” — the latest episode in their 12-year pattern of breaking the law

 

The battle over Patriot Act reauthorization in 2015 showed that the alliance of progressives, libertarians, and Tea Partiers is strong enough to have an impact if they stick to their guns. Lawfare’s detailed analysis of support for Section 702 in the Senate suggests that in addition to Rand Paul, up to a dozen Republican Senators might not support reauthorization without reforms.

https://medium.com/get-fisa-right/permanent...te-c634466a2939

Edited February 2, 2018 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Three of the applications to monitor Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, were approved by former FBI Director James Comey and one by his deputy and successor, McCabe.

 

Those applications were also approved by several other top Justice Department officials — including Sally Yates, a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration who briefly served as acting attorney general in January 2017; Dana Boente, who succeeded Yates; and Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller. In each case, a federal judge who sits on the FISA court — whose deliberations are kept secret — approved the request to monitor Page's communications.

Politico.com

 

Comey, McCabe, Yates, Boente, Rosenstein (two Republican appointees, three if you count McCabe) and potentially as many as FOUR Federal judges...all potential conspirators, lol.

 

McCabe told the newspaper the FBI is “very fortunate in having very, very clear legal authority, a very clear position within the federal government, and an entirely professional cadre of men and women.”

 

McCabe, a career civil servant, said there is only one political appointee in the FBI.

 

“For 109 years, we have maintained our commitment to do our job professionally, competently, and apolitically,” McCabe told Indian Express. “We pursue every case, whether it’s a counter-terrorism matter, or a counter-intelligence matter, or a criminal matter, or a public corruption matter, in exactly the same way: we follow the facts wherever they lead us.”

https://heavy.com/news/2017/05/andrew-mccab...hotos-bio-wife/

 

Sounds like a Boy Scout, just like Comey.

 

Interesting to also learn this entire Russia investigation was kicked off by “coffee boy” Papadopoulous’ conversations with an Australian diplomat in July of 2016...confirming NY Times original reporting.

Edited February 2, 2018 by caulfield12

[BigSqwert]

I can't handle all this swamp draining.

 

A home improvement contractor married to one of Donald and Melania’s former household staffers is now working as an official at the EPA.

 

He has never worked in government, Politico reports.

 

via

[caulfield12]

I can't handle all this swamp draining.

 

 

 

via

 

 

That’s not as good as Ben Carson’s kid leveraging HUD to do business for personal gain...or the “party planner” now being second in command at that agency.

[caulfield12]

 

Russian bots attacking Trump

 

Sure, because they suddenly have reversed a two-year strategy and now want Mike Pence as president instead. A true friend of Russia.

Edited February 3, 2018 by caulfield12

[Heads22]

Nate Cohn‏Verified account

@Nate_Cohn

Follow Follow @Nate_Cohn

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The craziest thing about this whole memo thing is that there's like a 50% chance that Carter Page would have volunteered to have FISA surveillance for life, if they had just asked

 

This made me laugh

[StrangeSox]

Nunes admitting he's never even bothered to read the fisa application he's making all these allegations about is the best part.

[Kyyle23]

Nunes hinting at *dramatic music* MORE MEMOS

[caulfield12]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/02/politics/nun...page/index.html

 

Nunes memo undermines its own argument

 

That the Papadopoulos "information" also played some role in helping to secure the FBI's desired warrant throws into doubt claims by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and other Republicans that law enforcement officials leaned too heavily on the contents of a dossier funded, indirectly, by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

 

The timeline here is key.

 

The FISA application, under protracted scrutiny in the memo, was granted in October 2016. But, as confirmed here by Nunes himself, a potentially related investigation had begun months earlier, in July. And while the memo states that "there is no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos," it does not articulate the degree to which evidence gleaned from the Papadopoulos probe weighed on the court's decision to grant the Page warrant. Nor does it address whether that intelligence might have corroborated details from the dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

 

On Thursday afternoon, Republican Matt Gaetz, a vocally pro-Trump Florida congressman who hasn't seen the underlying FISA application and related materials, speculated in an interview with CNN that the "entire universe of Papadopoulos claims" might well have been enough to win over a FISA court judge -- at first.

 

If Nunes tries to put out even more memos without first allowing a Dem rebuttal ... there will be a civil war over more than immigration with another government shutdown looming Thurs and still zero progress on the House side about immigration.

 

"I doubt this was the intent, but the House GOP and the Trump admin just blew up the right’s favorite conspiracy theory," argued National Review conservative commentator David French. "The Russia investigation isn’t the fruit of the poisonous dossier; it existed well before. The decks are now cleared for Mueller."

Politico.com

 

Republicans to Launch War Against State Department Next

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/372109-n...in-russia-probe

Edited February 3, 2018 by caulfield12

[Dick Allen]

 

 

 

President Trump told Congressional Republicans that Sen. Orrin Hatch once told him he was the “greatest president in the history of our country,” better even than presidents Washington and Lincoln.

 

Not exactly, Hatch’s office quickly explained.

 

“He said once I am the single greatest president in his lifetime, now he’s a young man, so it’s not that much,” Trump said. (Hatch is 83.)

 

Trump elaborated: “And he actually once said I’m the greatest president in the history of our country and I said does that include Lincoln and Washington. He said ‘Yes.’ I said I love this guy. I love him.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

A spokesman for Hatch, Matt Whitlock, later told TheWrap: “Senator Hatch has said that he would like to work with the President to make this the greatest presidency in history for the American people.”

 

We asked: So he did not call him the greatest, as of now?

 

“No he did not,” Hatch’s spokesman said.

 

Trump’s speech Thursday came on the same day he was aggressively fact-checked for wrongly claiming the best State of the Union viewership ever. Someday his viewership “can be” the greatest, but as of now, it is not.

 

Hatch has announced plans to retire (not because of this, he announced it before) leading to speculation that Mitt Romney may run for his seat.

 

Could you imagine the outrage if this was Hillary or Obama saying this stuff? I saw a guy walking around last summer in a t shirt that had Trumps head on it and a WTF below. He is sick.

Edited February 3, 2018 by Dick Allen

[RockRaines]

Nunes hinting at *dramatic music* MORE MEMOS

As he furiously scribbled away....

[caulfield12]

Their

There

They’re

 

Would be nice to have a president who could seem intelligent on twitter at least...

[StrangeSox]

The phantom memo

Attack of the memos

Revenge of the memo

A new memo

The memo strikes back

Return of the memo

The memo awakens

The last memo

 

 

Nyt, wapo, and WSJ all reporting that the fisa court was in fact informed of the potential political bias behind some of the evidence in the fisa application, undercutting a major complaint in the memo.

 

Never. Believe. Devin. Nunes.

[caulfield12]

Uh-oh.

 

 

But according to an official cited in the Post on Friday, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity, the Justice Department presented "ample disclosure of relevant, material facts," to the FISA court, including that "the research was being paid for by a political entity."

 

The New York Times also reported Friday that the FISA court was told about political motivations behind the dossier. A Democratic memo written to rebut the allegations in Nunes' document said the FBI did, in fact, tell the court that the information in the Steele dossier was politically motivated, even if the bureau didn't mention that research that went into the dossier was paid for by Democrats, the Times reported, citing two people familiar with the Democratic memo.

 

The Wall Street Journal further reported that, according to a person familiar with the matter, the FISA application disclosed that Steele was paid by a law firm working for a major political party.

 

Steve Vladeck, a CNN legal analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law, tweeted Saturday that the news reports served as "proof that the #mehmo deliberately misrepresented the record to make the #FISA application look shadier than it was" and called the revelations "(f)atal to the memo's entire premise." www.cnn.com

 

 

#releasethenunes

Edited February 3, 2018 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/01/opinion/...col-left-region

 

Republican tax cut could actually turn five Red States (including Texas) Blue with more young people moving due to higher state and local taxes

[StrangeSox]

Carter Page — the Trump campaign advisor who the GOP insists was wrongly investigated by the FBI—wrote the following in 2013:

 

“Over the past half year, I have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the Kremlin...”https://t.co/u7MJng9n9d

— ProPublica (@ProPublica) February 4, 2018

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8">

 

[caulfield12]

Colorado gym teacher accused of assaulting student who wouldn't stand for pledge

 

Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

Washington Post

 

A 20-year veteran teacher is accused of assaulting a middle school student who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, the latest incident in which a protest over the flag has devolved into apparent violence.

 

The teacher is Karen Smith, who until recently taught physical education at Angevine Middle School, about 20 miles north of Denver. She couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

[Middle Buffalo]

Colorado gym teacher accused of assaulting student who wouldn't stand for pledge

 

Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

Washington Post

 

A 20-year veteran teacher is accused of assaulting a middle school student who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, the latest incident in which a protest over the flag has devolved into apparent violence.

 

The teacher is Karen Smith, who until recently taught physical education at Angevine Middle School, about 20 miles north of Denver. She couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

They don't call it "physical education" for nothin'. Stand or you get a a whooping. Lesson learned.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Middle Buffalo

[BigSqwert]

Can someone explain to me what the point of releasing this memo was? Outside of FOX News, which thinks this is the biggest story since Watergate, not one single news source thinks this helps the GOP in anyway. In fact, it seems to hurt them more than anything. What am I missing?

[RockRaines]

Can someone explain to me what the point of releasing this memo was? Outside of FOX News, which thinks this is the biggest story since Watergate, not one single news source thinks this helps the GOP in anyway. In fact, it seems to hurt them more than anything. What am I missing?

It was Hannity who started it so he could keep pushing his conspiracy theories.

[Quin]

Can someone explain to me what the point of releasing this memo was? Outside of FOX News, which thinks this is the biggest story since Watergate, not one single news source thinks this helps the GOP in anyway. In fact, it seems to hurt them more than anything. What am I missing?

 

It was for Fox News, because that's where Trump gets his governing ideas.

[StrangeSox]

Can someone explain to me what the point of releasing this memo was? Outside of FOX News, which thinks this is the biggest story since Watergate, not one single news source thinks this helps the GOP in anyway. In fact, it seems to hurt them more than anything. What am I missing?

 

To poison the well. The true believers will always buy whatever nonsense Nunes and Trump shovel out without a second thought, so partially it's red meat for them. Gotta keep the conservative persecution complex going. But it's also to get the media reporting "Republicans allege misconduct etc etc etc" "Trump claims vindication"

 

Sure if you read the full story or listen to the full report you might get a clear picture of how bs the whole thing is, but if you're skimming headlines you're going to get an impression that hey maybe this was politically motivated. Republicans are experts at exploiting the media's love for "both sides" reporting where they just repeat a he said/he said story without bothering to examine the claims or call them bs from the start.

[Balta1701]

Can someone explain to me what the point of releasing this memo was? Outside of FOX News, which thinks this is the biggest story since Watergate, not one single news source thinks this helps the GOP in anyway. In fact, it seems to hurt them more than anything. What am I missing?

I get the newspaper for the 4th biggest city in the country. There was a week of headlines about how the Republicans have a memo that is going to prove the corrupt FBI has it out for Trump. There were 0 headlines about it being worthless, and basically the only analysis we got today was "There's a war between the FBI and Trump". If you got your news from that, for example, you basically are RaBBit right now.

 

My local TV news was worse.

[Balta1701]

I get the newspaper for the 4th biggest city in the country. There was a week of headlines about how the Republicans have a memo that is going to prove the corrupt FBI has it out for Trump. There were 0 headlines about it being worthless, and basically the only analysis we got today was "There's a war between the FBI and Trump". If you got your news from that, for example, you basically are RaBBit right now.

 

My local TV news was worse.

Tonight's news report: "Sunday talk shows filled with Democrats and Republicans discussing a controversial memo". Republicans say the public has a right to know if the FBI process was corrupt, Democrats say the memo is an unfair attack on the FBI.

 

Then a summary of how the memo suggests that the Dems helped pay for the Steele Dossier and that was used as evidence for the surveillance and a comment by the President about how it's unfair - with no mention of any other evidence that the guy was a russian agent, no mention of the fact that they disclosed that it was paid for in part by political parties, no mention of the fact that they had repeated warrants for him even without the dossier. Then an appearance by Trey Gowdy saying that the use of opposition research in a FISA application was "Somewhat unprecedented" - WTF that actually means God only knows, because either there's a precedent or not.

 

Then a "the Democrats want their memo released too" both sides.

 

Without the center content, it comes off as the memo release being fair and yes the FBI is totally corrupt in the report.

[caulfield12]

Tonight's news report: "Sunday talk shows filled with Democrats and Republicans discussing a controversial memo". Republicans say the public has a right to know if the FBI process was corrupt, Democrats say the memo is an unfair attack on the FBI.

 

Then a summary of how the memo suggests that the Dems helped pay for the Steele Dossier and that was used as evidence for the surveillance and a comment by the President about how it's unfair - with no mention of any other evidence that the guy was a russian agent, no mention of the fact that they disclosed that it was paid for in part by political parties, no mention of the fact that they had repeated warrants for him even without the dossier. Then an appearance by Trey Gowdy saying that the use of opposition research in a FISA application was "Somewhat unprecedented" - WTF that actually means God only knows, because either there's a precedent or not.

 

Then a "the Democrats want their memo released too" both sides.

 

Without the center content, it comes off as the memo release being fair and yes the FBI is totally corrupt in the report.

 

Obviously they buried the other “anti-Trump” interviews Gowdy gave on Sunday morning shows saying this would/should have no effect on the Mueller case.

 

Another GOP Congressman basically said the same as Gowdy. By all appearances, the House will vote to release the Dems’ memo on Monday and Trump will look bad/guilty for suppressing it.

 

In the meantime, everyone’s forgotten about another government shutdown and DACA.

 

For awhile, Trump had positive momentum with the economy/tax bill/stock market, immigration shutdown spin and managed to sabotage it all yet again.

 

 

And why has nobody asked all the Republicans why they voted yes for FISA reauthorization if they were so concerned about FBI abuses and corruption of the process?...Watergate x 1000 to quote Hannity.

Edited February 5, 2018 by caulfield12