Judge Orders Defunct Voter Fraud Panel To Clarify Whether DHS Is Getting Voter Data
Read the latest editor’s brief (Prime access) on this story »
A question lingering for months about President the rich asshole’s now-defunct voter fraud commission and its cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security may now be answered, thanks to a judge’s order in a lawsuit against the commission, which was disbanded last week.
With the announcement of the commission’s dissolution, the rich asshole, its vice chair Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and the White House have suggested that the DHS would take over the commission’s work, which included a controversial request for state voter roll information.
The ACLU of Florida — which was suing the commission and Florida for turning over its state voter roll data — pointed out the mixed messages it had received as to whether the DHS would have access to the data in a court filing on Friday.
The U.S. magistrate judge overseeing the case, Jonathan Goodman, demanded in a order Monday that the commission explain by Thursday where the data is being stored and whether it has been or will be transferred to the DHS.
Since the commission’s creation last Spring, Kobach has suggested that he’d like to compare the states’ voter roll data with DHS data on non-citizens — an endeavor elections experts warn that would likely produce scores of false positives. Facing numerous lawsuits, including one from a Democratic commissioner, the commission resisted to being more transparent about its plans and internal workings.
A record of communications it was forced to release in one of the lawsuits revealed that commission staff had been in talks with DHS, but the content of those conversations and whether DHS was cooperating with Kobach remained hidden.
When the commission was dissolved last week, the rich asshole said in a statement that he had “asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action,” while Kobach bragged that the move to DHS was a “tactical shift” that would allow the investigations to continue without being stalled by litigation.
An email from a DOJ attorney surfaced in the ACLU Florida lawsuit, however, said that the state data will “not be transferred or utilized” outside the White House digital storage unit where it is currently being held.
The other groups suing the commission have amped up their requests for more information about DHS’ involvement, with a letter to DHS a number of the groups signed requesting it clarify its next steps, as well as a new lawsuit that has been filed since the commission’s disbandment last week.
PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 9, 2018
In the first serious power move by a Senate Democrat during the course of the rich asshole-Russia controversy, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the ranking Judiciary Committee member, just went rogue, releasing the Fusion GPS testimony on the Christopher Steele Russia dossier that her Republican colleagues have been trying to conceal.
However, it can be hard to parse through all the details and figure out what the salient details are.
CNN’s chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto tweeted out a thread today highlighting six main takeaways from the documents Senator Feinstein leaked.
Here they are.
- The leaked Fusion GPS Senate judiciary testimony disproves the Republican lie that the dossier’s conclusions were politically motivated, as former British spy Christopher Steele’s concerns about the rich asshole’s vulnerability to Russian blackmail were seconded by the FBI.
#FusionGPS Transcript contradicts GOP argument #SteeleDossier was a political document. First, Steele went to FBI himself concerned Trump being blackmailed, fearing “national security threat” said Simpson 1/
2/When Steele met with FBI in Sept 2016, @FBI told him they had similar intelligence from “an internal Trump campaign source”, that is a “whistle-blower” inside Trump organization.
2. Alarmed that the rich asshole’s exposure to Russian manipulation posed a major national security threat to the United States, Steele shared his intelligence with the FBI in September of 2016.
The bureau assured him they were aware of the same evidence, as they had had a mole inside the rich asshole organization since at least July.
What’s more, that same July, now-convicted former the rich asshole foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, had drunkenly spilled his guts about the rich asshole-Russia connections to an Australian diplomat in London, who did his duty as an American intelligence ally, independently reporting the exchange to the FBI.
3. Fusion GPS co-founder and former Wall Street Journal investigative journalist, Glenn Simpson, testified that Steele alerted the FBI of what he considered to be a crime, unprompted by the Democratic National Committee, Fusion GPS itself, or even the Republican politicians purported to have first commissioned the dossier.
3/ #FusionGPS’s Simpson told Senate Judiciary that Steele reached out to FBI on his own and he alone selected content of the dossier, not DNC or Fusion
4/ Finally, it is extraordinary that @SenFeinstein and Cmte Democrats released the transcript of Glenn Simpson’s account over objections of their GOP colleagues.
4. It is an act of great political courage that the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, Senator Feinstein, released the Fusion GPS testimony, despite Republican chairman Chuck Grassley’s best efforts to conceal it.
Grassley and his fellow judiciary Republicans, like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, went so far as to recommend a criminal investigation of Steele for blowing the whistle, in order to try to discredit proof of a the rich asshole-Russia conspiracy to intervene in our electoral process in exchange for lifting Obama-era sanctions against Russia for their invasion of the Ukraine.
Feinstein defied them, in order to sound the alarms to the American people that their Executive Branch has been compromised by Russia.
5. All of these allegations were revealed to the Senate Judiciary Committee by Glenn Simpson while he testified under oath.
Simpson shared candidly and in meticulous detail, unlike the rich asshole’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions who could “not recall” any contacts between the rich asshole campaign and Russia, until facts emerged that provoked a miraculous recovery of his memory.
5/ One more note: to be clear, this is the account of Glenn Simpson re Steele, not Steele himself. However, testimony before Senate normally considered to be under oath.
6. Steele is not some political hack, but a real-life James Bond who worked as an intelligence agent for Britain’s version of the CIA, called MI6.
Steele had deep intelligence experience in Russia and had cooperated with the FBI when they were surveilling Russian assets in the United States.
As if all of that were not dramatic enough proof of the rich asshole’s crimes, further details from the dossier show that he was involved in an international money laundering ring by the rich asshole’s business associate and friend, Russian mob-linked, Putin-connected convicted felon, Felix Sater.
Suffice it to say, when the FBI, veteran former British intelligence agents, and Australian diplomats all agree that the rich asshole is a president weaponized against the U.S. by Russia, you know you’ve got a problem.
With Feinstein’s bold maneuver today, she’s assured that the rich asshole himself is the one with the biggest problem of all.
Follow Lucia Brawley on Twitter and at luciabrawley.com.
POLITICS Steve Bannon Out At Breitbart
Bannon’s exit comes after his quotes in a new tell-all sparked a feud with President some rich asshole.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is out at far-right Breitbart News, the outlet confirmed Tuesday.
“I’m proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform,” he said in a statement. Bannon was a founding member of the board and took over as executive chairman of Breitbart News following founder Andrew Breitbart’s death in 2012.
In a statement Tuesday, Breitbart CEO Larry Solov commemorated Bannon’s role in establishing the site.
“Steve is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish,” he said.
Bannon is also out as the host of “Breitbart News Daily” on SiriusXM radio, the station confirmed.
Rumors of Bannon’s ouster from the conservative news outlet began Thursday, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the owners of the publication were debating Bannon’s future.
During a press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Breitbart should consider firing Bannon.
“I certainly think that it’s something they should look at and consider,” she said.
Bannon’s exit comes after he feuded with President some rich asshole last week. The former executive was quoted saying that a 2016 meeting between some rich asshole Jr., other the rich asshole associates and a Russian lawyer in the rich asshole Tower was “treasonous.”
“The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside the rich asshole Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor — with no lawyers,” Bannon told Michael Wolff in an excerpt from Wolff’s new book, Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House.
“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately,” Bannon added.
The fallout from Bannon’s comments was almost immediate. On Wednesday, the rich asshole’s lawyer sent Bannon a cease-and-desist letter claiming the former aide had “breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about some rich asshole, his family members, and the Company [the campaign], disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about some rich asshole, his family members.”
the rich asshole said Wednesday that Bannon “has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” And on Thursday, the rich asshole said he doesn’t speak to Bannon.
Rebekah Mercer, a financial backer of Breitbart, distanced herself from Bannon in an interview with The Washington Post.
“I support President the rich asshole and the platform upon which he was elected,” Mercer told the publication. “My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements.”
Bannon left his job as White House strategist in August, telling Bloomberg Businessweek that he would fight for the rich asshole “against his opponents ― on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America.”
“If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war,” he told the outlet at the time.
01/09/2018 10:56 PM EST
A federal judge has blocked President some rich asshole's effort to shut-down the Obama-era program that provides quasi-legal status and work permits to foreigners who entered the U.S. illegally as children.
In a ruling Tuesday evening, San Francisco-based U.S. District Court judge William Alsup ordered the administration to resume accepting renewal applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA.
Alsup said Attorney General Jeff Sessions' conclusion that the program was illegal appeared to be "based on a flawed legal premise."
Unless halted by a higher court, the ruling will allow former DACA recipients who failed to renew by an October 5 deadline a chance to submit renewal applications and will also require the administration to allow renewal of applications expiring in the future. The decision does not permit new applications for DACA status.
If the judge's order remains in place, it could also roil ongoing legislative efforts on DACA by undercutting the urgency many advocates have expressed, calling for legislation to be passed before large numbers of Dreamers begin losing their protected status in March.
01-09-2018
Controversy continues to surround a political debate gone wrong as both parties attempt to defend their aggressive actions.
White House senior adviser Stephen Miller in a recent interview continues his battle against CNN, just a day after he found himself in a heated debate with host Jake Tapper before being escorted off the set.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson started off the interview with Miller by stating that CNN had treated him like a ruthless gang member by demanding that security throw him off the set even though he was “not armed” or a “physical threat.”
“I would assume if I were a member of MS-13 illegally, they would be clamoring to get me into the voting booth,” Miller joked while speaking on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“But I think that like many things CNN says, the story has the most important virtue of all CNN stories of being not true,” he added.
Miller was told to leave the set numerous times but remained seated, forcing security to step in and escort him off the “State of the Union” set, a CNN employee confirmed the details on the interaction to The Hill.
Carlson claimed that CNN had leaked a video of the heated debate to other news outlets, branding the move as “striking.”
“It’s just another example of CNN’s very low journalistic standards. I was glad to have people hear what I set on camera and off camera. CNN has been extraordinarily biased, extraordinarily unfair to the president and is not giving their viewers honest information,” he said in response.
It’s shocking to see CNN use such force over such a petty issue.
Posted on January 9, 2018
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 84, has crushed some rich asshole’s dream that her retirement may be imminent by announcing on Thursday that she has hired a full slate of clerks through 2020. Ginsburg’s newest hires include: Alyssa Barnard, a Columbia Law graduate; Harvard Law grads Marco Basile and Susan Pelletier; and Stanford Law grad Michael Qian.
President the rich asshole actually demanded Ginsburg resign after she criticized him during the 2016 presidential campaign cycle. the rich asshole cited for his reasoning her “dumb political statements” and inferred “mind is shot.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg eventually apologized for bashing the then-candidate
During his presidency, she’s been much more measured in her comments about his job performance, but the shade is there. Of course it. This is why she is so beloved. Ginsburg said, in a February interview with the BBC’s Newsnight:
“We’re not experiencing the best of times.”
Back in November 2017, the rich asshole had the hubris to release a list of potential Supreme Court nominees… to fill or a vacancy that does not exist. This is but one of scores of examples of this president just being in over his head. He got very lucky that his party was able to hold Scalia’s seat hostage so that he could install Neil Gorsuch. For him to have released his short-list of favorites after having repeatedly insulted Ruth Bader Ginsburg was to engage in a tickle-fight with a wolverine.
Even if Ginsburg had planned for decades to retire before 2020, the rich asshole’s own antics will have caused her to delay that. Once again, the rich asshole proves he’s neither “very stable” nor a “genius.”
Here’s hoping that Justice Anthony Kennedy, 81, is willing and able to remain on the Supreme Court for the rich asshole’s entire term as well.
Even if Ginsburg had planned for decades to retire before 2020, the rich asshole’s own antics will have caused her to delay that. Once again, the rich asshole proves he’s neither “very stable” nor a “genius.”
Here’s hoping that Justice Anthony Kennedy, 81, is willing and able to remain on the Supreme Court for the rich asshole’s entire term as well.
Last week following the release of Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House, some rich asshole took time to address speculations that he is not the brightest bulb on the string. He stated that he is definitely, beyond the shadow of a doubt and without the need of proof a “very stable genius”.
Most Americans in their right minds would argue that some rich asshole is arguably the exact opposite of a very stable genius. In fact, several psychiatric professionals have publicly declared that they believe the rich asshole to be mentally unstable. Wolff wrote in his book that the rich asshole’s aides regularly question his mental fitness, prompting the rich asshole to respond via Twitter, like a very stable professional:
“Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everybody knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star…to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius…and a very stable genius at that!”
Which brings us to this point: to be certain that a very unstable man never serves as the President of the United States again, Rep. Brendan Boyle announced that he will be introducing the “Stable Genius Act” in the House on Tuesday.
Boyle’s act would require all presidential candidates to file a Federal Election Commission (FEC) report “certifying that he or she has undergone medical examination by the medical office under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy.”
Ah, a fresh dose of sanity! Boyle’s argument is simple, grounded, and demonstrates a clear concern with our current predicament. Here’s what he said in his statement:
“Before voting for the highest office in the land, Americans have a right to know whether an individual has the physical and mental fitness to serve as President.”“The President believes he is a ‘stable genius.’ I do not. President the rich asshole’s reckless, erratic behavior has exposed a critical flaw in our existing election process.”“While it is necessary to take the current President’s concerning behavior seriously and I support legislation to address these ongoing concerns, I believe we must also be proactive and do all we can to ensure a situation like this does not arise again.”
Indeed, Americans have every right to be certain that the person sitting in the White House with access to the nuclear codes is mentally fit to hold office. The fate of the bill, however, will be up to the Republican-controlled Congress.
Should congressional Republicans choose not to act, history will be swinging back around to haunt them in the very near future when Americans cast their votes in the midterm elections.
And if our “very stable genius” lasts until 2020, we’ll be showing him the door as well.
Why Do We Say the rich asshole Was ‘Accused’ of Groping? He Confessed.
The spate of resignations of powerful sexual harassers has intensified the weirdness surrounding the status of harasser-in-chief some rich asshole. One passage in a news story captures the oddness of the rich asshole’s guilty-yet-unpunished status. Politico describes his daughter Ivanka as “an unquestioning aide to a president who’s been accused of groping women.”
It is true that the rich asshole has been accused of groping women. But he’s also confessed to groping women. That confession was captured on audiotape, and it matched descriptions of his behavior supplied by 19 of his victims.
In plain English, a person in the rich asshole’s circumstance would be described as having confessed to sexual assault. But such a description is at odds with the fact that the rich asshole has kept his job and has treated his confession like an imaginary reconstruction of crimes that never occurred, akin to O.J. Simpson’s book project.
WATCH: Shep Smith mocks the rich asshole for giving up on building a big, beautiful wall with a big, beautiful door
Fox News host Shepard Smith (Screenshot)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Fox News host Shepard Smith on Tuesday poked fun at President some rich asshole for waffling on one of his key campaign promises.
During a White House meeting with lawmakers earlier in the day, the rich asshole said he did not need a wall on the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
“The president has changed his stance on the border wall,” Smith explained. “Instead of a big, beautiful wall with a big, beautiful door — what he told voters over and over and over again — now he advocates for a wall in some areas, technology and patrols in other areas. Quote, we don’t need 2,000 mile wall.”
“Remember to get protection for Dreamers, DACA, there must be more border security, they’re not calling it a wall anymore, now they call it border security.”
Watch video below:
‘Steve Bannon is dead’: Watch Nicolle Wallace panel bury ‘incompetent boob’ ex-the rich asshole adviser after Breitbart fall
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace -- screenshot
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Reacting to a New York Times report that former White House adviser Steve Bannon had been forced out at Breitbart News, an MSNBC panel laughingly piled on the disgraced executive — led by host Nicolle Wallace who once memorably called Bannon a “incompetent boob.”
Setting the stage by describing Bannon’s current relationship with President some rich asshole as “two scorpions in a bowl trying to kill each other,” Wallace — who was a principal campaign adviser in Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign — gave a blunt assessment of Bannon’s political skills.
“I knew that Steve Bannon was in trouble when I called him an incompetent boob around the Roy Moore thing and nobody attacked me,” she began.
“This is not a guy with a big or active fan club,” she continued. “My suggestion was that he was an incompetent political strategist. He does not belong. He is not worthy of being of being in a category with David Axlerod, Karl Rove or frankly, any other of some rich asshole’s people that he dials up for advice.”
“He is a lesser political strategist than anyone who has ever had that title in the White House before,” she bluntly stated. “I wonder who today he’s on the phone with, or who is he at a bar downing V-8 with — or whatever he’s drinking? Who’s standing by Steve Bannon today?”
“I think you have nailed the most important point: who at this hour is Steve Bannon’s constituency?” MSNBC contributor Elise Jordan suggested. “He flew too close to the sun. He thought that he had just as big of a constituency as some rich asshole. He was down in Alabama, reporters at his event saying that he looked like he was campaigning for president himself. He had really warmed to that role of being in the spotlight.”
“What utter irony, though, that this comes on the day that President some rich asshole announces he is going to Davos, and it is fully over. It is dead. Steve Bannon is dead,” she pronounced as the whole panel burst into laughter.
You can watch the video below via MSNBC:
Sarah Sanders snaps at Jim Acosta over immigration deal questions: ‘I’m not negotiating with you, next question’
CNN's Jim Acosta (left) and White House Press Sec. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (right). Image via screengrab.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
After President some rich asshole’s bipartisan “bill of love” meeting with Democrats to discuss the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy and his border wall left reporters confused about where exactly he stood, the White House press secretary got testy when asked for clarification.
“Just to be clear on this: does the president want a wall in exchange for giving the Dreamers protection?” CNN’s Jim Acosta asked press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
“The president wants border security,” she responded.
“OK, so what does border security entail?” He asked. “Does it include the wall at this stage or could the wall wait until later?”
After a back-and-forth between the CNN reporter and press secretary that appeared to leave neither side satisfied, Sanders snapped.
“If [Democrats] say ‘thanks but no thanks’ to the wall —” Acosta began, but was cut off.
“Jim, I’m not negotiating this with you,” Sanders replied before taking another reporter’s question. “I’ll let Congress take care of that.”
Watch below, via CNN:
WATCH: Democrat trashes the rich asshole’s wall to his face during White House meeting
some rich asshole (Screenshot)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas on Tuesday sparred with President some rich asshole over his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I always get a kick out of people that go down and spend a few hours [at the border] and think they know the border better than some of us there,” Cuellar told the rich asshole at a White House meeting of Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
Citing data from the DEA, Cuellar said most illegal drugs were coming in through American ports — not across the land border. And he noted that a large percentage of undocumented immigrants are the result of overstayed visas.
“You can put the most beautiful wall out there and it’s not going to stop them,” Cuellar remarked.
“The other thing that we’ve got to look at, the wall itself, talk to your Border Patrol chief or the former Border Patrol chief, I’ve asked them, how much time does a wall buy you? It will save a couple minutes or a few seconds. Our own border patrol chiefs have said that.”
Watch video below:
Internal the rich asshole campaign source tipped off FBI about Russia collusion, according to Senate testimony
US President some rich asshole speaks during a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader at the presidential palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on May 23, 2017 (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
A U.S. Democratic senator on Tuesday released testimony from the founder of the Fusion GPS firm that during the 2016 presidential election campaign researched some rich asshole’s ties to Russia and produced a dossier that has been denounced by the White House.
The Washington research firm has been under attack by the White House and Republican lawmakers over the dossier, which is central to investigations in Congress and by a federal special counsel into allegations that Russia interfered in the election to help the rich asshole win, and any potential collusion by the rich asshole campaign.
“The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice,” said Dianne Feinstein, who is the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“The only way to set the record straight is to make the transcript public,” she said in a statement.
Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, who previously worked as a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, had asked that a transcript of his 10 hours of testimony in August before Judiciary Committee staff be made public, Feinstein said.
The congressional panel is one of three investigating the Russia matter. Russia has denied allegations of election meddling and the rich asshole denies any collusion by his campaign with Moscow.
Feinstein released the testimony after the panel’s Republican chairman, Charles Grassley, called on Friday for a criminal investigation into former British spy Christopher Steele. Steele was working for Fusion GPS when he compiled a “dossier” of allegations of financial and personal links between the rich asshole, his advisers and Russia.
Although several news organizations, including Reuters, were briefed on Steele’s dossier before the November 2016 election, most decided not to report on the material because its inflammatory and sometimes salacious content could not be verified.
In the testimony, Simpson said the Steele dossier was taken seriously by the FBI because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources.
Steele met with an FBI official in Rome to discuss his findings and reported back on their exchange, Simpson told the committee.
“Essentially what he told me was they had other intelligence about this matter from an internal the rich asshole campaign source,” Simpson said.
“My understanding was that they believed Chris at this point – that they believed Chris’s (Steele’s) information might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing and one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the rich asshole organization,” Simpson said.
‘BOGUS’ DOSSIER
Republicans have sought to attack the credibility of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling in part by raising concerns about the Steele dossier.
They have, for instance, questioned whether the FBI paid for it and also repeatedly sought to find out if it was used by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies as the basis to obtain a surveillance warrant from the special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, in order to spy on the rich asshole associates during the campaign.
President the rich asshole, for his part, has repeatedly slammed the dossier on Twitter and called it “bogus.”
Grassley’s office slammed Feinstein for releasing the testimony, saying it came as the panel was still trying to secure testimony from other witnesses, including the rich asshole’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
“Her action undermines the integrity of the committee’s oversight work and jeopardizes its ability to secure candid voluntary testimony,” said Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy.
“Fusion GPS commends Sen. Feinstein for her courage,” the research firm said in a statement.
Simpson and Fusion co-founder Peter Fritsch had urged the committee’s Republican leaders to release transcripts of their testimony in a New York Times opinion piece last Tuesday entitled “The Republicans’ Fake Investigations.”
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Doina Chiacu, Mark Hosenball, and John Walcott; Editing by Susan Thomas and Frances Kerry)
Sarah Sanders refuses to address explosive the rich asshole-Russia dossier transcript during White House briefing
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Screenshot)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to comment on an explosive congressional transcript that was leaked on Thursday.
Shortly before the briefing started, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) released the full transcript of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the controversial the rich asshole-Russia dossier.
“I haven’t any conversations with anyone specific to that,” Sanders said when asked about it.
Sanders also said the White House would not comment on reports that the rich asshole could be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“The White House is not going to comment on communications with the special counsel out of respect for the special counsel and its process.”
Watch the video below:
Explosive Fusion GPS testimony details the rich asshole’s alleged ties to international money laundering operations
Felix Sater and some rich asshole, screengrab from BBC Panorama
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) released the full transcript of testimony that Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee — and it contains explosive allegations that President some rich asshole has direct ties to international money laundering operations.
During his testimony, Simpson detailed ways that money had been stolen from a bank in Kazakhstan, then laundered throughout multiple countries — before possibly being funneled in part to the rich asshole Soho hotel project.
At the center of the ordeal appears to be Felix Sater, a rich asshole-linked Russian-born businessman who in 1998 pleaded guilty to taking part in a mafia-related stock fraud scheme, and who is now cooperating with an international investigation into an alleged money laundering network.
“So there was a civil case, at least one civil case in New York involving — filed by the city of Almaty… against some alleged Kazakh money launderers,” Simpson testified. “I don’t remember exactly how, but we learned that — it wasn’t from Chris. We learned that Felix Sater had some connections with these people, and it’s been more recently in the media that he’s helping the government of Kazakhstan to recover this money. There’s been media reports that the money went into the rich asshole Soho or it went into the company that built the rich asshole Soho.”
Sater’s financial relationship with the rich asshole dates back to at least 2003, when the rich asshole Organization rented out office space to Sater’s former company.
Even though the rich asshole initially tried to distance himself from Sater after news of his criminal past came to light in 2007, he subsequently tapped Sater in 2010 to scout out real estate. Additionally, Sater presented clients with business cards that claimed he was a senior adviser to the rich asshole, and his office was on the same floor as the rich asshole’s office in the rich asshole Tower.
Sater wasn’t the only figure with ties to organized crime that Simpson found working with the rich asshole, either. As he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, as he also discussed another man involved in the rich asshole Soho project by the name of Arif Tevfik, who according to Simpson is “an organized crime figure from Central Asia and he had an arrest for involvement in child prostitution.”
Dem senator drops bomb on GOP by releasing Russia dossier transcript they tried to hide
JANUARY 9, 2018
Sen. Dianne Feinstein called the GOP's bluff and released crucial information about the rich asshole dossier.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein called the GOP's bluff and released crucial information about the rich asshole dossier.
In a surprising move that defied foot-dragging Republicans in Congress, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein released a crucial set of transcripts that have become the target of a protracted battle in connection with the ongoing Russia investigation.
On Tuesday afternoon, Feinstein released nearly 400 pages of testimony transcripts from Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS, who previously testified in private before members of Congress. Fusion GPS is the private research firm that assembled the now famous dossier on the rich asshole.
Specifically, Fusion hired former British spy Christopher Steele in 2016 to assemble the widely confirmed intelligence document that detailed the rich asshole’s many shocking connections with Russian business operatives over the years, as well as the Kremlin’s attempt to get him elected president. The document also raised concerns about the threat of the rich asshole being blackmailed by Russian operatives who have so much compromising information about him.
Republicans, busy trying to create political cover for the White House, have waged war on the dossier and on Fusion GPS in recent months.
Many in the GOP seem convinced that if they can raise doubts about its legitimacy and how the dossier was used (or not used) by the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, they will somehow be able to taint the entire probe into the rich asshole’s past.
Specifically, Republicans are trying to prove that it was the dossier that prompted the entire Russian investigation by the FBI in 2016.
But the just-released transcripts debunk that:
Last week, in a defense of their work published in The New York Times, Simpson and his colleague Peter Fritsch pushed back against the GOP witch hunt. They demanded that the transcripts from their Congressional testimony be released to the public in order to clear up the misinformation Republicans are spreading about the company and about Steele.
With no signs of GOP action on that front, Feinstein made the move herself on Tuesday.
“The American people deserve the opportunity to see what he said and judge for themselves,” Feinstein said in a statement. “The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice. The only way to set the record straight is to make the transcript public.”
The transcript “illustrates the credibility of Christopher Steele,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told CNN on Tuesday. The congressman stressed Steele’s “impeccable credentials.”
Last week, two Republican senators, Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham, wrote to the Department of Justice, demanding that a criminal prosecution be undertaken to target Steele for allegedly lying to FBI investigators.
It was noteworthy that they did not provide the DOJ any information about Steele that investigators did not already have. Meaning, if the FBI thought there was any wrongdoing, it would have acted on that long ago.
The newly released transcripts could go a long way towards debunking all kinds of GOP misinformation. Feinstein made the right move on behalf of the American people.
‘Fired again!’: Internet celebrates after ‘bad hombre’ Steve Bannon’s Breitbart exit
Breitbart executive Steve Bannon wearing a "Guy Fawkes/Anonymous" mask on his head. Image via Twitter.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
The moment news broke that former White House adviser Steve Bannon had resigned from his executive position at Breitbart News amid his feud with President some rich asshole, Twitter predictably launched into a fury of schadenfreude and jeers.
“Bad hombre deported from Breitbart,” Republican operative and CNN commentator Ana Navarro tweeted in celebration, mocking the rich asshole’s rhetoric.
“Forget ‘drain the swamp,'” former Barack Obama staffer Greg Pinelo tweeted. “Getting rid of Bannon is more like draining an abscess.”
Check out the best tweets below.
Bannon has left Breitbart and allegedly lost the backing of the Mercers.
What to watch out for: Bannon playing down his long history as a white supremacist propagandist and Trump lackey and attempting to reinvent himself as a good-faith anti-Trump populist.
Don't fall for it. twitter.com/AP/status/9508…
Michael Wolff explains why the rich asshole relies on Fox News: ‘He doesn’t read and he doesn’t listen’ unless it’s on TV
Michael Wolff (MSNBC)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
President some rich asshole has access to some of the world’s most highly classified information — yet his tweets suggest he still gets most of his news from “Fox & Friends.”
Michael Wolff, who spent weeks in the White House researching his book Fire and Fury, said the rich asshole’s staffers struggle daily to distract him from the television long enough to engage him with crucial information he needs to perform his duties as president.
“One of the crises of this administration is, how do you get information to this man?” Wolff told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “Because not only does he not read, and this is at a level, certainly, we have never seen before in the White House, of someone who just won’t consume written information, language — doesn’t want it.”
“But that’s not the only problem,” Wolff continued. “The other problem is that he doesn’t listen. So the man doesn’t read information and won’t listen to the information that you give him, so literally how do you communicate? How do you convince him of anything? How do you make him understand the facts that he needs to know in order to do his job? I would say nobody has yet successfully answered that question.”
Steve Bannon steps down as head of Breitbart News
Steve Bannon speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
some rich asshole’s onetime chief White House strategist Steve Bannon is stepping down from Breitbart News where he served as executive chairman, the New York Times reports.
The news comes following a media maelstrom after journalist Michael Wolff released excerpts of his new book Fire and Fury last week. In the book, Bannon is quoted heaping criticism on the president and members of his family. the rich asshole responded to Bannon’s remarks by telling reporters when his former top aide lost his role in the White House, he also “lost his mind.”
Last week, the billionaire GOP Mercer family publicly severed ties with Bannon. That news came amid reports the GOP donors have been privately speaking with Peter Thiel, who is mulling the creation of a conservative news network to rival Fox News. Despite disavowing Bannon, Rebekah Mercer maintained her minority stake in Breitbart news, which she’d previously purchased from her father, Robert Mercer.
In a statement, Bannon said he is “proud of what the Breitbart team has accomplished in so short a period of time in building out a world-class news platform.”
Here’s why the rich asshole’s trying to avoid Mueller: He once lied 30 times under oath in 2 days
JANUARY 9, 2018
Pathological liars like the rich asshole can't stop, even when they're answering questions under oath. That's why his attorneys are freaking out.
some rich asshole’s attorneys face a major, looming problem as 2018 unfolds and special counsel Robert Mueller is angling for a sit-down to grill him on the Russia investigation.
The conundrum is there’s little chance the rich asshole will be able to avoid the in-person questioning, despite hopes from his nervous attorneys that the rich asshole could essentially mail his answers in. (That’s not going to happen.)
Faced with the certainty that the rich asshole will have to answer hours of questions from federal prosecutors, his attorneys are struggling with the fact that their client is a pathological liar. And if he lies during his interview, the rich asshole could certainly face legal peril.
“Over the course of four hours, the rich asshole will not be able to help himself from lying. He will not be able to help himself from exaggerating,” writes Elie Mystal at Above the Law. “He’d break in front of trained professionals who already know more about his life than he does.”
And if you think the rich asshole wouldn’t be reckless enough to lie to FBI-level prosecutors knowing that would constitute a crime, think again.
the rich asshole already has a long history of lying under oath. In fact, during a two-day deposition in 2007, Dec. 19 and 20, the rich asshole was caught spewing falsehoods 30 separate times.
If he does that while sitting across from Mueller’s investigators, the rich asshole would likely face multiple indictments.
Remember, the rich asshole’s former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos has already pleaded guilty to lying to Mueller’s investigators when he was questioned as part of the Russia investigation.
Back in 2007, the rich asshole sued journalist Tim O’Brien for claiming he wasn’t really worth as much as he publicly insisted. (O’Brien was correct.) As part of the lawsuit, O’Brien’s attorneys spent two days grilling the rich asshole, establishing the fact that he’s not an honest man and his statements should not be believed.
the rich asshole lied about big things and little things. He lied about it all.
As the Washington Post chronicled in 2016:
the rich asshole had misstated sales at his condo buildings. Inflated the price of membership at one of his golf clubs. Overstated the depth of his past debts and the number of his employees.
That deposition — 170 transcribed pages — offers extraordinary insights into the rich asshole’s relationship with the truth. the rich asshole’s falsehoods were unstrategic — needless, highly specific, easy to disprove. When caught, the rich asshole sometimes blamed others for the error or explained that the untrue thing really was true, in his mind, because he saw the situation more positively than others did.
Meanwhile, there’s no indication the rich asshole has let up in recent years in terms of lying under oath.
During a 2016 deposition the rich asshole denied he had ever claimed Hillary Clinton would be a great vice president or president, even though he had previously written, “I know Hillary, and I think she would make a great president or vice president.”
Pathological liars like the rich asshole can’t turn the truth on and off; it’s always in the off position. And that’s why his attorneys are sweating the rich asshole’s looming encounter with Mueller.
Fusion GPS attorney drops bombshell: ‘Somebody’s already been killed as a result of this dossier’
Christopher Steele (Telegraph)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
At least one person has been killed as a result of the rich asshole-Russia dossier, according to congressional testimony.
Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August that he could not describe what steps his firm and the dossier’s author had taken to verify the credibility of their sources.
The firm’s attorney, Joshua Levy, explained to lawmakers why Simpson was reluctant to reveal much about their sources or methods.
“It’s a voluntary interview, and in addition to that he wants to be very careful to protect his sources,” Levy told the panel. “Somebody’s already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier and no harm should come to anybody related to this honest work.”
the rich asshole’s attempt to prove stability backfires as GOP has to explain his own position to him
JANUARY 9, 2018
the rich asshole held an extended photo op to prove just how "stable" it is. It ended up making him look worse.
some rich asshole has been making a lot of noise about his mental stability and fitness for office, but he had to have his fellow Republicans explain his immigration policy to him.
The embarrassing moment during a meeting on immigration with congressional leaders of both parties reignited concerns that the rich asshole is in some form of a mental downward spiral.
the rich asshole was asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) if he would support a “clean bill” to renew the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA, which he revoked last year, without tying it to comprehensive immigration reform.
the rich asshole responded, “We’re gonna do DACA and then we can start immediately on the phase 2, which would be comprehensive.”
That wasn’t what he was supposed to say. It isn’t the GOP position, nor is it his administration’s position — he has demanded funding for his absurd border wall as part of any deal on DACA — and his fellow Republicans had to rush in and put him back on course.
“You need to be clear here,” instructed Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, adding “you have to have security” as part of an immigration bill.
Immediately, the rich asshole responded, “I think that’s what she’s saying.”
That wasn’t what Feinstein was saying, but the rich asshole was clearly trying to cover for his failure.
The room erupted in a cacophony of noise as both Democrats and Republicans rushed to explain and make clear to the rich asshole that he had gotten everything wrong.
RICH ASSHOLE: We’re gonna do DACA and then we can start immediately on the phase 2, which would be comprehensive. Yeah, I would like that. I think a lot of people would like to see that. But I think we have to do DACA first.McCARTHY: Mr. President, you need to be clear, though. I think what Sen. Feinstein’s asking here, when we talk about just DACA — we don’t want to be back here two years later. We have to have security, as the secretary would tell you.
Democrats do not want the fate of 800,000 young immigrants and their families to continue hanging in the air. Republicans favor tying these people in with their party’s restrictive approach toward immigration.
the rich asshole’s obvious lack of understanding of his own policy and of Feinstein’s straightforward question demonstrated why so many people are so worried about his presidency and his mental fitness.
He doesn’t grasp the enormous issues at stake or the millions of lives his policies affect. the rich asshole is out of his depth in the most important job in the world, and once again it is on display for every American — and in fact, every person around the world.
Christopher Steele alerted FBI to dossier because he worried the rich asshole was being blackmailed
some rich asshole speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 18, 2016 (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
A former British spy handed over his research dossier to the FBI in July 2016 because he feared the Republican Party was about to nominate a candidate who was being blackmailed.
Christopher Steele had been hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS to look into some rich asshole’s background, and what he found so alarmed him that he alerted U.S. law enforcement.
“He thought from his perspective there was an issue — a security issue about whether a presidential candidate was being blackmailed,” said Glenn Simpson, head of Fusion GPS.
Simpson testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Aug. 22, but Democrats and Republicans have wrangled over whether transcripts should be released.
Fusion GPS and its lawyers have called for their release, but the GOP majority resisted — until Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) leaked the lengthy transcript Tuesday.
Republicans have claimed the dossier, which was partially funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, formed the basis of an FBI investigation launched in July 2016.
But the New York Times reported earlier this month the investigation was prompted after campaign adviser George Papadopolous boasted over wine to an Australian ambassador about his contacts with the Russian government.
Watch: CNN reporter nails senior the rich asshole official for absurd “transparency” claim
JANUARY 9, 2018
More of this, please!
While some journalists have taken to deferring to some rich asshole and his administration, CNN’s Brianna Keilar showed how it’s done when she hammered a senior the rich asshole press official who refused to answer her simple question.
the rich asshole’s lawyers are desperately trying to shield him from special counsel Robert Mueller’s questioning, despite the fact that the rich asshole told reporters at a press conference in June that he was “one hundred percent” willing to speak under oath to Mueller.
On Tuesday morning, Keilar concluded her interview with White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp by asking whether the rich asshole would allow his interview with Mueller to be recorded.
Schlapp evaded the question three separate times, each time claiming that the rich asshole administration has been “open and transparent” about the investigation.
That irony was not lost on Keilar, who finally forced a response from Schlapp:
KEILAR: Are you expecting this is going to be an interview that’s recorded?
SCHLAPP: I will tell you that the White House has been transparent during these investigations, we continue to cooperate with the special counsel.
KEILAR: Is the president open to that level of transparency? He’s been —
SCHLAPP: Again we have — we have been open and transparent in cooperating with the special counsel.
KEILAR: But is he open to it being recorded?
SCHLAPP: To my knowledge, at this point is that we are — we have been transparent on this issue and we are going to continue to cooperate in Russia — in this investigation.
KEILAR: Okay, but I don’t understand. You’re saying “We’re being transparent” but I’m not really getting a transparent answer from you. I guess I don’t understand, is it going to be — is he open to it being recorded? I mean, the transparent answer —
SCHLAPP: I have not talked to him about this issue. I do not have an answer for you.
Even Schlapp’s eventual response was a dodge, since she doesn’t need to have spoken with the rich asshole in order to know whether he and his legal team are willing to be recorded. Her one job was to avoid a bad headline like “the rich asshole refuses to be recorded,” but thanks to Keilar, Schlapp succeeded only in highlighting this administration’s lack of transparency.
the rich asshole may not have any choice in the end. Former FBI Director James Comey testified to Congress that he took detailed notes of his meetings with the rich asshole because he suspected that the rich asshole might later lie about their conversations.
And the way the rich asshole’s surrogates have been attacking and obstructing Mueller, recording the interview is absolutely warranted.
‘He’s sunk’: Michael Wolff says White House aides terrified of Mueller looking at the rich asshole’s finances
Michael Wolff on CNBC (Photo: Screen capture
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
The investigation into Russian collusion with President some rich asshole’s campaign might end up taking out the president and his family due to possibly illegal financial activities, according to biographer Michael Wolff.
In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Wolff said that the rich asshole’s own staff and officials don’t think that he colluded with Russia, but they’re concerned about whether special counsel Robert Mueller will look into the rich asshole’s business dealings and investments.
“People don’t think in the White House — don’t think that he colluded with Russia. … They do think that if the investigation goes near his finances, he’s sunk. Everybody, again, to a man,” Wolff said in a “Squawk Box” interview.
Mueller has begun the process of reaching out to the president’s attorneys and negotiating the scope of an interview. The move is something his lawyers were attempting to avoid entirely.
the rich asshole has repeated over and over again that there “was no collusion,” but financial records could reveal a different story. The president has been cooperating with the Mueller investigation, but he said that if the special counsel looked into his finances that it would “cross a red line.”
For those criticizing Wolff’s book, the author explained that he is confident of the book’s accuracy. The recordings he said that he compiled will back up the quotes.
“People who are denying they spoke to me, I do have them on tape, but I made a deal with them there,” he said.
Watch the interview below:
No comments:
Post a Comment