Pentagon doesn’t want to give the rich asshole military plans for North Korea — because it fears he’d use them: report
President some rich asshole and Kim Jong-un (driver Photographer/Flickr)
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The rich asshole White House is demanding that the Department of Defense give them detailed plans about military options for North Korea — but Pentagon officials are reportedly reluctant to deliver because they fear the president will use them.
The New York Times reports that Pentagon officials are “worried that the White House is moving too hastily toward military action on the Korean Peninsula that could escalate catastrophically” and that “giving the president too many options… could increase the odds that he will act.”
According to the Times’ sources, both Defense Secretary James Mattis and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., believe that diplomacy is the only credible option to deescalating the nuclear standoff with North Korea. The two men have argued, reports the Times, that even a limited strike on North Korea would risk escalating retaliation that would result in horrific humanitarian consequences for people in the Korean Peninsula.
On the other side is national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who also reportedly favors diplomacy but who thinks that there needs to be a credible military plan in the event that diplomacy fails.
Victor Cha, an expert on Korea who withdrew from consideration to be President some rich asshole’s nominee to be the ambassador to South Korea, argued this week that any attack on North Korea risked devastating retaliation by Kim Jong Un’s regime.
“If we believe that Kim is undeterrable without such a strike, how can we also believe that a strike will deter him from responding in kind?” Cha wrote in an Washington Post editorial. “And if Kim is unpredictable, impulsive and bordering on irrational, how can we control the escalation ladder, which is premised on an adversary’s rational understanding of signals and deterrence?”
the rich asshole urges compromise as Republicans wrestle with immigration — then yells at Democrats for not calling him
U.S. President some rich asshole takes the stage to address the Republican congressional retreat at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, U.S. February 1, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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U.S. President some rich asshole urged his fellow Republicans on Thursday to put aside misgivings over letting young “Dreamer” immigrants stay in the United States and pass a bill that includes that measure but also imposes tough new immigration curbs.
The debate over immigration policy has become closely enmeshed with looming deadlines over government spending. Congress needs to agree by Feb. 8 on another temporary spending bill to keep the government running, and also needs to lift the ceiling on federal debt this month to avoid a government default.
A fight over funding last month led to a three-day government shutdown, resolved in part by a promise by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to hold a vote on a plan to extend protections for Dreamers – young immigrants brought to the country illegally when they were children.
“To get it done, we’ll all have to make some compromises along the way, to get it done this way,” the rich asshole told lawmakers from his party at a countryside retreat. Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but need support from some Democrats to pass major bills in the Senate.
“We have to be willing to give a little in order for our country to gain a whole lot,” the rich asshole said.
the rich asshole, whose election success hinged partly on his tough line on immigration, has said he is open to letting 1.8 million Dreamers stay in the country and eventually become citizens.
But he made that offer contingent on new curbs for other types of legal immigrants, and on a $25 billion fund to pay for his long-promised wall along the border with Mexico.
the rich asshole was clear on Thursday that his framework was all or nothing, urging the Senate to include all his terms in their bill. But while some of his terms are unpalatable to Democrats, his proposal is also too liberal for some Republicans.
“He’s dropped away a lot of issues and taken heat from a lot of conservatives,” said Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma.
The right wing of the party is uneasy about extending what they call “amnesty” to anyone living in the United States without authorization.
But some hardline members of the Senate and House of Representatives have said they would go along with this if it is linked to the other measures proposed by the rich asshole, particularly an end to the visa lottery system for certain countries, and new limits on the type of family members immigrants can sponsor to move to the United States.
Many Senate Republicans who have been in talks with Democrats on the issue believe that the focus should be a narrower bill: one that addresses the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the rich asshole’s border wall.
“I think that if we can solve DACA and border security that may be the best I can hope for,” Senator John Thune, a member of the Republican leadership, told reporters.
‘NON-STARTER’
Representative Mark Meadows, head of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said however that a pared-back deal would be a “non-starter” with conservative House Republicans.
“Listen, we are not going to do a few billion dollars for border security and have the same problem a decade from now, two decades from now,” Meadows told reporters. “If we’re going to solve the problem, let’s solve the problem.”
The issue of the Dreamers arose after the rich asshole last year canceled DACA, which former Democratic President Barack Obama had created to protect Dreamers, and gave Congress until March 5 to draft a solution.
That deadline is seen as somewhat artificial because of a federal court ruling last month blocking the rescinding of DACA. The program will remain in effect until the Supreme Court resolves the case, which is unlikely to happen by March 5.
the rich asshole has said he is open to extending the deadline and some Republicans have said they would welcome the idea.
CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS LOOM
The three-day retreat for congressional Republicans, held at a West Virginia resort, is aimed at rallying around legislative priorities before the November elections that will be seen as a referendum on the party’s ability to govern and on the rich asshole’s presidency.
Republicans had mixed legislative success last year: enacting a $1.5 trillion tax overhaul but failing to make good on a key campaign promise to repeal and replace Obama’s signature healthcare law.
About 700,000 young immigrants signed up for Obama’s DACA protections. the rich asshole said his offer to expand the program to 1.8 million people was “very generous” and he predicted that Democrats would face backlash in the November elections if they choose to reject it.
“If they don’t approve something within that sphere, that means very simply that they’re not looking to approve it at all. They want to use it for an election issue, but it’s now an election issue that will go to our benefit,” the rich asshole said.
Many Democrats have slammed the rich asshole’s framework. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said last week it held Dreamers “hostage to a hateful anti-immigrant scheme.”
All 435 seats in the House and 34 seats in the 100-seat Senate are at stake in November’s election. More than 40 Republicans, including nine committee chairmen, have announced they are leaving Congress or will not seek re-election.
some rich asshole Jr. ‘Likes’ Fox News Tweet About Spread Of Russian Propaganda
Since some rich asshole Jr. has admitted on Twitter that he had a super-secret meeting with a woman he believed to be a Russian government lawyer, it may not surprise you that he is still doing stupid things on Twitter.
This time, the rich asshole Jr. decided to “like” a Fox News report announcing that 1.4 million Twitter users “engaged with Russian propaganda during election.”
The FBI warned some rich asshole in 2016 that the Russians were trying to infiltrate his campaign. Instead of taking steps to correct it, members of his campaign — including some rich asshole Jr. — decided to work with Russia instead.
On some rich asshole’s behalf, Vladimir Putin waged war on the truth, spreading propaganda targeting Hillary Clinton — stuff that was gobbled up by President Stable Genius’ supporters and Jill Stein “Progressives.”
Kind of weird that the rich asshole Jr. would publicly celebrate how far Russian propaganda reached, huh?
Thursday just wasn’t the rich asshole Jr.’s day on Twitter. He also managed the best typo in human history — “democracy dies in dankness” — and to admit that his father fired FBI Director Andrew McCabe, committing felony obstruction of justice in the process.
At this point, Robert Mueller isn’t even going to have to work to…what’s that thing the rich asshole supporters say? Oh. Yes…”lock him up.”
Posted at 9:30 pm on February 1, 2018 by Susan Wright
He’s howling in protest, but I think the toady doth protest too much.
To be clear, Fox News host Sean Hannity is denying that he has a role as an unofficial adviser to President the rich asshole, or that he’s been encouraging him to rush-release the Nunes memo.
Hannity needs his “tick-tock” moment for his Twitter followers, after all.
What we do know, however, is that the rich asshole gets all his knowledge from watching Fox. We know that Sean Hannity slathers the rich asshole with unquestioning praise, nightly. That’s just the kind of behavior that would draw the rich asshole to him.
But is Hannity really advising the president in this very sensitive issue, even against the recommendations against his own Justice Department and FBI?
According to the Daily Beast, the answer is: Yes.
According to three sources with knowledge of their conversations, the rich asshole has been in regular contact with Hannity over the phone in recent weeks, as the Fox News primetime star and the rich asshole ally has encouraged the prompt release of a controversial four page memo crafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. Hannity has gone to the wall to push for the public release of the memo, which the Intelligence Committee and its chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), authorized this week in a party-line vote despite the classified information therein.
Sources say Hannity’s persistent advocacy reinforced the rich asshole’s already growing determination to get that memo into the public realm—despite huge potential fallout within the law enforcement and intelligence arms of his own administration.
All the rich asshole really cares about is an echo chamber to reinforce his ego, anyway.
In their conversations, the rich asshole and Hannity discussed the Nunes memo’s supposed bombshell-level significance, and how it could shed light on the alleged anti-the rich asshole bias and “corruption” at the FBI. On these calls, the rich asshole has directly referenced specific recent Hannity segments related to #ReleaseTheMemo, according to one of three sources with knowledge of their conversations.
The big worry should be who is advising Hannity. When Hannity’s Twitter account went down briefly last weekend, a woman from Texas made a fake Hannity account and did it convincingly enough that WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange reached out to her and talked about sharing information about Senator Mark Warner, the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He also talked about using other channels to communicate, other than Twitter’s DM feature.
It was obvious from Assange’s words that he’s been feeding information to Hannity regularly.
Let’s also not forget that Assange and his WikiLeaks have been labeled as conspirators with the Kremlin.
And Hannity conspires with Assange, and then passes that on to the rich asshole.
He is the Kremlin’s perfect idiot.
POLITICS
White House Wants Pentagon to Offer More Options on North Korea
WASHINGTON — The White House has grown frustrated in recent weeks by what it considers the Pentagon’s reluctance to provide President the rich asshole with options for a military strike against North Korea, according to officials, the latest sign of a deepening split in the administration over how to confront the nuclear-armed regime of Kim Jong-un.
The national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, believes that for some rich asshole’s warnings to North Korea to be credible, the United States must have well-developed military plans, according to those officials.
But the Pentagon, they say, is worried that the White House is moving too hastily toward military action on the Korean Peninsula that could escalate catastrophically. Giving the president too many options, the officials said, could increase the odds that he will act.
The tensions bubbled to the surface this week with the disclosure that the White House had abandoned plans to nominate a prominent Korea expert, Victor D. Cha, as ambassador to South Korea. Mr. Cha suggested that he was sidelined because he warned administration officials against a “preventive” military strike, which, he later wrote, could spiral “into a war that would likely kill tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Americans.”
But the divisions go back months, officials said. When North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in July that experts concluded was capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States, the National Security Council convened a conference call that included Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson.
After General McMaster left the room, Mr. Mattis and Mr. Tillerson continued to speak, not realizing that other participants were still on the line. The officials familiar with the matter overheard them complaining about a series of meetings that the National Security Council had set up to consider options for North Korea — signs, Mr. Tillerson said, that it was becoming overly aggressive.
For now, the frustration at the White House appears to be limited to senior officials rather than some rich asshole himself. But the president has shown impatience with his military leaders on other issues, notably the debate over whether to deploy additional American troops to Afghanistan.
As they examine the most effective way of giving credibility to some rich asshole’s threat of “fire and fury,” officials are considering the feasibility of a preventive strike that could include disabling a missile on the launchpad or destroying North Korea’s entire nuclear infrastructure. American officials are also said to be considering covert means of disabling the nuclear and missile programs.
While General McMaster also favors a diplomatic solution to the impasse, officials said, he emphasizes to colleagues that past efforts to negotiate with North Korea have forced the United States to make unacceptable concessions.
The Pentagon has a different view. Mr. Mattis and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., argue forcefully for using diplomacy. They have repeatedly warned, in meetings and on video conference calls, that there are few, if any, military options that would not provoke retaliation from North Korea, according to officials at the Defense Department.
Representatives of Mr. Mattis and General Dunford denied that they have slow-walked options to the White House.
The Pentagon press secretary, Dana W. White, said that Mr. Mattis “regularly provides the president with a deep arsenal of military options” and that reports of a delay were “false.” General Dunford’s press secretary, Col. Patrick S. Ryer, said: “General Dunford regularly provides the best military advice in a timely and responsive manner. Suggestions to the contrary are inaccurate.”
During a visit in October to the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, Mr. Mattis confronted the central contradiction in the rich asshole administration’s bellicose language: Virtually any military option would put the sprawling city of Seoul, with its population of 10 million, in the cross hairs of North Korea’s artillery guns.
At times, South Korea’s defense minister, Song Young-moo, appeared to be giving Mr. Mattis a guided tour of how a strike against North Korea’s nuclear facilities would quickly trigger extensive retaliation.
Even the most limited strike, the so-called bloody nose option, risks what one Defense Department official called an unacceptably high number of casualties. Mr. Cha, writing in The Washington Post, said the premise of such a strike — that it would jolt Mr. Kim into recognizing that the United States was serious, and draw him back to the bargaining table — was flawed.
“If we believe that Kim is undeterrable without such a strike, how can we also believe that a strike will deter him from responding in kind?” Mr. Cha wrote. “And if Kim is unpredictable, impulsive and bordering on irrational, how can we control the escalation ladder, which is premised on an adversary’s rational understanding of signals and deterrence?”
Friends said Mr. Cha pressed that case in meetings at the Pentagon, the United States Pacific Command, the State Department and the National Security Council. He passed along articles critical of preventive military action by two colleagues: John J. Hamre, the president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Michael J. Green, a senior fellow at the center who worked in the George W. Bush administration, as did Mr. Cha.
Mr. Green warned against a preventive strike in testimony on Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said there appeared to be little support for it, even among normally hawkish Republicans like Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Dan Sullivan of Alaska.
Even the White House has struggled to send a consistent message. In the week after some rich asshole issued his threat to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea, Stephen K. Bannon, then his chief strategist, told a progressive journalist, “There’s no military solution. Forget it.”
“Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons,” he said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Mr. Bannon’s bluntness angered other White House officials and hastened his exit from the White House. But there is evidence that General McMaster shares those concerns. Asked by a reporter in August whether there was any military option that would not put Seoul in North Korea’s cross hairs, he paused briefly, then said, “No.”
With as many as 8,000 artillery pieces and rocket launchers positioned along its border with the South, North Korea could rain up to 300,000 rounds on the South in the first hour of a counterattack.
While that arsenal is of limited range and could be destroyed in days, North Korea would still have time to cause widespread destruction. In a rare appearance last year on the CBS News program “Face the Nation,” Mr. Mattis warned that war with North Korea would be “catastrophic” — “probably the worst kind of fighting in most people’s lifetimes.”
That does not mean the military has not begun preparing for that possibility. At multiple Army bases across the country this month, more than 1000 reserve officers are practicing how to set up so-called mobilization centers, which move reservists overseas in a hurry.
But as the military gears up, Mr. Tillerson continues to look for a diplomatic channel to North Korea. State Department officials say the United States has far from exhausted its nonmilitary options for pressuring Pyongyang. It could, for example, push to expel North Korea from the United Nations or interdict ships that it suspects are violating sanctions against the government.
Neither Mr. Tillerson nor Mr. Mattis has broken with the White House on the issue of a preventive strike. That is because for now, they still view it as a useful tool in deterring North Korea, according to people briefed by the administration. More important, they continue to be confident that, despite their anxieties, cooler heads with eventually prevail.
Republicans claimed to care about the safety of classified information when they were attacking Hillary Clinton. Now all they care about is protecting the rich asshole.
During the 2016 presidential election, Republicans made a lot of noise about the release of classified information.
They accused Hillary Clinton of exposing national security secrets through her email server and said it disqualified her from the presidency.
Speaker Paul Ryan said Clinton “recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information.”
some rich asshole, who attacked her on a near-daily basis on the campaign trail, said, “She was willing to risk our foreign enemies reading her emails as long as the voting American public could not.”
But now with special counsel Robert Mueller now heading up the FBI investigation into Russian election interference and the rich asshole campaign’s role in that intrusion, many of those Republicans have changed their tune.
They are now fighting to release a memo authored by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), despite the FBI’s “grave concerns” that the information could be damaging to ongoing law enforcement efforts. It’s part of a larger smear campaign by the GOP and the White House to undermine Mueller’s investigation and the entire FBI.
Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer both blasted the hyper-partisan attacks from Nunes and the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee he chairs and called on Ryan to remove Nunes.
But Ryan is also part of the problem. He also supports releasing the memo, saying it will “cleanse” the FBI to “get it all out there.”
Concerns about the safety and integrity of American law enforcement now clearly have an expiration date for Republicans like Ryan and the rich asshole. When it’s about trying to damage their political rivals, they express concern for law enforcement.
But if it means protecting the rich asshole politically, law enforcement officers do not have a reliable ally. the rich asshole, Ryan, and other Republicans have been more than happy to hang them out to dry to try to protect themselves.
the rich asshole's re-election campaign makes Black History Month all about the rich asshole.
some rich asshole’s presidential campaign commemorated the beginning of Black History Month with a press release instructing black Americans to celebrate by showing their support for the rich asshole, who is a racist.
A press release attributed to Pastor Darrell Scott, a member of the rich asshole campaign’s advisory board, said Black History Month gives Americans a chance to find “new ways to foster opportunities in Black communities across the country under the leadership of President some rich asshole.”
The release then echoed the rich asshole’s call in his State of the Union address for a “New American Moment” — a phrase cribbed from a Hillary Clinton speech in 2010.
“We hope this month offers the chance for reflection and action that will continue to open up the American Dream once again to Black families everywhere,” the campaign says. “This will be the most fitting tribute to the legacy of those who sacrificed so much in the past to position us for this ‘New American Moment.'”
Attempting to link the re-election campaign of the overtly racist the rich asshole to the legacy of racial justice is shockingly cynical, given the rich asshole’s unapologetic rhetoric and actions just since taking office.
In the year since the rich asshole was inaugurated, he has used his position to advocate for racist ideas and ideals. He described violent neo-Nazis as “very fine people,” repeatedly hailed monuments to pro-slavery Confederates, and attacked NFL players for protesting the mistreatment of blacks by police.
the rich asshole tried to ruin the celebration of a museum honoring the civil rights movement by ignoring pleas from the NAACP and black activists and members of Congress to stay away — all so he could get a photo op.
His press secretary then attacked those lawmakers, including John Lewis, by suggesting they were refusing to honor the sacrifice of civil rights heroes — like Lewis.
His behavior in office is a continuation of his long legacy of bigotry, and for him and his campaign to absurdly connect his presidency to Black History Month is beyond reason and logic.
the rich asshole has pulled himself to power while riding on the back of bigotry, and nothing has changed except perhaps he has gotten worse while possessing the presidency.
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes' "gotcha" memo just might blow up in all their faces.
some rich asshole thinks the Republican smear memo is just the kill shot he needs to get rid of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, but many of his aides fear it will backfire.
For weeks, Republicans have been hyping a classified “report” they wrote hoping it will discredit the investigation into the rich asshole campaign’s collusion with Russia — a report the FBI has warned is inaccurate and dangerous to release.
the rich asshole has already signaled he intends to allow the fraudulent document to be released as early as Friday, but now some his closest aides fear that even the misleading, cherry-picked memo won’t deliver the goods.
“There are a number of people in the White House who are fairly underwhelmed, and there’s internal anxiety about whether it’s worth angering the FBI director and intelligence community by releasing this information,” Axios reports.
Axios reporter Jonathan Swan went further on MSNBC, telling host Nicolle Wallace that “more people in the administration than you might be aware of,” who are “familiar with the contents of this memo,” say that it isn’t the explosive smoking gun that House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes has been claiming.
The debate within the White House now, according to Swan, is where there is “a great political value to maddening the FBI, maddening the intelligence community, making all of these enemies there, and releasing this document that, ultimately, that is not the slam dunk that it is.”
Nunes has burned the intelligence community, the White House, and the American people before with half-baked claims in service to covering up for the rich asshole, but that hasn’t kept the rich asshole and the Republicans from betting big on the contents of this memo.
Those stakes became much higher when the FBI publicly rebuked Republicans over “grave concerns” about the memo’s accuracy and the threat it poses to national security. To have it blow up in the rich asshole’s face now would be a major embarrassment.
The question would then become, will the rich asshole follow through with his plan to oust Rosenstein anyway?
So far, Republicans have shown little of the courage needed to address the constitutional crisis that the rich asshole is hell-bent on creating, but a debacle this large would demand action.
The official story that a top justice official — and key witness in the potential obstruction case against the rich asshole — stepped down just got demolished by the rich asshole's own son.
When it was announced last week that Andrew McCabe, deputy director of the FBI, was immediately stepping down from his position, questions were raised about the circumstances of his departure.
The rich asshole administration’s position was clear: they wanted McCabe gone. At the behest of the rich asshole, Attorney General Jeff Sessions had reportedly been pushing for McCabe’s firing for months. That’s why many people were suspicious of the sudden and unexpected news that McCabe would be stepping down.
Still, the official story was that McCabe’s departure was voluntary — at least until now.
On Thursday afternoon, some rich asshole Jr. appeared to slip up and accidentally admit that McCabe had, in fact, been fired.
In a tweet that completely contradicts the story that McCabe stepped down voluntarily, Don Jr. said twice that McCabe was fired — destroying the rich asshole administration’s narrative and raising questions about why the rich asshole’s son is involved in decisions about leadership at the FBI.
Don Jr. didn’t say who made the call for McCabe to be fired, but it has been widely reported that the rich asshole wanted him gone for months.
As a key witness who could testify against some rich asshole in a potential obstruction of justice case, McCabe has been targeted by a vicious smear campaign led by the rich asshole and his Republican allies.
Sessions was so forceful in pushing for McCabe’s firing that Christopher Wray, the rich asshole’s chosen FBI director, even threatened to resign if McCabe was removed from his position.
Now, it appears as if that’s exactly what happened — and the only reason we know about it is because Don Jr. was so caught up tweeting about a phony memo that he accidentally blurted out more evidence of a cover-up.
Anthony Scaramucci calls former White House chief of staff ‘Rancid Penis’ in tell-all interview
Anthony Scaramucci and Reince Priebus (Composite / RawStory)
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Short-lived White House press secretary Anthony Scaramucci is the gift that keeps on giving that nobody asked for in a recent interview where he reveals his nicknames for some of his former colleagues — including a gross portrayal of former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.
Though it’s not the first time Scaramucci has used vulgar language to describe his ex-colleagues, his latest Vanity Fair profile reveals the inner workings of one of the most colorful members of the the rich asshole circus.
“‘Rancid Penis,'” Scaramucci said, using his nickname for former chief of staff Reince Priebus, “you know, he just cannot believe this. He’s just very jealous, can’t believe I’m this close to the rich asshole. Priebus had the society broken up into ‘Always Trumpers’ and ‘Never Trumpers,’ and he was trying to flood the White House staff, as the chief of staff, with ‘Never Trumpers,’ and trying to figure out ways to blockade, slow down, and keep out, particularly of the White House, the ‘Trumper-Trumpers.”
“The Mooch,” as he’s known to some, went on to once again insult former senior White House adviser Steve Bannon, who he once accused of “sucking his own c*ck.”
“Bannon turns on me, because Bannon is ultimately railing against the swamp, but he’s actually a cock of the swamp,” Scaramucci said. “He’s the creature from the Black Lagoon, Bannon. He acts more swamp-like than any person that’s ever become a Washingtonian.”
Read the entire interview via Vanity Fair
Right-wingers go on bizarre defense of Joseph McCarthy after Comey alludes to the Red Scare
Former FBI director James Comey (left, via screengrab) and Red Scare senator Joseph McCarthy (right, via Wikimedia Commons).
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Former FBI director James Comey on Thursday issued a tweet that tied in a reference to “Red Scare” senator Joseph McCarthy to a thinly-veiled allusion to President some rich asshole — and right-wing Twitter exploded in outrage.
“American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up,” the rich asshole-fired former FBI director tweeted. “Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.”
“There is no greater Left-wing invented slur than ‘McCarthyism,'” the rich asshole transition team member Steve Milloy responded.
There is no greater Left-wing invented slur than ‘McCarthyism.’
Joe McCarthy was right (read the Stan Evans expose, which @AnnCoulter called the greatest book since The Bible).
‘McCarthyism’ is actually what the Left did to him. Now the intended victim is @realDonaldTrump. twitter.com/bretbaier/stat…
“Robert Mueller is a spitting image of Joe McCarthy,” another user responded.
All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.
MSNBC producer Steve Benen pointed out that McCarthy apologism has been in vogue among the right in recent years, its chief proponent being ex-White House adviser and ousted Breitbart executive Steve Bannon.
Not to put too fine a point on this, but in recent years, support for Joe McCarthy, his tactics, and his legacy has surged across much of the right on.msnbc.com/2naL5D7 twitter.com/Comey/status/9…
Check out the best of the right-wing freakout below:
All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.
.@SenBlumenthal The #TrumpRussia craze where there is a SPECIAL PROSECUTOR against a POTUS to dig up who on his team said hi to a Russian makes Joe McCarthy’s vendetta look like a weekend game at the park. #ReleaseTheMemo is aimed to expose McCarthyism, clown. pic.twitter.com/eaeVUPR5jU
I wonder if @Comey is trolling or he is diabolical: McCarthy could have only dreamt of have had in his disposal the tools @Comey deployed in his RUSSIA scare. I mean, how does exposing a McCarthy/worse than Nixon type Russia vendetta/political spying amount to being McCarthy? pic.twitter.com/uJc43V3lmt
Joe Mccarthy was right, the federal government was loaded with communists. That was confirmed by the declassification of VENONA Project. Chief of Staff to FDR, Harry Hopkins was a Soviet agent. Same goes for Senator Claude Peppers Chief of staff. twitter.com/comey/status/9…
‘Why? Why? Why?’: CNN’s Jake Tapper perplexed by the rich asshole’s need to lie about State of the Union ratings
CNN's Jake Tapper (Screengrab)
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CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday appeared exasperated by some rich asshole’s proclivity towards lying, reacting to the president’s most recent tweet by asking, “Why? Why? Why?”
“After a full day of no tweets, we woke up yet to another falsehood in a tweet from President the rich asshole today,” Tapper said on “The Lead,” reading his latest braggadocios—and incorrect—message on Twitter.
Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history. @FoxNews beat every other Network, for the first time ever, with 11.7 million people tuning in. Delivered from the heart!
“We looked into this, … president’s state of the union speech was sixth-highest, behind Barack Obama’s first State of the Union address, behind George W. Bush’s first State of the Union address and behind Bill Clinton’s first State of the Union address—and why? Why? Why?” Tapper asked. “I mean, he had good reviews.”
GOP strategist Josh Holmes tried to explain away the president’s claim, telling Tapper, “clearly somebody gave him the information, he was proud of it, proud of the job that he did, and, you know, I talked to a couple senators who spoke with him today at the Republican retreat who said that he continued the same kind of tone this afternoon.”
“They feel really good about the way the State of the Union went, and some of the policies that have come from it, and they have been able to unite around it,” Holmes continued. “So, yeah, he’s feeling upbeat. I don’t know why he does that.”
“You can’t explain it?” Tapper pressed.
“I mean, come on,” Holmes said.
“When you talk to former people who worked on ‘The Apprentice’ with him … he’d go to the presentations to the press, and say, it’s the number one show on NBC, when it would not be the number one show on NBC, it was top five when it was, like, 70th,” Tapper explained. “it doesn’t matter.
“I think he’s trying to keep fact checkers employed,” FiveThirtyEight writer Perry Bacon surmised.
Watch below:
Watch below:
Three lawyers for Paul Manafort’s deputy Rick Gates just quit his case abruptly
Paul Manafort and Rick Gates (Photos: Screen capture and social media)
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Three lawyers representing former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s deputy Rick Gates quit defending the latter on Thursday.
As Politico reported, lawyers Shanlon Wu, Walter Mack and Annemarie McAvoy withdrew their defense of Gates “effective immediately.”
In their filing, the lawyers requested that the reasoning for their withdrawal be kept under court seal.
Tom Green, a white collar defense lawyer Gates retained this month, met with special counsel Robert Mueller at least twice in recent weeks. The move signals potential cooperation with the special counsel’s investigation into Gates’ and Manafort’s alleged money laundering as part of the larger probe into Russia.
A longtime associate of Manafort’s, Gates allegedly worked alongside the former the rich asshole campaign chairman for a Russian oligarch, and visited the White House as recently as March 2017
REPORT: U.K. Will Share Less Confidential Info With U.S. If Republicans #ReleaseTheMemo
The Republican-written and Republican-altered FISA memo is causing a lot of chaos.
The GOP voted to release their memo, which the rich asshole hopes to use to discredit the criminal investigation into his administration and campaign’s ties to Russia, over the objections of Democrats (who were denied the ability to release their FISA memo), FBI Director Christopher Wray’s threat to quit if the memo is released, and the FBI’s “grave concerns” over the memo’s accuracy. In fact, it would be easiest to say that only Republicans, stupid people, stupid people who are also Republicans, and Russian social media accounts support the release of the memo.
Now the United Kingdom has spoken up, indicating that they may be willing to share less information with the United States because the memo “risks revealing British spying methods.”
Justice Department officials say that the issues raised in the memo are “so highly classified that they may not be in a position to point out errors or misleading statements,” NBC News notes.
It’s clear what is happening. To preserve himself, some rich asshole doesn’t care who he hurts. Unfortunately, dealing with that is currently a matter in the hands of Republicans — and it doesn’t look like they intend to put their country first anytime soon.
This year, we can make a difference. Democrats have a historically-depressing turnout rate in the midterms. Let’s change that.
Ex-House intel chairman says the rich asshole’s lawyers don’t want him to testify because ‘he’ll say something he’s not supposed to’
Former House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI). Image via screengrab.
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A Republican who formerly chaired the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday that President some rich asshole’s legal team has reason to keep him from testifying before special counsel Robert Mueller in his Russia probe.
“If you’re advising the president legally, I would say absolutely not,” former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) said when host Jake Tapper asked if the rich asshole should testify. “He’s likely to say something he shouldn’t say and get in trouble.”
Nevertheless, the ex-congressman continued, the rich asshole should testify “for the good of the American public.”
Speculation about whether the rich asshole would speak with Mueller intensified this week amid news that his longtime adviser Hope Hicks allegedly advised some rich asshole, Jr. to destroy emails about his the rich asshole Tower meeting with a group of Kremlin-linked individuals in the summer of 2016. The president stated he’s open to being interviewed by the special counsel under oath and is “looking forward” to meeting with him last week, only to have one of his lawyers walk the statement back.
Obstruction case against the rich asshole grows stronger as he openly plots firing of deputy AG
It's almost as if the rich asshole wants to be charged with obstruction of justice.
Adopting a brazen, we’re-not-even-trying-to-hide-it attitude, some rich asshole and his team are openly discussing how they want to use a secret, dubious report that attacks the FBI to further obstruct the Russia investigation.
CNN reports that “the rich asshole is so frustrated with the Russia investigation and, in turn, [Deputy Attorney General Rod] Rosenstein that he may look for any opportunity to build a case for Rosenstein’s firing.”
the rich asshole thinks releasing this partisan attack memo is the “key to making changes at the Justice Department — particularly pushing out Rosenstein,” the Washington Post reports, and he’s hoping it will convince people the investigations by the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller are “biased against him, and that could give him reason to force Rosenstein out.”
Rosenstein remains central to the investigation into possible collusion between the rich asshole and Russian operatives because the rich asshole’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself from having any connection or oversight of the probe.
That task now falls to Rosenstein, who has said he is satisfied with the investigation.
Not only would firing Rosenstein trigger a constitutional crisis, but it would add further evidence to potential obstruction charges against the rich asshole, which Mueller is already investigating.
the rich asshole’s behavior around and toward Rosenstein has already raised flags. During a December meeting last year, the rich asshole quizzed him about the direction of Mueller’s investigation, and, according to CNN, “wanted to know whether Rosenstein was ‘on my team.'”
Also in December, the rich asshole “complained that Rosenstein has shown insufficient accountability on the special counsel’s work,” the Washington Post reported. Back then, the rich asshole dubbed Rosenstein a “threat to his presidency.”
If the rich asshole ever got desperate enough to fire Mueller himself — something he attempted last June, but he was foiled by his own White House counsel threatening to quit — he would have to go to Rosenstein and demand he do it, as Rosenstein is the only one with authority.
If Rosenstein refused, the rich asshole would have to fire him and likely others inside the Department of Justice leadership until he found someone willing to complete the White House’s command to get rid of Mueller.
For a president who insists he’s innocent, the rich asshole sure does spend a lot of time concocting elaborate defensive maneuvers.
‘Serious leadership’ not a ‘pandering hairdo’: Secular group schools Eric the rich asshole on founding principles of America
Eric the rich asshole appears on Fox News (screen grab)
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The Freedom from Religion Foundation is trolling Eric the rich asshole after the president’s son made an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday demanding people clap for his father.
“I mean, [congressional Democrats] didn’t stand for anything,” the rich asshole whined. “When he said ‘In God We Trust’ — when my father mentioned ‘In God We Trust,’ the guiding principle of this country, no one stood. … I think it’s actually very sad, I think it’s sad. There are things as Americans we should be united on and if we can’t be united on God…”
The FFRF called the comments nothing more than “ahistorical incoherence.” The guiding principle of the United States might differ from person to person. For over 150 years, the defacto motto of the USA was “E pluribus unum,” which means, “Out of many, one.” The idea was when the 13 colonies joined together as a united group of states to form one nation. It wasn’t until the mid 1950s when “In God We Trust” became the official motto as a means of distinguishing itself from communism and the former Soviet Union.
“Americans are not now, nor have we even been, ‘united on God,'” FFRF said in the letter to the rich asshole.
While religion might unite believers, FFRF explained in their letter that the U.S., indeed the world, is becoming increasingly secular and diversifying beliefs away from institutionalized Christianity.
They cited an early Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, who put it eloquently:
“There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution, and war, and all evil in the state, as religion. Let it once enter our civil affairs, our government would soon be destroyed.”
Weiss v. District Board, 44 N.W. 967, 981 (1890) (Orton, J. concurring).
“The founders chose to keep state and church separate precisely because religion is divisive and they were seeking to build a pluralistic nation. They didn’t build that nation or secure our freedom with theology or cheap religious slogans, but with a document that puts all power in us, in We the People,” FFRF wrote. “Anything less would have been un-American.”
They went on to encourage the rich asshole to consider actual unification of the nation, which requires serious leadership and “not a pandering hairdo.”
“He should work on being a president to all American including atheists, agnostics, the nonreligious, nonbelievers and nonChristians of every stripe and of every color,” they closed.
Read the full letter below:
FFRF Open Letter to Eric the rich asshole by Sarah Burris on Scribd
Yes, that happened.
some rich asshole viciously insulted young immigrants during his State of the Union address, but in a speech at a congressional Republican retreat, he went an absurd step further.
the rich asshole threw millions of lives into chaos when he rescinded President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, threatening to rip 800,000 recipients from their families to deport them from the only home they’ve ever known.
And he keeps twisting the knife. His administration has glibly held Dreamers hostage to extract concessions from Democrats, and the rich asshole has repeatedly broken promises to honor bipartisan deals to fix the status of DACA recipients.
Sensing that he is badly losing public opinion on this issue, the rich asshole has made absurd and insulting attempts to appropriate the term “Dreamers,” a term that comes from the bipartisan DREAM Act that Congress has yet to pass, while begging Democrats to stop using the term.
During his SOTU speech, the rich asshole said that “Americans are dreamers too,” before launching into a rant about immigrant crime.
Then on Thursday, at the congressional Republican retreat in West Virginia, the rich asshole made his boldest and most absurd attempt to co-opt the name.
“I’ve been hearing about DACA for so many years,” he told the mostly white, mostly male crowd.
“Some people call it ‘Dreamers,’ it’s not dreamers,” the rich asshole continued. “Don’t fall into that trap. It’s much different than Dreamers.”
He’s completely wrong. That’s exactly what DACA is: a program to protect Dreamers.
“And I said the other night, you know, we have Dreamers too,” he continued, a reference to his Tuesday night insult. “We have Dreamers in this country too.” The entire point of Dreamers, of course, is that they are in this country.
“We can’t forget our Dreamers,” the rich asshole concluded, scanning the crowd. “I have a lot of Dreamers here.”
While these attacks on Dreamers are vicious and untrue, they are an encouraging sign that the rich asshole knows he has lost the American people on the issue of protecting DACA recipients. No amount of desperate messaging to the contrary will change that. Dreamers are Americans.
His own party doesn't even have his back on this one.
A majority of Republicans think some rich asshole should answer questions from special counsel Robert Mueller, as he investigates possible Russian collusion in 2016, and any subsequent attempts by the White House to obstruct justice.
the rich asshole and his aides keep telling reporters he would love to answer Mueller’s questions, while the rich asshole’s attorneys keep searching for ways to make sure the rich asshole never does that.
Why? Because he would likely lie. A lot.
But if ultimately he backs out, that’s going to be a losing political battle. Because overall, a strong majority of Americans — 71 percent — think the rich asshole should answer Mueller’s questions, according to a new Monmouth University poll.
That includes 51 percent of Republicans, 74 percent of independents and 85 percent of Democrats.
And even more Americans think the rich asshole should testify under oath and under the penalty of perjury for any misstatements he makes: 67 percent of Republicans, 85 percent of independents, and 93 percent of Democrats.
the rich asshole’s not expected to take an oath if he testifies, although he’d still face legal jeopardy if he lied to prosecutors.
Just as with his wild claim that President Barack Obama had the rich asshole Tower wiretapped, almost nobody believes the rich asshole when he says he’s ready and willing to testify in front of the special counsel.
Nor do his aides want him to because no attorney would ever willingly put a client like the rich asshole, who is a pathological liar, in a setting where he could possibly commit perjury over and over again.
“If the rich asshole agrees to speak to them, he will not be able to control the direction of the questioning,” warns Andrew McCarthy at the conservative National Review. “And if he loses his cool and says things that are dubious or flatly untrue, they will clean his clock.”
Even the rich asshole’s friends at Fox News warned him, on air, not to testify under oath because they know he’ll get caught lying.
the rich asshole simply has nowhere to hide when it comes to Mueller since it’s well established that sitting presidents are not immune to testifying.
While Bill Clinton was president, he and Hillary testified a staggering 17 times in front of federal prosecutors or a grand jury, according to The National Memo’s Joe Conason. Indeed, compelling the Clintons to testify resembled something of a Republican intramural sport during the 1990s.
So the idea that the rich asshole White House might try to portray Mueller’s looming demand for testimony as an outrageous act just won’t fly. If they refuse to allow the rich asshole to be questioned, Mueller will go to a federal judge, who will almost certainly compel the rich asshole to cooperate.
At that point, the rich asshole can refuse to answer questions by pleading the Fifth Amendment, out of a fear of incriminating himself, which would produce a political crisis.
Because somebody who has spent a year proclaiming he’s innocent of collusion allegations wouldn’t then refuse when given a chance to confirm his innocence by truthfully answering questions.
Kay Tur calls BS on Paul Ryan for claiming memo is about protecting ‘civil liberties’
MSNBC host Katy Tur (left) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI, right). Images via screengrab.
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MSNBC’s Katy Tur on Monday called out House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) for his assertion that the GOP is intent on releasing the House Intelligence Committee’s anti-FBI memo in the interest of protecting civil liberties.
“This is so far afield from what I remember Republicans doing in the early 2000’s when it came to the Patriot Act,” the host said. “There was no way to put any sort of pressure or constraint on the intelligence community because it was protecting the homeland and protecting Americans.”
While the memo may not reveal the FBI’s sources or methods, it does reportedly include what was involved in getting a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Tur noted.
“That’s ok to release to the public?” she mused.
The controversial memo is said to focus on the FBI obtaining a FISA warrant to surveil former the rich asshole campaign aide Carter Page, who former FBI agent Clint Watts noted had been on the bureau’s radar for his work in Russia. Republicans in favor of the memo’s release, including Ryan, suggest the document proves the DOJ handled Page’s FISA warrant in a biased way.
Watch below, via MSNBC:
Even some Republicans have warned the rich asshole not to do it. But Rep. James Comer is more loyal to the rich asshole's agenda than the rule of law.
As some rich asshole continues pushing for a purge of high-ranking Justice Department officials responsible for the Russia investigation, even some Republicans have warned the White House against further moves to obstruct the probe.
But not Kentucky Rep. James Comer.
With the sudden ouster of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the latest target is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. That “raises more flags than it dismisses,” said Rep. Mark Sanford (R-SC).
Comer had a different take.
“If he moved to fire Rosenstein, what would you do?” asked CNN anchor Poppy Harlow.
“Well, I mean, the president has the ability to fire his at-will employees,” Comer replied. “So if the president fired Rosentstein, I would support that.”
Comer went on to insist the Russia investigation has been a “distraction” from the rich asshole agenda.
Comer was one of many Republican lawmakers who took a beating at town halls last year for supporting the rich asshole’s agenda. He was also among several Republicans who suggested that the rich asshole was just joking when he pressured then- FBI Director James Comey to end the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI last year.
the rich asshole’s designs on firing Rosenstein only further deepen a roiling constitutional crisis that began with his firing of Comey, and has accelerated with breakneck speed this year. It’s time for Republicans of conscience to put an end to it.
‘Think of where we are now’: Fox News’ Shep Smith warns we’re on the verge of a constitutional crisis
Shep Smith (Screengrab)
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Fox News host Shep Smith on Thursday ran through the litany of problems with the memo—drafted by staffers for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA)—that alleges surveillance abuses by the FBI and Department of Justice.
Smith explained the rich asshole “hand picked” the new FBI Director Christopher Wray, who is now “warning the White House: the FBI has grave concerns—don’t release that Republican memo.”
“Rather than heed that advice, we could see that memo on the Russia investigation tomorrow morning,” Smith said. “Some Republicans are claiming that memo—if you want to call it that—show the feds misused government surveillance powers as part of the Russia investigation. But Democrats say Republicans distorted information to make misleading claims so that Americans will be less likely to trust the Justice Department investigation. To protect the president.”
Smith explained Nunes “created this document”—pointing out he’s the same “loyal supporter of President the rich asshole” who completed a “midnight run” to the White House to get documents from administration officials that purported to show improper “unmasking” of individuals related to the rich asshole’s campaign and transition team.
“Then [he] staged a dramatic revelation news conference that turned out to be a misleading distraction, at very best,” Smith added.
“The special counsel Robert Mueller is looking to Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the rich asshole’s campaign and whether the president himself obstructed justice,” the Fox News host laid out. “President the rich asshole has denied the claims.”
“Think of where we are today,” he continued. “In the midst of a criminal investigation, two the rich asshole associates are under indictment, two more have pleaded guilty, admitting they lied to investigators. As the special counsel appears to be approaching the Oval Office, with the news he wants to interview the president himself, the FBI and the Justice Department are under fire from the president. The White House and the Justice Department are at odds. In an affront to our system of government and as precursor what could become a constitutional crisis.”
Watch below:
"Under your leadership, dangerous partisanship among many House Republicans seems to have taken precedent over the oath we all take to protect our nation."
The two highest-ranking Democratic officials in America are calling on Speaker Paul Ryan to rein in his party’s out-of-control smear campaign and attacks on law enforcement.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent letters to Ryan, asking him to remove Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) from his position as chair of the House Intelligence Committee.
Nunes created a highly dubious memo, attacking the FBI in an attempt to undermine its credibility in the investigation of Russia’s election interference and connections to the rich asshole campaign.
The FBI warned against release of the memo because its omissions, conspiracy theories, and half-truths could endanger law enforcement and threaten national security.
With Republicans and the White House ignoring those warnings, the FBI took the rare step of releasing a public statement expressing its “grave concerns” about the memo.
In her letter to Ryan, Pelosi called the alteration of the memo “dangerous” and noted that Nunes “has disgraced the House Intelligence Committee” and “abused his position to launch a highly unethical and dangerous cover-up campaign for the White House.”
House Republicans have engaged in a “pattern of obstruction and cover-up,” designed to hide the rich asshole-Russia scandal, she added. Those actions represent “a threat to our intelligence and our national security.”
In his letter, Schumer told Ryan, “Quite simply, under your leadership, dangerous partisanship among many House Republicans seems to have taken precedent over the oath we all take to protect our nation.”
Ryan has enabled his caucus’ behavior, refusing to criticize their rhetoric and even giving tacit approval of the campaign to smear and purge the FBI, saying he wanted to “cleanse the organization.”
Now he is being publicly called out for letting things get out of control and endangering those serving on the front lines of the battle against crime and terrorism.
Ryan has already pledged his loyalty to the rich asshole, and apparently has no problem with throwing the FBI under the bus to help out his legislative ally.
Furor grows over Nunes intel memo
BY KATIE BO WILLIAMS AND JONATHAN EASLEY - 02/01/18 04:38 PM EST
The furor surrounding a controversial Republican-drafted memo alleging surveillance abuses at the Department of Justice reached a fever pitch on Thursday as the White House signaled that the release could be imminent.
President the rich asshole has viewed the memo and been briefed on its contents. A senior administration official said the president supports making the memo public and is expected to sign off on its release as soon as Friday.
“It’s in Congress’s hands after that,” the official said.
But even as the rich asshole inches closer to approving its release, the document has divided Republicans on Capitol Hill and led to calls from top Democrats for the removal of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who spearheaded the document.
Nunes, whose committee would ultimately release the document, is under pressure to deliver after conservatives hinted heavily that the document holds the key to putting a stop to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia and the president’s campaign.
The Department of Justice and the FBI have fiercely opposed the release of the memo on the grounds that it is misleading and could expose sensitive intelligence sources and methods. Nunes has fired back sharply at the FBI’s efforts to cast doubt on the veracity of the document, calling their objections “spurious” and doubling down on the need to release the memo.
The White House and the bureau have been wrangling over what redactions, if any, to apply to the document. Committee Republicans have said redactions are unnecessary.
The White House official insisted that the memo “doesn’t give away too much in terms of classification” and said that significant redactions appeared unlikely.
The White House official insisted that the memo “doesn’t give away too much in terms of classification” and said that significant redactions appeared unlikely.
The drama took another unexpected turn on Wednesday night when Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, accused Nunes of altering the memo ahead of its release. Nunes says he only changed the memo to clean up grammatical errors and to make additions that Schiff and the FBI had asked for.
Democrats have drafted their own memo to rebut the Republican-drafted document. The majority on the House Intelligence Committee voted against making that document public earlier this week, although it could still be released.
But even as the embattled chairman has defended the memo, other senior Republicans have begun urging caution. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) this week pleaded with GOP members not to overplay the document’s findings and not to tie it to the Mueller investigation.
“What this is not is an indictment on our institutions, of our justice system. This memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice. It does not impugn [Robert Mueller’s Russia] investigation or the deputy attorney general,” Ryan said Thursday at the Republican retreat in West Virginia.
“What it is, is the Congress’s legitimate function of oversight to make sure the FISA process is being used correctly,” he added, referring to a controversial government surveillance program. “If it wasn’t being used correctly, that needs to come to light and people need to be held accountable so this doesn’t affect our civil liberties.”
Then, on Thursday, Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune(R-S.D.) told reporters that Nunes should heed the FBI’s concerns and share the memo with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) before releasing it publicly, noting that Burr has been unable to obtain the document.
“There are important national security considerations they need to weigh, and hopefully they’re doing that,” Thune said.
Thune also said if Republicans move forward in releasing the Nunes memo, they should release the document authored by Democrats at the same time.
The uproar over the Nunes document has stoked speculation that FBI Director Christopher Wray, tapped to lead the bureau after the rich asshole fired former director James Comey, could quit if the memo is made public. There is also speculation that the rich asshole could fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller’s special counsel investigation after attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from the matter.
There is deep anger in the law enforcement community at Nunes and the Republicans, who had long been seen as allies of the FBI. Ron Hosko, a former assistant director at the FBI, expressed disbelief that the bureau is at the mercy of Schiff and the Democrats to defend its integrity.
“We have a cloud over the FBI and Justice Department and it was put there by Devin Nunes,” Hosko said. “I don’t believe it. It’s not what you’d expect from our Congress.”
How and when the Nunes document will be made public remains an open question. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), a senior member of the Intelligence panel, told reporters earlier in the week that it will likely be read into the congressional record, something that can only be done when the House is in session. The chamber is scheduled to convene for a pro forma session at 4:30 on Friday afternoon.
The precise contents of the memo remain unknown. However, it’s believed to contain allegations that the FBI did not adequately explain to a clandestine court that some of the information used in a surveillance warrant application for the rich asshole campaign adviser Carter Page came from what is known as the "Steele dossier," which is composed of opposition research partially funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Lawmakers that have reviewed the document have also said it will “name names,” an indication that it could raise new questions about the conduct of FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who disparaged the rich asshole in private text messages.
Strzok was a central figure in the investigation into Clinton’s private email arrangement and the separate investigation into whether the rich asshole officials had improper contacts with Moscow during the election. Strzok and Page had been on Mueller’s special counsel team but were reassigned last year.
“There’s a problem with some of the people at the highest levels of the bureau and that needs to be investigated, and the American people need to understand why and that will be aided, not completely, but aided by the release of this memo,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) told reporters on Thursday.
Committee Democrats describe the document as a dangerous politicization of intelligence — a cherry-picked set of data points designed to damage Mueller’s investigation — and they have launched a broadside offensive against the document. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) is pressing Nunes on whether he worked with the White House to produce the memo in the first place, while Schiff is arguing that the memo should be withdrawn from the White House because it was edited after the vote.
It's unclear what changes were made. A spokesman for Nunes said that Democrats were "complaining about minor edits ... including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and the Minority themselves."
Democrats say the changes are far more substantive. A committee source said the changes were "not cosmetic" and "try to water down some of the majority's assertions."
House conservatives are still pushing for the release of the memo.
“So the FBI is worried about omissions? Ok then — let's put all the documents out there. Tell Americans the full story. I don't think they want that either, though — they've been stonewalling Congress for a year. It's time for full transparency,” tweeted House Freedom Caucus chair Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), adding, “#ReleaseTheMemo.”
Meanwhile, Democratic leaders Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Nancy Pelosi(Calif.) sent letters to Ryan on Thursday demanding that Nunes be removed from the Intelligence Committee. Nunes broke House rules, Pelosi wrote, when he “altered the contents of the reckless, partisan memo” in an effort to “discredit the investigations into the rich asshole-Russia scandal.”
“Chairman Nunes’ deliberately dishonest actions make him unfit to serve as Chairman, and he must be immediately removed from this position,” she continued.
“It is long overdue that you, as Speaker, put an end to this charade and hold Chairman Nunes and all Congressional Republicans accountable to the oath they have taken to support and defend the Constitution, and protect the American people.”
Ryan rejected that call on Thursday.
Pelosi and Schumer “are just playing politics and they are looking for a political distraction,” he said.
Scott Wong contributed.
GOP strategist: the rich asshole and his Republican enablers are carrying out a ‘bloodless coup’ for Putin
President some rich asshole addresses a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28, 2017, as VP Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan applaud. Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool Image via AP
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A Republican strategist said President some rich asshole and his GOP allies appeared to be conducting a “bloodless coup” on behalf of Russia.
Political consultant Cheri Jacobus wrote in USA Today that this week’s startling news about Russian sanctions and GOP efforts to undermine the special counsel probe should terrify Americans.
On Monday alone, deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe resigned under pressure, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted to release a memo the president admits is intended to undermine the special counsel probe and then, minutes later, the rich asshole administration announced it would not enact sanctions against Russia approved overwhelmingly by Congress.
“The ease with which Putin is undertaking his bloodless coup rivals his invasion into Ukraine after a series of strategic maneuvers to disable any resistance,” Jacobus wrote, “including a cyber attack on Ukraine’s government, and installing his own loyalists on the inside long before that. Hindsight being 20/20, the signs have been there for months.”
U.S. intelligence agencies have confirmed Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and the rich asshole’s CIA director Mike Pompeo affirmed Monday that they would try again during this year’s midterms — yet GOP lawmakers and the president don’t seem worried.
The rich asshole White House and congressional Republicans seem unconcerned,” Jacobus said, “or perhaps even copacetic with the intervention that will yield results in their favor.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has resulted in two guilty pleas — including the rich asshole’s first national security adviser Mike Flynn — and two indictments, including the rich asshole campaign manager Paul Manafort on money laundering and other charges.
“Seemingly emboldened by the lack of any meaningful pushback, the rich asshole has now reportedly been discussing having Mueller prosecuted as a means to end the investigation that has already ensnared several individuals who worked for the rich asshole and likely many more to come — possibly including the president himself,” Jacobus said.
Jacobus said the apparent coup had happened “so swiftly, but with such surgical precision” that Americans still don’t realize what has happened — but she knows who’s to blame.
‘Rankled’ UK will be less likely to share confidential info with US if GOP releases Nunes FBI memo: report
British Prime Minister Theresa May visited US President some rich asshole at the White House in January. (AFP/File / Brendan Smialowski)
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The House Republicans intend to read their false and misleading memo on the floor of Congress, but the tactic has prompted the U.K. government to question their special relationship with the United States.
Revealing confidential classified information for political purposes seems to have prompted British spy agencies to consider terminating any communication about Russia with the United States, The Telegraph reported Thursday.
One source told the paper that the British security services would be “rankled” if the Republican Party makes the information public.
It was also revealed Thursday that new FBI Director Christopher Wray may resign if the memo is released. The U.S. Justice Department have warned that the UK-US intelligence sharing relationship could be damaged by the GOP’s move.
Reporter nails Paul Ryan over anti-FBI memo: Republicans used to be ‘the party of law and order’
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) during a press conference about the FISA memo. Image via screengrab.
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During a press conference about the House Intelligence Committee’s increasingly controversial memo, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) was subject to a harsh question from a reporter about the GOP’s criticism of the FBI and Justice Department.
“Republicans are traditionally the party of law and order,” the reporter said. “We have an FBI director saying ‘please don’t release this memo, it is misleading and incomplete.’ He was appointed by a Republican president. Doesn’t that give you pause?”
“No,” Ryan responded, before launching into a description of the law under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Earlier in the press conference, Ryan had denied that the memo was an attempt to undermine the Russia investigation.
“This memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice, it does not impugn the Mueller investigation or the Deputy Attorney General. What it is, is the Congress’ legitimate function of oversight,” he said.
Watch below:
the rich asshole to allow release of controversial memo
BY JORDAN FABIAN AND KATIE BO WILLIAMS - 02/01/18 11:17 AM EST
President the rich asshole plans to allow the release of a controversial memo detailing alleged surveillance abuses at the FBI, according to a senior administration official.
The official said the rich asshole will inform Congress of his decision “probably tomorrow,” adding the president did not have any national security objections to releasing it and would likely not request that any material be redacted.
“The president is OK with it,” the official told reporters traveling with the rich asshole aboard Air Force One. “I doubt there will be any redactions. It’s in Congress’s hands after that.”
The decision paves the way for the document, which was drafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, to be released to the public.
Once the White House approves the memo's release, it would be up to the Intelligence panel to decide if and when to make it public.
the rich asshole has been widely expected to sign off on the public release of the document, which some conservatives on Capitol Hill have heavily hinted could prove the undoing of the federal investigation into the rich asshole campaign's possible ties to Russia.
The president has long derided that probe as a "witch hunt."
Democrats have described the document as a series of cherry-picked data points designed to kneecap special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Intelligence Committee Republicans have blocked Democrats, at least for now, from releasing their own countermemo drafted to rebut the GOP document.
The FBI also fiercely opposes the release of the document.
Senior Justice Department officials, including FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, have lobbied both the White House and the Intelligence Committee against releasing the document.
In a rare public statement issued Wednesday afternoon, the FBI characterized the memo as misleading, noting that they had been given limited opportunity to review it before the committee voted to release it and saying the agency has "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”
The future of the document now rests with Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), whose staff drafted the memo based on classified documents provided by the Justice Department.
Nunes is under a mountain of pressure from the right to release the document, even as other members of his own party urge caution.
Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.) said Thursday that Nunes should first share the memo with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) before releasing it publicly, noting that Burr has been unable to obtain the document.
“There are important national security considerations they need to weigh, and hopefully they’re doing that,” he told reporters at a Republican retreat in West Virginia.
Committee Republicans used an obscure House rule to override the classification of the document and make it public. The rule gave the rich asshole five days to block the release of the document. It is not clear whether the committee will move to release it immediately upon receipt of his approval or wait the full five days.
The committee voted to release the memo on Monday night.
The precise contents of the memo remain unknown. However, it’s believed to contain allegations that the FBI did not adequately explain to a clandestine court that some of the information used in a surveillance warrant application for the rich asshole campaign adviser Carter Page came from what is known as the "Steele dossier," which was composed of opposition research partially funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Adding further uncertainty, the Intel Committee's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), on Wednesday claimed that Nunes had altered the contents of the memo after the committee had voted to release it.
It's unclear what changes were made. A spokesman for Nunes said Democrats were "complaining about minor edits ... including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and the Minority themselves."
Democrats say the changes are far more substantive. A committee source said the changes were "not cosmetic" and "try to water down some of the majority's assertions."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has demanded that Nunes step down over the alterations.
Updated at 3:33 p.m.
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