The Russia Investigation: Trump Pardons Flynn (4 Viewers)

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

Lol at all the "letdown" and "nothing burger" comments.

NOTHING BURGER with extra MUSTARD

 

[ProstheticRGK]

Lol at all the "letdown" and "nothing burger" comments.

There has to be at least a few fbg scratching their heads about why the media, Schiff, holder, and others have been trying so hard to prevent the release of the memo.

"Threat to national security"

If the content of these 4 pages was nothing then why the effort to squash it?

I’m sorry your Christmas sucked.

 

[Sheriff Bart]

It almost seems like this administration doesn't know what they're doing. 

 

[Guest]

The @RepAdamSchiff statement on the memo is crushing, even as Republicans continue to block the full minority memo. Read it:

https://democrats-intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=350

Washington, DC – Today, the Minority of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence responded to the release of HPSCI Chairman Nunes’ memo:

“Chairman Nunes’ decision, supported by House Speaker Ryan and Republican Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to publicly release misleading allegations against the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation is a shameful effort to discredit these institutions, undermine the Special Counsel’s ongoing investigation, and undercut congressional probes. Furthermore, their refusal to allow release of a comprehensive response memorandum prepared by Committee Democrats is a transparent effort to suppress the full truth.

“As the DOJ emphasized to Chairman Nunes, the decision to employ an obscure and never before used House rule to release classified information without DOJ and FBI vetting was ‘extraordinarily reckless.’ The selective release and politicization of classified information sets a terrible precedent and will do long-term damage to the Intelligence Community and our law enforcement agencies. If potential intelligence sources know that their identities might be compromised when political winds arise, those sources of vital information will simply dry up, at great cost to our national security.

“The Republican document mischaracterizes highly sensitive classified information that few Members of Congress have seen, and which Chairman Nunes himself chose not to review. It fails to provide vital context and information contained in DOJ’s FISA application and renewals, and ignores why and how the FBI initiated, and the Special Counsel has continued, its counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s election interference and links to the Trump campaign. The sole purpose of the Republican document is to circle the wagons around the White House and insulate the President. Tellingly, when asked whether the Republican staff who wrote the memo had coordinated its drafting with the White House, the Chairman refused to answer.

“The premise of the Nunes memo is that the FBI and DOJ corruptly sought a FISA warrant on a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, Carter Page, and deliberately misled the court as part of a systematic abuse of the FISA process. As the Minority memo makes clear, none of this is true. The FBI had good reason to be concerned about Carter Page and would have been derelict in its responsibility to protect the country had it not sought a FISA warrant.

“In order to understand the context in which the FBI sought a FISA warrant for Carter Page, it is necessary to understand how the investigation began, what other information the FBI had about Russia’s efforts to interfere with our election, and what the FBI knew about Carter Page prior to making application to the court – including Carter Page’s previous interactions with Russian intelligence operatives. This is set out in the Democratic response which the GOP so far refuses to make public.

“The authors of the GOP memo would like the country to believe that the investigation began with Christopher Steele and the dossier, and if they can just discredit Mr. Steele, they can make the whole investigation go away regardless of the Russians’ interference in our election or the role of the Trump campaign in that interference. This ignores the inconvenient fact that the investigation did not begin with, or arise from Christopher Steele or the dossier, and that the investigation would persist on the basis of wholly independent evidence had Christopher Steele never entered the picture. 

“The DOJ appropriately provided the court with a comprehensive explanation of Russia’s election interference, including evidence that Russian agents courted another Trump campaign foreign adviser, George Papadopoulos. As we know from Papadopoulos’ guilty plea, Russian agents disclosed to Papadopoulos their possession of stolen Clinton emails and interest in a relationship with the campaign. In claiming that there is ‘no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos,’ the Majority deliberately misstates the reason why DOJ specifically explained Russia’s role in courting Papadopoulos and the context in which to evaluate Russian approaches to Page.

“The Majority suggests that the FBI failed to alert the court as to Mr. Steele’s potential political motivations or the political motivations of those who hired him, but this is not accurate. The GOP memo also claims that a Yahoo News article was used to corroborate Steele, but this is not at all why the article was referenced. These are but a few of the serious mischaracterizations of the FISA application. There are many more set out in the Democratic response, which we will again be seeking a vote to release publicly on Monday, February 5th. Unlike Committee Republicans, however, we will ask the relevant agencies to propose any necessary redactions to protect any sources and methods not already disclosed by Chairman Nunes’ document. 

“It is telling that Chairman Nunes put out this memo without bothering to read the underlying materials, and that he ordered changes to the document without informing his own committee members. It is a terrible lapse in leadership that Speaker Ryan failed to intervene and prevent the abuse of classified materials in this way. It is tragic, if all too predictable, that this President would allow the release of the memo despite FBI and DOJ’s expressions of ‘grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the [Republicans’] memo’s accuracy’. But most destructive of all may be the announcement by Chairman Nunes that he has placed the FBI and DOJ under investigation, impugning and impairing the work of the dedicated professionals trying to keep our country safe.”

The memo and letter from the White House can be found here.

Accomplished purpose #2

 

[TobiasFunke]

Page and trying to discredit Steele.

There is literally nothing in this that affects Mueller.

I assume the goal is to throw Rosenstein into the mix as one of the "bad guys" who approved this entirely reasonable thing.  Notice that the memo goes out of its way to list his name right alongside already vilified people like Comey and Yates.  Trump can't get to Mueller but he can get to Rosenstein, who is the gatekeeper.

 

[squistion]

Pelosi: “Trump has surrendered his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief by releasing highly classified and distorted intelligence. By not protecting intelligence sources and methods, he just sent his friend Putin a bouquet.”

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/959491666225909766

 

[Ditka Butkus]

the FBI used the opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia written by Steele to secure a FISA surveillance warrant on Page without disclosing that the dossier was funded in part by Democratic sources.

Speaking of underhanded politics..

 

[SinbadTheSailor]

Schiff is a beast.  That was excellently stated.

Unbelievable that someone like Trump can bring our great country so low.  

This is a sad day for America.

 

[roadkill1292]

This memo is so hilariously bad  

"I could poop a better memo than that"   

                              -- FBG poster Hostetler

 

[lardonastick]

No reason for me to think critically.

Really? That explains a lot ...

 

[Wrigley]

Pelosi: “Trump has surrendered his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief by releasing highly classified and distorted intelligence. By not protecting intelligence sources and methods, he just sent his friend Putin a bouquet.”

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/959491666225909766

Come on

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

Wow.

1500 pages of hysteria and conspiracy.

We learned today that muh Russia is total BS and you guys triple down.

Don't ever change.

 

[SinbadTheSailor]

Schiff is a beast.  That was excellently stated.

Unbelievable that someone like Trump can bring our great country so low.  

This is a sad day for America.

 

[eurotrashman]

What continues to boggle my mind is how this memo gets released and we are ALL looking at the same set of data/information/facts, yet the two sides are interpreting this completely differently.

Who or where is the ultimate objective source to bring some sort of reasoning and balance to summarizing what this really means?

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

and....ignore.

ya, it's time (again)

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

why not release a memo that just says -- NO RUSSIAN COLLUSION, and we mean it LOOK AT what Obama, Hillary and FBI did!!!!! LOOK

 

[packersfan]

 at how bad this is. In a normal time, Devin Nunes would be done right this second.

If Paul Ryan had a spine, he would've put a stop to this.

The leaders of the GOP are a joke and the disgusting thing is the punch line is the destruction of our country. 

 

[randall146]

Does seem awfully suspicious that everyone has been able to read an entire 3-page memo in the 20 minutes since it’s been released

Almost as if us Deep Staters knew the contents in advance . . .

 

[CentralPA]

What continues to boggle my mind is how this memo gets released and we are ALL looking at the same set of data/information/facts, yet the two sides are interpreting this completely differently.

Who or where is the ultimate objective source to bring some sort of reasoning and balance to summarizing what this really means?

Welcome to politics.  It sucks.

 

[packersfan]

Schiff is a beast.  That was excellently stated.

Unbelievable that someone like Trump can bring our great country so low.  

This is a sad day for America.

Make no mistake, he's doing with the support of the Republican Party. Ryan couldn't snuffed this out when Wrey and Rosenstein asked him to and he refused. He then said yesterday he wants to "cleanse" the FBI. This is as much on the Republicans as it is Trump.

 

[JuniorNB]

I believe this entire sham was done to try to make it seem justified that Trump fires Rosenstein (which he probably will this week). Rosenstein was the man who appointed Mueller to head the investigation. This is all just laying the groundwork for Trump to fire Mueller. Who he knows his onto his scent and about to send them down the river.

 

[Joe Summer]

Can we change this to show a memo instead of a shirt?

 

[Ditka Butkus]

 at how bad this is. In a normal time, Devin Nunes would be done right this second.

If Paul Ryan had a spine, he would've put a stop to this.

The leaders of the GOP are a joke and the disgusting thing is the punch line is the destruction of our country. 

The only thing destroying this country are the deadbeats and the resources that it takes to help said deadbeats.

 

[randall146]

I kind of wish I did more criminal defense work now that we've all decided that a warrant based on information from a "biased" source is invalid.  

I've got a LOT of motions to dismiss to file today

 

[whoknew]

I believe this entire sham was done to try to make it seem justified that Trump fires Rosenstein (which he probably will this week). Rosenstein was the man who appointed Mueller to head the investigation. This is all just laying the groundwork for Trump to fire Mueller. Who he knows his onto his scent and about to send them down the river.

Probably do it during the SB.

 

[Rirruto]

 at how bad this is. In a normal time, Devin Nunes would be done right this second.

If Paul Ryan had a spine, he would've put a stop to this.

The leaders of the GOP are a joke and the disgusting thing is the punch line is the destruction of our country. 

Now that I've seen it, I see Ryan's position more. If he'd kept this from being released, it would have started a holy war in his caucus. Trump would have also come down hard on him. That's a tough sell.

Instead, it gets released on a Friday afternoon and is a story for 2 hours. The cost is that the FBI and IC is pissed over something that is ultimately unhelpful. But, as was leaked last night, WH staffers were telling Trump this wasn't worth picking a fight with the FBI but Trump wanted it anyway. So Ryan was ####ed on this no matter what.

 

[JerseyToughGuys]

the memo means that they got a warrant to spy domestically on an American based on a false dossier, corroborated by a media that reported on it after being briefed on it by the author. Trump guilty or not, this should disturb everyone. Many of you blame all police for the actions of a few but cant differentiate between the FBI and a few bad apples in it? It's that impossible?

:whoosh: :whoosh: and :whoosh:

wow

 

[packersfan]

Now that I've seen it, I see Ryan's position more. If he'd kept this from being released, it would have started a holy war in his caucus. Trump would have also come down hard on him. That's a tough sell.

Instead, it gets released on a Friday afternoon and is a story for 2 hours. The cost is that the FBI and IC is pissed over something that is ultimately unhelpful. But, as was leaked last night, WH staffers were telling Trump this wasn't worth picking a fight with the FBI but Trump wanted it anyway. So Ryan was ####ed on this no matter what.

Disagree. The memo was a purely partisan ploy to try and protect Trump. Ryan would have to be a fool not to understand this. He chose party over country yet again.

 

[Sammy3469]

FISA judges agreed to continue surveillance on Carter Page 3 times since the FBI was obtaining credible evidence.  That's close a full year's worth of evidence.  Why does Trump like traitors?

 

[jomar]

Now that I've seen it, I see Ryan's position more. If he'd kept this from being released, it would have started a holy war in his caucus. Trump would have also come down hard on him. That's a tough sell.

its a tough sell if you don't have any principles.  if he did, do what's right and let the chips fall where they may

 

[sho nuff]

It's a radical move as a matter of principle. There's a reason these courts and the inner workings of the Select Committees are secret. I assume his concern was more about that, and about setting a precedent for selling that out for cheap partisanship, than about any damage it would do to Mueller or the FBI or any Dems.

Agreed...clear again this was a political stunt...will be interesting seeing how this really plays out.

And dumping it on a Friday too...they must have known it was not going to go over like they wanted.

 

[wormburner]

Regarding Steele, is there any part of his dossier which has been proven untrue so far? 

well Tim. last I heard you have to PROVE an allegation not DISPROVE a lie in this country. No part of it has been proven, as per Comy

A show of hands~

How many of you think obtaining a FISA warrant based on unsubstantiated political dirt, and leaking teasers to select media outlets to drive public opinion, is ok when the target of the surveillance is a creep?

Now~

How many of you think obtaining a FISA warrant based on unsubstantiated political dirt, and leaking teasers to select media outlets to drive public opinion, is ok when the target of the surveillance is your guy?

The only thing worse than the politicization of the FBI is the reaction to it falling along Party lines.  If the end justifies the means is ok when we get the outcome we want, we just fall further away from having any societal integrity.

 

[sho nuff]

Soooooo....

The memo basically says that Steele is unreliable not because his info is bad but because he spoke to the media.  Does that sound right?

And like Strzok...he said mean things about Donnie Two Scoops.

 

[jomar]

A show of hands~

How many of you think obtaining a FISA warrant based on unsubstantiated political dirt, and leaking teasers to select media outlets to drive public opinion, is ok when the target of the surveillance is a creep?

do you believe the Carter FISA warrant was based on unsubstantiated political dirt?  if so, what leads you to believe that.  

 

[randall146]

Lol at all the "letdown" and "nothing burger" comments.

There has to be at least a few fbg scratching their heads about why the media, Schiff, holder, and others have been trying so hard to prevent the release of the memo.

"Threat to national security"

If the content of these 4 pages was nothing then why the effort to squash it?

Because publicizing the issuance, dates, and targets of FISA warrants lets people know if they were intercepted as part of the FISA warrant, potentially leading to exposure of sources and methods, destruction of evidence, and elimination of witnesses.

 

[shader]

the memo means that they got a warrant to spy domestically on an American based on a false dossier, corroborated by a media that reported on it after being briefed on it by the author. Trump guilty or not, this should disturb everyone. Many of you blame all police for the actions of a few but cant differentiate between the FBI and a few bad apples in it? It's that impossible?

Proof it's false?  I realize that your "side" thinks it's false.  It may well be false.  (From the first moment I read it, I personally thought it was fiction.  The claims made by the dossier and the claims made in this thread regarding Trump's actions seem at odds with each other.  The dossier makes him out to be a "manchurian candidate" that's been cultivated for years, not just a guy who may have illegally enlisted Russia's assistance in winning an election.)

But...my irrelevant feelings aside, there's no way to "prove" whether it's false or true until the facts are investigated, which is what Mueller is currently doing.

 

[whoknew]

A show of hands~

How many of you think obtaining a FISA warrant based on unsubstantiated political dirt, and leaking teasers to select media outlets to drive public opinion, is ok when the target of the surveillance is a creep?

Now~

How many of you think obtaining a FISA warrant based on unsubstantiated political dirt, and leaking teasers to select media outlets to drive public opinion, is ok when the target of the surveillance is your guy?

The only thing worse than the politicization of the FBI is the reaction to it falling along Party lines.  If the end justifies the means is ok when we get the outcome we want, we just fall further away from having any societal integrity.

This is a misstatement of the dossier. And also ignores whatever other evidence was in the FISA warrant. 

Of course, the memo ignores that evidence too.

 

[packersfan]

In a shocking development, it turns out Nunes probably lied when he said McCabe testified the Paige warrant wouldn't have occurred without the dossier. Democrats want the transcript released as proof.

No way to have predicted that. 

 

[Mile High]

What continues to boggle my mind is how this memo gets released and we are ALL looking at the same set of data/information/facts, yet the two sides are interpreting this completely differently.

Who or where is the ultimate objective source to bring some sort of reasoning and balance to summarizing what this really means?

As i said the other day. This country needs to get a divorce. This country is headed in two different directions. No hard feelings but time to move on.

 

[roadkill1292]

Agreed...clear again this was a political stunt...will be interesting seeing how this really plays out.

And dumping it on a Friday too...they must have known it was not going to go over like they wanted.

As soon as Donald realizes that the bot army can't sell this as his complete vindication ( ) he'll make a beaner joke or something and all the Trump supporters will just pretend that Nunes never even wrote a memo.

 

[Stealthycat]

if the memo didn't have truth to it, the Democrats would never have argued to not release it

they did NOT want it released because its 100% accurate - that much is clear and its far worse than the memo shows I'd guess 

The depth of the lies and crimes and cheating of the DNC and Hillary have no limits do they ?

 

[eurotrashman]

Reasonable summary?

The memo doesn't come close to saying what Hannity and company want it to say. It clearly is cherry-picked. It is also laughable, as the Democrats and FBI allege, that this "memo" harms national security. What a #### show of dishonesty across the board.

 

[Joe Summer]

#ReleaseTheMcCabeTranscript

 

[eurotrashman]

if the memo didn't have truth to it, the Democrats would never have argued to not release it

they did NOT want it released because its 100% accurate - that much is clear and its far worse than the memo shows I'd guess 

The depth of the lies and crimes and cheating of the DNC and Hillary have no limits do they ?

 

 

[Sabertooth]

I would like to thank George Papadopoulos love of wine for starting this investigation! 

He was the dad on Webster right?  

 

[jomar]

if the memo didn't have truth to it, the Democrats would never have argued to not release it

I LOVE this schtick!! 

 

[Captain Cranks]

As i said the other day. This country needs to get a divorce. This country is headed in two different directions. No hard feelings but time to move on.

I agree.  I'd be willing to move to California, but would prefer that they all moved to Texas instead.  

 

[Sabertooth]

if the memo didn't have truth to it, the Democrats would never have argued to not release it

they did NOT want it released because its 100% accurate - that much is clear and its far worse than the memo shows I'd guess 

The depth of the lies and crimes and cheating of the DNC and Hillary have no limits do they ?

It is my opinion that the Democrats are using the 2009 Republican playbook of being the Party of No.  So they will fight anything and everything.  It's a smart play really.    

 

[TobiasFunke]

In a shocking development, it turns out Nunes probably lied when he said McCabe testified the Paige warrant wouldn't have occurred without the dossier. Democrats want the transcript released as proof.

No way to have predicted that. 

Subtle word choice here that reveals how shady this all is: Nunes didn't say that no warrant would have been sought without the dossier.  He said that no warrant would have been sought without the dossier information.  It's the kind of thing you write if you want to give yourself an escape hatch later on.  He can say "sure, they relied on other sources, but everything we learned or confirmed from those sources was also mentioned in the dossier, so it was technically accurate to say they wouldn't have gotten it without the dossier information."

 

[Sammy3469]

Reasonable summary?

The memo doesn't come close to saying what Hannity and company want it to say. It clearly is cherry-picked. It is also laughable, as the Democrats and FBI allege, that this "memo" harms national security. What a #### show of dishonesty across the board.

Insomuch that most of this was already leaked by Republicans, yes: