They Are Brazen Because They Know They Will Get Away With It

 

This was tweeted by Rep. John Ratcliffe (R–TX) last night:

Yes, this is the real transcript of my exchange with Jim Comey. No, I didn’t make this up.

The Trump-Russia collusion story was always a pretext to launch an unconstrained investigation into whatever Robert Mueller and his allies thought necessary to destroy his presidency. Outside the collusion issue, Trump may very well have some real legal problems, some of them self-inflicted, and ultimately his enemies may take him down.

But the bigger story is how blatantly corrupt those going after Trump are, how unapologetic they have been about their actions, and how they have been broadly applauded by those on the commanding heights in our culture. And they believe, correctly I think, they will never be held accountable.

The question, if they are successful in their quest, is how do you keep a society of more than 300 million people functioning when half of the populace sees this happening openly and without consequence for the perpetrators? Why would any of them place one iota of trust in our political or justice systems after observing them get away with it? This, more than anything Trump has done, is the real crisis for America.

Ratcliffe’s assertions in the transcript are accurate. Comey just doesn’t care. Of course, it’s worse than that. President Obama publicly opined that Hillary Clinton, whom he had endorsed to be his successor, was innocent even as his own Justice Department was conducting its “investigation,” yet no Special Counsel a la Mueller was appointed, even though in Clinton’s case there were actually grounds to believe a crime had been committed.

We now know, despite President Obama’s assertions to the contrary, that he received sensitive emails from Hillary’s illegal server while he was outside the US.

We now know that Obama’s DOJ was handing out immunity passes like candy to Hillary’s associates and allowed Hillary cronies who were fact witnesses to masquerade as attorneys and sit in on interviews of other witnesses.

We now know that Comey drafted his exoneration of Clinton even before she was interviewed and the interview consisted of softballs lobbed over the center of the plate. No perjury traps for her!

We now know AG Loretta Lynch knew Comey would exonerate Clinton before she recused herself and let Comey decide what to do. It was all a show.

And that’s just the email side of the Clinton-Russia story because the two were linked, involving the Clinton campaign and the same principals at the FBI and Justice.

The Clinton campaign colluded with Russian intelligence in the production of the Steele Dossier. The campaign’s outside counsel, Marc Ellis, hired GPS Fusion, which hired Christopher Steele, who hired intermediaries, who contacted Russian intelligence sources to obtain information that ended up in the dossier.

The Russian who met with Fredo Trump, Jr. and Jared at Trump Tower during the campaign, had hired GPS Fusion to do a smear job on a Kremlin opponent, and that same Russian met with Glenn Simpson, head of Fusion GPS, immediately before and after the Trump Tower meeting.

And we recently learned that Steele has admitted in UK legal proceedings that the dossier was designed as an insurance policy for the Clinton campaign if Trump won the election.

Which, of course, now makes sense of the FBI texts, revealed months ago, indicating they had an “insurance policy” in place in the event Trump won.

We now know that the FBI sent several third parties to minor functionaries (Page, Papadopoulos) in the Trump campaign to try to entrap them, it turned out unsuccessfully, into creating the illusion of Russian collusion.

We now know that the FBI and DOJ misled the FISA Court on the origin of the Steele Dossier when it obtained the wiretap authorization on Carter Page.

We now know that Comey misled President-elect Trump when he briefed him on the Steele Dossier.

We now know that Comey was urged to brief Trump by CIA Director Brennan, who once he knew the briefing occurred, leaked the Dossier to CNN which used the briefing as the news hook to justify reporting on it.

We now know that even as Comey was repeatedly assuring the President he was not personally under investigation he was leaking damaging information to the New York Times, but somehow not leaking the assurances he was giving Trump.

We now know that even as Mueller was appointed Special Counsel in May 2017 the gang knew there was no criminal Russian collusion. We now know that because Strzok, who’d been more involved than anyone in the investigation up to that time, had been offered a job by Mueller but wondered if he should take it because, as he texted his lover, “there’s no big there there.” And, by that time, the gang had access to months of wiretaps of Carter Page and everyone he was in contact with, and everyone they were in contact with, and still had nothing. Remember when Trump was lampooned for claiming Trump Tower was wiretapped? It was!

It is mind-boggling that Rod Rosenstein, a fact witness in the firing of James Comey, did not recuse himself before appointing Mueller. It is mind-boggling that Robert Mueller, a long time associate and ally of Comey, a man committed to protecting the reputation of his beloved FBI and DOJ by any means necessary, was appointed to the role. It is mind-boggling that his senior staff lawyer is a well-known partisan Democrat who has been cited by the courts for unethical behavior.

I could go on for much longer but this is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime and it’s going on in full view; the perpetrators aren’t even bothering any longer to hide what they are doing and they are going to get away with it.

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  1. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…: I could go on for much longer but this is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime and it’s going on in full view; the perpetrators aren’t even bothering any longer to hide what they are doing and they are going to get away with it.

    In previous Democratic and Feral Gov’t hit jobs there was at least a fig leaf of cover. It’s the very openness of it that makes this time different. If the intellectual elite’s place is to suck a good living from the productive classes and ours is to bare our necks, they need to pay better attention to the glamour they hide behind. They used to know this.

    • #61
  2. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):
    So no more posts about the Russia conspiracy that Mueller is pushing, right?

    Mueller was hired to investigate, he isn’t pushing anything.

    Does it bother you at all that Rosenstein authorized the investigation and selected Muller to lead it, despite the obvious conflicts both have?

    • #62
  3. Yehoshua Ben-Eliyahu Inactive
    Yehoshua Ben-Eliyahu
    @YehoshuaBenEliyahu

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…: I could go on for much longer but this is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime and it’s going on in full view

    “In full view” encapsulates our aquiesence to evil.

    For some time now, in South Africa, the land of farmers whose families have owned that land for generations has been seized by thugs who operate with the full approval of the government.  Several thousand farmers have been murdered.  Desmond Tutu, nobel laureate, who promoted the importance of all South Africans respecting each other during apartheid, is silent.  With the exception of Donald Trump, no leader of any nation, to the best of my knowledge, has uttered a peep of protest regarding this horrific state of affairs.  And the media, except for Tucker Carlson, is mum.  In full view.

    • #63
  4. DonG Coolidge
    DonG
    @DonG

    Jeff Sessions really dropped the ball.  He recused himself and let a bunch of corrupt and conflicted hacks run amok in the DOJ.  He could have called out all the other conflicts of interest and let some honest people clean house, but he didn’t. 

    • #64
  5. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    danok1 (View Comment):
    I suggest you do some of your own research on this.

    I have, what have I missed?

    Here.

    That does not suggest what you asserted. The fact the Clinton campaign did not challenge the results argues against your interpretation.

    They haven’t challenged the validity of the election? The day after the election Clinton was yapping about the Russians! The Dossier was leaked during this period. The Obama Administration began its active sabotage efforts after the election and before Jan 20. Weren’t you reading the media back then? The last two years have been about challenging the validity of the election and using the lever of the Dossier and Comey to open an unrestricted investigation in an effort to, at a minimum, disrupt the Trump Administration or, in a best case scenario, get him out of office.

    I can understand not liking Trump and regretting he is President. I can understand not liking the people he has surrounded himself with and believing he’s broken the law in some of his personal dealings.

    What I don’t understand is resolutely ignoring everything we have learned over the past two years, and the lack of outrage over the Mueller/Comey gang getting away with this.

    What I don’t understand is ignoring what I would have doubted before, but is clear now, the link between the need to clear the way for Hillary by whitewashing her crimes and then creating the insurance policy in the event she unexpectedly lost the election. And, don’t forget, that even during the campaign we were hearing about active Russian ties to Manafort, Page etc which I thought credible at the time and turned out to be completely bogus.

    There is no there there on collusion for the reasons I’ve discussed above. Indirectly, Mueller has proven this. Look at the indictments of Manafort, Flynn, Papadopoulos et al. In none of them is there a conspiracy charge which is the predicate if Mueller were building a case against Trump.

    Might as well give up. It’s like talking to a brick wall.

     

    • #65
  6. WillowSpring Member
    WillowSpring
    @WillowSpring

    DonG (View Comment):
    The MSM is part of the scandal. Maybe the IG will surprise us….

    Without a legitimate MSM, we have very little hope.  When I read a summary like given by the OP, I know the details, but I think of my Liberal brother who gets his news from PBS and late night comedy shows.  I would think he knows very little of this and I think he is more representative of the public than the Ricochet audience.  

    I hope the IG will surprise us, but I had great hopes in Judge Sullivan based on his reaction to government misdeeds in the Sen. Stevens case.  He surprised me, all right.

    • #66
  7. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    RightAngles (View Comment):
    I can’t tell if you’re really this naive or what. Mike Pence wouldn’t last five minutes. The funny part to me is the way they all made such a big deal over whether Trump would “accept the results of the election.” Hah.

    You are delusional.

    Speaking of the COC how about insults.

    • #67
  8. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):
    So no more posts about the Russia conspiracy that Mueller is pushing, right?

    Mueller was hired to investigate, he isn’t pushing anything.

    Speaking of delusional.

    • #68
  9. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):
    Rather than proclaiming conspiracy theory make a coherent case why the Mueller investigation is a legitimate inquest into the Trump campaign colluding with the Russian government to affect the outcome of the 2016 election.

    There were/are legitimate counterintelligence concerns with people in the Trump orbit (Manafort, Stone, & others) justifying an investigation that touched on the campaign. Manafort was unpaid campaign manager! Those legitimate concerns, coupled with the known Russian efforts to interfere in our elections could well have led to a good faith conclusion that Trump’s team might play a knowing or unknowing role in that effort.

    What specifically were the legitimate counterintelligence concerns? What were those concerns based on? Were those really concerns or just pretext? If it were simply counterintelligence concerns, were both campaigns similarly monitored and infiltrated? If it were simply concern then shouldn’t the Trump campaign have been alerted to the concerns so they could either cooperate or even head off whatever was of such great concern to begin with?

    • #69
  10. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    They haven’t challenged the validity of the election?…

    No, there has been no challenge. Hillary concedes and no results have been challenged.

    No legal challenge has been brought in any state.

    No one specified legal validity, although isn’t that the whole point of the “collusion” investigation to begin with? Are you purposefully ignoring any other sense of the word? Are you arguing that no other sense applies?

    • #70
  11. RyanFalcone Member
    RyanFalcone
    @RyanFalcone

    Ricochet is just a handful of conservatives blubbering to ourselves. Until there is a mainstream outlet for truth, we will continue to lose. Wake me when ABC, CBS or NBC covers any of this. Sorry, I’m in a really bad mood today.

    • #71
  12. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    They only need to cut off noses of their enemies to be fully Byzantine.

    • #72
  13. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    RyanFalcone (View Comment):

    Ricochet is just a handful of conservatives blubbering to ourselves. Until there is a mainstream outlet for truth, we will continue to lose. Wake me when ABC, CBS or NBC covers any of this. Sorry, I’m in a really bad mood today.

    Or wake me when anyone in the Republican party besides Nunes gets serious about this. 

    Or anyone in popular culture. 

     

    All of our societal cylinders are misfiring. All. 

    • #73
  14. Neil Hansen (Klaatu) Inactive
    Neil Hansen (Klaatu)
    @Klaatu

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):
    So no more posts about the Russia conspiracy that Mueller is pushing, right?

    Mueller was hired to investigate, he isn’t pushing anything.

    What crime?

    Obstruction of justice.

    • #74
  15. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):
    So no more posts about the Russia conspiracy that Mueller is pushing, right?

    Mueller was hired to investigate, he isn’t pushing anything.

    What crime?

    Obstruction of justice.

    He was hired to investigate obstruction of justice? That’s not what the NY Times said at the time:  

    The Justice Department appointed Robert S. Mueller III, a former F.B.I. director, as special counsel on Wednesday to oversee the investigation into ties between President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials, dramatically raising the legal and political stakes in an affair that has threatened to engulf Mr. Trump’s four-month-old presidency.

    Not a word about obstruction of justice in that article.

    I suspect people are making stuff up as they go along.

    • #75
  16. Neil Hansen (Klaatu) Inactive
    Neil Hansen (Klaatu)
    @Klaatu

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    Does it bother you at all that Rosenstein authorized the investigation and selected Muller to lead it, despite the obvious conflicts both have?

    Not at all.  Mueller is a dedicated public servant with no conflict of interest.

    • #76
  17. Neil Hansen (Klaatu) Inactive
    Neil Hansen (Klaatu)
    @Klaatu

    The Reticulator (View Comment):
    He was hired to investigate obstruction of justice? That’s not what the NY Times said at the time:

    The NY Times is often wrong.

    • #77
  18. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):
    Not at all. Mueller is a dedicated public servant

    I thought you were down on conspiracy theories.

    • #78
  19. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    Does it bother you at all that Rosenstein authorized the investigation and selected Muller to lead it, despite the obvious conflicts both have?

    Not at all. Mueller is a dedicated public servant with no conflict of interest.

    Troll.

     

    • #79
  20. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…: The Trump-Russia collusion story was always a pretext to launch an unconstrained investigation into whatever Robert Mueller and his allies thought necessary to destroy his presidency.

    I thought the Ricochet CoC prohibited the advancement of conspiracy theories?

    The COC prohibits “crackpot” conspiracy theories.

    It doesn’t prohibit discussion of actual conspiracies.

    • #80
  21. Quinnie Member
    Quinnie
    @Quinnie

    “….and they are going to get away with it.”    Bingo.

    • #81
  22. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    Does it bother you at all that Rosenstein authorized the investigation and selected Muller to lead it, despite the obvious conflicts both have?

    Not at all. Mueller is a dedicated public servant with no conflict of interest.

    Troll.

    That has to be sarcasm, doesn’t it?  Mueller’s decades of screwups and misdeeds have been well-documented here.

     

     

    • #82
  23. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Congratulations on hitting the Powerline feed!

    • #83
  24. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):
    Does it bother you at all that Rosenstein authorized the investigation and selected Muller to lead it, despite the obvious conflicts both have?

    Not at all. Mueller is a dedicated public servant with no conflict of interest.

    • #84
  25. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):
    The Mueller Special Counsel leaks on a schedule which coincides with the MSM news cycle, if Mueller had something damaging involving actual(or even tangentially tied to) Russian collusion it would be out there in the news cycle (ie: the Roger Stone/Jerome Corsi Wikileaks relationship). So while we may not know everything, I would surmise if there was more we would not be in totally in the dark about it.

    What leaks have come out of Mueller’s office? You are speculating and your speculation is premised on assuming Mueller’s motives.

    Mueller’s motives are obvious given his investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 elections has never included any witnesses involved in the creation and dissemination of the Steele Dossier(ie: Marc Elias, Glenn Simpson, Nellie Ohr, Christopher Steele, Bruce Ohr, David Corn, Michael Isikoff, etc.) to testify before the grand jury.

    The crux of the Steele Dossier was ostensibly information provided by Russian government higher ups, the Steele Dossier was reported on in the waning months of the 2016 election, the information was opposition research funded by the HRC campaign and the DNC.

    The Steele Dossier is in fact actual Russian interference in the 2016 election yet those who created, provided the content, and dissemination of the Steele Dossier are of absolutely no interest to the Mueller Special Counsel’s investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 election …… Why not?

    • #85
  26. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    Neil Hansen (Klaatu) (View Comment):

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):
    The Mueller Special Counsel leaks on a schedule which coincides with the MSM news cycle, if Mueller had something damaging involving actual(or even tangentially tied to) Russian collusion it would be out there in the news cycle (ie: the Roger Stone/Jerome Corsi Wikileaks relationship). So while we may not know everything, I would surmise if there was more we would not be in totally in the dark about it.

    What leaks have come out of Mueller’s office? You are speculating and your speculation is premised on assuming Mueller’s motives.

    Mueller’s motives are obvious given his investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 elections has never included any witnesses involved in the creation and dissemination of the Steele Dossier(ie: Marc Elias, Glenn Simpson, Nellie Ohr, Christopher Steele, Bruce Ohr, David Corn, Michael Isikoff, etc.) to testify before the grand jury.

    The crux of the Steele Dossier was ostensibly information provided by Russian government higher ups, the Steele Dossier was reported on in the waning months of the 2016 election, the information was opposition research funded by the HRC campaign and the DNC.

    The Steele Dossier is in fact actual Russian interference in the 2016 election yet those who created, provided the content, and dissemination of the Steele Dossier are of absolutely no interest to the Mueller Special Counsel’s investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 election …… Why not?

    Super progressive comedian and podcaster Jimmy Dore has been all over that point from the beginning. He’s really quite on point on that topic.

    It’s obvious to me…… why hasn’t the entire Republican party been singing that song wherever they go? This is the biggest issue facing the nation since 2016: either the president committed treason or this is all a big setup of a president via weaponization of government.

    Republicans: where are you? What are you actually good for?

    • #86
  27. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Ed G. (View Comment):
    Republicans: where are you? What are you actually good for?

    I took (another) call from the RNC last night and actually got a person on the other end. Something in my tone of voice when I said, “I’ll vote Republican (because, what choice is there?), but I’m not sending you guys any money.” impressed her.

    She took a breath as if she was going to give me the spiel and then said, “I’ll put you on the do not call list. Goodbye.”

    Donald Trump is the only one who seems to know the enemy and he fights it (the Left) daily. God bless him and give him strength.

    • #87
  28. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    This is a breathtaking summary (meaning the OP).

    Excused by people who dislike Trump, of course.  So in the exercise of his destruction, any excess of people paid to keep the government from infringing on the rights inherent to our being, that were specifically not granted to us by the government, but by our creator, gets a pass.  Any exercise of government in the pursuit of destroying Trump is ok.

    These idiots will actually wonder what happened when, a few years down the road, a Republican does the exact same thing to one of their candidates, and they’ll set cities on fire in defense of the country, that’s being torn down by evil Republicans, doing the same thing they’ve done, time and time again.

    Because they’re idiots, mostly.  But idiots with a fervent belief in having a government be their Mommy, one who suckles them, and wipes their stinky bottoms when they make mistakes.

    That’s what Mommies are for.  Forever.  Even for 52 year-old Democrat voters.  They need their Mommies.  Forever.  In the form of Uncle Sam, er, Mommy.

    • #88
  29. Fred Cole Inactive
    Fred Cole
    @FredCole

    What would be nice would be some links to back up the many things that “we now know.”

    • #89
  30. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    You are Welcome, Fred.

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/12/what-we-have-learned-so-far-3-2.php

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/12/what-we-have-learned-so-far-2-2.php

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/12/what-we-have-learned-so-far-3.php

     

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/flynn-fact-and-narrative/

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/james-comey-lack-of-credibility-congressional-testimony/

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/mueller-probe-fisa-warrants-fbi-informants/

    https://amgreatness.com/2018/12/09/defeat-and-the-dossier-explain-everything/

    https://amgreatness.com/2018/12/16/the-globalist-mindset-they-hate-you/

    I expect nothing less than a refutation of all of these, or an explanation how all three of these men are in the bag for Trump and thus can be ignored. 

    • #90
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