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Pot, Meet Kettle
I came across an interesting thread on Twitter. The FBI claimed, and the IG confirmed, that there was sufficient reason to initiate the investigation into Trump/Russia collusion (adequate predication). But all they had was a suggestion to Papadopoulos from a guy whose affiliation is now questionable (Mifsud is more likely to be a western operative than a Russian one), and maybe, though the FBI denies it, the early Steele information as of July 5, 2016 (Horowitz Report Pg 95—-Pg 129 of PDF). That was pretty thin. And in the end, they found no collusion.
But if that can justify an investigation, then why not the fact that the Russians (or maybe the Ukrainians too?) were colluding with the Hillary Campaign through Steele, Fusion GPS, and Perkins Coie to disparage Trump? And we now know that actually happened!
Published in General
In one of Rush’s newsletters earlier this year, he put together a timeline based on reported events, most by the MSM. It clearly showed in-depth involvement by Hillary, her campaign and colleagues, and our security agencies. The timeline also named names. All any investigator would have to do is confirm the facts in the articles, interview everyone named, then head to the grand jury . . .
There’s a difference between justifying and sustaining an investigation — Horowitz may have affirmed that the FBI was in its rights to start the probe, but he dinged them and Justice pretty hard over sustaining it with the FISA renewals, especially the falsified ones for Carter Page. You can be fooled into starting a probe, but once you get to the renewals, those involved can’t claim to have been fooled any longer, and were willfully acting to continue an investigation, even though by then they knew the information the original start of the probe was based on was false.
That’s where John Durham presumably is looking right now. Whether or not it’s going to spill backwards past the willful ignoring of information to keep the probe going — which could then get into Clinton/DNC collusion with any foreign agents from Russia, Ukraine or elsewhere — remains to be seen (and may depend on him getting people like Kevin Clinesmith to agree to plea deals on their actions highlighted in the IG report, which in turn could move the clock backwards with more information on just how the probe got started and was brought to the FBI).
The GOP president should assume that all federal employees working in DC are out to get him. They should all be re-assigned or fired.
Jon,
This 100%.
Regards,
Jim
I hope that Durham & Barr can finally answer several questions outside Horowitz’s scope:
Was Mifsud freelancing? If not, who was he working for?
Did this whole thing start with Brennan at CIA trying to implant info to use against Trump?
What was the role of British and Australian intelligence in this?
Why would Downer, a senior Australian diplomat and intelligence player with close connections to the Clinton Foundation, seek out a junior staffer like Papa for a meeting?
And how far back was the CIA and/or DIA setting up Michael Flynn for a fall?
As to why not investigate Clinton, I posed the same question in a recent Ricochet post.
This is also where the switch comes in. They used the supposed Mifsud/Papa conversation to open the investigation but when that failed to get them a FISA warrant against Papa, they switched to the Steele Dossier to obtain one against Page.
Yeah! They should put the screws to Clinesmith. There’s no way the plot stops at him.
You can tell Democrats are concerned about what Durham will discover, because they are already calling for his resignation.
Expect it to get a lot worse. I guarantee the NY Times and WaPo already have teams working on everything related to Durham’s life from childhood on. And they’ll go after his family and anyone associated with him. Before this is over the Times will run a multi-part series on his “nefarious” history and the Pulitzer Prize Committee will announce it’s awarding the Prize to the paper even before it starts running the series.
Pssst. There’s a rumor I overheard at the Waffle House that Durham had to sit in the corner for an hour after he threw a spitball at his second grade teacher.
Impeach him!
Moving agencies to other areas, such as Agriculture to the Midwest, should aid in overcoming the Civil Service restrictions on staff pruning.
Put a government agency in every economically depressed part of the country. It’ll revive local economies, and maybe a few Feds who don’t wanna go will quit . . .
Is that project still moving forward? The squawking heard from the federal ag employees showed just how much it needed to be done. If they think they need to be in close social contact with other federal workers, it shows that they really are an interest group unto themselves.