53 Transcripts: The Forrest Gump of Campaigns

 

A few days ago, the House Intelligence Committee finally released transcripts of 53 interviews it conducted in 2017-18 regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. Though the Committee had voted in November 2018 to release the transcripts after national security reviews for classified information were completed, new chairman Adam Schiff refused to do so until now because he had repeatedly lied to the media and public about what was said in those interviews and releasing the transcripts would show he was lying.

Under pressure from Acting DNI Richard Grenell, who publicly announced release was fine from a national security perspective and threatened to release the transcripts himself, Schiff finally relented.

I’ve now read 19 of the 53 interviews and will write at more length when finished but wanted to pass along some fascinating quotes. And, by the way, it’ll come as no surprise there is absolutely no evidence, direct or indirect, in what I’ve read so far of any collusion between the Trump campaign or Trump personally with the Russians.

The first quote is from the February 27, 2018, interview with Hope Hicks, Trump’s press secretary during the campaign and then communications director for the first couple of years of his presidency, given in response to questions about collusion with the Russians by the Trump campaign:

“Not to say that Russia’s interference wasn’t something to be taken seriously, but that our involvement in that was sort of laughable, given that we were like the Forrest Gump of campaigns. We couldn’t spell the address to our Iowa field office right and yet we colluded with Vladimir Putin to steal the election. It was sort of a hilarious narrative to us.” (p.155)

In the interviews with Hicks and others, like Corey Lewandowski, the ramshackle, improvised nature of the Trump campaign comes through over and over again. They made amateurish mistakes and were incapable of pulling off a coordinated campaign of collusion. The Democrats on the panel must have been thinking, “how did we lose to these bozos?”.

Earlier in her interview, Hicks was asked about Trump’s private comments about Russia and she responded, “his private comments echo his public comments.” I think we all now know this to be true, for better and for worse. The President talks the same to us as he does with his staff.

On June 22, 2017, Dan Coats, then Director National Intelligence and former Senator, was interviewed by the committee. Coats was not personally close to Trump before or after his nomination to become DNI, but he recounted an extraordinary moment when meeting with the President a couple of days after his inauguration and an upset Trump suddenly started talking about Comey’s briefing on January 6, during which he was informed of the dossier and his alleged romp with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room. According to Coats, the President said;

“I want to — I swear to you on the soul of my son, I had nothing to do with the prostitution. And for them to take me aside and raise this issue and then have it leaked, he said, how would you like it if — how do you go home and talk to your wife when it is plastered all over the place that you were using prostitutes in Russia and you are having your family hear that and having your son hear that?”. (p.13)

Given what we know now about the collusion hoax and the frame-up by Comey, Brennan, Clapper, Mueller, and the media, you can really understand how Trump must have felt at the time.

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  1. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I’m in the middle of KT McFarland’s new book, where she talks about the start of the Trump Transition. What a mess! No one knew who was coming or going, and she at least had previous White House experience. I think she felt her main job was trying to create some order out of the chaos, but I can’t imagine that Russia was on anyone’s mind. Thanks for keeping us informed, Mark.

    • #1
  2. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    @gumbymark, keep reading and keep reporting back to us. Thank you! After all the Hannity and Tucker and Ingraham and Strossel and Hemmingway and all the others including John Solomon and more reporting on this for the past three years, I thought there was nothing that I hadn’t heard yet. And then here comes this. Very cool to read about these interviews. BTW, if the ridiculous “golden showers” absurdity was difficult for the President to talk to Melania about, I can’t even imagine what the Stormy Daniels conversation was like. 

    • #2
  3. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    • #3
  4. Kevin Schulte Member
    Kevin Schulte
    @KevinSchulte

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…: In the interviews with Hicks and others, like Corey Lewandowski, the ramshackle, improvised nature of the Trump campaign comes through over and over again. They made amateurish mistakes and were incapable of the pulling off a coordinated campaign of collusion. The Democrats on the panel must have been thinking, “how did we lose to these bozos?”.

    Isn’t this the nature of citizen representation?

    As apposed to machine politics R or D, that get their way thru personnel and stearing. Some of this happened anyway. Gov has gotten so big there are not enough decent qualified people to fill positions. Mix this with you were a leaper if you dared work for them. 

    I will take this over the machine any day. Hopefully there will be some of the administration (perhaps Trump) that can mentor any other citizen outsiders who could possibly win in the future. 

    The swamp is corrupt as hell. Only outsiders will take a wack at that corrupt vine.  They will be amateurs also.  

    • #4
  5. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly.  If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written.  The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    • #5
  6. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    • #6
  7. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    • #7
  8. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    Didn’t these interviews happen when the Republicans still controlled the House in 2018?

    • #8
  9. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    Honestly, given Trump’s lifelong habits of not being able to keep his feelings to himself and spiking the football on his enemies, if he had colluded with Russia, by 11/9/16 he would have been taunting Hillary and her supporters on Twitter by thanking Vladimir Putin for his help winning the election.

    It’s the same ‘Evil Idiot’ scenario the Democrats and the media attempted to play out with Reagan and Bush 43, in that they were bumbling, mindless oafs when the narrative called for them to be bumbling, mindless oafs, and they were daring masterminds who could keep vast nefarious conspiracies totally secret when the narrative demanded that happen. Even the Dems right up until 11/8/16 were mocking the anarchy within the Trump campaign, but immediately flipped after that to saying he and his campaign staff were so ingenious they were able to hide their collusion with Russia from the government’s top investigators and attorneys (even if The New York Times could still win a Pulitzer for basically making up tales about how it happened with the assistance of Schiff and his people).

    • #9
  10. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    cdor (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    Didn’t these interviews happen when the Republicans still controlled the House in 2018?

    Yes, these occurred while GOP controlled the House, but Schiff was making statements throughout that the investigation was uncovering evidence of collusion and conspiracy.  He lied.  It’s why Schiff resisted making the transcripts public for 18 months after the Democrats regained control of the House.

    • #10
  11. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    Honestly, given Trump’s lifelong habits of not being able to keep his feelings to himself and spiking the football on his enemies, if he had colluded with Russia, by 11/9/16 he would have been taunting Hillary and her supporters on Twitter by thanking Vladimir Putin for his help winning the election.

    It’s the same ‘Evil Idiot’ scenario the Democrats and the media attempted to play out with Reagan and Bush 43, in that they were bumbling, mindless oafs when the narrative called for them to be bumbling, mindless oafs, and they were daring masterminds who could keep vast nefarious conspiracies totally secret when the narrative demanded that happen. Even the Dems right up until 11/8/16 were mocking the anarchy within the Trump campaign, but immediately flipped after that to saying he and his campaign staff were so ingenious they were able to hide their collusion with Russia from the government’s top investigators and attorneys (even if The New York Times could still win a Pulitzer for basically making up tales about how it happened with the assistance of Schiff and his people).

    It helps to think of the Russian collusion hoax as a political scandal worse than Watergate with the additional twist that it’s as if the Times and Post had been working in collusion with the Nixon White House.

    • #11
  12. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    cdor (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    Didn’t these interviews happen when the Republicans still controlled the House in 2018?

    I think that is correct. The existence of the Mueller Special Counsel Investigation, I also think, would have kept all that sworn testimony classified. The 2018 election result then allowed Chairman Schiff to avoid the release until Acting DNI Grenell started making noises about declassification.

    • #12
  13. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    The Democrat Party gets a twofer out of the pandemic through total nullification of all the American economic growth engendered by the Trump Administration and the continuing partial shutdown by Governors distracting attention away from all the misinformation disseminated by the Democrats and the media over these three plus years.

    Now the 2020 election from the Republican standpoint will hinge on how well the Administration restarts economic activity before November and making a strong case that our previous deference to China’s Communist regime championed by Democrats is how we got in the hole to start with. Let’s hope that Barr and Durham present an irrefutable criminal conspiracy case against the Obama team before the election.

    • #13
  14. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    The Democrat Party gets a twofer out of the pandemic through total nullification of all the American economic growth engendered by the Trump Administration and the continuing partial shutdown by Governors distracting attention away from all the misinformation disseminated by the Democrats and the media over these three plus years.

    Now the 2020 election from the Republican standpoint will hinge on how well the Administration restarts economic activity before November and making a strong case that our previous deference to China’s Communist regime championed by Democrats is how we got in the hole to start with. Let’s hope that Barr and Durham present an irrefutable criminal conspiracy case against the Obama team before the election.

    Timing may work against them.  Though I assume any indictments and report will happen before the election, if Trump were to lose the first thing the new administration would do is drop the charges before any of the cases got to trial.  It would be as if it all never happened.

    • #14
  15. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

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

    cdor (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    Didn’t these interviews happen when the Republicans still controlled the House in 2018?

    Yes, these occurred while GOP controlled the House, but Schiff was making statements throughout that the investigation was uncovering evidence of collusion and conspiracy. He lied. It’s why Schiff resisted making the transcripts public for 18 months after the Democrats regained control of the House.

    Why isn’t this proof of Republican culpability? Devin Nunes is great. So is Jim Jordan. Nunes was chairman of the Intelligence Committee at the time. When the Dems lost the House Nunes had a short period of time when he could have made these transcripts public before the Dems took over. I wonder why he didn’t. These were not Top Secret transcripts. Even after the Dems took over, couldn’t Nunes have just come on TV and told everybody what these liars said under oath?

    • #15
  16. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    cdor (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    Didn’t these interviews happen when the Republicans still controlled the House in 2018?

    I think that is correct. The existence of the Mueller Special Counsel Investigation, I also think, would have kept all that sworn testimony classified. The 2018 election result then allowed Chairman Schiff to avoid the release until Acting DNI Grenell started making noises about declassification.

    I do not understand why an investigation by the DOJ would impede the Chairman of the House Intel from releasing un-classified material, or why un-classified material becomes classified because it is on the same subject as another Branch’s investigation. 

    • #16
  17. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    cdor (View Comment):

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

    cdor (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    Didn’t these interviews happen when the Republicans still controlled the House in 2018?

    Yes, these occurred while GOP controlled the House, but Schiff was making statements throughout that the investigation was uncovering evidence of collusion and conspiracy. He lied. It’s why Schiff resisted making the transcripts public for 18 months after the Democrats regained control of the House.

    Why isn’t this proof of Republican culpability? Devin Nunes is great. So is Jim Jordan. Nunes was chairman of the Intelligence Committee at the time. When the Dems lost the House Nunes had a short period of time when he could have made these transcripts public before the Dems took over. I wonder why he didn’t. These were not Top Secret transcripts. Even after the Dems took over, couldn’t Nunes have just come on TV and told everybody what these liars said under oath?

    The November 2018 vote required review of all of the transcripts by the DNI to determine if there were sensitive national security materials that needed to be redacted.  43 of the 53 transcripts had been reviewed and approved for release many months ago but Schiff refused to release them.  Grenell expedited the review of the last ten.  I’ve now read 23 of them and of them, the interviews with Clapper, Sessions, McCabe, an unnamed FBI Special Agent, Evelyn Farkas, and Dan Coats contained redacted materials though, with the exception of Clapper, McCabe and the FBI Agent the redactions are minor.

    • #17
  18. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    I agree with the NT’s decision to go to ground as the Obama Spy Gate scandal finally begins the great reveal.

    It is wise for all of them to pretend they never concurred with  the Obama DOJ/FBI/IC fake Trump Russia Collusion caper by simply saying nothing at all.

    • #18
  19. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    I agree with the NT’s decision to go to ground as the Obama Spy Gate scandal finally begins the great reveal.

    It is wise for all of them to pretend they never concurred with the Obama DOJ/FBI/IC fake Trump Russia Collusion caper by simply saying nothing at all.

    We could go to the “Best of” reel to fill the void. Like maybe this one in praise of Mr. Schiff (as in “he had repeatedly lied to the media and public about what was said in those interviews and releasing the transcripts would show he was lying”):

    On Day 2, Schiff showed his grasp of the facts of this case in a two hour, twenty minute virtuoso performance of his Opening Argument. At the end of Day 3, Schiff had a compelling summation. It was a rhetorical crescendo, and one of the best final arguments I have ever heard. It laid Trump’s mendacity clear to those who were open to hear it. The facts are clear. No one is arguing that Donald Trump would never do what he was accused of. That game is up. It is done. Schiff broke through the fourth wall and confronted us with the knowledge that almost all of us know, that namely what Trump did was wrong. Perhaps it does not rise to being impeachable. But what we know is that what Trump did was wrong. The facts are clear. No one is arguing that Donald Trump would never do what he was accused of. That game is up. It is done. The final paragraph was delivered forcefully. There is repetition for the purpose of emphasis. It was a tour de force.

    That one is just going to get better with time.

    • #19
  20. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    philo (View Comment):

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    I agree with the NT’s decision to go to ground as the Obama Spy Gate scandal finally begins the great reveal.

    It is wise for all of them to pretend they never concurred with the Obama DOJ/FBI/IC fake Trump Russia Collusion caper by simply saying nothing at all.

    We could go to the “Best of” reel to fill the void. Like maybe this one in praise of Mr. Schiff (as in “he had repeatedly lied to the media and public about what was said in those interviews and releasing the transcripts would show he was lying”):

    On Day 2, Schiff showed his grasp of the facts of this case in a two hour, twenty minute virtuoso performance of his Opening Argument. At the end of Day 3, Schiff had a compelling summation. It was a rhetorical crescendo, and one of the best final arguments I have ever heard. It laid Trump’s mendacity clear to those who were open to hear it. The facts are clear. No one is arguing that Donald Trump would never do what he was accused of. That game is up. It is done. Schiff broke through the fourth wall and confronted us with the knowledge that almost all of us know, that namely what Trump did was wrong. Perhaps it does not rise to being impeachable. But what we know is that what Trump did was wrong. The facts are clear. No one is arguing that Donald Trump would never do what he was accused of. That game is up. It is done. The final paragraph was delivered forcefully. There is repetition for the purpose of emphasis. It was a tour de force.

    That one is just going to get better with time.

    The “tell” to anyone (ie: (R) or (D)) with any thread of decency, is when you find yourself in agreement with Adam Schiff you should know you are on the wrong side of the debate.

    The NT should have known consorting with the Left put them on the wrong side of this issue in particular.  It appears to be a case of the NT wanting so badly for the Trump Russia collusion narrative to be true, that the NT were willing to believe what was obvious to the coherent, that the Obama Spy Gate fantasy was an asinine and destructive concoction from the get go.

    .

    • #20
  21. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    philo (View Comment):

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    I agree with the NT’s decision to go to ground as the Obama Spy Gate scandal finally begins the great reveal.

    It is wise for all of them to pretend they never concurred with the Obama DOJ/FBI/IC fake Trump Russia Collusion caper by simply saying nothing at all.

    We could go to the “Best of” reel to fill the void. Like maybe this onein praise of Mr. Schiff (as in “he had repeatedly lied to the media and public about what was said in those interviews and releasing the transcripts would show he was lying”):

    On Day 2, Schiff showed his grasp of the facts of this case in a two hour, twenty minute virtuoso performance of his Opening Argument. At the end of Day 3, Schiff had a compelling summation. It was a rhetorical crescendo, and one of the best final arguments I have ever heard. It laid Trump’s mendacity clear to those who were open to hear it. The facts are clear. No one is arguing that Donald Trump would never do what he was accused of. That game is up. It is done. Schiff broke through the fourth wall and confronted us with the knowledge that almost all of us know, that namely what Trump did was wrong. Perhaps it does not rise to being impeachable. But what we know is that what Trump did was wrong. The facts are clear. No one is arguing that Donald Trump would never do what he was accused of. That game is up. It is done. The final paragraph was delivered forcefully. There is repetition for the purpose of emphasis. It was a tour de force.

    That one is just going to get better with time.

    The “tell” to anyone (ie: (R) or (D)) with any thread of decency, is when you find yourself in agreement with Adam Schiff you should know you are on the wrong side of the debate.

    The NT should have known consorting with the Left put them on the wrong side of this issue in particular. It appears to be a case of the NT wanting so badly for the Trump Russia collusion narrative to be true, that the NT were willing to believe what was obvious to the coherent, that the Obama Spy Gate fantasy was an asinine and destructive concoction from the get go.

    But, but, but….narrative. (Narrowly scripted from pre-filtered sets of “facts”…it takes a special kind to stick to it like they do.)

     

    • #21
  22. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    EDISONPARKS (View Comment):

    The “tell” to anyone (ie: (R) or (D)) with any thread of decency, is when you find yourself in agreement with Adam Schiff you should know you are on the wrong side of the debate.

    The NT should have known consorting with the Left put them on the wrong side of this issue in particular. It appears to be a case of the NT wanting so badly for the Trump Russia collusion narrative to be true, that the NT were willing to believe what was obvious to the coherent, that the Obama Spy Gate fantasy was an asinine and destructive concoction from the get go.

    The same type of mindset also has Trump disdain to the point that they’re all-in on Joe Biden for November … but never quite explain the path forward for the country or for their #NeverTrump movement, if they get their way on Nov. 3, (I assume the latter involves on Nov. 4 telling everyone who voted for Trump  what fools and ninnies they’ve been, and that they should all jolly well listen to them from now on as the only True Conservative leaders of the Republican Party. Though going by this bon mot Saturday from one of the #NT leaders, they’re still holding out only half-joking hopes of regime change prior to Election Day….)

    • #22
  23. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    We haven’t said very much about DAG Rod Rosenstein in many of our recent discussions. As I survey the full range of knowledge we now have of these events, it brings suspicion regarding his decision to appoint a Special Counsel after the firing of James Comey in May, 2017 and his supplemental action to expand the scope of the investigation since all involved knew the Russia collusion theme was going nowhere. They managed to keep the Mueller investigation going by focusing attention on Presidential obstruction. All in all, the Mueller investigation went almost another year and by that time they had created enough of an investigative atmosphere suggesting obstruction that we all thought if the President dismissed anyone in the investigative arena or declassified materials that might reveal the truth he would just be sealing his fate through obstruction. We don’t know exactly how the Ukraine action was initiated but it kept things going past the 2018 midterm election and on to impeachment. I don’t know if we can call it meddling in an election but I think Rod Rosenstein should do a complete explanation of all the details leading to his two big decisions that affected the 2018 election. Obama’s team set this thing in motion but Rosenstein certainly kept it going. Some early indictments of the principal conspirators might help.

    • #23
  24. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    I anticipate that Schiff will be a strong candidate to replace Feinstein when she finally retires.  CA politics are insane.  I left after 60 years of watching the place go crazy.  The Middle Class was replaced with illiterate peasants.  It is now similar to the rotten boroughs in 19th century England.

    • #24
  25. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

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

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Thanks, Gumby, you are doing a public service wading through all those transcripts. Keep it up, please.

    Exactly. If you are bother to read it all, try to take note of what is not said/not written. The lack of support for Russia Collusion, when under oath is the story.

    Yes, I have come across no evidence supporting collusion so far.

    But wouldn’t Adam Schiff’s continuing insistence that there was ‘compelling evidence of Russian collusion or conspiracy’ also be part of the story. Schiff knew there was nothing there but used his Congressional position to shield himself from any retribution for his lies to Americans and then tied up our intelligence efforts with false charges leading to the President’s impeachment while China was hiding the emergence of the coronavirus. Pelosi was right there with Schiff all the way. How can the voters in California send such despicable representatives to Congress?

    I anticipate that Schiff will be a strong candidate to replace Feinstein when she finally retires. CA politics are insane. I left after 60 years of watching the place go crazy. The Middle Class was replaced with illiterate peasants. It is now similar to the rotten boroughs in 19th century England.

    Schiff’s district is Burbank

     

    • #25
  26. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    This is a quotation of Susan Rice that showed up on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

    Rice explained to the House Intelligence committee, the reason she was willing to accuse Trump officials of treason, was that some of them seemed unduly worried about the rise of China. Here’s what she said about General Michael Flynn. Quote: “General Flynn’s focus was on China as our principal overarching adversary. He had many questions and concerns about China. And when I sought to elicit his perspective on Russia … he downplayed his assessment of Russia as a threat to the United States. He called it overblown. He said they’re a declining power, they’re demographically challenged, they’re not really much of a threat, and then reemphasized the importance of China. I had seen enough at that point and heard enough to be a little bit sensitive to the question of the nature of General Flynn’s engagements with the Russians.”

    The way Tucker presented this it sounds like the quote came out of the transcripts of testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

    This is one of the strongest statements I have encountered and might be a large influence on how we got “Obamagate” otherwise known as the Flynn frame up and the Russia hoax. A statement like this could even be the basis for Adam Schiff’s runaway imagination that there was compelling evidence. I mean his TV interviews always made it sound like that’s how he got his evidence but it was classified so he could only leak it.

    And it explains how our whole foreign policy involving defense was played by the Obamagate people with Russia as the real threat, not China.

    • #26
  27. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    This is a quotation of Susan Rice that showed up on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

    Rice explained to the House Intelligence committee, the reason she was willing to accuse Trump officials of treason, was that some of them seemed unduly worried about the rise of China. Here’s what she said about General Michael Flynn. Quote: “General Flynn’s focus was on China as our principal overarching adversary. He had many questions and concerns about China. And when I sought to elicit his perspective on Russia … he downplayed his assessment of Russia as a threat to the United States. He called it overblown. He said they’re a declining power, they’re demographically challenged, they’re not really much of a threat, and then reemphasized the importance of China. I had seen enough at that point and heard enough to be a little bit sensitive to the question of the nature of General Flynn’s engagements with the Russians.”

    The way Tucker presented this it sounds like the quote came out of the transcripts of testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

    This is one of the strongest statements I have encountered and might be a large influence on how we got “Obamagate” otherwise known as the Flynn frame up and the Russia hoax. A statement like this could even be the basis for Adam Schiff’s runaway imagination that there was compelling evidence. I mean his TV interviews always made it sound like that’s how he got his evidence but it was classified so he could only leak it.

    And it explains how our whole foreign policy involving defense was played by the Obamagate people with Russia as the real threat, not China.

    Have not gotten to Rice’s transcript yet.  Will let you know what I find.

    • #27
  28. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    This is a quotation of Susan Rice that showed up on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

    Rice explained to the House Intelligence committee, the reason she was willing to accuse Trump officials of treason, was that some of them seemed unduly worried about the rise of China. Here’s what she said about General Michael Flynn. Quote: “General Flynn’s focus was on China as our principal overarching adversary. He had many questions and concerns about China. And when I sought to elicit his perspective on Russia … he downplayed his assessment of Russia as a threat to the United States. He called it overblown. He said they’re a declining power, they’re demographically challenged, they’re not really much of a threat, and then reemphasized the importance of China. I had seen enough at that point and heard enough to be a little bit sensitive to the question of the nature of General Flynn’s engagements with the Russians.”

    The way Tucker presented this it sounds like the quote came out of the transcripts of testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

    This is one of the strongest statements I have encountered and might be a large influence on how we got “Obamagate” otherwise known as the Flynn frame up and the Russia hoax. A statement like this could even be the basis for Adam Schiff’s runaway imagination that there was compelling evidence. I mean his TV interviews always made it sound like that’s how he got his evidence but it was classified so he could only leak it.

    And it explains how our whole foreign policy involving defense was played by the Obamagate people with Russia as the real threat, not China.

    I am now reading the Rice transcript and yes, what Tucker was quoting can be found on page 44 of the interview.   Particularly ironic given that Obama and his team savaged and ridiculed Romney in 2012 for saying the Russians were our #1 enemy (Mitt was wrong, but that’s another story).

    Of note is that just prior to this passage Rice testified that the head of the National Security transition team for Trump, Marshall Billingslea, had talked with her about being disturbed about the frequency of contacts between Ambassador Kisylak and Flynn, wanted more background on Kisylak because “he seemed to want to use it to persuade General Flynn that perhaps he should scale back the contacts.”

    Billingslea started his career as an aide to Senator Helms, was at DoD during the Bush administration where he was heavily involved in the war on terror.  During the Trump Administration he has been Asst Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the Treasury Dept., is now Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control and last week the White House nominated him to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs.  All of which make his purported comments on Flynn of interest.

    • #28
  29. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    An article at RedState by Stu Cvrk makes me question why we didn’t hear more from Devin Nunes about the transcripts and what was not said in the testimony.

    If no one anywhere in the group of those who testified said there was any evidence of collusion or cooperation with the Russians, wouldn’t Nunes be able to say that claim never appeared in the testimony? Can the absence of something from classified material being revealed as not being in the classified material be a violations of security clearance provisions? Or was Nunes just being cautious because of his earlier referral for ethics violations inquiry for having visited the White House?

    • #29
  30. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    Bob Thompson (View Comment):

    An article at RedState by Stu Cvrk makes me question why we didn’t hear more from Devin Nunes about the transcripts and what was not said in the testimony.

    If no one anywhere in the group of those who testified said there was any evidence of collusion or cooperation with the Russians, wouldn’t Nunes be able to say that claim never appeared in the testimony? Can the absence of something from classified material being revealed as not being in the classified material be a violations of security clearance provisions? Or was Nunes just being cautious because of his earlier referral for ethics violations inquiry for having visited the White House?

     

    I have always wondered why the (R) never leaked when the gravity of the Obamagate malfeasance was so destructive, particularly the role it played in controlling the narrative in the 2018 mid term elections.

    The (D) never hesitates to lie, cheat, and steal when it comes to gaining and retaining political power.

    • #30
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