Robert Mueller indicts 13 Russians for interfering in the 2016 election
Without question the big news of the day is Robert Mueller’s decision to charge 13 Russians with trying to interfere in the 2016 election, but because this news comes on the Friday of a long holiday weekend it was practically a given that there was still no evidence of collusion with the Trump campaign.
Here is more:
A new indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller charges that 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities illegally mounted an “information warfare” scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election that favored then-candidate Donald Trump and involved “unwitting” U.S. citizens and Trump campaign officials.
The dramatic indictment reveals even bolder Russian interference than previously known — led by the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, a notorious online misinformation operation with suspected Kremlin ties — that went beyond the previously-understood use of “fake news” and social media misdirection.
We also learned that the interference began in 2014, long before Donald Trump announced he was running for President, with the intent to “sow discord” for the political system in the United States by using social media to organize groups and protests.
Any contact with Trump campaign officials was unbeknownst to them:
The document does allege that some of the defendants were in communication with Trump’s campaign, but not that Trump officials knowingly colluded with Russia. Its specific charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“Some defendants, posing as U.S. persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump Campaign and with other political activists to seek to coordinate political activities,” the indictment said.
“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity,” Rosenstein told reporters. “There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.”
So if anything this means the Trump campaign officials should be counted as victims in the Russian scheme and not as collaborators. After all this time investigating the Trump campaign this is all the Mueller team could come up with but this will be used as justification to keep the investigation going.
I am not trying to downplay what happened here; Russian interference in our election is a serious matter and we must not let it happen again if possible but I do wonder if this signals the beginning of the end to the Trump collusion angle of the investigation. I am not talking about the mainstream media here, we can rest assured they will continue the narrative.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
A bipartisan Senate group reaches a deal on DACA
According to this story a bipartisan Senate group has reached a deal on a DACA solution which they will be releasing shortly for the Senate to read. Here is more:
A bipartisan Senate group tentatively agreed on a trimmed-down immigration proposal Wednesday that would allow citizenship for young undocumented immigrants and provide $25 billion for a border wall without meeting White House demands for cuts in family migration and an end to a diversity visa lottery.
Graham said the proposal won’t address a 50,000 visa diversity lottery that Trump wants to end. The young immigrants wouldn’t be allowed to sponsor their parents to live in this country — a standard that falls short of Trump’s effort to limit all family-based immigration to spouses and minor children.
Here is some of what Lindsey Graham had to say about this upcoming proposal:
Graham said, “The president’s going to get his border security money and we’re going to do a 1.8 million pathway forward. To break the chain, we’re going to say that the parent can’t be sponsored by the Dream Act child they brought in illegally.”
The reporting in this story seems a little sloppy: The article states there would be funding for a border wall but Lindsey Graham used the term “border security” and those two terms are not necessarily the same thing. The article also says the proposal would not meet the President’s demand to end chain migration yet Lindsey Graham said the chain would be broken by not allowing minors to sponsor their parents. Perhaps siblings would still be allowed to migrate and that is what the article is referencing–it is not clear.
The proposal does not address the VISA lottery program but it does apparently give 1.8 million dreamers a pathway to citizenship, which is something that Donald Trump proposed a few weeks ago.
My instinct tells me that if this is brought to a vote in the Senate it will pass but at this point it is hard to predict what the politicians in Washington will do because they are all really looking out for themselves politically above all else. If it does pass the Senate and eventually makes it to the President’s desk will it be enough to win his approval? Will Donald Trump cave on the VISA lottery program, hoping for a fix in the future, in exchange for border security (or is it a border wall?) and the beginning of the end of chain migration?
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Susan Rice’s email to herself may show James Comey misled the Congress
Yesterday we learned that just before Donald Trump was sworn in as President Susan Rice decided to email herself, in what appears to be a CYA effort, about the details of a meeting which was held 15 days earlier between herself, Barack Obama, and James Comey about the Russian investigation.
However this email may have inadvertently implicated James Comey for misleading the Congress because he did not disclose this meeting. Here is more:
A newly-discovered email suggests former FBI Director James Comeymay have been less than honest about his meetings with former president Barack Obama on the subject of Russian interference with and during the 2016 general election.
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released the email on Monday after requesting “records of meetings between President Obama and then-FBI Director Comey regarding the FBI’s investigation of allegations of collusion between associates of Mr. Trump and the Russian government.”
If Rice’s email is accurate, Comey may have seriously misled Congress about his meetings with Obama.
And here is more:
Dated June 8, 2017, Comey’s “Statement for the Record” provided to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, notes, “I have tried to include information that may be relevant to the committee.”
“I spoke alone with President Obama twice in person (and never on the phone) – once in 2015 to discuss law enforcement policy issues and a second time, briefly, for him to say goodbye in late 2016.”
The first thing I noticed while reading this was the word “alone” in James Comey’s statement, and this was also mentioned in the article I linked to above. Technically he did not lie to the Senate Intelligence Committee because he did not meet alone with Barack Obama on January 5th–Susan Rice was there–but he was less than truthful, and I would also add purposely deceitful.
Nevertheless James Comey should have disclosed this meeting to the Congress in the interest of transparency but he did not and how ironic would it be if a seemingly spur of the moment decision by Susan Rice ant CYA for herself and Barack Obama could be what does in James Comey?!
While James Comey technically might not have lied (quid est veritas) to the Congress it should be remembered that Michael Flynn plead guilty to lying to the Congress for failing to disclose a conversation he had with the Russian ambassador. I do not see any difference here. Interestingly enough Michael Flynn’s sentencing has been delayed until May and the plot thickens…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Susan Rice sent herself an ‘unusual’ email shortly before Donald Trump was inaugurated
According to this story Charles Grassely and Lindsey Graham are looking for some information on an email Susan Rice sent to herself on Inauguration Day.
Here is more:
Two top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are questioning former national security adviser Susan Rice about an “unusual” message she sent to herself on Jan 20, 2017 — President Trump‘s Inauguration Day.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) questioned Rice why she sent a note detailing a conversation she observed on Jan. 5 between then-FBI Director James Comey and then-President Barack Obama.
“It strikes us as odd that, among your activities in the final moments on the final day of the Obama administration, you would feel the need to send yourself such an unusual email purporting to document a conversation involving President Obama and his interactions with the FBI regarding the Trump/Russia investigation,” they wrote in a letter to Rice.
Here is some of what was in the email:
President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities by the book. The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective.
He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.
From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.
This seems odd to me as well. Why would Susan Rice, in what was probably her last act as a national security adviser, suddenly decide it was imperative to get it on the books that Barack Obama wanted to make sure everything in the Russia investigation was being done “by the book” and why did she wait 15 days to do so if this is on the level?
It almost makes it look as if there was some concern that not everything was being done “by the book” and so they wanted to get something on the record where it would be found. It certainly looks like this is CYA and the fact she only emailed it to herself seems to allude to that fact.
It is also interesting to note that Barack Obama was in contact with James Comey about the Russia investigation because he claimed he never talked to the Department of Injustice about any ongoing investigation because that is not a line to be crossed. “Full stop. Period.”
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, February 11th open thread: ‘Night Shift’
Here is the open thread for Sunday, February 11th. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
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Here is Siouxsie and the Banshees performing “Night Shift” live in 1983. If you look closely you will see Robert Smith of The Cure filling in on guitar as he did often back in those days.
frui diem
Donald Trump seeks to streamline infrastructure permitting
One issue that I believe many people on the right and on the left agree on is the fact that our infrastructure is old and needs upgrading. But still we have been haggling over this issue for years, and I believe the reason is because the left and the right differ on the role the Federal government should play in the finding of the infrastructure.
Personally, I might differ here with conservatives, I believe the Federal government does have a role in infrastructure and I believe Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution (through the Post roads clause) grants the Federal government some authority when it comes to allocating monies to build infrastructure. That is not to say the States do not also have a responsibility but I believe in this case there is a shared responsibility.
Although it has been largely ignored since his election Donald Trump did make infrastructure spending a major part of his platform, and in August of last year the President signed an Executive Order on infrastructure spending seeking to streamline the process so reviews on infrastructure projects would be cut from roughly 10 years down to 2 years.
Now, according to this article, Donald Trump has issued a draft memo to 17 agencies which would cut some of the red tape and make good on this promise. Here is more:
The White House is circulating a draft memo to more than a dozen federal agencies that would dramatically speed up the time it takes to secure environmental permits for infrastructure projects, according to a document obtained by POLITICO.
The draft memorandum of understanding, which is being reviewed by 17 federal agencies and is expected to be finalized soon, would help implement an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in August that set a goal of completing the environmental review process for major infrastructure projects within two years.
Faster permitting is expected to be one element of the infrastructure plan the White House is slated to unveil on Monday, though the inter-agency memorandum of understanding is not expected to be finalized in time for this week’s rollout.
In order to more quickly green-light proposed bridges, pipelines and roads, the Trump administration — led by the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Council on Environmental Quality — has been working behind the scenes for weeks to establish a more streamlined process among the dozens of federal agencies that often have to weigh in before a project can move forward.
Among the changes: requiring that agencies conduct their individual reviews concurrently, rather than sequentially.
To achieve the two-year goal, the memorandum, a draft of which was viewed by POLITICO, says agencies will “commit to cooperate, communicate, share information, and resolve conflicts that could prevent meeting milestones.”
On the surface it would seem as though this should have bipartisan support, after all the left has been calling for infrastructure spending for years, but the one thing the “resist” movement has taught us is that if Donald Trump is for it they are against it and it does not seem to matter what the issue is–the party of no will oppose it for opposition’s sake–and I expect this to be no different.
But how can the left justify opposing spending money on infrastructure after calling for it during the 8 years of Barack Obama’s Presidency? I think it is fairly simple: they will claim the evil, greedy capitalist is going about it the wrong way. The left will claim Donald Trump is forsaking the environment at the behest of other evil, greedy capitalists while refusing to admit he is simply trying to streamline the environmental review process.
Donald Trump is hoping to make an announcement about this on Monday and it will be interesting to see if my theory plays out–it should not take long to find out.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
FBI informant alleges Russia expected payback in the Uranium One deal for donations made to the Clinton Foundation
Not all that long ago there were reports that there was an FBI informant who was going to expose the alleged pay to play scheme between the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One deal. But since that initial report we have not heard anything more about this but now perhaps that has changed.
According to this story the informant has issued a statement to three Congressional Committees that alleges Russia routed money to the Clinton Foundation with the expectation they could influence the Obama regime and Hillary Clinton. Here is more:
An FBI informant connected to the Uranium One controversy told three congressional committees in a written statement that Moscow routed millions of dollars to America with the expectation it would be used to benefit Bill Clinton‘s charitable efforts while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton quarterbacked a “reset” in U.S.-Russian relations.
The informant, Douglas Campbell, said in the statement obtained by The Hill that he was told by Russian nuclear executives that Moscow had hired the American lobbying firm APCO Worldwide specifically because it was in position to influence the Obama administration, and more specifically Hillary Clinton.
Campbell added in the testimony that Russian nuclear officials “told me at various times that they expected APCO to apply a portion of the $3 million annual lobbying fee it was receiving from the Russians to provide in-kind support for the Clintons’ Global Initiative.”
“The contract called for four payments of $750,000 over twelve months. APCO was expected to give assistance free of charge to the Clinton Global Initiative as part of their effort to create a favorable environment to ensure the Obama administration made affirmative decisions on everything from Uranium One to the U.S.-Russia Civilian Nuclear Cooperation agreement.”
He accused Obama administration officials of making decisions that ended up benefitting the Russian nuclear industry, which he said was seeking to build a monopoly in the global uranium market to help President Vladimir Putin seek a geopolitical advantage over the United States.
APCO is denying any connection, claiming these were two separate departments working apart from each other and it just coincidental. Douglas Campbell was also interviewed by the three committees–the Senate Judiciary Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Democrats are calling into question Mr. Campbell’s credibility and while he was not under oath during these interviews, from what I understand, it is still a crime to lie to the Congress so Douglas Campbell would have nothing to gain and everything to lose by providing the Congress with false information.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Mark Warner was texting with a Russian lobbyist about the dossier
As I wrote yesterday, thing are getting very interesting in regards to the Russia collusion investigation. For all intents and purposes it now appears as if the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee were colluding with a foreign agent on behalf of Russia to dig up dirt on Donald Trump. But that is just the beginning. Here is more from America’s Watchtower from yesterday:
We learned that the FBI used the Russian dossier as well as a Yahoo! article to gain a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign and transition teams while neglecting to tell the court the dossier was unconfirmed as well as failing to inform the FISA court that the dossier was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. In other words the FBI did not disclose to the FISA court all available information, which is a crime.
We also learned that while the Yahoo! article was used as a “second source” to gain the warrant that Christopher Steele was behind the Yahoo! article, meaning that there was only one source using two different platforms to get his (and the DNC’s and the Clinton campaign’s) message out there. And the mainstream media was complicit in this as well.
Now Julian Assange is claiming that the man who wrote the Yahoo! article was also “working with” the Democratic National Committee for several weeks
Earlier today it was reported here that two more high-ranking government officials are stepping down after having been named in the text between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page but that it not the big news of the day.
The big news of the day is this report that the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner, was in contact via text messages with a Russian lobbyist seeking to set up a private meeting over the discredited Democratic Party funded Russian dossier. Here is more:
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has been leading a congressional investigation into President Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, had extensive contact last year with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch who was offering Warner access to former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele, according to text messages obtained exclusively by Fox News.
“We have so much to discuss u need to be careful but we can help our country,” Warner texted the lobbyist, Adam Waldman, on March 22, 2017.
“I’m in,” Waldman, whose firm has ties to Hillary Clinton, texted back to Warner.
Secrecy seemed very important to Warner as the conversation with Waldman heated up March 29, when the lobbyist revealed that Steele wanted a bipartisan letter from Warner and the committee’s chairman, North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr, inviting him to talk to the Senate intelligence panel.
Throughout the text exchanges, Warner seemed particularly intent on connecting directly with Steele without anyone else on the Senate Intelligence Committee being in the loop — at least initially. In one text to the lobbyist, Warner wrote that he would “rather not have a paper trail” of his messages.
I am sure Mark Warner will claim this was done as part of the investigation into Donald Trump but if so why the secrecy? Why did he not want anybody else on the Intelligence Committee to know what he was up to if he simply had a lead he was following up on?
And of course there are ties to Hillary Clinton:
Over the course of four months between February and May 2017, Warner and Waldman also exchanged dozens of texts about possible testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee from Deripaska, Waldman’s primary Russian billionaire client.
In January 2009, Harper’s Magazine reported that Deripaska had hired an advisory firm with close ties to Hillary Clinton to help him get a visa to enter the United States.”
At this point I have to admit it is hard for me to keep all of this straight, it is getting more complicated by the day, but the one thing I do know is that it looks as if the truth is 180 degrees opposite of what the Democrats and the mainstream media would have us believe.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Julian Assange claims the man who wrote the Yahoo! article used to justify spying on Donald Trump was ‘working with’ the Democratic National Committee
Things have become very interesting over the last several days in regards to the Russian collusion investigation with the release of the GOP memo. We learned that the FBI used the Russian dossier as well as a Yahoo! article to gain a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign and transition teams while neglecting to tell the court the dossier was unconfirmed as well as failing to inform the FISA court that the dossier was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. In other words the FBI did not disclose to the FISA court all available information, which is a crime.
We also learned that while the Yahoo! article was used as a “second source” to gain the warrant that Christopher Steele was behind the Yahoo! article, meaning that there was only one source using two different platforms to get his (and the DNC’s and the Clinton campaign’s) message out there. And the mainstream media was complicit in this as well.
Now Julian Assange is claiming that the man who wrote the Yahoo! article was also “working with” the Democratic National Committee for several weeks:
If this is true what an incestuous relationship is being uncovered! I have been saying for weeks the Democrats may rue the day they decided to push this narrative and now it might be coming to fruition.
Recently revealed texts between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page show they were terrified and depressed at Donald Trump’s election and in light of this news one has to wonder if they were worried all of this would see the light of day after fully expecting Hillary Clinton would become President because all of this would have been buried.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
New Peter Strzok texts on Clinton email investigation: Barack Obama ‘wants to know everything’
When Barack Obama was pressed by Chris Wallace about whether or not he was involved in the Hillary Clinton email investigation the President claimed he never got involved in ongoing investigations. Here is what he said:
“I do not talk to the attorney general about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations,” he insisted.
“I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department or the FBI — not just in this case, but in any case. FULL STOP. PERIOD. Guaranteed. Nobody gets treated differently when it comes to the Justice Department,” he said.
However, newly released text messages between Peter Strzok and his lover Lisa Page call into question Barack Obama’s claim. Here is more:
Newly revealed text messages between FBI paramours Peter Strzok and Lisa Page include an exchange about preparing talking points for then-FBI Director James Comey to give to President Obama, who wanted “to know everything we’re doing.”
The message, from Page to Strzok, was among thousands of texts between the lovers reviewed by Fox News. The pair both worked at one point for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Page wrote to Strzok on Sept. 2, 2016, about prepping Comey because “potus wants to know everything we’re doing.” According to a newly released Senate report, this text raises questions about Obama’s personal involvement in the Clinton email investigation.
It certainly looks like Barack Obama was involved, or at least kept informed, about FBI investigations and even if it is the latter it still shows the President was not truthful when he spoke to Chris Wallace.
But there is another newly released text I find interesting and this one was sent by Peter Strzok to Lisa Page on election day and it read, “OMG THIS IS F***ING TERRIFYING.” To which Lisa Page responded, “Omg, I am so depressed.”
After reading these new revelations I have to wonder if Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were terrified and depressed because Donald Trump was elected and they opposed him politically or if they were actually worried that the public would learn what Barack Obama, the FBI, and the Department of Injustice were up to…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
America's Watchtower 