Did James Comey perjure himself today?
That is what Donald Trump’s lawyer claimed today after James Comey’s testimony was over. The issue revolves around James Comey’s decision to orchestrate the leaking of his own personal memos.
James Comey said he decided to leak his personal memos after Donald Trump tweeted that he had better hope the conversation was not taped. The problem is, according to Donald Trump’s lawyer, the New York Times article which quoted James Comey’s memos was published the day before the tweet in question. Here is more:
Trump Attorney Mark Kasowitz told reporters today at the Washington Press Club that James Comey lied during testimony while under oath!
Comey FALSELY claimed he leaked private conversations because of Trump’s tweet — which wasn’t published until the following day after the leak!
Comey FALSELY claimed he leaked private conversations because of Trump’s tweet — which wasn’t published until the following day after the leak!
Move along, nothing to see here. I am sure James Comey simply “misremembered” the sequence of events which led to his decision to leak the contents of his memos of conversations he had with Donald Trump…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
In the interest of full disclosure I did not watch James Comey’s testimony today because I had to work but I found a couple of points very interesting which the mainstream media is likely to ignore.
First; James Comey admitted he was behind the leaking of his own memos because he hoped it would lead to a special prosecutor. Here is more on that:
Fired FBI Director James B. Comey orchestrated the leak of details of his memos of his conversations with President Trump, he testified to Congress on Thursday, saying he was hoping it would spur the Justice Department to announce an independent prosecutor to probe the Trump operation.
Mr. Comey said he used a law professor friend at Columbia University as a go-between to share information with reporters, though he didn’t name the professor. He said he wanted to get information out after Mr. Trump took to Twitter to dispute that he had asked the FBI to let former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn off the hook.
“I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel,” Mr. Comey testified.
Sen. Roy Blunt said that sounded like a cop-out.“What you do there is create a source close to the former director of the FBI, as opposed to just taking responsibility yourself,” the Missouri Republican said.
These were his own personal memos of a private conversation he had with Donald Trump, these were not classified documents, so likely there is no crime here although the President’s lawyer does believe this could be a violation of the law. We will have to see how this plays out. James Comey said he had reasons for not releasing the memos himself but failed to list what these reasons were. I find this to be odd.
While refusing to comment on whether or not Donald Trump obstructed justice in the Russia scandal he did admit that Loretta Lynch pressured him to change the talking points in regard to Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, pressure he succumbed to:
He admitted at least twice in the hearing today that Loretta Lynch pressured him to downplay the Clinton investigation by referring to it publicly using the same language that Clinton was using herself to describe it. In short, he was asked to refer to it as a ‘matter’ and not an ‘investigation’
he suggested that Loretta Lynch was aligning herself with the Clinton campaign and that’s why she wanted him to downplay it. He said it confused him and when he asked why, she wouldn’t say.
And so he did it anyway against his ‘better’ judgement. He said it wasn’t a hill he wanted to die on
“A hill to die on.” That was an interesting term to use considering people have a nasty habit of getting dead around the Clinton’s…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Despite the fact that more and more scientists are coming out against man-made global warming, and despite the fact NASA and NOAA have been changing historical temperatures to fudge the numbers, we have been told for years that something like 97% of all scientists believe man-made global warming is real. A number Barack Obama magically turned into 99.5%…
First let me restate the 97% number is based on a lie (the words in bold are mine):
The origin of the “97 percent” statistic has been traced back to a 2009 study by University of Illinois/Chicago graduate student Kendall Zimmerman, who sent a survey to 10,257 earth scientists asking them two questions:
“When compared with pre-1800s levels, do you think that mean global temperatures have generally risen, fallen, or remained relatively constant?” and
“Do you think human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures?”
Eighty-two percent of the 3,146 scientists who completed the survey (a 30.7% response rate) answered “yes” to question 2.
So only 30.7% of the scientists who were surveyed bothered to answer the survey and of that 30.7% only 82% answered yes to the question of global warming being man-made, so where does the 97% number come from?
That figure included 75 of the 79 individuals (97.4%) who self-identified themselves as climate scientists.
The survey was sent to over 10,000 scientists and out of that group 79 of those who bothered to answer the survey identified themselves as climate scientists, and out of that number 75 of them said global warming was man-made. So it turns out for all the hoopla this whole notion that 97% of scientists believe global warming is man-made we are taking the word of 75 scientists out of a total of over 10,000 scientists.
So the number has always been erroneous but let let that go…
The transcript of James Comey’s prepared remarks that he intends to read at tomorrow’s Intelligence Committee hearing has been released and in it he admits that he told Donald Trump that he was not under investigation. This is something Donald Trump has claimed in the past but which has never been officially released to the public.
Here is more:
From January 6th:
prior to the January 6 meeting, I discussed with the FBI’s leadership team whether I should be prepared to assure President-Elect Trump that we were not investigating him personally. That was true; we did not have an open counter-intelligence case on him. We agreed I should do so if circumstances warranted. During our one-on-one meeting at Trump Tower, based on President-Elect Trump’s reaction to the briefing and without him directly asking the question, I offered that assurance.
It is interesting to note that James Comey offered this information without having been asked by Donald Trump.
In an odd turn of events, after learning that the Supreme Court would take up his travel ban Donald Trump Tweeted that the Department of Justice should have stayed with his original travel ban instead of advancing the “watered down” travel ban the department submitted to the court system.
Apparently Donald Trump forgot that he and his administration ordered the new travel ban written in the first place and this “watered down” version was the only version left on the books to challenge. As I wrote above, I found it odd that Donald Trump would go after the Department of Justice like this but I think it shows us there is still tension between Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions after the Attorney General recused himself from the Russia hacking scandal.
As you have heard by now a Federal contractor, Reality Winner, has been arrested for leaking top-secret NSA documents related to the Russia hacking scandal. When the news broke last night I hesitated in writing about it because of her name, I thought it might be a fake news story and I did not want to get caught up in it.
But apparently it is true and here is more:
A 25-year-old Federal contractor was charged Monday with leaking a top secret NSA report — detailing how Russian military hackers targeted US voting systems just days before the election.
The highly classified intelligence document, published Monday by The Intercept, describes how Russia managed to infiltrate America’s voting infrastructure using a spear-phishing email scheme that targeted local government officials and employees.
It claims the calculated cyberattack may have even been more far-reaching and devious than previously thought.
The report is believed to be the most detailed US government account of Russia’s interference to date.
It was allegedly provided to the Intercept by 25-year-old Reality Leigh Winner, of Augusta, who appeared in court Monday after being arrested at her home over the weekend.
She was charged with removing and mailing classified materials to a news outlet, DOJ officials said.
“Releasing classified material without authorization threatens our nation’s security and undermines public faith in government,” Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein explained in a statement. “People who are trusted with classified information and pledge to protect it must be held accountable when they violate that obligation.”
Not surprisingly it turns out she is an anti-Trump, Bernie Sanders supporter, climate change warrior, and supporter of the Iran regime. She also believes being white is a form of terrorism. Obviously she is not handling the election very well…
https://twitter.com/Reezlie/status/828956117338292224
Did I mention she was given her security clearance by the Obama regime? I think that goes without saying, the only question is how was somebody with her background allowed a security clearance? But then again, she seems to be right in line with much of the former President’s agenda.
One down, how many more to go?
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Last week, after Sean Spicer refused to deny the possibility, it was speculated that Donald Trump would invoke Executive Privilege to block James Comey as did Barack Obama with documents concerning Eric Holder during the Fast and Furious investigation. I was very concerned about this possibility…
It is now being reported by Politico that the President will not try to stonewall the investigation and will not invoke Executive Privilege, here is more:
President Donald Trump will not invoke executive privilege in order to block former FBI Director James Comey from testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.
“The president’s power to exert executive privilege is very well established,” Sanders said at Monday’s White House press briefing. “However, in order to facilitate a swift and thorough examination of the facts sought by the Senate Intelligence Committee, President Trump will not assert executive privilege regarding James Comey’s scheduled testimony.”
This is good news: this investigation has already dragged on something like 10 months now and there is no sense in prolonging it if Donald Trump has nothing to hide.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Hillary Clinton feels the need to explain her loss to Donald Trump and in recent weeks she has been going on a “blame tour” listing at least two dozen reasons why she is not at fault.
Her latest excuse, blaming the Democratic National Committee, seems to have been a step too far with many Democrats and they would now like to see her go back into obscurity.
Here is more:
Democrats say they’d like Hillary Clinton to take a cue from former President Obama and step out of the spotlight.
They say her string of remarks explaining her stunning loss in November coupled with the public remarks blaming the Democratic National Committee for the defeat — which many took as also critical of Obama — are hurting the party and making the 2016 candidate look bitter.
The Hill interviewed more a dozen Democrats about Clinton’s remarks, including many staunch Clinton supporters and former aides.
they also unanimously said Clinton needs to rethink her public blaming tour.
“Good God, what is she doing?” one longtime aide wondered after watching Clinton at the Recode conference in California on Wednesday. “She’s apparently still really, really angry. I mean, we all are. The election was stolen from her, and that’s how she feels.
“But to go out there publicly again and again and talk about it? And then blame the DNC?” the aide wondered. “It’s not helpful to Democrats. It’s not helpful to the country, and I don’t think it’s helpful to her.”
I would disagree slightly with the first sentence above: While for the most part Barack Obama has stepped out of the spotlight he did feel the need to travel to Europe while Donald Trump was on his first foreign tour and give a speech in an attempt to outshine the President.
And more:
Former Obama aides are among those scratching their heads over Clinton’s strategy.
At the Recode conference, she said she had inherited nothing from a “bankrupt” Democratic Party led by Obama for eight years.
“If she is trying to come across as the leader of the angry movement of what happened in 2016, then she’s achieving it,” said one former senior aide to Obama. “But part of the problem she had was she didn’t have a vision for the Democratic Party, and she needs to now take a break and let others come to the forefront.”
I would also disagree with the last sentence above: Hillary Clinton did have a vision for the future of the Democratic party and it was more of the same–Barack Obama’s third term–and the voters rejected it for various reasons, probably most notably because many Democratic voters did not like the way Bernie Sanders did not get a fair shake.
These Democrats who now want her to go away share something in common with Republican voters who have wanted her to go away for years. She is simply not a likable person and she was a lousy candidate but I kind of want her to stay in the spotlight now because I find it entertaining, especially now that Democrats are turning on her.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Newly found emails show Hillary Clinton shared classified information with the Clinton Foundation
Hillary Clinton may have lost the 2016 election and she may have been relegated to relative obscurity until last week however Judicial Watch is still fighting to get to the bottom of the email scandal which in all likelihood cost her the election.
As a result of Judicial Watch’s effort another 115 State Department emails which,–despite Hillary Clinton’s claim that as far as she knew all official emails were turned over–show the former Presidential candidate did not turn over all emails related to the scandal. In addition these emails show that Hillary Clinton shared classified information with the Clinton Foundation and that in an apparent pay to play scheme favors were granted to Clinton Foundation members.
Here is more:
As Hillary Clinton counts the many reasons for her election loss, Judicial Watch continues to seek documents related to her tenure as secretary of state, releasing another 2,078 pages on Thursday.
Those 2,078 documents include 115 Clinton email exchanges not previously turned over to the State Department.
Judicial Watch says the documents include more instances of Clinton sending and receiving classified/confidential information through an unsecured email server. They also show that Clinton’s daughter Chelsea and others involved with the Clinton Foundation received special favors from Huma Abedin, a top Clinton aide.
Here is more:
According to Judicial Watch:
— On December 6, 2010, Secretary Clinton shared classified information with non-U.S. government employees Justin Cooper, then an aide to Bill Clinton, and Clinton Foundation director Doug Band (neither of whom held security clearances). This email exchange involved allegations of the theft of foreign aid by Bangladeshi banker and major Clinton Foundation donor Muhammad Yunus.
— On March 14, 2011, State Department official Maria Otero emailed Secretary Clinton information about the Grameen Bank/Foundation that was Classified/Confidential by the State Department and redacted. Clinton responded to Otero using her HDR22@clintonemailcom account and copied Abedin on Abedin’s unsecure email account.
“Confidential” information is the lowest level of classification. The others are “Secret” and “Top Secret.”The newly released emails also reveal a number of favors that were requested and carried out, including one in July 2011, in which Huma Abedin told Chelsea’s travel agent to “stand down,” because Chelsea and another Clinton Foundation employee would be made part of the “official delegation” going to Germany to see the U.S. women’s soccer team play.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the newly released Clinton emails show why the Justice Department should “reevaluate, reopen, or reinvigorate” the Clinton investigations.
“The casual violation of laws concerning classified material and noxious influence peddling show the Clinton State Department was ‘corruption central’ in the Obama administration,” Fitton added.
But of course there is nothing to see here, move along…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
MSNBC anchor wonders if Donald Trump is trying to provoke a domestic terrorist attack to ‘prove himself right’
Late last night or early this morning, while Tweeting about the latest terrorist attack in England, Donald Trump stated it was time to get serious about terrorism and stop being politically correct:
Trump’s tweet about Saturday’s terror attacks in London read, “We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don’t get smart it will only get worse.”
I think it is fairly obvious Donald Trump was talking about the immigration policies of many European countries and how it has led to the rise of Islamic terrorism in Europe. It was a warning that what is happening in Europe could happen here if we are not serious about illegal immigration but one MSNBC host, Thomas Roberts, asked if Donald Trump was trying to provoke an attack in America to “prove himself right.”
“The president doesn’t want us to be politically correct, right? So let’s not be PC about this. Is the president trying to provoke a domestic terrorist attack with this Twitter rant, because, only to prove himself right?”
Roberts later repeated the inquiry to Dean, “I asked this of Mayor Reed, but it seems like the president is trying to provoke something that he can politicize more for his own gain in America. Do you feel that way?”
Apparently the guests were not willing to go that far, stating that Donald Trump is just incompetent. The idea that the President wants a terrorist attack to happen on American soil so he can say “I told you so” is just silly to me, he would be undermining his promise to keep Americans safe.
We can question the timing of his Tweet and debate whether or not he should have let the dust settle before making it, it does seem like he was playing politics and I do think he should have waited, but to question Donald Trump’s motive for the Tweet and asking if he wants America to be attacked is going to the alt-left extreme.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
America's Watchtower 