The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:12 am

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:
MOSCOW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that Washington would need Russian consent to publish transcripts of phone calls between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.






“Trump acted alone” – several of trump’s top advisers just threw him under the bus in his whistleblower scandal



Fox News website last night:

“Fox News has learned that the Pentagon, State Department and National Security Council were ‘unanimous’ in supporting the aid to Ukraine, and that trump acted alone in withholding the aid over the summer.”

leaders of the Pentagon, State Department and National Security Council decided to jointly leak to Fox News that they were opposed to trump’s criminal plot to extort the president of Ukraine into helping him rig the 2020 election.

Are they telling the truth?

You can’t get much uglier than “trump acted alone.”


Trump’s Ukraine Intervention May Violate FCPA, Arms Export Laws: Experts
The president's personal intervention was "highly improper," one arms export expert says, concluding that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act "appears to have been criminally violated here."

Colin Clark
President Trump announces USS Boxer downed Iranian drone.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s intervention in the sale of weapons and provision of military aid to Ukraine is definitely a violation of convention, and may be a violation of laws governing military sales and international business, two of Washington’s most experienced experts in international weapons sales say.

The aid to Ukraine was approved by the State and Defense Departments, and comes in two buckets. Some $141 million comes via the State Department, and then $250 million from the Pentagon. All of it is pegged to a variety of weapons systems and non-lethal capabilities, such as communications, training facilities, and surveillance gear to help Ukraine protect its coastline from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

The best known part of the sale, and perhaps the most militarily significant, is the Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of Javelin missiles and Javelin Command Launch Units (CLUs) for about $47 million. Ukraine will use the FMS system to buy 210 Javelin missiles and 37 Javelin Command Launch Units (CLUs). As is the case with all FMS sales, the bill includes training, support and some logistics. Javelins, made by a Raytheon-Lockheed Martin joint venture, are excellent tank and armored vehicle killers. Tanks and armored vehicles have been a key part of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, during which as many as 13,000 Ukrainians have been killed and 30,000 wounded.

When the two leaders spoke on the phone on July 25, the only weapon mentioned was the Javelin and it was also the moment when Trump made his pitch for help from Ukraine most explicit.

“Specifically, we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States,” Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky tells the American president, who knows this because he is the one who ordered a rare “review” of the sale and aid at the last minute. Trump responds: “I would like you to do us a favor (emphasis added) though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike … I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it.”

Trump’s appeal for “a favor” from Ukraine’s president, combined with his attempt to involve his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and the Attorney General of the United States Robert Barr, added to his “review” of the sale — for which he has offered varying explanations — was extraordinary, two top arms export experts say.

“FMS transactions are government-to-government transactions, and matters of government contracting and delivery of equipment are handled in the acquisition process. This is a process which is designed to be walled off, to the greatest extent possible, from political interference or other forms of manipulation,” notes Andrew Hunter, former chief of staff for the head of Pentagon acquisition, and now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Intervening in the flow of foreign aid packages notified to Congress is therefore not something that normally happens absent a compelling reason, and in all previous cases, such a reason would be expected to be based in statute.”

Presidents have rarely stopped or suspended FMS or other arms sales because of human rights concerns or other issues, Hunter says, and have done so in line with the laws governing arms sales. For example, President Barak Obama temporarily suspended some sales to Egypt.

But, Hunter says in an email, “Nothing in the transcript released today suggests that the President’s apparent decision to suspend defensive aid to Ukraine was based on the conditions and restrictions currently described in statute.”

A second very experienced arms export expert, who would speak only on condition of anonymity, says presidential interventions in FMS sales and military aid “never involve taking actions on a personal level on matters not within the lawful purview of the USG. Private and personal lawyers are never involved in such conditions.” This expert said the president’s personal intervention was “highly improper. One should note that ‘conditions’ can be explicit but also implicit, as is the case here. This is also true under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which appears to have been criminally violated here.”

Of course, the fact we are talking about the president of the United States may complicate any legal case any prosecutor might try to bring, especially since the situation is unprecedented and involves national security.

Sandia National Laboratories graphic
Recommended
Congress’ Budget Gridlock Threatens Army Hypersonics

“As long as we get an appropriation by the beginning of the calendar year, I think we’ll be okay,” the Army’s chief of budget planning said.

The FCPA forbids “any offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization of the payment of money or anything of value to any person, while knowing that all or a portion of such money or thing of value will be offered, given or promised, directly or indirectly, to a foreign official to influence the foreign official in his or her official capacity, (emphasis added) induce the foreign official to do or omit to do an act in violation of his or her lawful duty, or to secure any improper advantage in order to assist in obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person.”

The arms export expert said the case: “Seems pretty clear to me. If a client disclosed they had done such a thing, I would immediately bring in criminal defense counsel. For example, if I were a company supposed to deliver goods to the Ukraine government and told a Ukrainian government official, ‘I’ll deliver the firetrucks on time so you can fight the raging forest fires you have, and give you extra 30 days to pay. I have a favor to ask, though. I’d like you to investigate my competitor because ‘people say’ or ‘some people say’ they are corrupt. That would be a pretty dangerous thing.”

A violation of the FCPA would add to the allegations that Trump has violated campaign finance laws, which bar intervention in US elections by foreign parties. The Intelligence Community whistleblower, who went to the ODNI Inspector General with concerns the president was bargaining with a foreign leader for help digging up dirt on a US presidential candidate, also noted that the White House tried to hide the conversation from the rest of the government.

“In the days after the phone call, I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to ‘lock down’ all records of the phone call,” the whistleblower wrote. “This set of actions underscored to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired in the call.”

White House officials told the whistleblower that the contents of the president’s call were placed into a secure system used for especially sensitive information, not the computer system into which such conversations are normally stored for distribution to Cabinet-level officials.

“Some officials voiced concerns internally that this would be an abuse of the system and was not consistent with the responsibilities of the Directorate for Intelligence Programs,” the whistleblower wrote in his complaint to the ODNI IG, which was declassified and released to the public.

All of this places Ukraine, under constant threat from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, in a most awkward position. Much of Ukraine’s ability to resist Russian incursion relies on help from the United States. President Trump made clear he wanted a favor from Ukraine. But all Ukraine wants is to get its weapons and aid. As Zelensky said in a surreal appearance with Trump in New York yesterday: “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be involved to democratic, open elections — elections of USA.”
https://breakingdefense.com/2019/09/tru ... s-experts/



there’s a second whistleblower right? The one who says there’s been political funny business with Trumps mandatory tax audit?

Ways And Means Mulling Release Of Trump Tax Whistleblower Complaint
Josh Kovensky
UNITED STATES - APRIL 4: Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., talks with reporters in the Capitol before entering the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the Capitol on Thursday, April 4, 2019. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
UNITED STATES - APRIL 4: Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., talks with reporters in the Capitol before entering the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in the Capitol on Thursday, April 4, 2019. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
The other whistleblower complaint involving President Trump may be released.

Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) said on Friday that he has consulted House attorneys about releasing the complaint, which his committee received in July. Bloomberg first reported the remarks on Friday.

The complaint purportedly comes from a federal employee and focuses on allegations of impropriety in the Internal Revenue Service’s mandatory audit of Trump’s tax returns.

Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tasked Neal — as well as five other committee heads — last week with providing evidence to the House Judiciary Committee as part of an impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Neal has sued to obtain six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns, after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin refused to comply with a legal demand from the Ways and Means chair for the tax information.

The chair’s mulling whether or not to release the complaint comes after House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) released a whistleblower complaint purportedly documenting Trump’s pressure campaign on the Ukrainian government to manufacture helpful political information.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker ... -complaint
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:41 pm

Pompeii was in on the phone call

Co conspirator


And now onto Australia
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Mon Sep 30, 2019 6:36 pm

BILL BARR’S OLC TREATED HIS IMPLICATION IN THE WHISTLEBLOWER COMPLAINT AS TOP SECRET

September 30, 2019/2 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, 2020 Presidential Election /by emptywheel
Because I was on my epic road trip with June Bug the Terrorist Foster Dog, I’m just now reading some of the documents underlying the whistleblower complaint closely. Doing so makes it clear that Bill Barr’s DOJ (specifically, the Office of Legal Counsel) treated his implication by the whistleblower as Top Secret, even though the White House considered the fact only Secret.

This post relies on these documents:

The TELCON of the Trump-Zelensky call, treated throughout as Secret/NoForn

The unclassified whistleblower complaint with classified appendix, the latter of which has one paragraph marked Top Secret, one redacted, and other paragraphs marked Secret

ICIG Michael Atkinson’s letter to Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire; the letter itself, four paragraphs, and one footnote are marked Top Secret and something redacted (probably NOFORN), with a longer classification mark as a whole

The first version of the OLC memo dated September 3 deeming this not urgent; the memo itself, eight paragraphs of it, and three footnotes are marked Top Secret and something redacted (probably NOFORN), with a longer classification mark as a whole

The official version of the OLC memo dated September 3 currently available on DOJ’s website; it explains that after the underlying documents were declassified, it was released as an unclassified memo

A September 24 version of the OLC memo, described in the currently official September 3 one as an “unclassified version”
Here’s the editor’s note that describes why there are three versions of the OLC memo:

Editor’s Note: This memorandum was originally issued in classified form on September 3, 2019. An unclassified version was signed on September 24, 2019, and publicly released in slip-opinion form on September 25, 2019. That unclassified version avoided references to certain details that remained classified at the time it was signed. After the underlying documents were themselves declassified, the September 3 memorandum was declassified in its entirety and publicly released on September 26, 2019.


That suggests we can compare either September 3 version of the OLC memo with the September 24 one to identify what OLC itself (the name of the person who classified the memo is classified) claimed to be classified on September 3.

The ICIG letter makes clear that Atkinson had not yet read the TELCON when he wrote his letter. The whistleblower letter doesn’t say whether or not he read the TELCON (I’m using “he” to refer to the whistleblower because that’s the pronoun the NYT used). He explains that he believes all classified information in the letter is in his enclosure. He also reiterates that marking the information included in his unclassified letter with classification marks would,

violate EO 13526, Part I, Section 1.7, which states: “In no case shall information be classified, continue to be maintained as classified, or fail to be declassified in order to: (1) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; [or] (2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency.”


Among the information the whistleblower included in his unclassified letter is that Trump:

[S]ought to pressure the Ukrainian leader to take actions to help the President’s 2020 reelection bid. According to the White House officials who had direct knowledge of the call, the President pressured Mr. Zelenskyy to, inter alia:

initiate or continue an investigation into the activities of former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter Biden;
assist in purportedly uncovering that allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election originated in Ukraine, with a specific request that the Ukrainian leader locate and turn over servers used by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and examined by the U.S. cyber security firm Crowdstrike, which initially reported that Russian hackers had penetrated the DNC’s networks in 2016; and
meet or speak with two people the President named explicitly as his personal envoys on these matters, Mr. Giuliani and Attorney General Barr, to whom the President referred multiple times in tandem.


The ICIG letter marks the paragraph describing that part of the complaint as Top Secret, though it doesn’t include the specific allegations naming Rudy and Barr, It describes the gist of the complaint this way:

Here, the Complainant’s Letter alleged, among other things, that the President of the United States, in a telephone call with Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy on July 25, 2019, “sought to pressure the Ukrainian leader to take actions to help the President’s 2020 reelection bid.”


But DOJ did see the TELCON of the call. Therefore, they would have known that the White House — the original classification authority for the content of the call — had deemed the entire thing Secret/NOFORN. Nothing in it was deemed Top Secret.

Among the things removed from paragraphs marked Top Secret in the September 24 memo are:

The date of the call

Zelenskyy’s identity and country

Approximately a dozen officials had listened in

A description of Trump pressuring Zelenskyy

The reference to election assistance

The citations to the ICIG letter

The references to Rudy and Barr

The ICIG deemed the complaint credible but did not conduct legal analysis on whether this was solicitation of a campaign contribution

OMB had cut off security assistance to Ukraine*

White House officials had moved the TELCON to the covert server*

The whistleblower treated the placement of the TELCON onto the covert server as Top Secret and the

OMB detail as Secret, since neither of those appear in the TELCON marked Secret those are both properly treated by OLC as classified (though OLC bumped up the OMB detail to Top Secret).

But given that OLC took this language out of a paragraph that it marked Top Secret for its unclassified version, it must be treating this information as Top Secret.

The complainant alleged that he or she had heard reports from White House officials that in the course of a routine diplomatic communication between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President Trump had “sought to pressure the Ukrainian leader to take actions to help the President’s 2020 reelection bid.” ICIG Letter at 3 (quoting the complainant’s letter). Specifically, the complainant allegedly heard that the President had requested that the Ukrainian government investigate the activities of one of the President’s potential political rivals, former Vice President Joseph Biden, and his son, Hunter Biden. The complainant also allegedly heard that the President had requested Ukrainian assistance in investigating whether Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election originated in Ukraine, and that Ukrainian investigators meet with the President’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, as well as Attorney General William Barr regarding these matters.


In other words, DOJ, after having reviewed a White House document that treated this information as Secret, instead bumped up the classification of it to Top Secret, including the detail that the Attorney General himself was implicated in the attempt to frame the President’s opponents.
It’s not just the White House that was abusing the classification system in an attempt to cover up what really happened here. It was also DOJ.




Anthony DeRosa


The whistleblower did possess first hand knowledge https://www.dni.gov/files/ICIG/Document ... laints.pdfhttps://twitter.com/gopleader/status/11 ... 7494253568
Image





Barr personally asked foreign officials to aid inquiry into CIA, FBI activities in 2016
Matt Zapotosky


Attorney General William P. Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of possible connections between Russia and members of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the matter.

Barr’s personal involvement is likely to stoke further criticism from Democrats pursuing impeachment that he is helping the Trump administration use executive branch powers to augment investigations aimed primarily at the president’s adversaries.

State Dept. intensifies email probe of Hillary Clinton’s former aides

But the high level Justice Department focus on intelligence operatives’ conduct will likely cheer Trump and other conservatives for whom “investigate the investigators” has become a rallying cry. Barr has voiced his own concerns, telling lawmakers in April that he believed “spying did occur” when it came to the U.S. investigation of the Trump campaign.

The direct involvement of the nation’s top law enforcement official shows the priority Barr places on the investigation being conducted by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who has been assigned the sensitive task of reviewing U.S. intelligence work surrounding the 2016 election and its aftermath.

The attorney general’s active role also underscores the degree to which a nearly three-year old election still consumes significant resources and attention inside the federal government. Current and former intelligence and law enforcement officials expressed frustration and alarm Monday that the head of the Justice Department was taking such a direct role in re-examining what they view as conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of misconduct.

Barr has already made overtures to British intelligence officials, and last week the attorney general traveled to Italy, where he and Durham met senior Italian government officials and Barr asked the Italians to assist Durham, according to one person familiar with the matter. It was not Barr’s first trip to Italy to meet intelligence officials, the person said. The Trump administration has made similar requests of Australia, these people said.

In a recent phone call, Trump urged Australia’s prime minister to provide assistance to the ongoing Justice Department inquiry, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump made the request at Barr’s urging, people familiar with the matter said. The Trump phone call was first reported by the New York Times.

A White House spokeswoman referred questions to the Justice Department.

Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said, “Mr. Durham is gathering information from numerous sources, including a number of foreign countries. At Attorney General Barr’s request, the President has contacted other countries to ask them to introduce the Attorney General and Mr. Durham to appropriate officials.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Australian government said it has “always been ready to assist and cooperate with efforts that help shed further light on the matters under investigation. The [prime minister] confirmed this readiness once again in conversation with the President.”

Barr taps U.S. attorney in Connecticut to investigate origins of Russia probe

Trump still complains frequently that those involved in the investigation of his campaign should be charged with crimes, asserting the FBI search for possible election season collusion between Russia and Trump campaign officials was a witch hunt, spurred by agents and bureaucrats opposed to Trump becoming president. That investigation ended earlier this year when special counsel Robert S. Mueller III determined there was insufficient evidence to charge any Americans with conspiring with Russia, and declined to reach a decision about whether the president had sought to obstruct justice.

David Laufman, a former Justice Department official who was involved in the early stages of the Russia probe, said it was “fairly unorthodox for the attorney general personally to be flying around the world as a point person to further evidence-gathering for a specific Justice Department investigation,” and especially so in Barr’s case.

“Even if one questions, as a threshold matter, the propriety of conducting a re-investigation of the Justice Department’s own prior investigation of Russia’s interference, the appointment of John Durham — a seasoned, nonpartisan prosecutor — provided some reason to believe that it would be handled in a professional, nonpartisan manner,” Laufman said. “But if the attorney general is essentially running this investigation, that entire premise is out the window.”

Barr’s direct involvement in the effort also helps explain part of the controversial July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A rough transcript of that call shows Trump said he wanted Ukrainian assistance to help find out “what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine,” and possible involvement with the Democratic National Committee computer system that U.S. agencies have determined was hacked by Russian intelligence ahead of the 2016 election.

Some of the president’s supporters have suggested Ukraine had a more direct role in the 2016 investigation than currently known, an assertion denied by current and former officials who were involved in the original probe.

A person familiar with Barr’s interactions with foreign officials described them as being official introductions to Durham. The attorney general “is telling people he wants to make sure that the rules governing U.S. agencies have been followed,” this person said.

A spokesperson for the CIA declined to comment, citing the ongoing review.

Trump gives Barr power to declassify intelligence related to Russia probe

A former senior U.S. intelligence official denied the CIA was involved in monitoring any members of the Trump campaign. Any such operations were conducted by the FBI and were lawful, the former official said, emphasizing that the CIA focused on Russia’s interference in the election and the role that Russian officials and intelligence agencies played.

Democrats are likely to bristle at the notion of the attorney general devoting personal time and energy to traveling overseas asking foreign countries to assist in an investigation of U.S. agencies and personnel, particularly since Democrats have accused Barr in the past of acting in Trump’s interests at the expense of the Justice Department’s independence.

Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused the attorney general of “going rogue” because the Justice Department determined the substance of an explosive whistleblower’s complaint alleging that Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, over Hunter Biden’s past position on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry to further probe the interactions of Trump and his lawyer with the Ukrainians.

During the call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Trump suggested Barr and his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, could help Zelensky’s government investigate the matter. A spokeswoman for Barr has said the attorney general was unaware of any such effort, and had not spoken to the president about the issue, nor to Ukrainian authorities.

Giuliani has met with Ukrainian officials and urged them to investigate the Bidens, but insists there is nothing improper about that. Giuliani has declined to discuss Durham’s investigation.

Attorney general says he believes ‘spying did occur’ in probe of Trump campaign associates

Barr’s conversations with foreign counterparts have raised concerns among some intelligence officials that he may be seeking to substantiate conspiracy theories raised by some on the political right to defend Trump.

One area that has been of sustained interest to Barr and Durham, according to people familiar with the matter, is a murky figure named Joseph Mifsud.

Mifsud, a European academic, was publicly linked to Russian interference efforts in late 2017, when Mueller revealed a guilty plea by former Trump campaign staffer George Papadopoulos, who admitted he’d lied to the FBI about the details of his interactions with Mifsud.

Those conversations included an April 2016 meeting in which Mifsud allegedly alerted Papadopoulos that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, in the form of thousands of emails.

A version of that conversation was relayed to U.S. authorities later that summer by an Australian diplomat who had talked to Papadopoulos over drinks in London.

Shortly after his name surfaced publicly, Mifsud told Italian media he did not work for Russia. “I never got any money from the Russians: my conscience is clear,” Mifsud told La Repubblica. “I am not a secret agent.”

Since then, the professor has disappeared from public life, leading to a host of theories about him and his whereabouts. While court papers filed in Mueller’s investigation suggested Mifsud operated in Russia’s interests, conservatives and conspiracy theorists have suggested he was instead aligned with Western intelligence agencies.

In an interview on Fox News in April, Giuliani called Mifsud “a counterintelligence operative, either Maltese or Italian,” who took part in what sounded to him like a “counterintelligence trap” against Papadopoulos.

It’s unclear what Durham or Barr have come to suspect about Mifsud.

Barr met with British officials in London over the summer to discuss the Durham probe, said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation. In those conversations, according to this official, Barr expressed a belief that the U.S. investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election stemmed from some corrupt origin, the official said.

It was not clear what Barr thought was amiss, but he expressed a suspicion that information had been improperly gathered overseas about people connected with the Trump campaign, and that the British may have unwittingly assisted those efforts, the official said.

Another person familiar with Barr’s efforts denied that characterization, saying he has been seeking cooperation for Durham’s work, and not trying to promote a particular theory or accusation against U.S. agents and officers.

“It’s well known within the intelligence community that you cannot ask another government to do something that you’re prohibited from doing. That it is standard operating procedure,” said a former national security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

An executive order governing U.S. intelligence activities states that no intelligence agency “shall participate in or request any person to undertake activities forbidden” by the order, which was issued in 1981.

As a young man, Barr worked as a lawyer at the CIA and has an ongoing interest in intelligence matters, according to those who know him well. In his public comments about the Russia interference investigation, he has suggested there were failures among former FBI leaders, and that intelligence agency rules about spying on Americans should be scrupulously followed regardless of party affiliation.

There are two primary efforts underway to scrutinize the 2016 investigation and its aftermath. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is expected to issue in the coming weeks a lengthy report analyzing work done by the FBI and Justice Department to pursue alleged Russian election interference, and the applications for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order that approved electronic surveillance of the communications of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.

Separately, Durham is taking a broader look at the actions of intelligence agencies overseas and domestically. Durham has a long track record of being tasked with difficult investigations that involve the CIA or other intelligence agencies. His past investigations have often lasted years, so it’s unclear when Durham’s review might wrap up, but it is unlikely to be soon, according to people familiar with the matter.

Before Durham’s appointment, another U.S. attorney was tasked with reviewing the Clinton email investigation, but the results of that work are still unknown. The multiple investigations show just how much the political conflict of 2016 continues to be an obsession within the government.

Last week, The Washington Post reported that State Department security officials were re-examining aspects of the Clinton email investigation, in which State Department business was conducted on Hillary Clinton’s private server when she was secretary of state.

Tom Hamburger, Ellen Nakashima and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 01, 2019 6:07 am

“The president is using federal law enforcement powers to aid his political prospects, settle scores with his perceived “deep state” enemies and show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt, partisan origins”.

AG Barr has held private meetings overseas with foreign intel officials seeking their help in a Justice Department inquiry that President Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence agencies’ examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The Official White House Nazi is in Europe with Mike Pompeo digging up dirt from foreign governments

Image
Image

Image



The Wall Street Journal

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took part in the Trump phone call with Ukraine's leader, a senior State Department official said




Asha Rangappa

Don’t forget that one of the talking points pushed by Russia’s troll farm was that there would be a civil war if Democrats tried to impeach Trump. An interesting coinkydink, right?

From the criminal complaint filed in federal court: https://assets.documentcloud.org/docume ... plaint.pdfhttps://twitter.com/orinkerr/status/1178555913239580672

Image


I encourage people to read this complaint. You’ll see a few oldies but goodies that get repeated by Trump. Widespread voter fraud? Funny, the Russians think so, too!

Image

All mainstream media outlets (especially CNN) are fake news? Yep, the Russians just happen to be on that one, too!

Image
Image

Discrediting Mueller as “highly partisan”? Yep, that too

Image

Slamming and insulting John McCain...yeah Russia pushed that one as well

Image

But I’m sure Trump just thinks up all the EXACT SAME TALKING POINTS all on his own
https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/statu ... 9450464256


Nadine van der Velde


Why is anyone surprised? Pompeo is raging bigot & Islamophobe. It's what ties these people together. Barr, Pompeo, Kristol, Bolton, Gorka, Bannon etc are all part of a global Islamophobic Network. Below is Brigette Gabriel who runs ACT the largest anti-Muslim group in the US.
Image
Image
Image
Image

The Islamophobic network is wide. #NeoCons Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol co-founded an Islamophobic group Keep America Safe which they tried to scrub from the internet. It was part of a coalition of the anti Ground Zero mosque. They are tied to Pompeo and Bolton. Goes on and on.
Image
Image
Image

Here's a long thread I did on GOP ties to Geert Wilders. It just touches the surface of the deep ties the GOP has to a vast Islamophobic network both in the US and globally. GOP unleashed these bad actors into the mainstream. It suits their vile ideology.

1.I want to talk about Geert Wilders who here with Lindsey Graham . He's a hate filled xenophobic Dutch politician who has helped seed Islamophobia across the globe. He compares the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. He's got ties to many GOP bigots
Image


2. Rep Steve King is fan of Wilders. Steve King hosted Wilders at his congressional Conservative Opportunity Society a real hot bed for White Nationalists. Go to their website and see who attends their events from Steve Bannon, Kristol, Miller, Kirk.
Image
Image
3. Geert Wilders in 2014 with Gov Rick Perry at an event hosted by anti Muslim radical, David Horowitz in Florida. It was attended by Jeff Sessions, Ron Johnson & Jim Bridenstine Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro. Link includes Horowitz announcing his guests. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6fLTNw ... lja1YsApdg
Image
Image
Image

4. In 2009 Florida politician Adam Hasner hosted Geert Wilders to speak at an Islamophobic event. Despite Hasner's lengthy anti Muslim history in 2014 Rick Wilson helped run his campaign and also spewed the same anti Muslim rhetoric. Wilson was paid through Hasner's super Pac.
Image
Image
Image
Image

5. The GOP loves Nazi Geert Wilders. For years they have normalized his hate, legitimized him as a political voice and have helped Wilders build his brand. In 2015 he was slated for another Florida event.
Image
7. Here is a good article on" How Geert Wilders Became America’s Favorite Islamophobe" Familiar names of sovert GOP bigots including Sessions and Stephen Miller who used to be Sessions' aide. Also mentions Gatestone a Mercer funded hotbed of Islamophobia

8. In 2009 Nazi Geert Wilders was touring with his hate filled film. He gave a private viewing in the US SENATE an even hosted by Arizona GOP Senator Jon Kyle. He also met with Jon Bolton and appeared at CPAC. Bill O'reilley & Glen Beck hosted him and he met with the WSJ.
Image
Image
9 Geert Wilders visited Washington. Here he is at a presser near the Capitol with GOP Congressmen Scott Perry, Louie Gohmert and Steve King. Look at these white nationalist members of the US Congress are normalizing that Nazi.
Image
10 Another raging islamophobe US Sen John Kyle hosting Geert Wilders, a Nazi in the Senate... This is how Nazis get taken from the fringe and unleashed in the mainstream.
Image
11. Hyper Nationalist Geert Wilders with Senator Bob Ketron from Tennessee. Wilders' was Ketron's guest at 2016 RNC in Cleveland.
Image
12 Nazi Geert Wilders with GOP Governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez in 2016.
Image
13. And yes even the Republicans with a moral conscience have normalized uber sh**lord Geert Wilders. Here is Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee with him and the kicker...
Image

14. Sen John McCain with Nazi Geert Wilders. There is no excuse of this kind normalizing. Everyone knew the brand of hate Wilders was peddling by 2017. Wilders and others like him do the dirty work for the GOP. They give the GOP cover for their stone cold bigotry.
Image
15. In 2015 Geert Wilders was invited to speak to GOP House of Representatives.His message was "the less Islam the better." The GOP Congress has enabled and empowered this cancerous hateful human by giving them their seal of approval. Disgusting.
Image
16. Bigot & GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann had dinner with Geert Wilders. A white nationalist promoting a white nationalist.
Image
17 Islamophobe Geert Wilders also had lunch with GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Yes Bachmann is a RW ideologue. It's precisely Wilders' brand of fervent Islamophobia that appeals to the GOP.
Image
18. August of 2015 the Silicon Valley GOP hosted Geert Wilders at an event. At every level of the GOP machine, all across the country, Wilders a hate mongered has been welcomed with red carpet treatment. What does he offer? Islamophobia. That's it. It's all he traffics in.
Image
Image

https://twitter.com/nadinevdVelde/statu ... 0294466560
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby 82_28 » Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:04 am

Is Geert Wilders a living reflection from a funhouse mirror?
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
User avatar
82_28
 
Posts: 11194
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 4:34 am
Location: North of Queen Anne
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby RocketMan » Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:18 am

82_28 » Tue Oct 01, 2019 2:04 pm wrote:Is Geert Wilders a living reflection from a funhouse mirror?


A strange, fundamentally joyless character whose life these days apparently consists of living in closed spaces surrounded by security and whisked from one political to-do or far right hate event to another. He just exists to bring misery to the world, it seems.
-I don't like hoodlums.
-That's just a word, Marlowe. We have that kind of world. Two wars gave it to us and we are going to keep it.
User avatar
RocketMan
 
Posts: 2813
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:02 am
Location: By the rivers dark
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:24 am

He just exists to bring misery to the world


and the Republican Party is his vehicle to spew his hatred


there is only one way to get rid of this bile as soon as possible

hint:

it's NOT by splitting the Democratic Party, that would only secure trump's Nazi White House

-----------------------------------

James Madison warned us that Trump is dangerously un-American
Karen Tumulty
Portrait of James Madison painted by John Vanderlyn. (N/A/Courtesy of the Montpelier Foundation. )
James Madison warned us that somebody as reckless as Donald Trump might come along.

Twice in recent days, Trump has called for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) to be hauled in for treason, which is punishable by death. Schiff’s crime? At a hearing last week, the Intelligence Committee chairman read a parody of Trump’s now-infamous telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The humor, unsurprisingly, was lost on someone with an exaggerated sense of victimhood and an ego made of eggshells. Trump rage-tweeted Sunday that Schiff’s “lies were made in perhaps the most blatant and sinister manner ever seen in the great Chamber. He wrote down and read terrible things, then said it was from the mouth of the President of the United States. I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason..... .” On Monday morning, Trump upped that outrageous demand by suggesting that Schiff actually be arrested for treason.

It has become so easy to dismiss such comments as hyperbole and bluster — just Trump being Trump — that we risk losing sight of how dangerous, how fundamentally un-American they are.

The framers of the Constitution took great care in spelling out what acts could be regarded as treason, which was the only crime they explicitly defined. Article III, Section 3 states that “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”

Why did the framers believe treason, alone among offenses, merited such clarity in the nation’s founding document? Their recent history had given them reason to fear authoritarians who would loosely throw around accusations of treason. The parameters of the crime under British law were broad and vague, and could be stretched to include counterfeiting or sleeping with a member of the royal family, says Jason Opal, a professor of American history at McGill University. The royal governors of the 13 colonies invoked treason as a handy means of crushing dissent and executing those who objected to the crown’s rule.

When the framers set out to devise a legal system for the new nation, they borrowed much from British law and traditions. But they felt strongly that “treason” should have a precise, fixed and uniquely American meaning. Madison wrote in Federalist No. 43: “As new-fangled and artificial treasons have been the great engines by which violent factions, the natural offspring of free government, have usually wreaked their alternate malignity on each other, the convention have, with great judgment, opposed a barrier to this peculiar danger, by inserting a constitutional definition of the crime.”

The president, as he is showing us, is the “alternate malignity” that Madison feared. Trump took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. He should start by learning what is in it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... -american/
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby RocketMan » Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:44 am

The Democratic party is managing to render itself irrelevant quite endogenously by corrupt party elite fatcats. And the people are waking up to the scam. I suppose under your standards supporting Bernie Sanders is "splitting the party", ie. not offering unquestioning obeisance.

The Nancy Pelosis and Adam Schiffs of this world are just looking to reset the system to after Obama's second term. And it's not gonna work, whether Trump is removed from office or not.
-I don't like hoodlums.
-That's just a word, Marlowe. We have that kind of world. Two wars gave it to us and we are going to keep it.
User avatar
RocketMan
 
Posts: 2813
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:02 am
Location: By the rivers dark
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:46 am

The Trump whistleblower is in "personal danger," says Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.
"As for the President's words, if that isn't intimidation of a witness, I don't know what would be," he adds, responding to Trump's "almost a spy" remark

https://twitter.com/AC360/status/1178841122065526786



there is only one check on trump.....the Democrats in Congress, the co equal branch of the U.S. government


trump wants the Democrats split...that of course will leave him in power so if that is someone's goal then one would champion a split


I suppose under your standards supporting Bernie Sanders is "splitting the party"


I never said that I really don't like when you put words in my mouth.....I can not figure where you got that notion about my standards

there are people of course who are working very very hard day in and day out to split the Democratic Party so to keep trump in power, spreading lies about Democrats

and Bernie will endorse whoever is nominated, he will NOT split the Democratic Party

trump wants to split the Democratic Party not Bernie and not me


trump has tweeted about a Civil War, so fucking dangerous

keeping trump in power is dangerous for the whole world


fun fact....the GOP was also hacked before the 2016 election, someone got 20 years of republican dirty secrets ...don't hear much about that, you'd think they were trying to hide something .....I wonder just how trump won the republican nomination
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby RocketMan » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:19 am

THE UNITED STATES is dangerous for the whole world, wake up.

To lump this Biden corruption in the Caucasus with "lies being spread about the Democrats" is just tribalistic bullshit. Inside Washington baseball. Both parties have their snouts in the trough. Why wasn't Trump impeached on his murderous acts of war? Why wasn't Obama? Why wasn't Dubya? Why wasn't Clinton? Why wasn't Nixon?
-I don't like hoodlums.
-That's just a word, Marlowe. We have that kind of world. Two wars gave it to us and we are going to keep it.
User avatar
RocketMan
 
Posts: 2813
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:02 am
Location: By the rivers dark
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:20 am

I am awake thank you very much I don't need you to tell me that


I am sorry that you do not understand some things but I can not help you with your lack of knowledge

trump and his henchmen are spreading lies
Last edited by seemslikeadream on Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby RocketMan » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:22 am

THIS is what is splitting the Democratic party:

-I don't like hoodlums.
-That's just a word, Marlowe. We have that kind of world. Two wars gave it to us and we are going to keep it.
User avatar
RocketMan
 
Posts: 2813
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:02 am
Location: By the rivers dark
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:23 am

no one will succeed in splitting the Democrats... except trump supports will try, will try very very hard
Last edited by seemslikeadream on Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby RocketMan » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:24 am

seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:23 pm wrote:no one will succeed in splitting the Democrats


Can I get a hallelujah!
-I don't like hoodlums.
-That's just a word, Marlowe. We have that kind of world. Two wars gave it to us and we are going to keep it.
User avatar
RocketMan
 
Posts: 2813
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:02 am
Location: By the rivers dark
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: The Impeachment of President Donald J Trump

Postby seemslikeadream » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:25 am

to defeat trump the Democrats need to stay together ....only trump supporters are wishing for a Democratic division. that would be a hallelujah! for trump

some people want trump to stay in power

some people are hoping and praying and working day in and day out for a Democratic split

trump staying in power is their goal

they are just fine with trump going around the world digging up dirt on his enemies

The Trump whistleblower is in "personal danger," says Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.
"As for the President's words, if that isn't intimidation of a witness, I don't know what would be," he adds, responding to Trump's "almost a spy" remark

https://twitter.com/AC360/status/1178841122065526786
Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started.
They could still get him out of office.
But instead, they want mass death.
Don’t forget that.
User avatar
seemslikeadream
 
Posts: 32090
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:28 pm
Location: into the black
Blog: View Blog (83)

PreviousNext

Return to General Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 170 guests