Many people have noted the bizarre number of former Obama Administration DOJ, FBI and Intelligence Community officials who have gone to work within the U.S. media apparatus in order to protect their interests.
Former CIA Director John Brennan now working for NBC; former DNI James Clapper now working for CNN; former FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker now working for Lawfare blog; former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Josh Campbell now working for CNN; former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes now working for MSNBC…. the list goes on. All motives transparently political.
Notably absent, the hiring of any actual journalists.
All of these pre-positioned forces are defensive in nature. All of their collective narrative constructs stem from a self-preservation instinct. The U.S. media has imploded onto itself and devolved into an Kafkaesque assembly political narrative engineers churning out fake news 24/7.
What we are now witnessing is something far beyond Prava and Baghdad Bob. What we now see is an even more severe distortion of media; an alternate reality created as if the Stasi and Tokyo Rose joined forces to take control of U.S. broadcasts.
If the head of the KGB was an analyst for Russia Today, people would laugh. The New York Times would continue pointing at the example as a reason never to believe the stories. Yet, identically, former CIA Director John Brennan is on TV daily and almost no-one gives it a second thought.
A surreal distortion of reality, hence Kafkaesque.
Cue today’s audio visual demonstration.
Former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Josh Campbell, now a CNN analyst, steps to the forefront along with Deep State media guards at the New York Times and Washington Post, to pre-position the FBI defense in advance of the Inspector General Report:
(Campell Tweet Link – Zapotosky Tweet Link – Underlying WaPo Story Link)Emphasis mine:
(Via Washington Post) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz recently summoned an FBI agent important to the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election for an interview. His investigators wanted to know how the bureau came to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser, and in particular, the chronology of events that led them to seek a secret court order to do so.
“This IG report is going to be damaging to the FBI and how it handled the investigation of Hillary’s crimes, and how they have skewed the investigation into Trump and Russian collusion and Trump, damn him, will use this to prove he has been right all along.”
A former CIA official said…. he happens to work for us and was involved in the attempted coup….Trump is spinning a narrative...built upon evidence revealed… to discredit the investigation...that began with a rumor started by the opposing political party…where we all want to know how Russia may have interfered with our election…while the previous administration was actually interfering with he election.
We will now refer to this matter as a conspiracy theory…being an actual conspiracy.
Now that we have exposed this “crazy” narrative every other liberal media will repeat it in 3…2…there it is! Now repeat repeat repeat.
George HW Bush had been head of the CIA before becoming president.
He was never rebutted when he opined about intel stuff after he left the WH.
(He never, as far as I recall, weighed in critically about his successor.)
What pundits and jouros did instead of refuting him was criticize him for even going on the air at all.
How dare he???
And, pretty soon, he stopped bothering.
Journos have fallen so far I doubt that they will ever be able to rehab themselves.
June 2, 2018 — The Constitutional Crisis Is Already Underway From that article:
A paragraph from the aforementioned memo:
If that doesn’t set off an alarm bell, I don’t know what would. Stated plainly, what they’re asserting is that Donald Trump, as President of the United States, is above the law.
That is a premise that cannot be allowed to stand. It would open the door for an American dictatorship.
@Greg: He has always as every President before him had that power and chose not to exercise it, as he has not conspired or colluded with the Russians.
I know this wont turn up your dim bulb.
@Greg: What a DS you are! You always miss the point
@kitt, #5:
You’re suggesting that past American presidents have always had the constitutional power to protect themselves from criminal investigation by commanding that such investigations cease, or by firing their investigators? That they could pardon anyone who lied or concealed truth on their behalf, and even grant a pardon to themselves?
That’s precisely what Trump’s legal team is saying.
If it were true, it would mean that every elected president has been granted potential dictatorial powers with an expectation that they would exercise self-restraint. That is not the nature of our constitutional system of government.
@Greg:
Umm… who says TRUMP’S lawyers leaked this? More likely, those with a history of leaking, the left… MUELLER’S team… did the leaking. The Constitutional crisis is the left’s making. As usual, they love to trample the Constitution unless they can use it as a weapon.
No, it doesn’t. It says, quite plainly, that people in the Executive Branch work for HIM and HE can fire them at his pleasure, which is the fact. Acting above and beyond the law would be using government assets to spy on political campaigns without just cause, conducting illegal surveillance on political campaigns, using the IRS to attack conservatives, wiretapping journalists, running guns to drug dealers to attempt to weaken the 2nd Amendment or using the powers of the DOJ to protect a criminal simply because that criminal is the Democrat front runner for the nominee for President. You know… like Obama did.
Well, they can just declare executive privilege and not require your Attorney General to testify (who is ultimately found in contempt of Congress), like Obama did to shield himself from investigation into Fast and Furious.
Whatever happened to “collusion”? Finally give up on that lie? Ultimately you will have to give up on ALL your lies.
@Deplorable Me, #8:
That is, in fact, precisely what they are saying. They’re saying, in no uncertain terms, that Donald Trump cannot be guilty of obstruction, because his presidential powers essentially exempt him from such a possibility. He can obstruct any investigation as he sees fit—even an investigation of himself—as he has unitary executive power over the Department of Justice, which essentially places him above the reach of the laws that the Department of Justice enforces:
How would you have reacted if such an absurd assertion had been made at any time with regard to Barack Obama?
@Greg: Did you conveniently forget that is exactly what Obama did? What about “fast and furious”? What about Hillary’s Email issues? When it is the left it is within the law. When it is someone else, it is a constitutional crisis!
@Greg: The President is in charge of the intelligence and federal investigations departments What obstruction has been done firing Comey a purger and a a thief? He hasn’t gone beyond commenting about the witch hunt and spying. He has the power but hasnt chosen to exercise that power. So these MORONS finally know that he is well aware of his power are pissing their pants about it, and seems you are too.
The President isnt above the law the House & Senate see to that, so you can go pacify yourself the Constitution is just fine. These little appointees dont have the power they crave well waa waa waa to bad so sad for the deepstate banana republic Obama and Hillary conspired to continue on full steam.
@kitt: You have to admit that the left are thrashing about. The NY AJ thinks she can change the constitution that a President can not pardon someone. It is way too late for the left to cover up their crimes. They should have let Trump alone to preside and remove him during the next election cycle. Instead, they continued to harass him and his family. also, the more they harassed Trump, the more evidence appeared that shows how dirty the left has been. Now, instead of Trump being impeached, it looks like there will be many from the left going to prison or at least losing their jobs and soiling their reputation. Some right now are soiling their pants with fear.
@Greg:
Within the realm of the people who work directly for him, he can fire them at will. He doesn’t even need a reason.
Are you kidding me? Are you Greg van Winkle and you just woke up after 9 1/2 years asleep? Did you miss my reference to “Fast and Furious”? Of course, when all your DOJ personnel are “on your team” and doing the obstruction for you, as in the case of Hillary or Lois Lerner, you don’t really need to intercede, but you are obstructionist nonetheless.
@Deplorable Me: Actually, if Trump builds the wall, he will be an obstructionist? As far as I can see, that is the only valid claim and that is not a crime either.
@Deplorable Me, #13:
How would that rule out the possibility that his systematic firing of people connected with the investigation isn’t obstruction of justice?
A person can do things that are within the legitimate scope of their official power for a purpose that’s entirely unlawful. Doing so could be misuse of their power of office, as well as obstruction of justice.
It’s the Trump administration that’s under investigation, not the Obama administration—and the reason isn’t because the FBI and the DOJ are corrupt.
@Greg: that is when the courts get involved.. that is the checks and balance. If you knew a fraction of what you think you know, you would understand.
@Greg:
Because the investigation is not a person. If there is an investigation ongoing and it is finding REAL threats to the Constitution, it will carry on. Currently, all we have is a fart in a whirlwind that liberals hope will somehow bring Hillary to power.
And nothing Trump has done has been unlawful. He fired a gutless coward who tailored an investigation to benefit the Democrat candidate and who leaked information to the media. Comey was a turd that needed to be flushed.
Wrong. The Obama administration IS being investigated. Evidence is being revealed and collected. You liberals imagine Trump has violated the law and work yourselves up into a frenzy yet you never bothered to notice the REAL violations committed by Scandal, Inc., the Obama administration.
You actually asked for a comparison and it was provided. Seems you liberals only worry about following the law when a liberal is not pulling the strings.
@Greg: Poor thing,
Im afraid you are wrong, Huh Rachel didnt clue you in? https://www.redstate.com/diary/Bonchie/2018/05/17/ig-report-handling-clinton-investigation-finished-release-likely-next-month/ That happened during the Obama administration. Rumors of 28 good guy FBI agents want to testify.
And
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-28/doj-inspector-general-expands-fbi-misconduct-probe-investigating-allegations
The Trump administration has gone from claiming there was no Russian election meddling to acknowledging there was, but insisting that it had no effect on the outcome of the election.
They’ve gone from insisting that there was no Trump campaign collusion with Russia to declaring that collusion would not be a crime.
Now they’ve shifted from an assertion that there has been no obstruction of justice to a claim that a president cannot commit obstruction of justice, because he’s constitutionally empowered to do whatever he wishes in connection with the DOJ and FBI, with no requirement that he explain why he’s done it.
You can roll out all of the right wing media distractions you wish, alleging that Clinton did this or Clinton did that. The implications are limited, because there is no Clinton administration. There’s only a Trump administration, which is currently and properly under investigation by an independent Special Counsel.
Clearly they suspect Mueller knows something. They’re probably right.
@Greg: There were no votes that were changed in the election, no collusion even if it was a crime, he isnt interfering with the stinking fraud witch hunt even though he could just fire them all lock, stock and barrel. Clearly if he had something to fear he would fire them all.
The high elite that ran the FBI and CIA are the ones that are wetting their pants as both IG and congressional investigations are exposing their utter corruption. As Hillary blabbed during the debate there are 16 agencies to investigate.
An huge chain of evidence that leads directly to Obama, and the Hillary owned criminal operation the DNC.
@Greg:
The determination that the scattered meddling the Russians conducted had no effect has come from the IC and FBI. I have asked numerous times for the ads that probably changed my mind without any response. Did the Russians make Hillary set up an illegal, private, secret, unsecured email server? Did they force her to send, receive and store classified information on it? Did they make DNC emails easily available to anyone that would try to get to them? By the way, we only have the DNC’s word that they were hacked; they would not allow the FBI to investigate. The influence of the Russians was far less than the impact of Obama’s spying, surveillance, investigations and spreading of lies had.
It was always pointed out that collusion, as it relates to just talking to a Russian, was no crime. However, YOU keep toggling back and forth from collusion to obstruction to naughtiness to collusion to obstruction… Since there is no evidence of ANY crime, I guess the field of what you want to fantasize he has done is pretty much wide open, but that doesn’t make any of it anywhere near true. IF truth matters at all. Which it doesn’t seem to.
Put that statement in reverse; there was no obstruction because firing one of his employees is not obstruction. Comey deserved to be fired, so firing him was not obstruction. If Trump wanted to fire anyone in the Executive, that’s his prerogative as the boss. You know, executive powers don’t exist just when a lying, corrupt liberal is in office. They are there when someone actually trying to do the job of President for the American people is there, too.
Oh, YEAH!!!! And, there NEVER WILL BE.
Obama broke laws. Hillary broke laws. You liberals want to ignore that fact, lie that Trump broke laws and impeach him for your false accusations. Then you want someone who breaks laws to be President. That is the summation of your hypocrisy.
@Deplorable Me: Do you sometimes think you are talking to a 4 year old when replying to Greg? He can not remember what he has said in previous posts. He fails to understand the significance of what he has said and he always forgets that those long dead white guys had a good plan for setting up a new country. They set up checks and balances to make sure no one could be a dictator for long.
@Randy: Well, you would have to admit that defending the liberal ideology and it’s positions defies facts, logic and rational thought. If you noticed during all of Obama’s scandals, they kept throwing up lie after lie, even when they contradicted each other, trying to find one that would stick. Liberals seem to pay no notice that the stories kept changing, they just accepted them. They WANT to be lied to and, when arguing their positions, they often believe the people they are arguing with are as dumb as their fellow liberals.
@Deplorable Me: #21:
No, they DID NOT say that. Neither the FBI nor the intelligence community made any assessment of the impact Russian campaign meddling had on the outcome of the election. The simple reason is because the effects of such a social media disinformation campaign are not easily quantifiable. There’s no way to accurately measure it.
Republican Mike Pompeo claimed that such a conclusion had been made in a statement subsequent to his appointment as CIA director by Donald Trump:
The CIA’s official spokesman immediately “clarified” Pompeo’s misrepresentation:
Pompeo’s statement—which was immediately picked up by conservative media despite the prompt clarification—is typical Trump administration bullshit: Reality is whatever we tell you it is. Anyone who says different lies. They have no regard whatsoever for the difference between truth and lies. You, no doubt, will continue to believe and repeat what Pompeo said, totally disregarding the fact that his statement was denied by his own agency.
@Greg: I am still anxiously awaiting the ads that changed people’s minds about Hillary. Did the Russians invent the story that Hillary ignored security warnings and requests in Benghazi? Did the Russians take over Hillary’s mouth and lie about who attacked the consulate? Did the Russians tell Hillary to set up a private, secret, unsecured email server in her bathroom? Was she tricked by the Russians to illegal send, receive and store classified State Department information on her easily violated server? All of that was valid reasons to NOT vote for Hillary and it was all Hillary’s doing.
It is the left and Mueller who are working in league with the Russians and anyone else that wants to sow discord in the US.
@Deplorable Me: Greg is already screaming SQUIRREL, dont look at the facts until MSLSD can tell you them. Like how heroic, compassionate and caring the spying on an opposing candidate was after denying it happened at all.
We found they wrote an exoneration letter before they questioned the perp, what was missing was the letter of possible charges being filed.
These are all men of honor why worry liberal MSM?
@Deplorable Me, #23:
The fact that you believe the FBI and intelligence community have reached a conclusion that they specifically deny making is a clear indication of who wants to be lied to.
Trump lies constantly. He demonstrably lies multiple times daily. The man is a liar by nature. It’s totally central to his methodology, and completely obvious to anyone capable of clear-minded evaluation. He controls and manipulates his base in this fashion. To retain that power, all tellers of truth must be discredited or destroyed.
@Deplorable Me, #25:
No you’re not. You don’t really care how Trump—who was given only a 38 percent chance of winning based on a collective consideration of every damn poll taken, and who lost the popular election by nearly 3 million votes—came to be elected. Nor do you want to know what multiple secret contacts with the Russians were about, or why explanations for them have changed, or why the investigation to answer those questions has been under continuous attack. You don’t want to know about any conflicts of interest. None of this matters to you.
Simple-minded bullshit for a simple-minded audience. It’s a lie. There’s nothing remotely unconstitutional about it.
If you’ve done nothing wrong, there’s nothing for Mueller to find. Let him embarrass himself.
@Greg: Do you ever read the stuff you spout? How can anyone take you seriously.
People read what they themselves are writing. It’s impossible not to.
Trump declares ‘absolute right’ to pardon himself
He can touch himself on the head with his own magic fairy wand and absolve himself of all crimes. It has yet to be determined if he can forgive himself of all sins.
@Greg: Your posts are usually entertaining and amusing but now you are heading so far off the deep end I don’t know if you can come back. Secret contracts? Well since you keep telling everyone how the Trump administration leaks like a sieve how is it these are still secret? We should know everything about them by now. Trump’s net worth is down 100 million dollars since being elected, but wait, those secret contracts will produce a bonanza and make it all worth while. And no one will suspect a thing. Right? Meanwhile he is making real change for America. The economic news is very good. He is removing the boot of government stagnation from the neck of capitalism, as performed by Obama for 8 years. WWIII with NK has been postponed. I know you are disappointed with that. And unlike those left wing predictions of a crashing economy if he were elected, the ones you bought into just like those polls you keep siting, we actually have a growing GDP rate. Plus right now we have more job openings than we have people to fill them. That is a rare occurrence. Obama could only dream of such a thing. By the way it was an ELECTORAL COLLEGE RACE, not a popular vote race. Your candidate was too stupid to run the right race. Trump figured it out early. You wanted the stupid candidate, the one who thought it was a coronation and not an election. You lose. But the rest of us are winning. Not tired of it yet.
You might consider reading The Great Revolt by Salena Zito. Maybe there is a clue in it for you.
@Greg: not true! Part of reading is comprehensive. I doubt you understand what you write! Nobody else does either!
@Mully: Good post. Good description of Greg and his lefty friends.
@Greg:
Well, yeah. I am. You got em?
Actually, that part I know. We who took Civics in high school call it “the electoral college” and it is the method every President since Washington has been elected. All exactly the same. Those 3 million votes disappear pretty quickly when you begin examining the voting irregularities, the illegal immigrants voting and the funny habit the dead have for voting for Democrats. Add those characteristics to the fact that the most corrupt person ever to run for the office was the Democrat nominee, I would say Trump had a 5 million vote advantage.
Tell me, specifically, what questions this “investigation” is looking to answer. It isn’t trying to answer anything except how to reverse a legal election and get the piece of trash you really wanted in the White House. Tell me the questions this “investigation” is actively trying to answer, Greg, and provide the PROOF that is what they are seeking. This “investigation” is a meandering, unguided pursuit of SOMETHING. They don’t know what it is, but whatever they find, they’ll try to use it to serve the liberal agenda.
And, Lo and Behold…. that’s exactly what he’s found. It’s embarrassing how little $17 million will buy you, isn’t it?
@Greg: As you see by the quote you highlighted he was quoting other people, the research of these experts is highly questionable, but as the constitution states, the Congress and Senate are the only ones that can impeach for high crimes and misdemeanors, no one is above the law. The President is protected from the frivolous BS that is playing out before the country. He sure did press that Yuge, beautiful, like no other, you can believe me, trigger button. It is glorious.
But tis question has been posed before…like during the campaign got to love liberal fantasies
.
@Mully, #32:
Secret contacts. Such as the Trump Tower meeting, supposedly regarding the adoption of Russian children—or maybe dirt the Russians could provide the Trump campaign on Hillary Clinton. Take your pick. The count of known meetings is up to 22. They’re boxed in red on this document, compiled from a variety of sources. A total of 13 Trump campaign figures had contact with Russian’s connected with the Putin government from March 2016 through January 20, 2017.
Oh, yeah. The swamp has been drained, and the alligators have been driven out of Washington. (Into positions at the helm of our regulatory agencies.) Corporate America and the richest have received enormous, budget-busting tax cuts that will remain permanent after those of working people and the middle class have phased out. (The projected deficits are a trillion dollars per year, so you’re not going to see the low end cuts made permanent.) 90 consecutive months of job growth somehow seem to have resulted from the policies of an administration that has only been on the job for 17 months—and they have yet to match the growth rate under Obama.
There are reasons for my skepticism.
A fact which the Russians were totally aware of. That’s the beauty of social media—their advertising algorithms allowed for pinpoint targeting of ads and disinformation pitches, maximizing their bang for the buck—or ruble, in this case. That might be where some of those election board voter rolls that were hacked came in very useful. A total of 21 states are known to have been compromised. I’m guessing that obtaining voter names and locations was not viewed as a pointless exercise. The Russian effort was nothing if not well coordinated.
US cyber security official says 21 states’ voter rolls were hacked during 2016 election
Controlling the outcome via the Electoral College is all about leverage. A different outcome in only 3 counties could have flipped the election. The Russians are capable of arithmetic.
These 3 Counties Could Have Flipped the 2016 Election for Hillary Clinton
@Greg: Obama says different. Lets go back.
Could you please try to use something other than speculation or left wing machinations for a change. My side is splitting from laughter.
@Mully: It is not PC to laugh at those who lack mental capabilities.
@Greg: From article referenced they couldnt tell the few states that were actually verified to be hacked by DHS how to better secure their systems due to its a big fat secret, and open is where Republicans and democrats had a stronghold, due to who was in office and public records of how many votes each candidate got, much easier than individual voter targeting with less than 1 million$ invested, and they had to all use social media too. fantasies Greg. The more you try the less sane it sounds.
Next rabbit hole?
@Mully, #38:
Speculation is nothing but a beginning point. Robert Mueller’s investigation isn’t about speculation. It’s about getting real answers. We’ll see if anyone is laughing when he’s finished.
@kitt: Greg and his ilk are not about accuracies. They are only about blather. Facts are irrelevant!
@Greg:
You mean the meeting with the Russian that had been blocked from entering the country but allowed in by Kerry and who sat with the Democrats during Congressional hearings? The meeting that resulted in… nothing? Compare the offer to provide dirt on Hillary with Hillary PAYING Russians to provide dirt on Trump, then feeding all that unverified garbage to the FBI. How do they compare?
Yeah; liberals don’t want to see the United States strong, powerful and influential.
Hey… this would be a great moment to provide those false, yet convincing and mind-changing ads!
Right under the headline:
Boy, in hindsight, I guess it’s too bad Obama chose to simply ignore all those warnings about Russian meddling, but then again he thought it would work to his advantage.
One suggests a presidential campaign seeking the aid of a hostile foreign government in winning an election, while the other is a contrived distortion intended to serve as a distraction and confuse the issue. (Information compiled by Christopher Steele wasn’t used in connection with the election. It didn’t become public knowledge until the election was over.)
Was that the sort of comparison you wanted?
Nobody ever said they were changed. Using the information wouldn’t involve changing it. This is a distraction, like making a point of the fact that no voting machines were hacked. Hacking voting machines wasn’t the nature of the manipulation.
@Greg: The Cyber Security officials during the Obama admin sucked with 8 lips and worse, https://www.computerworld.com/article/2848779/list-of-hacked-government-agencies-grows-state-department-white-house-noaa-and-usps.html
Maybe instead of hacking reporters and voter rolls of several states they should have done their jobs.
@Greg:
I’ve already shown you that as early as July, possibly June, before the election, the dossier was being used to spread lies about Trump. The Steele dossier only confuses the issue of why, if the left is concerned about Russian collusion, do they ignore Hillary’s REAL collusion, involving money changing hands and the use of lies to influence an election.
No, but it is the kind of bullshit I expected.
Duh. So, why did you bring it into the discussion? Ohhh…. because “RUSSIANS”.
Hillary LOST because Hillary is a terrible person, a criminal, a liar, corrupt and proved herself incompetent as Secretary of State. The Russians had NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT.
You’re the one who brought changed rolls into the conversation. No one claimed they were changed to begin with. Nor did anyone claim voting machines were targeted. That’s not how the Russian social media campaign worked.
Does anyone remember that Obama solicited and received campaign funds from middle-eastern countries. He had so many contributions that he removed the credit card source indicator on his web site. Would that be considered foreign intervention in an election? as well as illegal campaign contributions. I do not recall Greg complaining then!
@Greg:
There, I fixed that for you, since what I posted came from YOUR article.
I’m beginning to suspect you’re around 10 years old.