Posted on 09/30/2020 2:14:26 PM PDT by Kaslin
Amongst the many incredulous, remarkable, and possibly perjurious statements made by former FBI Director James Comey today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, this is probably the most dumbfounding exchange:
Sen. Lindsey Graham: "You don’t remember getting an investigatory lead from the intelligence community? Sept. 7, 2016, U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to James Comey and Strzok regarding Clinton’s approval of a plan [about] Trump…as a means of distraction?”
Comey: “That doesn’t ring any bells with me.”
Graham: “That’s a pretty stunning thing that it doesn’t ring a bell. You get this inquiry from the intelligence community to look at the Clinton campaign trying to create a distraction, accusing Trump of being a Russian agent or a Russian stooge.”
Sen. Graham is referring to a referral sent by the Intelligence Community (IC) to the FBI in September 2016. According to a just-declassified letter from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, the referral would be, by anyone's definition, memorable.
It read, in part: "U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to FBI Director James Comey and Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok regarding U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's approval of a plan concerning U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server."
Now, with all due respect to Sen. Graham, this was a great opportunity to ring Mr. Comey's bell with a few follow-up questions:
- "It doesn't ring a bell, Mr. Comey? Well, how many referrals did you receive from the IC regarding an international plot to frame candidate Trump paid for and orchestrated by the former secretary of state?"
- "Can you tell us what your normal procedures would be when you receive a referral such as this? Would you call a meeting? Would you initiate an investigation? Would you pick up the phone and get some more information?"
- "A tangential question, Mr. Comey... we know you opened an unprecedented counter-intelligence investigation on Mr. Trump on July 31 of that same year. We know you pulled FISA warrants to surveil several members of the Trump campaign and we know you withheld vital information from President-elect Trump during the transition so you could continue your investigation of him and several members of his newly-formed administration... Tell us, Mr. Comey, did you ever receive a referral from the IC about Mr. Trump? Or did you initiate all of those unprecedented and possibly criminal moves all based on your own judgment?"
- "Mr. Comey, by saying 'it doesn't ring a bell,' you are clearly leaving yourself quite a bit of wiggle room to avoid charges of perjury in the event we finally uncover a paper trail showing that you knew full well about this referral from the IC. So, to avoid us more lengthy delays, do you want to revise your claim now and acknowledge you got this referral and just ignored it?"
For Mr. Comey to claim a referral such as this, involving a foreign plot in coordination with a presidential candidate to frame their presidential opponent "doesn't ring a bell" is an insult to the American people's intelligence, especially considering that at that very moment he received the referral, his bureau was carrying through with an investigation that fit perfectly into the IC's description of Clinton's plot.
"Clinton is setting Trump up to make it look like he colluded with Russians to hack the DNC servers? Hmmmm.... why does that sound familiar....?"
Comey needs to have his bell rung on this, or he needs to go to jail
Ok. He’s an incompetent liar. Question is what good does it do to bring him in. Does this committee have the power to recommend an indictment and can he be charged with perjury based on the declassified report
My ears will prick up when there are indictments, 6:00 AM swat team raids, CNN news crews on hand, and someone shoots Comey's dog for good measure.
Comey comes off as the Prince of Men.....
Doesn’t ring a bell to Comey....
In the syndicated newspaper comic strip Flash Gordon he was once tied to a clapper in a huge steeple bell and tortured.
Maybe we can test that for Comey and see if he rings a bell.
Just remembered another clown named Clapper.
No one should expect Flimsey Grahamnesty to really want to get to the bottom of nefarious activities of which he was a part.
Ya, but, "Stay Tuned".
When all is over and done, Comey will skate. America is stacked with lawyers but not with justice.
Scatter their HQs throughout red states.
There is NO LIMIT to what we can do to REFORM this country if we are UNITED in thought and deed and committment.
Do you think he's gay because he is not married? If you do than you are truly ignorant. He is a Bachelor, these are men that are not married and stay single, and why do you have a gripe because he was friends with the late John McCain? You surely don't think John McCain cheated his wife with Senator Graham?
If you do, than you really are ignorant.
Go get help and stat. You need it.
He should be in court..and getting sentenced to prison.
If none of these perps don't get jail time....It's over for me.
I've nothing against gay people and I am happy to see that so many gay people have joined the #walkaway movement.
Graham has been disingenuous for years, as long as I can remember. He and McCain were a treacherous tag team, good cop/bad cop. Graham is completely feckless like a Camp Fire Girl. With Graham it's always a big build up and then … nothing. Do you expect indictments or referrals out of any Graham hearing? You will die of old age first.
One of the Senators should have told Lying Comey: “Since you knew so little about the operations and general incompetence and corruption at the FBI aren’t you glad that Trump fired you to save the FBI further embarrassment?
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