Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Will Russiagate Backfire on the Left?
Townhall.com ^ | March 21, 2017 | Pat Buchanan

Posted on 03/21/2017 4:48:04 AM PDT by Kaslin

The big losers of the Russian hacking scandal may yet be those who invested all their capital in a script that turned out to based on a fairy tale.

In Monday's Intelligence Committee hearings, James Comey did confirm that his FBI has found nothing to support President Trump's tweet that President Obama ordered him wiretapped. Not unexpected, but undeniably an embarrassment for the tweeter-in-chief.

Yet longer-term damage may have been done to the left. For Monday's hearing showed that its rendering of the campaign of 2016 may be a product of fiction and a fevered imagination.

After eight months investigating the hacking and leaking of the emails of Clinton campaign chief John Podesta and the DNC, there is apparently no evidence yet of Trump collusion with Russia.

Former Director of National Intelligence Gen. James Clapper has said that, as of his departure day, Jan. 20, he had seen no evidence of a Russia-Trump collusion.

Former acting CIA Director Michael Morell also made that clear this month: "On the question of the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians here, there is smoke, but there is no fire, at all. ... There's no little campfire, there's no little candle, there's no spark. And there's a lot of people looking for it." Morell was a surrogate for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

But while the FBI is still searching for a Trump connection, real crimes have been unearthed -- committed by anti-Trump bureaucrats colluding with mainstream media -- to damage Trump's presidency.

There is hard evidence of collusion between the intel community and The New York Times and The Washington Post, both beneficiaries of illegal leaks -- felonies punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

While the howls have been endless that Trump accused Obama of a "felony," the one provable felony here was the leak of a transcript of an intercepted conversation between Gen. Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador.

That leak ended Flynn's career as national security adviser. And Director Comey would neither confirm nor deny that President Obama was aware of the existence of the Flynn transcript.

So where do we stand after yesterday's hearing and eight-month FBI investigation? The Russians did hack Podesta's email account and the DNC, and while the FBI has found no evidence of Trump campaign collusion with the Russians, it is still looking.

However, the known unknowns seem more significant.

How could DNI Director Clapper and CIA Director Morell say that no connection had been established between Trump's campaign and the Russians, without there having been an investigation? And how could such an investigation be conclusive in exonerating Trump's associates -- without some use of electronic surveillance?

Did the FBI fly to Moscow and question Putin's cyberwarfare team?

More questions arise. If, in its investigation of the Russian hacking and a Trump connection, the FBI did receive the fruits of some electronic surveillance of the Trump campaign, were Attorney General Loretta Lynch, White House aides or President Obama made aware of any such surveillance? Did any give a go-ahead to surveil the Trump associates? Comey would neither confirm nor deny that they did.

So, if Obama were aware of an investigation into the Trump campaign, using intel sources and methods, Trump would not be entirely wrong in his claims, and Obama would have some 'splainin' to do.

Is the FBI investigating the intelligence sources who committed felonies by illegally disclosing information about the Trump campaign?

Comey would not commit to investigate these leaks, though this could involve criminal misconduct within his own FBI.

Again, the only known crimes committed by Americans during and after the campaign are the leaks of security secrets by agents of the intel community, colluding with the Fourth Estate, which uses the First Amendment to provide cover for criminal sources, whom they hail as "whistleblowers."

Indeed, if there was no surveillance of Trump of any kind, where did all these stories come from, which their reporters attributed to "intelligence sources"?

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from any role in the Russian hacking scandal. But the Justice Department should demand that the FBI put the highest priority on investigating the deep state and its journalistic collaborators in the sabotage of the Trump presidency.

If Comey refuses to do it, appoint a special counsel.

In the last analysis, as Glenn Greenwald, no Trumpite, writes for The Intercept, the real loser may well be the Democratic Party.

If the investigation of Russiagate turns up no link between Trump and the pilfered emails, Democrats will have egg all over their faces. And the Democratic base will have to face a painful truth.

Vladimir Putin did not steal this election. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lost it. Donald Trump won it fair and square. He is not an "illegitimate" president. There will be no impeachment. They were deceived and misled by their own leaders and media. They bought into a Big Lie.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: comey; fbi; flynn; hillary; nsa; russia; trump; wiretapping
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

1 posted on 03/21/2017 4:48:04 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

So... What else was in those Clinton emails?


2 posted on 03/21/2017 4:50:46 AM PDT by Mr. K (***THERE IS NO CONSEQUENCE OF OBAMACARE REPEAL THAT IS WORSE THAN KEEPING IT ONE MORE DAY***)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

We are supposed to believe the intelligence community when they say Russia hacked Podesta’s emails? I have my doubts


3 posted on 03/21/2017 4:59:22 AM PDT by Emergencyawesome
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Russiagate. Bless its little black heart.

Will it backfire on the Dems? I don’t think so. The MSM will just wring what they can out of it and mostly, but never absolutely, move on.

The threat here is that the Intelligence Community will rise up, police itself and punish one or more of its members. Once again I’m doubtful. But there is a wild card in the mix this time and his name is Trump.

What will Trump do? That’s the real question. In the end I believe Trump will be able to out the bad guys if he is willing to release some “sources and methods” secrets. He may, in the end, be reluctant to do so.


4 posted on 03/21/2017 5:02:54 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (Ted, you finally endorsed. About time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Emergencyawesome
You doubt that he was hacked, noobie?

A 14 year old could have hacked him. His pw was Password.

5 posted on 03/21/2017 5:03:18 AM PDT by Kaslin ( The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triump. Thomas Paine)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“You doubt that he was hacked, noobie? “

Hey Old Timer, my point was the Intelligence community said Russia did it and I don’t trust them, I never said he wasn’t hacked.


6 posted on 03/21/2017 5:10:16 AM PDT by Emergencyawesome
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Other questions that need to be asked:

1) Who, by name, initiated the investigation?

2) On what basis and what evidence was the investigation initiated?

3) If, after eight months, there is no evidence of a Trump-Russia connection, WHY IS THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUING?


7 posted on 03/21/2017 5:10:30 AM PDT by Petrosius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

-—Did the FBI fly to Moscow and question Putin’s cyberwarfare team?-—

There was an article here last week indicating the FBI was working directly with a Russian agency on matters of cyber warfare prevention. That can be interpreted to mean there were FBI guys already there to ask the question face to face


8 posted on 03/21/2017 5:14:50 AM PDT by bert (K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP .... Hillary is Ameritrash, pass it on)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
If you hack into someone system, you leave a calling card that points in another direction.
Who has the unlimited resources and capabilities to hack another nation?
It's not going to be Joe Computer Whiz in mom's basement.
It is going to be an entity that has all the computing power available to it for algorithms to find passwords, look for back doors, mass phishing.
Who has that capability? CIA, NSA, DIA to name just a few.
9 posted on 03/21/2017 5:19:05 AM PDT by Wizdum (Buckle up! It's going to be one hell of a ride.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Emergencyawesome

We are supposed to believe the intelligence community when they say Russia hacked Podesta’s emails? I have my doubts.
++++
Me too and we have Julian Assange agreeing with us.

AFAIK, we have never been presented with anything better than “intelligence community consensus” as the justification for the charge that the Russian Government was the source of the Podesta email leaks.

From that small seed grew the conspiracy that Trump and Putin colluded to defeat Hillary. And I don’t think there is anything else but those emails. What else did the Russians supposedly do to help Trump? Beats me.

What nonsense this us.


10 posted on 03/21/2017 5:20:07 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (Ted, you finally endorsed. About time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The FBI spies on Russian Ambassadors. Call them up and the NSA will know what you’ve been saying. The leaks were crimes. The spying was routine.


11 posted on 03/21/2017 5:26:27 AM PDT by elhombrelibre (Cogito ergo sum a conservative pro-American.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

It anyone needed to be spied on in regards to the Russians, it was the Soros-supported democrats. They were the ones who were so “flexible” with KGB Putin on such critically important things as missile defense and nukes, including the Iran nuke deal that Putin loves so much. It was also they who handed over to the Russians 20% of our uranium production, some of which they’ve already transferred to their allies in Iran. It was also they, who, in the face of an increasingly aggressive, expansionist Russia, practically dismantled our military.


12 posted on 03/21/2017 5:48:48 AM PDT by ETL (Trump admin apparently playing "good cop, bad cop" with thug Putin (see my FR Home page))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Since when do facts have anything to do with fakestream presstitutes?


13 posted on 03/21/2017 5:53:07 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (President Trump is coming, and the rule of law is coming with him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Sen. D’Amato Drops Bomb: Hillary Allowed Russia to Take Ownership of US Uranium to Sell to Iran

Jim Hoft
Jul 3rd, 2016

Former Senator Al D’Amato (R-NY) dropped a bomb on Sunday Morning Futures this AM. D’Amato told Maria Bartiromo that Hillary allowed Russia to take ownership of US uranium so they could sell it to Iran.

Hillary made it possible for the Russians to take control of one of our huge uranium producers and allow them to own the company, export the uranium and who do they sell the uranium to? Iran!

Now if people knew that and that the foundation as a result of that got $135 million. I think people would start saying, “What?” It’s true.

In January 2013, Pravda celebrated the Russian atomic energy agency’s purchase of the company “Uranium One” in Canada. That same company, Uranium One, owned uranium concessions in the United States. Because uranium is a strategically important commodity, the Russians would need approval from the Obama administration, including Hillary’s State Department, before the purchase took place.

Nine shareholders in Uranium One just happened to provide more than $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation in the run-up to State Department approval.

The Clintons took the cash from Uranium One officials before the deal was approved by Hillary Clinton’s State Department. The Clintons hid the donations which is a clear violation of the Memorandum of Understanding Hillary Clinton signed with the Obama administration wherein she promised and agreed to publicly disclose all donations during her tenure as Secreatary of State. (Via Breitbart)

The New York Times reported on the crooked deal in 2015.

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

And then there’s this... Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) told Greta Van Susteren the deal Hillary approved gave Putin ownership of 20 percent of US uranium and Russia sells uranium to unfriendly countries, including Iran.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/07/senator-damato-drops-bomb-hillary-allowed-russia-take-ownership-us-uranium-sell-iran-video/ __________________

14 posted on 03/21/2017 5:55:05 AM PDT by ETL (Trump admin apparently playing "good cop, bad cop" with thug Putin (see my FR Home page))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Obama allowing Iran to purchase uranium from Russia

Daniel Horowitz |
January 10, 2017

Remember those side deals Obama forged with Iran that were not part of the text of the official treaty? Now we are finding out some of the details.

Yesterday, the Washington Free Beacon reported that Iranian officials confirmed they have received at least $10 billion in cash, commodities, and assets from Washington since 2013. And that is likely a conservative estimate.

But cash is not the only thing the Islamic Republic of Iran is receiving for gracing us with their willingness to sign onto our own capitulation.

The AP is reporting that Russia, with the support of President Obama, is shipping Iran 116 metric tons of natural uranium. While Iranian officials have obviously declined to disclose the use of such uranium, AP notes that this is enough to enrich weapons-grade uranium for nuclear bombs:

“Despite present restrictions on its enrichment program, however, the amount of natural uranium is significant should Iran decide to keep it in storage, considering its potential uses once some limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities start to expire in less than a decade. David Albright, whose Institute of Science and International Security often briefs U.S. lawmakers on Iran’s nuclear program, says the shipment could be enriched to enough weapons-grade uranium for more than 10 simple nuclear bombs, “depending on the efficiency of the enrichment process and the design of the nuclear weapon.” ...”

See more at:

https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2017/01/obama-allowing-iran-to-purchase-uranium-from-russia-will-tillerson-reverse-course#sthash.guYPvONI.dpuf

15 posted on 03/21/2017 5:59:20 AM PDT by ETL (Trump admin apparently playing "good cop, bad cop" with thug Putin (see my FR Home page))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Who’s in Putin’s Pocket — Clinton or Trump? (Clinton Uranium RussiaGate scandal)

The New American ^ | August 3, 2016 | William F. Jasper

"according to some calculations, the Uranium One deal, involving top Clinton donors Frank Guistra and Ian Telfer, has transferred as much as 50 percent of projected American uranium production to Kremlin control."

***********************************************

RUSSIAGATE Who paid Bill Clinton's $2.5 million commission & $500,000 speaking fee (US uranium to Russia)

qura.com ^ | July 27, 2016 | Sierra Spaulding

Who paid Bill Clinton's $2.5 million commission and $500k speaking fee for brokering the sale of 20% of America's uranium deposits to Russia?

You are speaking about a really interesting deal that ended up giving Vladimir Putin and the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States.

Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. ..."

16 posted on 03/21/2017 6:03:25 AM PDT by ETL (Trump admin apparently playing "good cop, bad cop" with thug Putin (see my FR Home page))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Donald Trump: 'Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time'

Mar 13, 2014
Eun Kyung Kim: TODAY SHOW (NBC)

Donald Trump slammed President Obama Thursday on TODAY for failing to take a stronger line against President Vladimir Putin in dealing with Ukraine, saying he feared Obama would now make up for lost time with imprudent moves to "show his manhood."

The real estate mogul and reality-TV star, who has criticized Putin for sending military troops into Crimea, said Obama must now take fierce steps to prevent the situation from escalating further.

"We should definitely do sanctions and we have to show some strengths. I mean, Putin has eaten Obama's lunch, therefore our lunch, for a long period of time," Trump said. ..."

http://www.today.com/news/donald-trump-putin-has-eaten-obamas-lunch-ukraine-2D79372098

_______________________________________

Here’s the interview w/ Matt Lauer on YouTube... Donald Trump (2014): ‘Vladimir Putin Has Eaten Obama’s Lunch’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzURUENf1ns

17 posted on 03/21/2017 6:07:18 AM PDT by ETL (Trump admin apparently playing "good cop, bad cop" with thug Putin (see my FR Home page))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

If Russia wanted Trump to win, why did the Russian government pay the Podestas, in 2016, $170,000 just to lobby against sanctions?

http://thewashingtonstandard.com/podesta-group-hired-russias-largest-bank-lobby-ending-sanctions/

http://www.wsj.com/video/opinion-journal-john-podestas-russia-connection/33D616E5-1A9B-475E-8B02-799305053E00.html

http://observer.com/2016/04/panama-papers-reveal-clintons-kremlin-connection/


18 posted on 03/21/2017 6:08:35 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
John Podesta’s Payoff for Helping Hillary Give American Military Technology to Russia’s Putin

Written by Bob Adelmann
Monday, 17 October, 2016

As part of just-inaugurated President Obama’s new foreign policy to improve relations between the United States and Russia, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in March 2009. Meeting in her hotel’s Salon Panorama in Geneva, she presented him with a small gift box containing a bright red button symbolizing the Obama administration’s desire to “reset” the relationship between the two governments.

Thus began an effort to transfer American technology to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s own “Silicon Valley,” called Skolkovo. In a report released in late July by the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) entitled From Russia With Money, authors Stephen Bannon and Peter Schweitzer reviewed the long sordid history of the technology transfer from companies such as Google, Intel, and Cisco of hi-tech technology with useful military applications.

The report quoted warnings from the FBI and the U.S. Army Foreign Military Studies Program at Fort Leavenworth that the transfer would work against American interests. Warned the U.S. Army:

[The “reset” would serve as] a vehicle for world-wide technology transfers to Russia in the areas of information technology, biomedicine, energy, satellite and space technology, and nuclear technology. It was clearly a “quid pro quo” arrangement: 17 of the 28 companies involved in the technology transfer gave millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation or to Bill Clinton for giving some speeches.

When those authors, both of whom are affiliated with Breitbart News, summed up their conclusions, one question remained:

“The GAI investigative report says it’s unclear how much, if any, money [John] Podesta made.” Podesta, having served the Clintons for years, first as chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and then as counselor to President Obama and finally as Hillary’s campaign chairman, deserved a payoff.

But it wasn’t clear until the latest batch of e-mails provided by WikiLeaks went public last week that Americans now know.

For his efforts Podesta received thousands of shares of common and preferred stock in one of the companies involved in the transfer.

The fact came to light when WikiLeaks published e-mails Podesta sent to the company ordering it to transfer his shares to a shell corporation he had created a month earlier.

The e-mails included a letter Podesta wrote to the corporate secretary of that company instructing him to retitle 33,693 shares of preferred stock to Leonidio Holdings, LLC, a corporation that Podesta (or one of his staff) created using a Corporation Service Company to hide the shares from public view.

The company that gave Podesta the stock shares, Joule Unlimited, claims to be a producer of “alternative” energy technology that will eventually be able to produce energy that will be competitive with oil priced at $50 a barrel. It was a recipient of millions of Putin’s rubles as one of the gang of companies working to transfer American technology to Russia, one of America’s enemies. As Schweizer told the New York Post in an interview in July:

The Clintons, they get their donations and speaking fees in the millions of dollars.

The Russians get access to advanced US technology. The tech companies get special access to the Russian market and workforce….

All I ask is that people look at the money. Who made the deals, who benefited from the deals?

Thanks to WikiLeaks the “people” now know the name of at least one of those who participated in the deals and how he benefited from them: John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign manager.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/24301-john-podesta-s-payoff-for-helping-hillary-give-american-military-technology-to-russia-s-putin

19 posted on 03/21/2017 6:17:31 AM PDT by ETL (Trump admin apparently playing "good cop, bad cop" with thug Putin (see my FR Home page))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Oct 2016

WikiLeaks Show How Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta Became ‘Business Partners with Vladimir Putin’

“...WikiLeaks emails provide proof that the “Clintons have a long and lucrative history of financial deals with the Russians, particularly with the Russian government.”

Schweizer explained the “deep ties” the Clintons have to Russia, specifically how in 2010 then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton approved the sale and transfer of 20% of U.S. uranium output to the Russian government ...”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/10/22/schweizer-wikileaks-show-clinton-campaign-chair-john-podesta-became-business-partners-vladimir-putin/

20 posted on 03/21/2017 6:21:41 AM PDT by ETL (Trump admin apparently playing "good cop, bad cop" with thug Putin (see my FR Home page))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson