Posted on 06/15/2017 1:37:40 PM PDT by Kaslin
RUSH: To the next little expose here of the Washington Post story: “Special Counsel Investigating Trump for Possible Obstruction of Justice, Officials Say.”
There are four writers on this story. By the way, have you noticed that in all of these Trump stories — New York Times, Washington Post — at least three or four writers? Why do you think that is? Well, it’s obviously to provide cover. Hard to go after four people. It’s obviously to provide all of them cover. What do you need four people to report a leak? A leak that obviously came from Mueller’s staff.
By the way, about that. We’re told that, I’m sure you’ve heard, that Robert Mueller, why, there’s no one with a finer reputation. Same thing they told us about Comey. No one more highly respected in Washington than Bob Mueller. Why, Bob Mueller has been everywhere and done it all. He’s been an FBI director himself. He’s been an independent counsel. He’s been a lawyer, he’s been a lot. Bob Mueller is impeccable. Bob Mueller, you can’t touch his reputation, it is clean and pure as the wind-driven.
Same thing they said about Comey. And they also said Bob Mueller doesn’t play these snake in the grass games. Bob Mueller is not a leaker. Bob Mueller doesn’t do any of these typical Washington — he plays it close to the vest. He plays it down the middle. He’s Mr. Integrity. And yet before he even gets going, we’ve got a leak from this highly respected, deeply devoted public servant.
Four people at Washington Post. Remember, one of the writers, Adam Entous, was on CNN last night warning them it could be nothing, just like all of the leaks on the collusion story added up to what? Nothing. Every one of them added up to nothing. So big was the nothing that they’ve dropped the collusion case and they’ve moved on to obstruction. And so Toobin is salivating last night on CNN. David “Rodham” Gergen’s tongue is on the floor.
They’re all salivating. Anderson Cooper can basically barely keep the smile off his face. And then they get this Post writer on. “I want to caution everybody here, this may not lead to anything.” Why did you publish it? So let’s examine what actually is said to have happened here. I’m holding in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers an advanced copy of a column that will be published later today at National Review Online written by Andrew McCarthy of the McCarthy brothers of New Jersey. And this is powerful in its simple logic.
It is a column that asks simple, logical questions. The title of the piece as it is now — I don’t know if this will be the title when it’s published later today: “Can You Obstruct a Fraud? — On March 30, 2017, by his own account, then-FBI director James Comey told President Donald Trump that Trump himself was not under investigation — the third time he had given him that assurance.” Once in January, once in February, and once on March 30th. Three different times. The most recent time that Comey assured Trump he wasn’t under investigation, March 30th. “In fact, Comey told Trump that he had just assured members of Congress that Trump was not a suspect under investigation.”
So all the way through April and all the way through May, Pelosi, Feinstein, Schumer, Pencil Neck Schiff, they all knew that Trump was not a target, he was not a suspect. Comey told them all. And yet they continue to conduct hearings on Trump’s possible collusion with Russia, they continued to speak to the media about it. Trump was going nuts. He wanted Comey to say publicly what he had told him privately, and Comey wouldn’t do it.
There’s a parallel, if I may make a brief departure. Do you remember a controversial item back in the beginning days of the regime, the administration? Reince Priebus claimed that he was in his office and the number two at the FBI, Andrew McCabe, dropped by, and Priebus said that McCabe told him (paraphrasing), “Look, Reince, we know that all this stuff in the paper about Trump and collusion, we know it’s BS. We know these are links and nothing there.” And Priebus said, “What good does that do us?”
And the news leaked out that Priebus was leaning on McCabe to go public and assure everybody they weren’t under investigation. And I talked to Priebus, and he said it’s the exact opposite. I was minding my own business in my office and McCabe walks in and tells me this and then I said, “What can we do with this?” And it was clear, we couldn’t say it, we couldn’t use it. It been told to us privately. But the story was that Priebus had gone to the FBI and demanded that they go public with the fact that all this stuff in the paper, these leaks from the deep state, none of ’em were true, and the FBI knew it.
Same thing here. Comey tells Trump three different times, most recently March 30th, “You’re not a suspect.” He then tells Congress and everybody. The media therefore knew because if Congress knew and the FBI knew and the leakers knew, then the media knew. And yet everybody pretended that Trump was still a suspect. And Trump is understandably whisky tango foxtrot. “Why doesn’t somebody go public with this? And can we move on here? This is becoming a problem for me moving my agenda forward.” And nobody would go public with it. Understandably so. The purpose was not to enable Trump to do anything positive or good.
So think about that. Comey told Trump March 30th that he had just told Congress Trump was not a suspect. So Trump sits in the White House knowing that everybody involved knows he’s not a suspect. Yet he turns on TV and watches ’em keep talking about him as a suspect and how we need to keep going, find even more evidence. Well, this was six weeks after — Folks, this is so crucial here to understanding Mueller’s leak and case.
March 30th, when Comey tells Trump he is not a suspect, that is six weeks, that is a month-and-a-half after Comey’s Oval Office meeting with Trump “during which Comey alleges that Trump told him, ‘I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.’ Flynn, of course, is Michael Flynn, the close Trump campaign adviser and original Trump national-security adviser, whom Trump, with pained reluctance, had fired just the day before.”
But the importance is the timeline here. Six weeks after the Oval Office meeting where Comey says, he alleges that Trump asked him to let this Flynn thing go. Six weeks after that Comey assures Trump he’s not a suspect. And yet that alleged conversation forms the basis of this obstruction. Trump’s told he’s not a suspect. Six weeks after — this includes not just collusion, but Trump has told Comey, allegedly, asked Comey, “Let this Flynn thing go.” Six weeks after that Comey tells him, “You’re not a suspect.” Now we’ve got the special counsel looking into that as obstruction.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: By the way, the famous McCarthy brothers are actually from the Bronx. One of them has defected to New Jersey, but it’s the famous McCarthy — I’m sure you in the Bronx know exactly who it is to whom I refer. Now, six weeks after Comey tells Trump in the Oval Office that he’s not a suspect is when Trump allegedly said to Comey, “I hope you can let Flynn go.” Six weeks after that happens, Comey says, “You’re not a suspect” for the third time.
Now, as Andy writes here, “Most of the time, when public officials obstruct an investigation, there is a certain obsessiveness about it.” It’s a big deal. If they’re actually doing it, they’re not doing it halfheartedly, they’re not making calls once or twice a week. They’re on the case every day. It’s that important. They’re obsessive about it.
“Because, in the usual situation, the official has been paid off, or the official is worried that the subject of the investigation will inculpate the official if the investigation is allowed to continue.” Usually, obstruction, you’re asking somebody to shut it down, and until it’s shut down you remain obsessive about getting it shut down.
Trump was not obsessive. The thing to notice here is that Trump never did it again. After the Oval Office meeting six weeks prior to March 30th, when Comey alleges that Trump asked him to let the Flynn thing go, that was the only time Trump brought it up. That was on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. After Comey’s description of that encounter, the word “Flynn” never appears again in any Comey written testimony. The only time Comey mentions Flynn is referring to that meeting on February 14th when Trump supposedly said to Comey, “Let it go.”
Now, who was Flynn, in Trump’s eyes? He is a guy that was a devoted and loyal supporter. He was a combat veteran who had served the country with distinction for over 30 years, who had not done anything wrong by speaking to the Russian ambassador as part of the Trump transition. As far as Trump’s concern, no crime’s been committed here. This is what people in Flynn’s position would do during a transition.
Despite all that, Flynn had been chosen as the guy to take the heat. Flynn was gonna be the fall guy. The FBI, Comey had to get somebody. “Flynn had just been cashiered in humiliating fashion.” And Trump is the one who did it. Trump had fired him, and he was upset about it. And that’s why common sense would tell you he was lobbying Comey on Flynn’s behalf. He felt bad about what he had been forced to do to Flynn. Flynn was one of the first original eager beaver supporters. He spoke at the convention. He was a diehard Trump supporter. Trump ends up firing the guy. Trump’s not excited about it. So that’s why obviously he is asking Comey, “Come on. Look at all the guy’s done. This is nothing here. You can find a way to let it go.”
“It was an exercise in weighing the merits of further investigation and prosecution that FBI agents and federal prosecutors do hundreds of times a day, throughout the country. That matters because, as their superior and as the constitutional official whose power these subordinates exercise, Trump has as much authority to do this weighing as did Comey.”
Trump could do this. He runs the executive branch. Comey works for Trump, not the other way around. It was perfectly fine and nobody thought a thing about it at the time until the collusion thing appears to fall apart. And now they’re trying to go back and make this the centerpiece of a newly created obstruction investigation. And it stinks. Comey didn’t report this, didn’t say he was deeply concerned about it at the time. Only when it became convenient did he do so.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, this next thing is important. Comey has revised his opinion on this event. He now says, after he was fired by Trump, he thinks that Trump was ordering him to drop the Flynn investigation. When we get back here, I’m gonna try to demonstrate using the English language that that did not happen.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to conclude here the analysis of this so-called fraud or obstruction against Donald Trump, ’cause, folks, it is as flimsy as everything else in this has been. If you’re just joining us, to review, Washington Post big story yesterday that swept the shooting story off the front pages of its newspaper, that the independent counsel, special counsel Robert Mueller — and you can’t criticize him because he is the epitome of integrity and fairness, and he’s got a reputation that one must not assail.
His group made up largely of Democrat donors and Obama and Hillary supporters — those are the lawyers he’s hired — leaked to the Washington Post that they now have the president under criminal investigation. James Comey told Trump three times he was not under investigation, that he was not a suspect in the collusion business. The key thing is six weeks before March 30th, Valentine’s Day, James Comey alleges that Donald Trump said, “I hope you can see your way to letting this Flynn thing go.” Trump denies he said it, by the way. But Comey says he did. Comey says, “I hope you can see your way.”
Six weeks after that, Comey said for the third time, Trump’s not a suspect. So at the time Trump made the statement that Comey alleges he made, Comey didn’t think it was obstruction. He didn’t run out of the Oval Office, start running to the Justice Department. He didn’t call his best buddy, Bob Mueller. He didn’t run around, “Trump just tried to obstruct my investigation. Did you know that? He just told me to let the investigation go. He can’t do that. I’m the FBI director. He’s only president.”
He didn’t tell that to anybody. He didn’t complain. He didn’t whine. He just furthermore told Congress six weeks later that Trump was not a suspect, six weeks after this alleged obstruction took place. It was later that the FBI director revised his take on this episode. After Trump fired Comey, Comey said, “You know what? As I think about that dinner on Valentine’s night, I think Trump was ordering me to drop the Flynn investigation.”
This is very important. We’re getting here to the nub of this. We’ve already gotten to one nub. We’re getting to another one here. At the time when Trump’s allegedly saying to Comey, “Let it go, let the Flynn thing go,” Comey thought nothing of it. He thought so little of it that six weeks later he told Trump again, and Congress, that Trump’s not a suspect. So, after that, Trump fires Comey. Comey says, “You know what? I just got fired. I’m rethinking what Trump said to me on Valentine’s night.”
And he did. He revised his take on this and is now telling everybody that he’s convinced now that Trump was actually ordering him to drop the Flynn investigation. And that’s why we have an obstruction investigation now. But Trump did not issue such an order. If Trump had ordered it dropped, it would be dropped, folks. Trump runs the executive branch. If he wants this thing dropped, it would be dropped. And if he wanted it dropped he would mentioned it more than once.
If he was ordering Comey to let it go, he would have followed through until Comey did it. And he would have fired Comey a lot sooner than he did, if he had ordered Comey to drop it and Comey had not done so. Now, by Comey’s own account, “the words Trump used left the decision about pursuing Flynn to Comey’s discretion,” which I want to get to here in a minute. Even though Trump acknowledges that it was Comey’s decision to make, Trump had the legitimate constitutional authority to order Comey to close that case.
“At the time these events actually happened, Comey took no action consistent with someone who understood himself to be under a directive by the president of the United States. He and the FBI continued the investigation.” Because at the time Comey didn’t think he was being ordered. Only after he got fired did he revise his take on it.
Now, let’s look at the words. I need to point out here that Trump has denied that he said this at all. But we’re gonna look at this through the hypothetical that he did say it, ’cause I can still make the case that Trump using the words Comey alleges he heard. The actual words that Comey claimed Trump said were: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.” That’s what Comey says Trump said, and at the time he didn’t think anything of it. Only after he got fired, “You know what? I think I was being ordered. I think my investigation was being tampered with. I think my investigation was being obstructed,” after he gets fired.
I wasn’t aware that the FBI was now a 4th branch of government, a new check and balance on the presidency that is beyond his control.
In old America, under the constitution, the DOJ was clearly understood to be fully subordinate to the President. If he was thought to be corrupt, Congress had the responsibility to investigate and impeach him. That was in old America,,,
Like the Uni-Party gives a Rats ass about Truth.
Never try to reason with a lynch mob.
As the boss of the FBI Trump has authority to direct its investigations. The fact that he did not, but that he specifically admonished the FBI to determine if any of his administration were guilty of criminal activity speaks to Trump’s audacious honesty.
The criminals in government are trying to get Trump before he gets them. They are losing.
Trump’s biggest crime is he speaks for US and AMERICA.
Something the globalists and leftists cannot tolerate.
I thank God that he does.
It’s not a matter of whether any particular act by Trump *IS* or “could be” or “might have been” obstruction. Well, OK, “might have been” is pretty important to the left.
The purpose of all these efforts in in fact to obstruct Trump. Thus, old ground, already covered multiple times has to be revisited, and we can be certain that regardless of what Mueller comes up with, will be revisited and revisited again and again so long as the revisitor believes there is political hay to be made out of bringing up what has been exhaustively settled.
Rush is doing a better job presenting the pro-Trump view than Trump. Loose lips sink ships.
HUGE DITTOS and I HOPE HE NEVER STOPS!!!!
GOD BLESS YOU President Trump!!!
Still, it’s a horrible headline.
So the deep state is going to try to build an obstruction of justice case that President Trump impeded the investigation of Flynn's connections, even though he fired him because of those connections?
President Trump is getting bad advice, has a very weak DOJ for whom many are back stabbers and President Trump needs a “War Room” of his most trusted. President Trump has in my estimation not lost us as a base but he is losing the idiots on the street. For the GOP to gain/hold at the Midterms and to be re-elected this coup needs to stopped. The gloves need to come off. Clinton needs to go down hard.
Pardon Mike Flynn! It’s over.
Pardon Mike Flynn! It’s over. And do it at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon.
Where there’s smoke, there’s a pimp.
Is there any conclusive evidence that Comey went to Mueller to get his written testimony approved? It was widely assumed by pundits with legal backgrounds that Mueller would not have let his potential star witness testify under oath without knowing the details.
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.
