Posted on 02/03/2018 10:39:30 AM PST by Kaslin
President Donald J. Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to address the controversial House Intelligence Committee memo that was released yesterday. The president claimed that the contents of that memo "totally vindicates 'Trump' in (the Mueller probe)." The 45th commander-in-chief, who has been dogged his entire administration by accusations of improperly being elected to the office of the presidency, called the entire "Russian Witch Hunt" an "American Disgrace."
This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018
This tweet echoes similar comments President Trump told the press yesterday. As noted by Cortney, he said that there are a lot of people who "should be ashamed of themselves" after reading the memo and being briefed by staff. In a statement from White Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, the White House said the document "raises serious concerns about the integrity" at some our nation's most esteemed institutions such as the FBI and the Department of Justice.
Townhall has provided ample coverage of the memo and breaking details, but as Guy noted yesterday, there are several problems - on both sides of the aisle - with the conclusions many are jumping to after its release:
"We need more information in order to determine the credibility of some of the accusations and implied accusations flying around. Predictably, some political actors are reacting to the GOP memo as if it's a national security risk or even a crime unto itself, which is nonsense. Others are dubiously citing it as vindication for President Trump, or a strong basis on which to start cleaning house by firing people like Rod Rosenstein and Bob Mueller. It's nothing of the sort. In fact, contrary to some of the pre-release hype, Rosenstein was barely mentioned in the memo at all; his name came up virtually exclusively in the context of approving the extended surveillance against Page, which very well could have been an entirely defensible decision by the time he made it (even if one is skeptical of the initial warrant). I'll leave you with a statement from House Intelligence Committee Republican Trey Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor who has seen reams of relevant evidence that we have not -- and who pushed for the release of this memo, albeit while successfully advocating for a more careful and methodical process than others would reportedly have preferred. This assessment ought to hold weight:
As I have said repeatedly, I also remain 100 percent confident in Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The contents of this memo do not - in any way - discredit his investigation. Trey Gowdy (@TGowdySC) February 2, 2018
THE DEMOCRATS CREEDtrue believers
I Believe by Michael Kelly
I believe President Bill Clinton. I have always believed him. I believed him when he said he had never been drafted in the Vietnam War and I believed him when he said he had forgotten to mention that he had been drafted in the Vietnam War. I believed him when he said he hadnt had sex with Gennifer Flowers and I believe him now, when he reportedly says he did.
I believe the president did not rent out the Lincoln Bedroom, did not sell access to himself and the vice president to hundreds of well-heeled special pleaders and did not supervise the largest, most systematic money-laundering operation in campaign finance history, collecting more than $ 3 million in illegal and improper donations. I believe that Charlie Trie and James Riady were motivated by nothing but patriotism for their adopted country.
I believe President Clinton when he conceded that his administration mistakenly obtained the FBI files of more than 300 people, including many top Republicans. I believe it was the result of a completely honest bureaucratic snafu involving security clearances.
I believe Clintons chief of staff, Leon Panetta, when he told reporters that obviously a mistake was made and apologized to the people whose FBI files wound up at the White House. I believe Clinton when he said I completely support what my COS Panetta said about the affair.
I believed Vice President Gore when he said that he had made dunning calls to political contributors on a few occasions from his White House office, and I believed him when he said that, actually, a few meant 46. I believe in no controlling legal authority.
I believe Bruce Babbitt when he says that the $ 286,000 contributed to the DNC by Indian tribes opposed to granting a casino license to rival tribes had nothing to do with his denial of the license. I believed the secretary when he said that he had not been instructed in this matter by then-White House deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes. I believed him when he said later that he had told lobbyist and friend Paul Eckstein that Ickes had told him to move on the casino decision, but that he had been lying to Eckstein. I agree with the secretary that it is an outrage that anyone would question his integrity.
I believe in the Clinton Standard of adherence to the nations campaign finance and bribery laws, enunciated by the president on March 7, 1997: I dont believe you can find any evidence of the fact that I had changed government policy solely because of a contribution. I note with approval the use of the word evidence and also the use of the word solely. I believe that it is proper to change government policy to address the concerns of people who have given the president money, as long as nobody can find evidence of this being the sole reason.
I believe the president has lived up to his promise to preside over the most ethical administration in American history. I believe that indicted former agriculture secretary Mike Espy did not accept $ 35,000 in illegal favors from Tyson Foods and other regulated businesses. I believe that indicted former housing secretary Henry Cisneros did not lie to the FBI and tell others to lie to cover up $ 250,000 in blackmail payments to his former mistress. I believe that convicted former associate attorney general Webster Hubbell was not involved in the obstruction of justice when the presidents minions arranged for Hubbell to receive $ 400,000 in sweetheart consulting deals at a time when he was reneging on his promise to cooperate with Kenneth Starrs Whitewater investigation.
I believe Paula Jones is a cheap tramp who was asking for it. I believe Kathleen Willey is a cheap tramp who was asking for it. I believe Monica Lewinsky is a cheap tramp who was asking for it.
I believe Lewinsky was fantasizing in her 20 hours of taped conversation in which she reportedly detailed her sexual relationship with the president and begged Linda Tripp to join her in lying about the relationship. I believe that any gifts, correspondence, telephone calls and the 37 post-employment White House visits that may have passed between Lewinsky and the president are evidence only of a platonic relationship; such innocent intimate friendships are quite common between middle-aged married men and young single women, and also between presidents of the United States and White House interns.
I see nothing suspicious in the report that the presidents intimate, Vernon Jordan, arranged a $ 40,000-per-year job for Lewinsky shortly after she signed but before she filed an affidavit saying she had not had sex with the president. Nor do I read anything into the fact that the ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, visited Lewinsky at the Watergate to offer her a job. I believe the instructions Lewinsky gave Tripp informing her on how to properly perjure herself in the Willey matter simply wrote themselves.
I believe that The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, PBS and NPR are all part of a vast right-wing conspiracy. Especially NPR.
Gowdy is wrong. Mueller should stop.
right
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