Posted on 12/11/2019 7:11:55 AM PST by karpov
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, as he explains, is bound to assume good faith unless given documentary or testimonial evidence otherwise. Yet he has compiled a factually damning report that even a thick-headed and biased press will have to take account of.
A shorthand version of his report: Here are 50 facts that can be explained only by FBI incompetence or political bias. We find no documentary or testimonial evidence of bias.
The mystique of Christopher Steele has gone poof, along with the reputations of many pundits. The FBI saw that he was being paid to sell claims to the press even as his third-hand sources were contradicting his claims to the FBI. He was the kind of reporter (weve known a few) prone to follow the shiny object. The CIA considered his reporting internet rumor.
On the surveillance warrant on the peripheral and unimportant Carter Page, we learn that a host of mistakes, omissions and outright fabrications made it appear that the information supporting probable cause was stronger than was actually the case. Exculpatory evidence was ignored. Mr. Page conveyed persuasively that he had never spoken to or communicated with Paul Manafort whose intermediary with Russian co-conspirators Mr. Page was supposed to be. Mr. Steeles implausible claim of a giant dangled Rosneft bribe was denied even by Mr. Steeles own source as the inspector general was able to confirm by looking at the sources text messages. Still unexplained, and inexplicable, is why the FBI was in a panic to eavesdrop on Mr. Page at all. Nobody could have believed Mr. Steeles story about him. More than ever it seems FBI headquarters, from which the demand originated, was under some unidentified outside pressure to spy on the Trump campaign.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
To me, the very least description of that this shows is comparable to a ship run aground on clearly charted reefs and having its hull shredded while the Captain and his officers are asleep in their cabins and the ship’s cook is on the bridge manning the helm.
Thinking about this Comey is gone, so its fair game to expose the agency, and give air cover for Wray to fix the alleged problems..
The no political bias is overcome by the fact they didn’t go deep to check out the DNC funded the Steele dossier, so its political even though they used the we give you a Monopoly pass but allowing you to deny bias and never press the issue... Even though its clearly documented in the Strock / Page texts that any of us what say “ there it is” they disregard that.
In the end, if we dont get justice, the country will not know peace again. Its really that simple.
Maybe he has never heard of Seth Rich.
This is a CYB masterpiece. Man, I hate political correctness
They bend over backward to assume no political bias on the part of the FBI, just like Comey bent over backwards to clear Hillary in 2016.
Meanwhile the Democrats' impeachment attempt will be based on assuming the worst possible motives for Trump.
In connection with the July 25 phone call, Schiff and company want us to believe that:
1. Trump was obsessing about the November 2020 election during the conversation with Zelensky.
2. Trump expected Biden to be the Democrat nominee.
3. Trump thought Biden would win unless he, Trump, resorted to dirty tricks.
4. Biden was innocent so Ukraine was being asked to invent damaging lies about him.
5. If these lies were broadcast before the election, people would believe them and they would have an impact on the election.
Or he knew ALL ABOUT Seth Rich, while he was still alive.
Agree. Even Fox starting to admit the Dems focused on perceived intent in their impeachment today trump guilty and in essence politically motivated by using his words , but the IG sees none of that
I was amazed to see Bret Baier on Fox say that the IG report vindicates Devin Nunes (roundly trashed by the media earlier).
“...a factually damning report that even a thick-headed and biased press will have to take account of.”
Demonstrably untrue. Didn’t the press parade every one of the bottom-feeding conspirators out to take a victory lap Monday evening?
The opposite of cynicism is not reverse cynicism but omnidirectional skepticism.
We dont assume that no Republican is culpable of anything, but we also dont assume that no Democrat is culpable of anything. We are open to facts and logic.
Thread: https://twitter.com/jabeale/status/1204659952251555841
Jason Beale @jabeale
Havent heard much commentary on it - go figure - but I think the most remarkable example of FBI malfeasance in this whole debacle is this: Prior to submitting the FISA application, they asked other agencies in the IC to run @carterwpages name through their systems to see if anything popped. The CIA responded via email disclosing that Page was an operational contact who reported on Russian business, government and intelligence officials with whom he interacted from 2008-2013. The FBI official who received this report removed that information from the email, wrote not a source in it, then forwarded it to the office preparing the FISA application. Bad enough, but it actually gets worse. The FISA application included a section related to Pages contacts with these Russian officials, which they presented as evidence in support of probable cause that he was a traitorous agent of a foreign power, but did not inform the FISA court that he was reporting information gleaned from these contacts to the CIA. Its analogous to the FBI seeking FISA approval to surveil their own confidential source, Stefan Halper, using the fact that he was meeting with the suspected Russian spies he was tasked by the FBI to meet with, but not revealing his association with the FBI to the court. Of all the things I thought the FBI had done to fabricate probable cause to violate Pages civil liberties in order to gain access to Trump campaign communications, I never - ever - imagined they would stoop so low as to use an American citizens operational relationship with the CIA as an opportunity to falsely characterize his association with sketchy Russian officials as evidence of treasonous behavior. It was, quite literally, the opposite of treason. Regardless of how this all ultimately plays out, this will remain, for me, the most treacherous and unforgivable transgression of Pages rights and liberties.
Is Paul Manafort still in solitary confinement awaiting the double jeopardy the NY prosecutor is extracting from him?
He did not say it, but others have, the IG report roundly trashed Schiff's "memo". He lied about the FISA application, Nunes told the truth.
“Still unexplained, and inexplicable, is why the FBI was in a panic to eavesdrop on Mr. Page at all. Nobody could have believed Mr. Steeles story about him.”
Someone needs to explain to the reporter how FISA eavesdropping works with the “hops”. Previously they were allowed to monitor anyone they could connect within 3 “hops” of the subject named in the warrant. I believe that changed in 2015 to only 2 “hops”. Still, 2 hops was probably sufficient for a warrant on Page to allow them to spy on every important member of the Trump campaign at the national level.
Exactly. They got a warrant on their own asset while pretending he was a foreign spy.
And based on that warrant, they surveilled the president and his circle. If anyone asked, did you get a warrant to surveil the president, did you surveil the president, they could say no, and there would be no paper trail to say otherwise. No, we’re just surveilling this one sketchy guy, Carter Page.
This very important question has not even been asked by the mainstream media, even though it is the most relevant question of the story.
FIRST, Wray has to admit there are problems and from his statement yesterday, he is in deep denial.
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