Posted on 02/18/2017 5:07:32 PM PST by Para-Ord.45
...It was also secretive even by traditional standards: Although Comey was photographed leaving the meeting, committee members wouldn’t admit that he’d been there. And it seemed as though the briefing was urgent, with senators delaying their departure during a weekend recess to hear what Comey had to say.
The Senate Intel Committee considers all manner of intelligence matters so in theory the briefing could have been about anything. Most recently, though, the Committee’s been in the news because it’s leading the congressional investigation into Russian interference in last year’s presidential campaign. Three days ago, after Mike Flynn resigned, Mitch McConnell said he thought it was “highly likely” that the Committee would include Flynn’s interactions with the Russian ambassador as part of its broader inquiry. And now suddenly Comey’s on the Hill, amid unusual secrecy, addressing them in what seems to have been an especially important briefing.
Still, we need more than that to suspect that the briefing was about Flynn, Russia, and/or Trump campaign advisors’ “constant communications” with Russian officials during the campaign. Which … is where Marco Rubio comes in:
"I am now very confident Senate Intel Comm I serve on will conduct thorough bipartisan investigation of #Putin interference and influence"
The word “now” strongly suggests that something that just came to light has convinced him and the rest of the Committee to treat the Russia matter even more gravely than they had before. The word “bipartisan” is significant too, as Democrats were of course already gung ho to investigate. Rubio seems to be suggesting that whatever Comey told them was so serious that Republicans would be eager to get to the bottom of it too.
Has part or all of Comey’s information leaked to the media, with stories already in the works about the mysterious allegations? It didn’t occur to me at the time that there was anything more to Trump’s tweet yesterday about the media as “enemies of the people” than the president being in one of his peevish moods, but David Frum had some interesting speculation about the possible cause of that peevishness:
"Decoded: one or more of NYT, CNN or NBCNews has a very very damaging story in the pipeline …"
That’s just a theory, but if something big is about to drop, the papers may well have already contacted the White House for comment about it, alerting Trump that it’s coming and ticking him off. Could be that Frum’s wrong, of course, or it could be that he’s right but the big scoop has nothing to do with what Comey told the Intelligence Committee. We’ll probably know this week.
Update: Lo and behold, here’s Reuters with a new story this afternoon claiming that Comey’s FBI is running no fewer than three separate investigations into Russian hacking during the campaign. “This counterintelligence inquiry includes but is not limited to examination of financial transactions by Russian individuals and companies who are believed to have links to Trump associates. The transactions under scrutiny involve investments by Russians in overseas entities that appear to have been undertaken through middlemen and front companies, two people briefed on the probe said.”
Marco Rubio (or his staff) wrote the tweet in question at 11:59 AM on February 17th. What time was the Comey Sen Intelligence Meeting?
A photo of Comey leaving the meeting was tweeted out at 9:42 am. That means Rubio’s tweet was afterwards providing all timelines for the tweets were set at EST
Well, Schumer wasn’t there, he was voting against Pruitt.. so what time was the EPA vote?
Obviously.
You haven’t been watching Who’s Who
In this fight for Or Nations
Very Survival.
Trump is The Man!
Maybe they discussed things that the media does not need to know.
Wouldn't that be something?
Which means the meeting began at 7:42am. Senate doesn’t vote that early. So why wasn’t Schumer there?
Which means the meeting began at 7:42am. Senate doesn’t vote that early. So why wasn’t Schumer there?
Another possibility that comes to my mind are RICO type actions by the Soros organizations and downstream entities both pre election and continuing through the now post election.
I wouldn’t bet on it, I don’t trust Pence.
The EPA Vote was at 1:00. So was Chuckee at this meeting or not anyone know for sure?
There is nothing in all of this that could impeach Trump. That idea is just wishful dreaming coming from our friends on the fever swamp Left, and their echo chamber on the NeverTrump Right.
In all the articles in all the FR threads on this, Schumer wasn’t there. And he’s ex-officio of the cmte. As is McLettuce.
...and using the same mousse.
Agreed.
All of the articles that I have read about this said that the meeting was in the afternoon and that it delayed the senators leaving for their recess.
Word was Schumer was there. Tweet by Steven Dennis of Bloomberg talking about tight lipped Senators at 3:42 PM AFTER Rubio’s tweet. So maybe the meeting was in the afternoon after all and that would be be after Rubio’s noon tweet. Lots of speculation regarding takedown of Trump. Could be wishful thinking on those replying to Dennis’ tweet. No one really knows what is going on but all assume it is a very big story.
Could well be that Schumer wasn’t there but folks tweeting on Steven Dennis’ timeline suggest that he was there. They could very well be wrong.
Trump has set the Trap.
Rats have taken the Bait.
Now Trump Destroys the
Treasonist Bastards!
Who Has the Long Knives?
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