Posted on 08/06/2020 4:38:40 AM PDT by gattaca
" I don't remember" is what a top Justice Department official testified on Wednesday to the question of whether former Vice President Joe Biden brought up the Logan Act during a heavily scrutinized January 2017 Oval Office meeting featuring former President Barack Obama and others related to the investigation into retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
Sally Yates, the deputy attorney general under Obama who briefly served as acting attorney general during the first 10 days of President Trumps tenure, testified before the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, claiming that neither Obama nor Biden tried to influence any investigation during the small meeting on Jan. 5, 2017, which included herself, Obama, Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, and former national security adviser Susan Rice. But, when pressed, Yates claimed she could not recall whether Biden brought up the controversial Logan Act as notes from now-fired FBI special agent Peter Strzok indicate he did.
Chairman Lindsey Graham asked Yates whether Biden mentioned the Logan Act during the meeting. She replied: You know, I dont remember the vice president saying much of anything in this meeting. The South Carolina Republican followed up, asking, So you dont remember him mentioning the Logan Act? Yates said, No, I dont.
When Graham asked if anyone mentioned the Logan Act during the meeting, Yates said, I have a vague memory of Director Comey mentioning the Logan Act, but noted she couldnt recall if it was then or just after her one-on-one discussion with Comey. The senator asked whether she believed Flynns discussions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak amounted to a Logan Act violation, and Yates replied that it certainly couldve been a technical violation, but that was not the focus of the FBI or us we were really focused on a counterintelligence investigation.
But handwritten notes by Strzok released by the Justice Department in June seem to quote Biden directly raising the Logan Act related to Flynn, according to an apparent conversation Strzok had with Comey after the meeting. Strzok wrote that Comey said the Flynn-Kislyak calls "appear legit." Obama emphasized that the right people should look into Flynn.
In recent interviews, Biden contradicted himself on what he knew about the Flynn investigation and when he knew it.
Graham said that Strzok is telling us that Comey told him that not only the vice president was in the Jan. 5 set aside meeting, it was the vice president who brought up the Logan Act. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told Yates that to go all the way to the Oval Office as you did on Jan. 5 with President Obama and Joe Biden going after their political opponents its wrong.
Obama also said something to the effect of "these are unusual times," according to Strzok's notes, and Biden said, "Ive been on the Intel Committee for 10 years, and I never" before the notes trail off.
While I dont recall all the details of the conversation in the Oval Office, my memory is clear on the important points During the meeting, the president, the vice president, and the national security adviser did not attempt to any way to direct or influence any investigation, Yates testified. Something like that wouldve set off alarms for me, and it wouldve stuck out both at the time and in my memory.
In a memo written on Trump's Inauguration Day, Rice noted Comey had "some concerns" about those calls and claimed Obama insisted everything be done by the book.
Both Strzok and Rice note that Obama asked if there is any sensitive information he should not mention to the Trump transition team. Rice wrote that Comey replied, "Potentially. He added that he has no indication that Flynn has passed classified information to Kislyak, but he noted that the level of communication is unusual."
Documents declassified in April indicate Strzok abruptly stopped the FBI from closing its investigation into Flynn in early January 2017 at the insistence of the FBIs 7th floor leadership after the bureau had uncovered no derogatory information on Flynn. Emails from later that month showed Strzok, along with FBI lawyer Lisa Page and several others, sought out ways to continue investigating Flynn, including by potentially deploying the Logan Act.
Flynn, who served as Trump's first national security adviser for a few weeks, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to FBI investigators about his December 2016 conversations with Kislyak and reaffirmed it a year later. But Flynn now claims he is innocent and was set up by the FBI, and the Justice Department is seeking to drop the case.
The Logan Act, which forbids private citizens from engaging in unauthorized correspondence with foreign governments in relation to "disputes or controversies with the United States," was passed in 1799 and has only been used to indict someone twice, in 1802 and 1852, with no convictions.
Flynn's team claims the Logan Act "became an admitted pretext to investigate General Flynn." Flynn, whom Trump picked to be his national security adviser on Nov. 18, 2016, became the subject of intense media scrutiny and a cornerstone in arguments that the Trump campaign had ties to Russia.
A Washington Post column by David Ignatius on Jan. 12, 2017, contained classified details that kicked off a media frenzy. Citing a senior U.S. government official, he wrote that Flynn and Russias ambassador spoke on the phone on Dec. 29, 2016, the day that Obama announced sanctions on Russia, with the article suggesting Flynn violated the Logan Act.
A declassified list of officials who received information in response to unmasking requests shows that 16 individuals made 49 unmasking requests related to Flynn between Election Day 2016 and Jan. 31, 2017. The National Security Agency document shows 39 Obama officials received the unmasking intelligence. One of the officials was Biden.
U.S. Attorney John Bash is conducting an investigation into the unmasking requests by Obama administration officials while U.S. Attorney John Durham conducts a broader investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators.
I’ll take that “I don’t remember” as a yes.
There goes that selective memory again. I think Hillary wore that out.
Did she add there was no transcript of the meeting, no video, and her favorite phrase is I dont remember.?
I guess it’s a legal nuance that I don’t grasp. On the one hand, we have the Fifth Amendment that says you can’t be forced to testify against yourself. It’s an Amendment to the Constitution, so it must really mean something, right. It’s kind of a big deal. On the other hand, if called upon to testify about pretty much anything at all, you can just say “I don’t remember”. You don’t need a Fifth Amendment for that. Just “I don’t remember” and you can skip out of any kind of testimony at all. So, really, why bother to have the Fifth Amendment? Turns out you can’t be compelled to testify about anything.
These hearings have always been a joke. The witnesses son’t tell the truth and they are never held accountable.
It is just show business for ugly people.
Where’s Spock when you need him? A little bit of the Vulcan Mind Meld would do nicely here.
She’s doing a partial Hillary, but nobody does the “I do not recall”, “I have no complete recollection” as well as the master.
There is going to be a veritable parade of “I don’t remember”s through the course of these hearings.
That's why the GOP coup enablers waited a few years. "I don't recall," is far less credible if the event took place two months ago. Give a 3-4 year cushion and, "I don't recall," is easier to sell.
It is amazing how these highly respected and professional government employees all suffer from memory problems. It really is a pandemic. Me thinks all government employees should be laid off until there is a vaccination. Additionally, they should wear helmets (like the kids on the short bus). It’s for their protection, heavy forbid they suffer another brain related injury. We need to do everything we can for their safety.
Did they ask her “Who’s Buried in Grant’s Tomb?”
Obama’s regime is beginning to sound more and more like rejects from the oldtime quiz show....”It Pays To Be Ignorant.”
Ah, the ol’ hillary defense...”I don’t recall”. Arrest and waterboard these criminal seditious losers. Then, they will “remember”.
That whole freakin’ party has a case of dementia.
Holding hearings on a timely basis, instead of 4 years after the fact, would obviate the “not remembering” game. Having skill in examining witnesses would come in handy too.
Explains the goofy OMG! face on the goon-faced Halfrican when he met the impressive president-elect.
The dirt Hillary was supposed to sweep under the rug is now in the hands of the man the Halfrican tried to destroy.
"After all we did for her, that lousy Hillary lost. "Howm I gonna get out of the mess Im in?"
"I know, well invent Russian collusion..lie like crazy...setup Trump to take the blame.
Keep in mind, all of this is a con.......sadistic Democrats gleefully sowing confusion among the electorate in a 1000 ways.
They’re so perfect at sowing confusion into the political milieu with a lie, a smile and an apology.............its all so terribly, terribly Democratic.
It has only just begun.
Obama’s pathetic effort to cover-up the spying —— saying it was to “protect” Trump.
IF-big IF-protecting Trump was the reason for spying.....why was Trump not advised of this?
Taken another way, it was criminal not to tell Trump he was in danger and needed protection.
....claiming that neither Obama nor Biden tried to influence any investigation during the small meeting on Jan. 5, 2017, ....
Then, why have a meeting?????
No, You Are Not Insane. None Of This Makes Any Sense
Kira Davis
Next let us turn to a letter sent by former Amb. Rices attorney to Senator Chuck Grassley on February 23, 2018, responding to questions he had directed in writing to former Amb. Rice, including some questions about her January 20 Memorandum and the January 5 meeting. The letter to Sen. Grassley included the following:
The memorandum to file drafted by Ambassador Rice memorialized an important national security discussion between President Obama and the FBI Director and the Deputy Attorney General.
Right there Amb. Rices attorney preserves with her language the possibility that only 3 people were in the room when the topics referenced in Amb. Rices Memorandum were discussed. She excludes from her description any other participants in this discussion, which is consistent with Yates interview with the SCO.
President Obama and his national security team were justifiably concerned about potential risks to the Nations security from sharing highly classified information about Russia with certain members of the Trump transition team, particularly Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
This language allows for the later parsing to clarify that the concerns were the product of discussions between the national security team prior to the meeting, not that other members of the national security team were present at the meeting, although that is the most natural reading of the language used. The way the sentence is phrased, one could easily draw the conclusion that the discussion regarding concerns over Gen. Flynn on Russia issues were expressed/discussed in the meeting by other members of the national security team including former Amb. Rice when, in fact, the actual discussion of Gen. Flynn only took place in the follow-on meeting. The letter never addresses who was present in the follow-on meeting including whether former Amb. Rice was present as stated in her Jan. 20, 2017 memo.
The letter goes on:
In light of concerning communications between members of the Trump team and Russian officials, before and after the election, President Obama, on behalf of his national security team, appropriately sought the FBI and the Department of Justices guidance on this subject.
Once again, the very precise language employed preserved the ability to clarify that only Pres. Obama was present when Gen. Flynn was discussed, and Dir. Comey and Deputy Attorney General Yates were the only officials to whom he addressed his concerns. So we are back to there being only three people in the meeting just as Sally Yates recalled when answering questions from the SCO investigators.
In the conversation Ambassador Rice documented, there was no discussion of Christopher Steele .
That strikes me as an odd way to describe a meeting that Amb. Rice was present for, and a conversation that she heard or participated in. It is a third party phrasing that you would use in order to preserve the potential to explain Well, I wasnt there, but I was documenting the conversation based on the description I was given by people who were in attendance.
upon the advice of the White House Counsels Office, Ambassador Rice created a permanent record of the discussion. Ambassador Rice memorialized the discussion on January 20, because that was the first opportunity she had to do so, .
Again, focus on how much care was taken with the language to not overtly suggest or imply that former Amb. Rice was actually present when the conversation she had supposedly memorialized took place.
Ambassador Rice memorialized the discussion in an email sent to herself during the morning of January 20, 2017. The time stamp reflected on the email is not accurate, as Ambassador Rice departed the White House shortly before noon on January 20.
Here is where she might have inadvertently mouse-trapped herself. This memorandum was an official government record if she sent it prior to the end of her term as National Security Advisor. If, in fact, she was not present for the follow-on meeting when Gen. Flynn was the subject of the conversation between Pres. Obama, Comey, and Yates, then her statement in the memorandum Vice President Biden and I were also present during the follow-on meeting she described, is a false statement, and a potential violation of 18 USC Sec. 1001.
The statement is material because she is falsely making herself out as a witness to what was said in a meeting that is relevant to any investigation of how the Flynn matter was started, and the natural tendency of her language is to influence investigators to want to interview her.
This leads to the question Why would she place herself in the room if she wasnt really there? And if she wasnt there, who was her source for the details of the discussion about Gen. Flynn between Comey and Pres. Obama as reflected in the paragraph just now declassified?
If only three people were in the meeting, one of those three had to be the source of the details that she memorialized. There seems to be no chance that it was Yates or Comey, so that leaves only Pres. Obama. So what her Memorandum really reflects is Pres. Obamas version of what was discussed between himself, Comey and Yates.
Andy McCarthy has posited convincingly in my view that the true purpose of the Memorandum written by Rice was to allow Pres. Obama to point the finger of blame at Comey for whatever might happen in the aftermath of the transition into power of the Trump Administration. According to Rices Memorandum, Pres. Obama told Comey to do everything by the book, and if Comey did not do so then Comey and only Comey was to blame.
Did Rice put herself present in the room just so she could avoid setting forth in the Memorandum that the details she memorialized had come from Pres. Obama? Was she playing the loyal soldier by creating the impression that Obamas version of the conversation had at least one supporting witness herself rather than have it as a He said, He said between Pres. Obama and Jim Comey at some future point in time?
Whichever answer is true, neither is a defense to the crime of violating Section 1001.
This is at odds with what Sally Yates told the Special Counsels Office (SCO) during an interview on August 15, 2017. The Memorandum of this interview is attached to the DOJ motion to dismiss the prosecution of Gen. Flynn, marked as Exh. 4. In that interview Yates told the SCO the following:
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
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