Wednesday, March 08, 2017

FBI Director James Comey, and others, will testify before the House Intelligence Committee.

Courtesy of Bloomberg News:  

FBI Director James Comey has been asked to testify along with several former Obama administration officials before the House Intelligence Committee for its first public hearing on its investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Committee chairman Devin Nunes said Tuesday that he has also invited National Security Agency chief Mike Rogers, former director of national intelligence James Clapper, former CIA director John Brennan, former acting attorney general Sally Yates and two executives from CrowdStrike Inc., a cybersecurity company, to the March 20 hearing. The California Republican added that none of invitees have been issued subpoenas, and that additional witnesses may be added. 

The hearing will likely be the first in-depth public inquiry into allegations of connections between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government, as well as Russia’s efforts to influence the U.S. election.

I really do want to be excited by this prospect and to hope that it will lead to some actionable evidence.

However that becomes a little difficult knowing that this asshole is the chairman:  

Nunes told reporters Tuesday that he doesn’t believe the Russians conspired to help elect Trump, but that his committee will do "a full assessment" of that assertion.

Gee, I am just filled with confidence. 

31 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:49 AM

    Why should we believe anything that is going to be said when so many lies have come out projected by these exact folks?

    Seems to me Republicans will go down in large numbers during the next election cycle. Especially those serving in the U.S. Congress. Liars and frauds every one of them - especially The Donald!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:05 PM

    Third times the charm?
    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/08/poll-shows-majority-jeff-sessions-resign-busted-russia-contact.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12:41 PM

    Son of a bitch!

    I didn't see anything about questioning the key players about a YES or NO question.

    DID PRESIDENT OBAMA REQUEST A WIRETAP ON TRUMP AT TRUMP TOWER?

    It is a YES or NO question!

    It would only take 5 minutes and then that subject could be dropped.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12:50 PM

    Reuters:
    Wed Mar 8, 2017 | 4:09 PM EST

    U.S. senators ask government for evidence Obama wiretapped Trump

    (Reuters) - Two senior senators asked the FBI and Justice Department on Wednesday for any information they have on President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claim that his predecessor Barack Obama wiretapped him during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

    In a letter to James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse wrote:

    "We request that the Department of Justice provide us copies of any warrant applications and court orders ... related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump campaign, or Trump Tower.”

    Read more at:
    http://reuters.com/article/idUSKBN16F2AQ

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1:06 PM

    Trump Tower
    Trump Water
    Trump Vodka
    Trump Ties
    Trump Steaks
    Trump Airplane
    Trump Golf Course
    Trump International Hotel

    WHAT'S WRONG WITH TRUMPCARE?

    How come Trump doesn't want his name on the REPEAL and REPLACE Plan?


    Politico:
    White House: Don’t call it Trumpcare

    Critics are hijacking the branding process for the GOP health plan as the White House resists slapping the president’s name on it.

    By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM and JENNIFER HABERKORN

     

    03/08/17 01:46 PM EST

    He built his career in large part by plastering his name on skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, books, wines and steaks, but there appears to be one place President Donald Trump does not want his favorite five-letter word — the Republican health care bill.

    .... But the White House, for all its messaging woes and infighting, has settled on the fact that — for the time being — it’s steering clear of Trumpcare....

    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-branding-obamacare-repeal-235831

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, to be honest, it really should be called "Trump Doesn't Care".

      But "Make America Sick Again" works for me.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous1:09 PM

    The outcome is a given. Since when has any Republican been interested in the truth?

    Here's a truth: your congressional seat will vacate next year. What are you doing about it?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1:13 PM

    WOW>HUNTSMAN>
    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/jon-huntsman-ambassador-to-russia-235841

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't Huntsman the one that speaks CHINESE?

      Just continuing Trump's inability to appoint anyone appropriate to the job.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:27 PM

      Gosh I thought sarah was a shoe in for that position. all those years watching russia from her porch for nothing.

      He speaks Chinese because he was ambassador to China.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8:05 PM

      Why aren't the readers inquiring the
      the NSA findings of very high level of
      official's Like John Brennan, Clapper,
      Obama, Loretta Lynch and others caught trying to cut the legs out of
      trump with wire taps or and surveillance throughout the Campaign

      Delete
  8. Anonymous1:15 PM

    What's the deal with Huntsman as ambassador to Russia? How the mighty have fallen.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous1:20 PM

    Did A Weird Russian Spy Lady Send These Gun-Humping Trump Creeps To Moscow? WHOA IF TRUE!

    https://wonkette.com/614053/did-a-weird-russian-spy-lady-send-these-gun-humping-trump-creeps-to-moscow-whoa-if-true#jiDwssZPqWM7WFE1.99

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous1:24 PM

    They are bringing in former Obama administration officials, so has the witch-hunt begun for Obama or are they actual going to look for trump ties to russia?

    And when they do find the ties to russia, are they going to tell the American public that their president is a traitor or hide the info stating national security reasons?

    Do any of these morons do their own tax returns? The republicans keep saying there wouldn’t be any info in traitor donnie’s tax returns. Well let me look at them, I am sure there is plenty of info and how can they be so sure there isn’t any info if they don’t look. More dancing around the issue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:08 PM

      If you owned a 10 billion business would you be able to do your own taxes I think not, very, very complecated

      Delete
  11. Anonymous1:26 PM

    While President Trump has not moved to fill many jobs that require Senate confirmation, he has quietly installed hundreds of officials to serve as his eyes and ears at every major federal agency, from the Pentagon to the Department of Interior.

    Unlike appointees exposed to the scrutiny of the Senate, members of these so-called “beachhead teams” have operated largely in the shadows, with the White House declining to publicly reveal their identities.

    While some names have previously dribbled out in the press, we are publishing a list of more than 400 hires, providing the most complete accounting so far of who Trump has brought into the federal government.

    The White House said in January that around 520 staffers were being hired for the beachhead teams.

    The list we obtained includes obscure campaign staffers, contributors to Breitbart and others who have embraced conspiracy theories, as well as dozens of Washington insiders who could be reasonably characterized as part of the “swamp” Trump pledged to drain.

    The list is striking for how many former lobbyists it contains: We found at least 36, spanning industries from health insurance and pharmaceuticals to construction, energy and finance. Many of them lobbied in the same areas that are regulated by the agencies they have now joined.

    That figure is almost certainly an undercount since we only included those who formally registered as lobbyists, a process increasingly avoided by many in Washington.

    During the campaign, Trump said he would have “no problem” banning lobbyists from his administration. But they have nonetheless ended up in senior roles, aided by Trump’s weakening of Obama-era ethics rules that modestly limited lobbyists’ role in government.

    The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment.

    There are many former congressional staffers, several top officials from the George W. Bush administration, and even a handful of holdovers from the Obama administration. The list also includes at least eight staffers drawn from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that forged close ties to the new administration during the transition.

    Much about the role of the beachhead teams at various federal agencies is unclear. But close observers of the early weeks of the Trump administration believe they have taken on considerable influence in the absence of high-level political appointees.

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/meet-the-hundreds-of-officials-trump-has-quietly-installed-across-the-government/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Their jobs are two-fold.

      To identify any protections, I mean, REGULATIONS that need to be abolished (and to seek out and destroy anything that ties Trump to Russia.)

      Delete
  12. Randall1:27 PM

    I'm pretty sure that's pronounced: "commie"
    you know...
    James Commie

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous1:35 PM

    Donald Trump told friends he wanted to hire a private eye to investigate Obama wiretap claim

    Trump also admitted he didn’t know how wiretap warrants work

    ...But the even stranger revelation is that Trump floated the idea of hiring a private eye to try to dig up evidence that Trump Tower had been wiretapped by Obama. As president, Trump has the authority to order a federal agency to investigate the matter, and yet he instead seemed to want to hire someone out of the phone book to look into it instead. Even more stunningly, these new revelations are coming from Trump’s own associates, as relayed by the New York Times. It paints a picture of Trump as a man without a clue and with a tenuous grasp on reality at best.

    https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/private-eye-donald-trump-obama-wiretap/1835/

    Jeff Sessions now admits he met twice with Russian Ambassador. But there were at least three meetings.

    Sessions can’t count to three, or he’s still lying

    ...After Attorney General Jeff Sessions was caught having twice met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak while he was a Donald Trump campaign adviser, and having lied about it under oath, he’s now admitting that those two meetings happened. But here’s the thing: it turns out there were at least three documented meetings between Sessions and Kislyak, suggesting he merely copped to what he’d been accused of, and he still hasn’t disclosed the real story.

    https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/jeff-sessions-now-admits-met-twice-russian-ambassador-least-three-times/1834/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous1:38 PM

    Spin and backpedaling.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/us/politics/trump-wiretap-claim-obama.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous1:41 PM

    House Intel Committee asks why Donald Trump surrogate Sheriff David Clarke met with Russia

    Yet another Trump campaign figure involved with Russian government

    ...Officially, Sheriff Clarke went to Moscow on behalf of a group called The Right to Bear Arms. He ended up meeting with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. But that doesn’t add up , because Rogozin was on a U.S. sanctions list and couldn’t have legally done business with the gun group. This means that yet another Donald Trump campaign figure met with a Russian government representative for reasons can’t easily be explained away.

    House Intelligence Committee member Mike Quigley is now referring to David Clarke’s meeting with Rogozin as “disconcerting.” The committee begins its Trump-Russia hearings on March 20th with an initial witness roster which includes FBI Director James Comey and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates.

    Other Trump campaign figures including Michael Flynn, Jeff Sessions, J.D. Gordon, Carter Page, and Jared Kushner also met with Russian officials during the campaign season — with many of them lying to cover their tracks – while several other Trump campaign figures have also been tied to the Russian government.

    The House Intel Committee may also want to take a look at why David Clarke, Michael Flynn, and Jill Stein were all in Moscow simultaneously.

    https://www.palmerreport.com/politics/house-intel-committee-asks-why-donald-trump-surrogate-sheriff-david-clarke-met-with-russia/1832/

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous1:41 PM

    Spicer: "I wish he'd have an affair. That'd be better than defending the stupid s*** he says in Twitter."

    https://twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous1:42 PM

    It's not just rhetoric. POTUS actually wants to find out what Obama "has on them" regarding Congressional opponents to new HC bill.

    https://twitter.com/RoguePOTUSStaff

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous1:47 PM

    Welcome to the 14th episode of The Josh Marshall Show! In this episode, Josh talks to David Barry, a journalist and co-author of The Scorpion and the Frog: High Times and High Crimes. Josh and David talk about the various criminal and sometimes unbelievable acts of Wall Street crooks Salvatore Lauria, Felix Sater and Gennady “Gene” Klotsman, and most importantly, the surprising connection Felix Sator has to now-President Donald J. Trump and the Russia scandal.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/podcast/josh-marshall-show-episode-14

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous1:49 PM

    Putting The Picture Together

    I've written a number of pieces over the last five days about elements of the Trump/Russia story - specifically, looking into the backgrounds of people who've been close to Trump over the last ten to fifteen years and just how they may fit into the picture. I want to pull them together in one place here. Because they fit together into a whole.

    First, here's a look at Felix Sater, a business associate of Trump's over at least half a dozen years.

    Second, Trump's lawyer for a decade, Michael Cohen. You've probably seen him a lot on TV as a top Trump surrogate ("Says Who?!?"). But he's also a key business figure in the Trump orbit and seems to be a key connection to Trump's growing reliance on capital from the states of the former Soviet Union starting about a decade ago.

    Next, what did the CIA and the FBI know about Trump's ties to people in the Russian/FSU criminal underworld, reliance on Russia from money and other Soviet successor states? Largely because of Sater's role as an FBI informant, likely also working with the CIA, during the time he was a major Trump business partner, it seems they likely knew a lot.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/putting-the-picture-together

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous1:52 PM

    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/john-mccain-wikileaks-cia-intelligence-235836

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:17 PM

      "So who will stop him? Who will stand up to Trump when he takes all this too far? (And he will.) It certainly won’t be the ignorant voters who think he’s righteously disrupting the system. It doesn’t appear it’ll be Republican leadership either, since Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are the only Republicans showing the balls to watchdog Trump from the GOP side of the aisle."

      http://www.salon.com/2017/03/07/hey-trump-voters-this-nightmare-is-what-you-get-when-you-experiment-with-the-presidency/

      Delete
    2. Anonymous3:14 PM

      No one will stop them, Bannon, Trump, et al.

      We unfortunately are committed to this for at least 4 years so we all may as well find something else to focus on because this is the new status quo.

      And, unless the base grows a pair or dies from lack of healthcare we'll have an additional 4 years of this, a total of 8 and after that things might just be so broken that it's going to be the TrumpBannonStyle GOP regimes for the foreseeable future, or until all the clean air, water and welfare runs out.

      No one ever thought this could happen, but hey it did; no one stood up to local gerrymandering in the red states, no one bothered to vote in the midterms, everyone on the left focused on the POTUS elections and this is what we got.

      Should I offer congratulations or condolences ;-)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous7:36 PM

      We unfortunately are committed to this for at least 4 years so we all may as well find something else to focus on because this is the new status quo. We unfortunately are committed to this for at least 4 years so we all may as well find something else to focus on because this is the new status quo.
      What a bunch of malarkey! Maybe you are committed to this crap for another 4 years but I am certain there are many who are not. You are doing exactly what traitor trump wants to focus on something else. Well go ahead and give up after 45 days.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous2:42 PM

    I knew this was going to be very very bad when tRump and putin stole this election.But I had no idea it would be this bad this quickly.

    ReplyDelete

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