| Oh, so the press can find that kind of stuff out huh? |
A pair of White House officials played a role in providing Representative Devin Nunes of California, a Republican and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, with the intelligence reports that showed that President Trump and his associates were incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance by American spy agencies.
The revelation that White House officials assisted in the disclosure of the intelligence reports — which Mr. Nunes then discussed with President Trump — is likely to fuel criticism that the intelligence chairman has been too eager to do the bidding of the Trump administration while his committee is supposed to be conducting an independent investigation of Russia’s meddling in the last presidential election.
Mr. Nunes has also been faulted by his congressional colleagues for sharing the information with President Trump before consulting with other members of the intelligence committee.
Nunes has repeatedly refused to identify his sources, but that did not stop the NYT.
Several current American officials identified the White House officials as Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence at the National Security Council, and Michael Ellis, a lawyer who works on national security issues at the White House Counsel’s Office and formerly worked on the staff of the House Intelligence Committee.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
So to be clear the information that Devin Nunes rushed to the White House to deliver to Donald Trump was given to him by two people who were already in the White House.
I am not a security expert but I have to ask, why in the hell didn't these people simply tell Donald Trump this information themselves, and leave Nunes out of it?
Why all the cloak and dagger?
Is it because the information is bullshit and the White House did not want their name attached to it?
By the way apparently after he was fired by Trump's national security adviser Ezra Cohen-Watnick went running to The Donald who overruled that decision.
Well now isn't THAT interesting?
And as WaPo points out things just got a whole lot worse for Nunes:
This conflicts with what Nunes has apparently said about his source or sources. He has declined to name them, but he and a spokesman have reportedly said and/or strongly suggested it wasn't White House staff.
Nunes reportedly told Bloomberg's Eli Lake in an interview Monday “that his source was not a White House staffer and was an intelligence official," Lake wrote.
A Nunes spokesman, Jack Langer, also told the Los Angeles Times that it wasn’t a White House staffer, the Times reported.
And Nunes again appeared to deny meeting with any White House aides in a Monday afternoon interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer:
BLITZER: In addition going to that secure room to look over these documents, do you have other meetings at the White House? Did you meet with the president or any of his aides while you were there that night?
NUNES: No. And in fact, I'm quite sure that people in the West Wing had no idea I was there.
Well look at that, yet another Trump supporter gets caught in a lie.
So I have two questions:
Why is this guy still the House Intelligence Committee Chairman again?
And aren't we glad we have a Senate Intelligence Committee?
OT?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/first-two-democrats-back-trump-us-supreme-court-pick/
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/howard-dean-tells-dems-to-filibuster-gorsuch-or-hang-it-up-youll-never-raise-money-again/
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/russians-used-bernie-bros-as-unwitting-agents-in-disinformation-campaign-senate-intel-witness/
O/T but important: Avaaz Petition to save the Whales near Norway:
DeleteIn just a few days, Norway will start up a horrific annual tradition — the ruthless slaughter of hundreds of whales (many of them pregnant). But we’ve got a strategy to say ‘NO WAY!’
Whales are awe-inspiring, beautiful beings. We now know they communicate with each other in song, and experience human-like emotions. But in Norway, every year these amazing creatures are hunted down and killed, then hacked apart to become animal feed and ingredients in beauty products. It’s unbearable.
Norway has managed to slip under the radar as the #1 whale slaughtering country. But if we now rally unprecedented global outrage, we can push Europe to close its ports to Norway’s whalers. We did it with Iceland -- let’s do it again!
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/norway_save_the_whales_loc/?rc=fb&pv=122
Manchin. What a surprise.
DeleteThat douche better plan on retiring because the DNC is going to make sure he is challenged in the primaries and that he loses his seat.
Fucking asshole might as well just register as a Republican.
"“I hold no illusions that I will agree with every decision Judge Gorsuch may issue in the future, but I have not found any reasons why this jurist should not be a Supreme Court justice,” Manchin said in a statement."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-soulless-man-cannot-serve-justice_us_58d7db00e4b0f633072b38a3
"To Gorsuch, Alphonse Maddin is not a man, but a “trucker.” In Gorsuch’s world, an autistic child is not a human deserving an education. In his mind, a college professor relinquishes personhood when she falls ill. Gorsuch’s perverse propensity to discount humanity makes him unfit for the court. A soulless man cannot serve justice."
I don't care who runs against Manchin. I'll give money to his opponent, even if it's a Republican.
Manchin needs to be PUNISHED as this isn't his first time stabbing Democrats in the back.
https://news.vice.com/story/oculus-founder-and-trump-meme-connoisseur-palmer-luckey-has-left-facebook
DeleteWhite House thrown off balance as Nunes controversy intensifies
ReplyDeleteThe White House struggled Thursday to respond to a new report claiming that two White House officials played a role in passing classified information to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Press secretary Sean Spicer faced a barrage of questions from reporters about the story, which was published by The New York Times just before his press briefing began.
"I've read the report, and respectfully, your question assumes the reporting is correct," Spicer said at the top of the briefing.
"We are not going to start commenting on one-off anonymous sources that publications publish."
The story states that Ezra Cohen-Watnick of the National Security Council and Michael Ellis of the White House Counsel's office were the likely sources of information given to House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) about incidental surveillance of the Trump transition team.
Nunes personally briefed President Trump on that information after he received it. Earlier this week, it came to light that the congressman visited the White House grounds the day before that briefing with Trump.
The Times report appeared to contradict repeated assertions from Nunes that the White House was not the source of his information.
When journalists asked Spicer why he has not yet shared which official let Nunes onto the White House grounds to review the materials in a secure location — a question reporters have asked repeatedly this week — Spicer replied, “I never said that I would provide you answers, I said we would look into it.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/326593-white-house-hit-with-new-questions-as-nunes-controversy-intensifies
"NUNES: No. And in fact, I'm quite sure that people in the West Wing had no idea I was there."
ReplyDelete-------------------
Well, that excuse might have worked at the Florida "white house" where apparently anybody can waltz in and listen in on (and photograph!) classified meetings.
How Ex-Spy Christopher Steele Compiled His Explosive Trump-Russia Dossier
ReplyDeleteThe man behind the infamous dossier that raises the possibility that Donald Trump may be vulnerable to Kremlin blackmail is Russia expert Christopher Steele, formerly of M.I.6. Here’s the story of his investigation.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/how-the-explosive-russian-dossier-was-compiled-christopher-steele
" The allegations of financial, cyber, and sexual shenanigans would lead to a chilling destination: the Kremlin had not only, he’d boldly assert in his report, “been cultivating, supporting, and assisting” Donald Trump for years but also had compromised the tycoon “sufficiently to be able to blackmail him.”
Delete"talkative Source E “admitted there was a well-developed conspiracy of cooperation between them [the Trump campaign] and the Russian leadership.” Then this: “The Russian regime had been behind the recent leak of embarrassing e-mail messages, emanating from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to the WikiLeaks platform.” And finally: “In return the Trump team had agreed to sideline Russian intervention in Ukraine as a campaign issue and to raise US/NATO defense commitments in the Baltic and Eastern Europe to deflect attention away from Ukraine.”Steele found the rationale that is every whistle-blower’s sustaining philosophy: the greater good TRUMPS all other concerns."
Devin Nunes Is Dangerous
ReplyDeleteRepresentative Devin Nunes obviously fancies himself Jason Bourne. To sneak onto the White House grounds for that rendezvous with an unnamed source last week, he switched cars and ditched aides, vanishing into the night.
But Senator Lindsey Graham looks at him and sees a different character. Graham said on the “Today” show on Tuesday that Nunes was bumbling his way through something of an “Inspector Clouseau investigation,” a reference to the fantastically inept protagonist of the “Pink Panther” comedies.
I salute Graham’s movie vocabulary. I quibble with his metaphor. While Clouseau was a benign fool, there’s nothing benign about Nunes’s foolishness.
As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Nunes, a California Republican, is a principal sleuth in the paramount inquiry into whether members of the Trump campaign were in cahoots with Russia, and from all appearances, he either doesn’t want to know the answer or has determined it already — in President Trump’s favor.
Continue reading the main story
Democrats are rightly calling on him to recuse himself. They’ve been joined in their alarm by Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican. As Graham summoned the specter of Clouseau, McCain said on “CBS This Morning” that “something’s got to change.”
“Otherwise,” he continued, “the whole effort in the House of Representatives will lose credibility.”
But Nunes was defiant when asked by reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday whether he would continue to guide that effort, saying, “Why would I not?”
Oh, many reasons.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/opinion/devin-nunes-is-dangerous.html
Evan McMullin hints he knows still-secret details about Trump's ties to Russia
ReplyDeleteFormer independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin said Tuesday the FBI's investigation into ties between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia "is a big, big deal" and hinted he knows secrets that have yet to surface.
"There are things I know that I haven't made public, things that haven't been made public also," McMullin told a group of BYU students at a political science seminar. "You know, there's a reason why a guy like me decided to throw his hat in the ring."
McMullin, a BYU graduate who served in the CIA and later, as a chief policy director for U.S. House Republicans, said he got in the race just months before the November 2016 election because of concerns about Trump.
"I honestly believed, and still do, that Donald Trump presents a danger to the country. And I make no apologies for that," he said, reminding the audience he had questioned Trump's connection to Russia during the campaign.
"More people laughed than listened, and now, just recently, we learned the very shocking news that our president's team and potentially the president is under FBI investigation for potential collaboration with one of our greatest foreign adversaries."
He asked the students to consider the impact.
"I don't think that's ever happened before," McMullin said. "This is a big, big deal."
For Chris Karpowitz, a BYU political science professor who also had McMullin speak to his class Tuesday, McMullin's comments about Trump are "indicative of just how serious this situation is."
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865676629/Evan-McMullin-hints-he-knows-still-secret-details-about-Trumps-ties-to-Russia.html
Russians used ‘Bernie Bros’ as ‘unwitting agents’ in disinformation campaign: Senate Intel witness
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/russians-used-bernie-bros-as-unwitting-agents-in-disinformation-campaign-senate-intel-witness/
They are tripping over their tongues... hilarious, if it weren't so scary.
ReplyDeleteDay 68 of 1460 (four years). What a mess!
Was I not paying attention for the last 8 years? 'cause I don't remember any lies and coverups and diplomatic disasters and vengeance bills and investigations and emolument issues and constitutional crises like these -- on an hourly basis!
If I had read the right-wing press?, would it read like what we are seeing now?
Day 46 of 1461, actually—not that he's likely to last that long.
DeleteYou don't count weekends in that 46?
DeleteMike Flynn Offers to Testify in Exchange for Immunity
ReplyDeleteFormer national security adviser tells FBI, the House and Senate intelligence committees he’s willing to be interviewed in exchange for deal, officials say
Mike Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has told the Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional officials investigating the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia that he is willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution, according to officials with knowledge of the matter.
As an adviser to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, and later one of Mr. Trump’s top aides in the White House, Mr. Flynn was privy to some of the most sensitive foreign-policy deliberations of the new administration and was directly involved in discussions about the possible lifting of sanctions on Russia imposed by the Obama administration.
He has made the offer to the FBI and the House and Senate intelligence committees though his lawyer but has so far found no takers, the officials said.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/mike-flynn-offers-to-testify-in-exchange-for-immunity-1490912959
Chuck Todd Wrecks Republican Claim That Obama Meddled In Elections Like Russia
ReplyDeleteHeritage Action CEO Michael Needham tried to falsely equate Obama and Russia, “I think if you ask Bibi Netanyahu whether he appreciates foreign countries interfering in elections, he would have a different answer. So look, the Russians obviously had an interest in this. They’ve had an interest in past elections, but let’s not pretend that the Obama administration hasn’t played this type of game with the Israeli election.”
Todd came back with some facts, “For what it’s worth, that was pretty public. There were Obama supporters working for the other side.”
Obama supporters working for a candidate publicly in an Israeli election is not the same as the Trump campaign secretly colluding with an enemy of the United States that has a stated goal of destroying democracy. Campaign operatives work all around the world. Liberals work for liberals, and conservatives work for conservatives. There is nothing unusual about this professional arrangement. It is also not in the same universe as what the Trump campaign is suspected of doing with Russia.
Obama didn’t hack Netanyahu’s emails and leak them to help his opponent. Obama didn’t launch a wave of fake news and bot attacks designed to sway an electorate. Obama didn’t collude with an enemy of America to get his candidate elected.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/30/chuck-todd-wrecks-republican-claim-obama-meddled-elections-russia.html
House Republican Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) trashed the separation of powers in the US Constitution by claiming that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes works for Donald Trump.
ReplyDeleteVideo:
This was Yoho’s exchange with MSNBC’s Craig Melvin:
YOHO: [Nunes] answers to the president
MELVIN: Does he? Or does he work for constituents?
YOHO: Well, you do both.
That’s not how any of this works.
The Legislative Branch is supposed to provide oversight over the Executive Branch. The legislature does not work for the president. The Legislative Branch does not work for the president. It is not their job to cover-up potential crimes by a president and his administration.
A Republican member of the House tried to defend potential illegal activities by the President and the House Intelligence Committee chairman by stomping all over the Constitution. Ted Yoho’s comments demonstrate why the Russia scandal is bigger than Trump and the White House.
America’s problem is not only a corrupt president, but a corrupt majority party that is running Congress.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/30/russia-scandal-explodes-house-goper-trashes-constitution-claims-nunes-works-trump.html
I don't think that any Republicans in Congress ever had a civics class in elementary or junior or high school. If they did have the class, they slept through it. None of them understands anything about how the federal government works and the only thing they know about the Constitution is that everybody can have any kind of gun they want.
DeleteBeaglemom
LOL. Karma's a bitch, and I think She's just getting started.
ReplyDeleteGeorgiaPeach
If karma were real, then there would be child molesters walking around exploding in front of your very eyes.
Deletekarma=god=superstitious nonsense.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/mike-flynn-just-notified-congress-that-hes-willing-to-testify-in-exchange-for-immunity-wsj/
ReplyDeleteFlynn Flam
Why did Nunes run unopposed in the 2016 election?
ReplyDeleteThis guy is an extremist in his views about the environment and is in bed with Corporate America (what Republican isn't, though).
Come-on people in the 22nd district of California - this Trump tool is self-destructing and a total fraud. Start looking for an intelligent, Democratic candidate for the next election.
I don't think he's going to be unopposed in 2018.
DeleteI don't think he's going to win either.
California doesn't have patience for his kind of shit.
Ted Cruz (remember him?) is going to get his fill of opponents too. Both Democrats and Republicans.
Deletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/beto-orourke-ted-cruz-senate_us_58dbe2cce4b054637064457a?kg5sqoju44n3o9a4i&
"Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) plans to announce Friday that he’ll seek his party’s nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, the Houston Chronicle and Politico report."
"Cruz has drawn potential challengers from both sides of the aisle. Rep. Joaquin Castro (Texas), a rising star in the Democratic Party, is said to be considering a run for the seat. On the Republican side, Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is weighing taking on the conservative firebrand. GOP political strategist Matthew Dowd is also considering launching an independent bid against Cruz."
And so the little liar weasel Flynn says that he will testify if he receives immunity. Well now that is big for such a little liar. Mr. Flynn must be striped of his military career, held in prison for life and he will testify under oath for the crimes he has committed and colluded with the Russian's. Him and his son and the rest of the liars must not be given one bit of respect or forgiveness for his crimes. And this was not his first time. He was removed just recently for being a con artist and liar too. F him. Force the testimony without any immunity. He better sing like a canary that little lying twit.
ReplyDeleteoobin added that this is “the language that spies use. So, Nunes was claiming that he was spying, he was on a mission, like a clandestine mission to the White House to uncover this material. And he’s the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.”
ReplyDelete“That’s not his job to be a spy,” Toobin said. “This guy is so far out of his depth, he has no idea what he’s doing. The question about whether he’s clueless or corrupt, or both, is really the only question left in this investigation, at least as far as he’s concerned.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/he-has-no-idea-what-hes-doing-cnn-legal-analyst-slams-nunes-clandestine-mission-to-white-house/
Women want Trump impeached, men don’t: poll
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to President Donald Trump, it's a battle of the sexes. Two months into his presidency, a majority of women want to see the president impeached, while a majority of men are against the idea, a poll found Thursday.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/women-want-trump-impeached-men-dont-poll/
Senate intel witness doubts Trump’s loyalty: It’s ‘him first, Russia second and the rest of America third’
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/senate-intel-witness-doubts-trumps-loyalty-its-him-first-russia-second-and-the-rest-of-america-third/
News that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) received intelligence of possible surveillance of Trump administration officials from two people from within the Trump administration rocked the political world on Thursday — and one longtime GOP strategist thinks more explosive revelations are still to come.
ReplyDeleteGOP strategist Rick Wilson wrote a tweet storm on Thursday afternoon that connected the dots that link Nunes, White House officials Michael Ellis and Ezra Cohen-Watnick, White House political strategist Steve Bannon, and disgraced former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
“Two White House operatives — possibly improperly — accessed classified to pass it to Nunes as part of a political pushback operation,” Wilson began. “Who ordered it? Who asked for them to do so? If you think two lower-level guys took it upon themselves to make this play, I’ve got a Nigerian prince with $30 million dollars for you. Who is running the WH pushback operation on Trump’s Russia scandal? It rhymes with Beeve Stannon.”
From there, Wilson connected the entire story back to Flynn, who was ousted after it was revealed that he lied to the public and members about the Trump administration about the nature of his contacts with Russian government officials.
“Flynn’s stay-behind agent Cohen-Watnick was about to be shitcanned by [National Security Adviser H.R.] McMaster,” Wilson explained. “Cohen-Watnick — the NSC intel director — was a Flynnite from DIA days. Flynn was gone but the channel was still open.”
However, Wilson noted that both Bannon and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner both personally pushed back on McMaster’s desire to fire Cohen-Watnick because he is “helping run the pushback operation on Russia with Nunes.”
“Strap in tight,” Wilson concluded. “It’s going to be a rough landing.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/strap-in-tight-gop-strategist-rick-wilson-connects-the-dots-on-the-latest-devin-nunes-bombshell/
https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/847501981497212929
This is the year of forgiveness and we can forgive but not forget. NO immunity for treason and espionage. Oh but we will allow those going to prison to teach forgiveness for life to those fellow immates. Comey, Flynn, conjob, morning blow job, pence, boris, and every single lying pos involved will be prosecuted. Every vote for trump cost our country. We will never forget.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans control the Senate, they are no better than the House. These congress critters(R) tend to do the opposite of what they say they will do I do not feel optomistic about this.
ReplyDeleteDidnt flynn follow sarah resign, didnt the con resign just like sarah too....I am waiting for it. *smile*
ReplyDelete