 |
| So does this mean I'm not going to get those additional resources? |
Days before he was fired, James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in resources for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election, according to four congressional officials, including Senator Richard J. Durbin.
Mr. Comey made his appeal to Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who also wrote the Justice Department’s memo that was used to justify the firing of Mr. Comey this week, the officials said.
“I’m told that as soon as Rosenstein arrived, there was a request for additional resources for the investigation and that a few days afterwards, he was sacked,” said Mr. Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois. “I think the Comey operation was breathing down the neck of the Trump campaign and their operatives, and this was an effort to slow down the investigation.”
Wait, you mean James Comey WASN'T fired because he was mean to Hillary?
Now of course the Justice Department is denying that Comey asked for additional resources.
You know, the Justice Department that is now run by that paragon of truthfulness Jeff Beauregard Sessions.
Another reason trotted out by White House aides was that Comey refused to provide Trump a preview of the testimony he was planning to give before the Senate last week:
Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had wanted a heads-up from Comey about what he would say at a May 3 hearing about his handling of an investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
When Comey refused, Trump and his aides considered that an act of insubordination and it was one of the catalysts to Trump’s decision this week to fire the FBI director, the officials said.
"It gave the impression that he was no longer capable of carrying out his duties," one official said. Previews of congressional testimony to superiors are generally considered courteous.
It should also be remembered that Comey HAD been scheduled to appear before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence this week, however now there is confusion as to whether the acting director, Andrew McCabe, or Comey will take the stand, depending on who you ask.
(Personally I would assume that the Democrats want to hear testimony from Comey now more than ever.)
In the meantime the calls for a special persecutor are being shouted from the rooftops, while the Republicans attempt to deny the need for one:
McConnell dismissed calls by Democrats — joined by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) — for the appointment of a special prosecutor or independent commission to investigate Russia’s influence in the Trump campaign, which the FBI is now investigating.
He argued that the Senate Intelligence Committee is already reviewing the matter, as is the FBI, and empowering another investigative authority could hamper their work.
“Today we’ll do doubt hear calls for a new investigation, which could only serve to impede the current work being done to not only discover what the Russians may have done [but] also to let this body and the national security community develop countermeasures and war-fighting doctrine to see that it doesn’t occur again,” McConnell said.
Methinks that someone doth protest too much.
There are also currently some fairly well known names being floated as possible replacements for Comey.
Trey "Benghazi" Gowdy, Rudy "9-11, 9-11, 9-11" Giuliani, Chris "Bridge-gate" Christie, or Ray "Stop and Frisk" Kelly. Oh yeah, those are certainly the folks I would choose to conduct a nonpartisan investigation into a Republican president's possible criminal ties to Russia.Sources: @ChrisChristie, Rudy Giuliani, @TGowdySC, and Ray Kelly on FBI director short list. pic.twitter.com/NcTcOMh8WK— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 10, 2017
Of course all of this might be academic as some Democrats are signaling that they will not confirm ANY new FBI Director candidates until they get a special prosecutor assigned to this case.
More popcorn anyone?
Update: Comey's letter to his friends and fellow agents.
Update 2: WaPo is now reporting, based on thirty sources, the REAL reasons why Trump fired James Comey:READ: James Comey's farewell letter to friends and agents https://t.co/d1GuPWRREQ pic.twitter.com/UCNbZl3b1v— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 11, 2017
Trump was angry that Comey would not support his baseless claim that President Barack Obama had his campaign offices wiretapped. He was frustrated when Comey revealed in Senate testimony the breadth of the counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s effort to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election. And he fumed that Comey was giving too much attention to the Russia probe and not enough to investigating leaks to journalists.
So essentially the reasons are the reasons that most of us assumed when we first heard that Comey was fired.
This story is not going away, and it is clear that Trump has made a VERY serious miscalculation.
I really really hope this is going to snowball into an impeachment. And take out Pence with the trash.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't think an impeachment will do much good unless Pence goes as well. He is as bat-shit loco as Trump is with a slimy veneer of Christian hypocrisy that makes him a bit more palatable, but he is just as dangerous and unhinged.
DeleteThe options in replacing Trump are not good at all. The best we could hope for is that whoever would follow would be so cowed by the impeachment experience that he (no women are in the likely line of succession at this point) that he would not try to push any more of the onerous GOP policies on the American people.
DeleteBeaglemom
Constitutional crisis = special election.
DeleteIt shouldn't be this hard to understand.
New territory, new rules. We need to keep up with the times. Blackmail and such is not new, nut cyberterrorism is.
Subpoena Time
ReplyDelete- Lawrence O'Donnell
Oh wow, criminal, seeing the orange face guy in an orange suit.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder he is losing it. No more gold toilet. No more porno wifey tabs on.
Trump will NEVER survive four year! How man 'days' has he been in office? 106?
ReplyDeleteJHC is he ever a disaster, deplorable, an idiot and not pro America. He loves Russia and Putin more. Fuck him!
Best paragraph in the WaPo stork link at Update 2:
ReplyDelete"Rosenstein threatened to resign after the narrative emerging from the White House on Tuesday evening cast him as a prime mover of the decision to fire Comey and that the president acted only on his recommendation, said the person close to the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter."
There are too many similarities to Nixon's White House in 1973. But, at least, Nixon was not a traitor to the Russians.
DeleteBeaglemom
DAMN FOOL!
ReplyDeleteWhy did Trump allow the Russians and photography equipment into the Oval Office?
The Russians could have brought bugs hidden in their photography equipment and bags?
The Russians are known to hide bugs and now we have them in the Oval Office.
Washington Post:
National Security
Presence of Russian photographer in Oval Office raises alarms
A photographer for a Russian state-owned news agency was allowed into the Oval Office on Wednesday during President Trump’s meeting with Russian diplomats, a level of access that was criticized by former U.S. intelligence officials as a potential security breach.
The officials cited the danger that a listening device or other surveillance equipment could have been brought into the Oval Office while hidden in cameras or other electronics. Former U.S. intelligence officials raised questions after photos of Trump’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were posted online by the Tass news agency.
Among those commenting on the issue was former deputy CIA director David S. Cohen. Responding to a question posed online about whether it was a sound decision to allow the photographer into the Oval Office, Cohen replied on Twitter: “No it was not.” He declined to elaborate when reached by phone.
Other former intelligence officials also described the access granted to the photographer as a potential security lapse, noting that standard screening for White House visitors would not necessarily detect a sophisticated espionage device.
The administration official also said the White House had been misled about the role of the Russian photographer. Russian officials had described the individual as Lavrov’s official photographer without disclosing that he also worked for Tass.
“We were not informed by the Russians that their official photographer was dual-hatted and would be releasing the photographs on the state news agency,” the administration official said.
As a result, White House officials said they were surprised to see photos posted online showing Trump not only with Lavrov but also smiling and shaking hands with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak....
Russia has in the past gone to significant lengths to hide bugs in key U.S. facilities. In the late 1990s, the State Department’s security came under fire after the discovery of a sophisticated listening device in a conference room on the seventh floor, where then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and others often held meetings....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-to-meet-russian-foreign-minister-at-the-white-house-as-moscows-alleged-election-interference-is-back-in-spotlight/2017/05/10/c6717e4c-34f3-11e7-b412-62beef8121f7_story.html
Who knows what was left behind in the Oval Office? When will this national nightmare end? I get up each morning wondering what awful thing has just been reported in the news. And it just keeps getting worse. For eight years, while President Obama was in office, I never worried this way because I knew that an adult was in charge. Now a con artist who has sold his soul (what he had of one) to Russia is in charge and our lives have changed dramatically for the worse.
DeleteBeaglemom
Off topic
ReplyDeleteBillo the Fucked Nooze Clown- his ex wife made serious allegations!
http://jezebel.com/ex-wife-said-bill-o-reilly-attacked-her-after-she-caugh-1794591984
Ex-Wife Said Bill O'Reilly Attacked Her After She Caught Him Having Phone Sex
http://jezebel.com/ex-wife-said-bill-o-reilly-attacked-her-after-she-caugh-1794591984
"Bill O’Reilly’s ex-wife swore in an affidavit that the disgraced Fox News host brutally assaulted her in their Long Island home after she discovered him half-naked and engaging in phone sex, Jezebel has learned."
Also too!
According to McPhilmy’s account, she discovered O’Reilly engaging in phone sex in their bedroom at roughly 10:30 p.m. one evening. O’Reilly then “flew into a fit of rage” and slammed her into a nearby wall, leaving a hole one foot across. He then, the affidavit claims, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, neck, and hands to immobilize her, and violently dragged her out of the bedroom and down a hallway on the second floor of their 4,600-square-foot, $2.4 million home in Manhasset, New York.
O’Reilly went on, the affidavit claims, to drag McPhilmy by the neck down a flight of stairs and through the kitchen, as McPhilmy screamed that he was hurting her. In the kitchen, the affidavit claims, a security guard assigned to protect O’Reilly and his family saw what was going on, at which point O’Reilly stopped the attack. "
Damn, but he sounds like a nasty fart. He needs his clock cleaned - would suspect he's had it done to him a number of times throughout his life by another male! It's so obvious he is quite the bloviated jerk!
DeleteConspiracy Theory:
ReplyDeleteIs Trump compromised?
Did the KGB order Trump to allow the Russian photographer into the Oval Office without the American press so they can bug the Oval Office?
What is Trump to do? Ignore Putin's command and risk Trump's Golden Shower videos released and risk his ties and his families ties to Russia exposed? Trump is too far into Putin's web.
Poll: Trump's approval rating sinks, near new record low as base support shrinks
ReplyDeleteThe new survey found that just 36 percent of registered voters approve of the president's job, with 56 percent saying they disapprove.
His approval ratings are staying pretty much the same - which is what they were as to the folks that voted for him. Hasn't changed much. But, I suspect in the near future we'll see a change when they realize he cannot, or will not, provide them what he promised.
Delete“I loved my previous life. I had so many things going,”
ReplyDelete“This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”
“I never realized how big it was,” he said. “It’s massive. And every agency is, like, bigger than any company. So you know, I really just see the bigness of it all, but also the responsibility. And the human responsibility. You know, the human life that’s involved in some of the decisions.”
Comrade Trumpski you cannot quit playing president until you let us into your Oval Office and plant our undetectable bugs.
Anybody seen Melania?
ReplyDeleteMelania how you like being the Second Lady? Are you ready to file for divorce?
Anybody seen First Lady Ivanka? Is she distancing herself from her daddy and the White House?
What about Jared Kushner, Don Jr and Eric? Where are they?
Ivanka isn't being seen nearly as much anymore and I suspect it is due to all the negative national press she was getting. Her Daddy pulled her from the scene!
DeleteRemember, she is his favorite even above his wife and all his other kids.
I think the Kushners are lying low since Jared's sister pulled her Chinese stunt last week. Who knows - they may be planning to escape from Washington to protect their business interests. They seem to like China a lot. Maybe they'll settle there. Their children are leaning Mandarin from their nannies . . . .
DeleteBeaglemom
Beagle mom @3:06
Delete"they may be planning to escape from Washington to protect their business interests."
It will be CRIMEa, not China
REPUBLICAN CONGRESS MEN AND WOMEN:
ReplyDeleteTIME TO CUT BAIT AND RUN
EVERY MAN AND WOMAN YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN
EITHER SINK WITH TRUMP OR SWIM
Most cell phones can be cloned if the individual's cell phone is within close proximity to the cloning device. More potential blackmail coming directly from the Oval Office.
ReplyDeleteTrump is an idiot and a Russian tool.
What will Orange Delirious do next?
ReplyDeleteWhatever he is told.
DeleteSpecial "persecutor?" Was that a Freudian slip?
ReplyDeleteI love it...30 different sources told the real story to reporters.
ReplyDeleteHello leaks, here we come.
Thank you, people at FBI for doing the right thing and letting the truth be known. Keep it up and keep safe.
And so what did Trump do yesterday? He met with the Russian ambassador, a pivotal figure for lots of Republicans in the investigation of Russian collusion with the GOP during last year's campaign. Did he do so for assurances from Putin and his gang? Did he do so to further rub the faces of the American people in the mud of his treason? Does this mean that he is he still colluding with Russia at America's expense? I think we deserve answers.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
I doubt he would be confirmed because of "Bridgegate," but Christie would be the best of the four names floated. He would actually take the job seriously and not as an excuse for some political payback on his opponents. For Christie, the job would be his shot at redemption and rehabilitation, and he would approach it in that way. Christie has always taken pride in the fact that he was a US Attorney and a good one, and that would shape how he'd approach the job. He'd probably end up sacked, too, for not toeing the Trump line.
ReplyDeleteGowdy and Guiliani both would crush the Russia investigation, and Gowdy would ramp up major investigations into Benghazi and the Clinton e-mail server.
Christie is slim - pure and simple - he would bury the russian investigation fast and deep - he has no morals and in deep with mob ties (take it from someone who lives in NJ and knows all about him)
DeleteIf you think the man who has skated on Bridgegate while his underlings go to prison would be good for the job,you know very little about Christie.
DeleteI heard Merrick Garland's name bandied about.
DeleteGiuliani: isn't he dead YET? He and Cheney need to leave this world so it can breathe a sigh of relief.
IT IS ALL "IN THE BAG" ALREADY...
DeleteCC will make NJ the FOR PROFIT prison capital....
This newest escapade makes my stomach churn and I am so depressed. I hold no hope that Trump will be taken out of office. We expected that with each new disgusting revelation during the campaign. Instead his supporters became more convinced, more rabid and they gleefully elected a man who clearly, openly advocated violence, racism, overt lying and fraud.
ReplyDeleteTrump continues to make illicit, shocking, shady move after move and we talk about it for a few days...and move on to his next outrageous strike against our American democracy, values and way of life.
When I was growing up it was in a generation who clearly understood that Russia is our enemy and Russia is certainly even more so now. But our president openly embraces them, even after getting caught in their election interference scheme against us; a move that should be considered an act of war.
Trump's playing the USA perfectly. We're not going to do shit to him because he is so far ahead of us, we're not on the same playing field.
Trump is following Putin's playbook on how to become a country's dictator and stifle all dissent by any means necessary. And it's most likely already too late for us to reverse without a civil war. (I hope I eat these words)
Every night Rachel Maddow looks at the camera with incredulity and states, "in any other time" the x,y, or z scandal she is exposing would be a showstopper for a president. Yt, they re barely getting acknowledge other than by the press and those of us paying attention.
DeleteComey sends farewell letter to FBI after firing by Trump
ReplyDeletePublished May 11, 2017
FoxNews.com
"I have long believed that a President can fire an FBI Director for any reason, or for no reason at all. I'm not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. I hope you won't either. It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply.
I have said to you before that, in times of turbulence, the American people should see the FBI as a rock of competence, honesty, and independence. What makes leaving the FBI hard is the nature and quality of its people, who together make it that rock for America.
It is very hard to leave a group of people who are committed only to doing the right thing. My hope is that you will continue to live our values and the mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution. If you do that, you too will be sad when you leave, and the American people will be safer.
Working with you has been one of the great joys of my life. Thank you for that gift."
Wow the lies from the orange jabba
ReplyDeleteMAN UP TRUMP AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS YOU PIECE OF SHIT!
ReplyDeleteABC News:
Deputy AG was on the verge of resigning after WH pinned Comey firing on him
By JONATHAN KARLMay 11, 2017, 8:34 AM ET
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was so upset with the White House for pinning the firing of FBI Director James Comey on him Wednesday that he was on the verge of resigning, an administration source told ABC News.
After Comey's firing Tuesday night, White House officials said the president acted on the recommendation of Rosenstein
Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on "Good Morning America" today that she was "not aware" of Rosenstein's threatening to resign....
Read more at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/deputy-ag-rosenstein-verge-resigning-upset-wh-pinning/story?id=47342541&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_bsq_hed
CNN:
ReplyDeleteTrump: Combative administration 'could be my fault'
(NO SHIT SHERLOCK)
Story highlights
"There's a great meanness out there that I'm surprised at," he said
WHAT?
YOU'RE SURPRISED?
PUTIN'S PUPPET, YOU ARE THE EVILDOER WHO CREATED THE MEANNESS AND DIVISIVENESS WITNESSED DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN!
Read post at
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/politics/donald-trump-time-combative/index.html
Sale Of Trump Property Raises Ethical Questions About Potential Buyer's Motives
ReplyDeleteFor Sale: Spectacular Caribbean waterfront property in French St. Martin.
Amenities: Swimming pools, tennis court, full staff.
Owner: President of the United States, Donald Trump.
This sale is the first known major divestiture of a Trump property since he became president. Trump bought Le Chateau des Palmiersabout four years ago; the asking price at the time was $19.7 million...
http://www.npr.org/2017/05/11/527811206/sale-of-trump-property-raises-ethical-questions-about-potential-buyers-motives
catch me if you can...
ReplyDelete"Think about the fact that the president allowed the Russian government to bring a load of electronic equipment into the Oval Office today."" this meeting was set up at the request of Putin."
ReplyDeletehttp://crooksandliars.com/2017/05/trump-putin-cheap-fiddle
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/332866-trump-met-with-russian-foreign-minister-at-putins-request-report
When daddy tells Trump what to do then Trump better obey.
Delete