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Sunday, November 17, 2019

Did The Russia Hoax Go All The Way Up To Obama?

I'll keep this brief. I've never made any secret of my belief that in any bureaucratic setting nobody takes a risky action without some notion that somebody else has their back. Or, to put it another way, without some notion that they'll be able to shift the blame. Like so much in bureaucracies, this defies reality--in this case gravity. Despite best efforts, blame for prosecutable events gets shifted upward, rather than settling downward, because everyone has something on the next person above them.

With that in mind, read what John Solomon had to say on that score to Maria Bartiromo. The transcript at TGP made some important mistakes and omitted some important, though brief, portions. I've corrected that:

Maria Bartiromo: How far up the ladder do you believe this entrapment went in the Obama administration?
John Solomon: Most counter intelligence investigations are always briefed to the president. I would love to see the PDBs [President's Daily Briefs] of President Obama be released, anything having to do with Russia going back to the summer of 2015. I believe that's the most important time frame to begin looking at. It’s impossible that John Brennan didn't know about most of the key activities. And it's obvious that the Attorney General would have to know, working with the FBI. So, far more senior officials than the names we've been talking about. We keep talking about Strzok, and Page, and Priestap. There's another layer here that's escaped scrutiny and questioning. Hopefully, after the IG report comes out we'll get some of those answers.

30 comments:

  1. In the Brennen Dossier linked earlier, Aaron Mate writes that Brennen briefed Obama by confidential ("eyes only") dispatch, and kept the info out of the PDB so the details weren't more widely known. I believe I've also read this elsewhere--probably McCarthy's book.

    As it is, we know Obama was briefed because there were NSC meetings where Trump/Russia was discussed, and Obama was purportedly present.

    And Clapper has admitted as much.

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    1. All true. Re the PDBs, while Brennan's dossier material was separate, the FBI--to take one very relevant example--likely included material on some highly relevant investigations: Flynn, Manafort, Papadopoulos, Crossfire Hurricane, etc.

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  2. I guess I'm hopelessly out of order (too) but I can't help but mention that watching Chairman Schiff refuse to allow Representatives Jordan and Stefanik to speak at his Kangaroo Court (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZWwHO7JUEM) on Friday reminded me of perhaps the greatest cinematic portrayal of a Kangaroo Court in history (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROxvT8KKdFw). Apologies in advance if any one is offended.

    Certainly Chairman Schiff gives Dean Wormer a run for the money as one of the Grade A d-bags of all time.

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    1. Maybe Schiff lowers the tone of the whole proceeding.

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    2. Yes, The Democrats have even rehabilitated Dean Wormer's rep.
      Tom S.

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    3. Dean Wormer, Beria, Jimmy Carter; maybe soon they will lift the reputations of really world class villains' like Torquemada, Nero, Vlad Tepes and Genghis Khan above the bottom of historical approbation.
      Tom S.

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  3. Largely O/T, but important: sundance (less than an hour ago) fears that the aim to reauthorize FISA-702 authority (bulk U.S. person metadata collection, storage and surveillance), which is set to terminally expire December 15th, may be holding up publication of Horowitz's report.
    Any thoughts?

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    1. I don't buy it. Everything we've heard indicates that the IG report is following the usual procedure. In fact, Horowitz has modified that process with the express intent to expedite publication--by telling "witnesses" that they can only submit oral comments at the time of review, not later written comments.

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    2. OK.

      In sundance's post on this today, reader A2 says
      (November 17, 2019 at 7:17 pm):
      "There seems to be confusion about the FISA 'reauthorisation'. Actually it was reauthorised in 2018, and signed by the President. At that time, four provisions in the Act were amended, subject to periodic oversight review at that time, not the Act itself.

      What is up for ‘permanent’ reauthorisation are four FISA provisions: the “roving wiretap” provision, the “business records” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the Call Detail Records (CDR) program, the latter being the most controversial...."

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    3. I'm afraid sundance chooses to periodically generate hysteria on the right, fueled by paranoia. I do believe FISA needs to be systematically re-examined, but that's a separate argument from whether it's causing a delay in the IG report. It's not.

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    4. Fox now has on K. Pierson, Trump 2020 aide, saying that the OIG Rept. is expected soon, "even before Xmas?".
      WTF!

      I fear that the Resistance is just too powerful.
      Any country, which has c. 1/3 of the population outright hating most of the rest (the deplorables), has a helluva road to hoe, esp. if it hopes to avoid a bloodbath.
      I've been hoping, that this IG Rept., + prosecutions, would take much wind out of SJW sails.
      However, there seems no end to pressure to delay this Rept.

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    5. I refuse to lose my mind because K. Pierson has an opinion.

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  4. If she must pop off w/o real knowledge, she should get taken to the woodshed, or tossed aboard.

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  5. FWIW, and I've made this in a comment here on another thread, Devin Nunes and Mark Levin had an interesting discussion last night about what did Obama know. Unfortunately it was at the tail end of the interview and I can't find a link which captured it.

    Spoiler: Nunes thinks that Obama was regularly briefed on what his agents in the intelligence community were up to.

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    1. I assume that Solomon has been in regular conversations with members of Congress or their staff. This--Obama's role--is one of those open secrets. Everyone knows that the Comeys of the world don't act like this without the belief that they're protected.

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    2. In her texts with Peter Strzok, Lisa Page made it clear that Obama had requested that they keep him informed. He had to have known what they were doing or there would have been no reason for that request.

      NBC News headline February 7, 2018:

      FBI texts: Obama 'wants to know everything we're doing’

      https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/fbi-texts-obama-wants-know-everything-we-re-doing-n845531

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    3. -->Everyone knows that the Comeys of the world don't act like this without the belief that they're protected.<--

      And when they're not protected, expect a prompt resignation.

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  6. OK, but we ought to face the magnitude of the task before us.
    When the Dems/ MSM got 1/3+ of the people to buy this Russia/ Trump BS, that bespoke of a society careening toward mass psychosis.

    I'm quite close to a few moderate liberals, who had the sense to say, about this Russia/ Trump BS, "I'll believe it when I see MoonMen on planet earth!"
    Alas, these friends knew better (incl. from my advice) than to let this view of theirs be well-known, in mainstream-Dem circles.
    This crap w/in such circles was (as even Greenwald had occasion to admit) "deranged and unhinged".

    At least those who voted for Hitler, c. 1932, had the excuse of having been thru a World War, a hyperinflation, and a Great Depression.
    What's the excuse of these SJWs?

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    1. The "excuse" is there's been no punishment for Democrat behavior.
      I learned long ago the most effective response to a snarling dog is to kick it in the mouth. That works, and it's remembered. Any weaker response is a sign of intimidation.

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    2. Within the law but to the full extent of the law is how these things should be handled. There have been some hints that the FBI may be investigating political violence, but not enough.

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    3. Hitler wasn’t elected; he was appointed Chancellor by ReichPräsident Paul von Hindenburg in 1933.

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    4. Quite true, Boar, but he got the nod for that job, by winning pluralities in '32.

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    5. The 1932 election in the Weimar Republic saw the National Socialist German Workers' Party win 230 seats in the Reichstag, the Social Democratic Party of Germany 133 seats, the Communist Party of Germany 89. 452 seats out of a possible 608 (72+% of ballots cast). The Reichstag being a Parlimentary form of government those who voted NAZI knew without doubt who their Party's choice of Cancellor was. Socialism won by a landslide.
      Tom S.

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  7. In the same vein -- Obama's involvement in government corruption -- Levin recently interviewed Peter Schweizer on the subject of the Bidens' involvement in Ukrainian and Chinese business activities.

    Schweizer makes a compelling case for the Bidens' gross conflicts of interest and malfeasance and suggests that they are not unique.

    Here is a link to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9Z5EEiaj1U

    Observation: I've watched a number of interviews recently which are so revealing of what has really gone down over the last four years: for example, Jan Jekielek's (Epoch Times) and Mark Levin's interviews with Lee Smith and Devin Nunes. These interviews are riveting and compelling exposes of the corruption of the Obama Administration. I find myself thinking: why are these interviews posted on obscure streaming channels?Why aren't these interviews on 60 minutes or Meet the Press? Why isn't the media establishment making all of this information broadly available to the American public? After all, isn't the opinion of the Ranking Member of the Intelligence Committee of the United States House of Representatives relevant to sentient Americans who want to know what's really been going on?

    This, of course, is not a serious question.

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    1. Media is entertainment, not news.

      Facts inconvenient to The Narrative will always be ignored.

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  8. "Everyone knows that the Comeys of the world don't act like this without the belief that they're protected."

    Totally agreed.

    FWIW, the situation might be a little bit different with Brennan, who may well have had an independent motive for going after Trump: to cover up his many crimes in a lifetime of 'intelligence' work.

    In any event, it must, inevitably, come back to Obama.

    A fish rots from the head down.

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  9. Finally, Obummer now really should squirm!!
    In light of the announced plan for a Horowitz hearing in the SJC on 11 Dec., sundance (and commentor MLK), puts the OIG’s publication date at 2 Dec.
    This Report is by far, the most anticipated (and, in some circles, feared) one in recent U.S. history.

    Horowitz’s prior reports were published under the power of Rosenstein.
    I’m cautiously hopeful, that Barr won’t lean on Horowitz, as Rosy probably did.

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  10. Seeing as Andy Johnson had military tribunals, against the civilian plotters who got Honest Abe popped, can Barr put these plotters in such a tribunal (using the 2001 AUMF), for plotting to overthrow PJT?

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    1. I've wondered about that. My best guess is that it would not be possible to use military tribunals. At the time Lincoln was assassinated the US was still under martial law, which ended about a month later.

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