Kim Strassel of the WSJ lays it out for us in a few short, but very sweet, tweets:
1) Key findings of Horowitz report:
--Yup, IG said FBI hit threshold for opening an investigation. But also goes out of its way to note what a "low threshold" this is. Durham's statement made clear he will provide more info for Americans to make a judgment on reasonableness.
A "low threshhold" is, of course in the eyes of the beholder. Low compared to what other threshhold? Yes a "reasonableness" standard may appear "low" compared to the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshhold required for a criminal conviction. But consider. Is it really such an easy thing to do to present "articulable facts" that make it reasonable to believe that a given person is an agent of Russia? We're not talking here of simple allegations--some unidentified person in a "friendly foreign government" said this and such. We're talking about "articulable facts." Andy McCarthy, a highly experienced former prosecutor, previously referred to the FBI's investigation as having been opened on "false pretenses", i.e., NOT based on "articulable facts." That's been my central contention for all these months. Tellingly, John Durham was willing to publicly contradict Horowitz's conclusion. Durham obviously doesn't think even such a supposedly "low" threshhold was met. AG Bill Barr also believes Comey's FBI and the DoJ stumbled, repeatedly, over that "low" threshhold. This story isn't finished yet.
2) The report is triumph for former House Intel Chair Devin Nunes, who first blew the whistle on FISA abuse. The report confirms all the elements of the February 2018 Nunes memo, which said dossier was as an "essential" part of applications, and FBI withheld info from FISA court.
3) Conversely, report is an excoriation of Adam Schiff and his "memo" of Feb 2018. That doc stated that "FBI and DOJ officials did NOT abuse the [FISA] process" or "omit material information." Also claimed FBI didn't much rely on dossier.
4) In fact, IG report says dossier played "central and essential role" in getting FISA warrants. Schiff had access to same documents as Nunes, yet chose to misinform the public. This is the guy who just ran impeachment proceedings.
5) Report is a devastating indictment of Steele, Fusion GPS and the "dossier." Report finds that about the only thing FBI ever corroborated in that doc were publicly available times, places, title names. Ouch.
Who thinks the Republicans will ever let anyone, let alone Adam Schiff himself, forget the shamefully corrupt role Schiff has played in this historic drama of our constitutional republic?
Nobody in Congress will name Schiff as the liar that he is. They say "the chairman" "misrepresented", which doesn't get headlines.
ReplyDeleteOnly Trump knows how to play this game.
I beg to differ. Jim Jordan and some others have been very outspoken in the Impeachment Theater and on TV.
DeleteGood example:
https://youtu.be/O40quspfnUc
A Rep is not POTUS and has to play a different game. Trump plays the POTUS better than anyone in memory. Jordan and others are doing well in their own roles.
DeleteJordan & Devin frickin Nunes are effective (to me) because they seem to be trying to control genuinely-felt outrage. Hopefully they & Trump will prevail. Oh, and Barr & Durham - They've yet to walk out on stage. So I suppose there's hope as we're only in Act II...
DeleteI think so.
DeleteI am trying to think of the name of a prominent member of Congress who has disgraced the institution more than Adam Schiff. Joseph McCarthy comes to mind, and he probably wins the award, but there might possibly have been more truth to his dishonest rantings than there is to Schiff's. In any event, it's close.
ReplyDeleteSorry to jump in here, but I feel compelled.
DeleteJoe McCarthy's great sin was that he was right, as time has proven, just as Russia's great sin was to throw off International Communism. That is why his name is a talisman, a get-out-of-jail-for-free canard for the likes of Brennan. Too few look past the headlines the likes of Walter Cronkite pushed to know what really happened. For instance: the famous, "...have you no decency?" line uttered by attorney Welch was pre-rehearsed as a gambit to stop McCarthy, virtually mid-question, from asking Welch why his law firm had fired a young attorney approximately six months before (McCarthy was going to read verbatim from a press release that Welch's own firm had put out at the time). It worked because the press made it work.
The Deep State, and their MSM defensive line, is not the product of a mere two or three decades; nor is Globalism a new idea. While it may never be provable that the hand-in-glove fit of all three is anything other than a coincidence the perfection of the fit with ComIntern aspirations is truly a marvel.
Tom S.
@Tom
DeleteNo problem jumping in!
I'm sure there is much re-thinking which has been done re Joe McCarthy, including regarding the extent to which he was right or wrong.
If we want to give him credit for being more right than wrong then perhaps Schiff wins hands down!
Are there any other candidates who come close?
Schiff enjoys his little games, lying and misleading openly.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the little smile he has when he does that.
He's a psychopath and a sadist.
If the GOP are ever allowed to present any evidence or arguments of their own in this impeachment process, Shiff's shoddy work product on the Russia controversy should be a cautionary exhibit for the Congress to consider when evaluating his work on the Ukraine issue. Maybe some vulnerable Democrats can be swayed not to vote with their party. Pelosi has publicly stated members were being allowed to vote their conscience--we'll see if that's true soon enough.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but not really: Do you think Trump should fire Wray, now or next year? Or will he keep him , like Sessions, while tweet-trashing him. I say bite the bullet and do it now, saying he has no confidence in Wray after IG report.
ReplyDeleteI don't expect him to last for ten years, but for now I suspect that Trump is happy enough having Barr riding herd on Wray.
DeleteI agree with Mark with one small difference: I want Barr not to ride herd but ride him outright. Break him to bit, break him to harness, then just break him, as a lesson for the entire FBI. Years from now new Directors can be shown the stain in the carpet of their office and told, "That is where the last perfidious Director expired of forlornness after years of excruciatingly administrative torture."
DeleteTom S.
Barr doesn't do that publicly. But he did say something like, Chris can't play pretend. You almost always have to give Barr's words their full possible meaning. That was a message.
DeleteYes, he chooses his words carefully and it would be wise to listen to them just as carefully.
DeleteTom S.
I'm watching the Graham/Horowitz hearing.
ReplyDeleteUnited States Senator Dianne Feinstein has the temerity...audacity... to suggest that there was no political bias in opening the Crossfire Hurricane investigation based on the Australian report of Russian willingness to cooperate with Trump in releasing emails/dirt on Clinton.
She completely and utterly and totally omits to mention that Papadopoulos was set up by Joseph Mifsud...who was not a Russian agent but was working for the completely and utterly and totally biased John Brennan.
I know the whole Mifsud/Halper/Brennan story has yet to be told but when it is it will (I submit) absolutely put the lie to Feinstein's obfuscation.
Bookmark Feinstein's statement today and don't lose it. It will undoubtedly be proved to be as politically biased and corrupt as the FBI's decision to open Crossfire Hurricane. And as politically biased as her disgusting hit job on Brett Kavanaugh.
Lindsay Graham in his remarks suggested that taking the wrongdoing of the FBI seriously could lead to remediation of FBI's policies and procedures. Feinstein's remarks suggest she has learned nothing.
We are still in deep trouble.
Feinstein ranks way up there among the most corrupt senators. Despicable.
Delete