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Showing posts with label Patrick Byrne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patrick Byrne. Show all posts

Friday, February 5, 2021

Patrick Byrne's Narrative On How Trump Lost The WH

Patrick Byrne has been putting out his narrative of how Trump lost the White House. It's a narrative of backstabbing, betrayal, and incompetence. For the most part it's the only narrative we have--certainly the most extended and comprehensive narrative--and so we have to pay attention to it. Several commenters have been linking to it as well as to commenters on it, such as Larry Schweikart.

It goes without saying that Byrne's narrative doesn't have to be treated in an all-or-nothing fashion. Like any narrative, it may well reflect a mix of motives--some praiseworthy, but others possibly self serving. Nor do such mixed motives necessarily negate the factual basis of the narrative. There is also the question of Byrne's understanding of what happened and why, and especially in judging the motives of others. The battle over the election played out in a very rarefied legal environment--more so, probably, than any other moment in American history. The issues were often issues of first impression and in all cases required delicate balancing.

It goes without saying that none of the foregoing observations should be construed as casting aspersions on Byrne. The considerations of motive and understanding that I've touched on apply in every such analysis. For that reason I'm reproducing here a comment from regular commenter Cassander which suggests caveats that we should all keep in mind. 

Friday, August 23, 2019

The Patrick Byrne Bombshell

By now I imagine everyone has heard of the series of interviews that Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne gave yesterday. These interviews, which followed on his stepping down from Overstock, were forshadowed by his remarks to Fox just about two weeks ago. At that time we provided a transcript of those remarks in Overstock CEO Tells Fox The Russia Hoax Is About To Blow Wide Open:

Patrick Byrne: I ended up in the center of the Russian and the Clinton investigations. I have all the answers. I have been sitting on them waiting for America to get there. Last summer I figured out… what they all are is all about political espionage. It had nothing to do with law enforcement, it was all political espionage. Here’s the bottom line. There is a deep state like a submarine working just beneath the waves of the periscope depth watching our shipping lane. And a nuclear ice breaker called the USS Bill Barr has snuck up on them and is about to ram midship. 
That’s about to happen and I think we’re about to see the biggest scandal in American history as a result. But it was all political. Everything you think you know about Russia and Clinton investigations is a lie. It’s all a cover-up. It was all political espionage. 
David Asman: You think Bill Barr is going to get to the bottom of it. 
Patrick Byrne: I think he has gotten to the bottom of it.

Obviously, the most intriguing aspect to Byrne's remarks is his contention that AG Barr has the big picture, he knows what went on. The implication would be that Barr, John Durham, and Michael Horowitz are assembling the evidence--documentation of all sorts above all, but also witness statements--in order to prepare prosecutable cases, to assign prosecution priorities, assessing witnesses, negotiating deals. All the things that have to be in place before a major investigation can move to the prosecution stage.

The glaring problem with what Byrne had to say at that time was: How does he know all this? Why should we believe him? Yesterday, on the whole, I believe he provided the answers to those questions. I won't attempt to summarize what Byrne said in his interviews yesterday. Those details are available at several sites, but I will say that I believe sundance's assessment is judicious (links below):