In what can be regarded only as a “preemptive leak” by government officials, it appears that the New York Times is trying to limit the damage that will be caused by the upcoming Inspector General’s report on the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation and the ongoing work of California Congressman Devin Nunes. Nunes, if you will recall, was widely criticized by the Obamacons, Clintonistas, and the progressive socialist democrats for being partisan, yet it is he who has undertaken to expose a cabal of high-government officials, possibly with a connection to the Obama White House, that materially interfered in a presidential election, spied domestically on American citizens, and committed prosecutable felonies as well as obstructing justice in a number of investigations. Considering the magnitude of what has happened, this should rise to the level of a constitutional crisis and have a significantly greater import than that felt by former President Richard Nixon during the Watergate affair.
“This month, the Justice Department inspector general is expected to release the findings of its lengthy review of the F.B.I.’s conduct in the Clinton case.”
“Code Name Crossfire Hurricane: The Secret Origins of the Trump Investigation”
It appears that the New York Times is claiming that it was only a small number of officials knew about the Trump investigation and that it was a small number of rogue agents who are responsible for the crimes yet to be exposed.
“Only about five Justice Department officials knew the full scope of the case, officials said, not the dozen or more who might normally be briefed on a major national security case.” <Source: NYT>
“Mr. Comey has said it is unfair to compare the Clinton case, which was winding down in the summer of 2016, with the Russia case, which was in its earliest stages.” “But underpinning both cases was one political calculation: that Mrs. Clinton would win and Mr. Trump would lose.” <Source: NYT>
“Congressional Republicans, led by Representative Devin Nunes of California, have begun to dig into F.B.I. files, looking for evidence that could undermine the investigation.” <Source: NYT>
“Agents had just closed the Clinton investigation, and they braced for months of Republican-led hearings over why she was not charged. Crossfire Hurricane was built around the same core of agents and analysts who had investigated Mrs. Clinton.” <Source: NYT>
“Mr. Trump was not under investigation, but his actions perplexed the agents. Days after the stolen Democratic emails became public, he called on Russia to uncover more.” <Source: NYT>
“The F.B.I.’s thinking crystallized by mid-August, after the C.I.A. director at the time, John O. Brennan, shared intelligence with Mr. Comey showing that the Russian government was behind an attack on the 2016 presidential election. Intelligence agencies began collaborating to investigate that operation. The Crossfire Hurricane team was part of that group but largely operated independently, three officials said.” <Source: NYT>
It should be noted that the alleged Russian interference in our election occurred on President Obama’s watch and he did virtually nothing to confront or contain the damage. In fact, there is a rock-solid connection to the White House with most of the potential top-level co-conspirators in the cabal attending the meeting. And curiously, Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice prevented the National Security Council from developing contingency plans to counter Russian activities with a stand down order.
“When the subject of a principals or deputies meeting was a national security matter, the gathering was often held in the Situation Room of the White House. The in‑house video feed of the Sit Room — without audio — would be available to national security officials at the White House and elsewhere, and these officials could at least see that a meeting was in progress and who was attending. For the meetings related to the Russian hack, Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, ordered the video feed turned off. She did not want others in the national security establishment to know what was under way, fearing leaks from within the bureaucracy.”
“Rice would chair the principals’ meetings — which brought together Brennan; Comey; Kerry; Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; Defense Secretary Ash Carter; Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson; Treasury Secretary Jack Lew; Attorney General Loretta Lynch; and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — with only a few other White House officials present, including White House chief of staff Denis McDonough; homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco, and Colin Kahl, Vice President Joe Biden’s national security adviser. (Kahl had to insist to Rice that he be allowed to attend so that Biden could be fully briefed.)”
“Brennan was now aware that at least a year earlier Russian hackers had begun their cyberattack on the Democratic National Committee.”
“It was a debate that would culminate that summer with a dramatic directive from Obama’s national security adviser [Susan Rice] to the NSC staffers developing aggressive proposals to strike back against the Russians: ‘Stand down.’” <Source>
Blaming FBI Director James Comey …
“Looking back, some inside the F.B.I. and the Justice Department say that Mr. Comey should have seen the political storm coming and better sheltered the bureau. They question why he consolidated the Clinton and Trump investigations at headquarters, rather than in a field office. And they say he should not have relied on the same team for both cases. That put a bull’s-eye on the heart of the F.B.I. Any misstep in either investigation made both cases, and the entire bureau, vulnerable to criticism.” <Source>
It is suggested that the entire affair was a simple bureaucratic foul-up that was attributed mostly to FBI Director James Comey. It was not a “misstep,” but the subversion of the United States Constitution resulting in prosecutable criminal activities – if not for domestic spying, then leaking classified information, and obstructing justice attempting to cover-up both Democrat and government wrongdoing.
Blaming Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and the “lovers” FBI Special Agent Strzok, and FBI Lawyer Lisa Page …
“And there were missteps. Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy F.B.I. director, was cited by internal investigators for dishonesty about his conversations with reporters about Mrs. Clinton. That gave ammunition for Mr. Trump’s claims that the F.B.I. cannot be trusted. And Mr. Strzok and Lisa Page, an F.B.I. lawyer, exchanged texts criticizing Mr. Trump, allowing the president to point to evidence of bias when they became public.” <Source>
Strzok and Page went far beyond simply criticizing the President; they provided direct and clear evidence of an active attempt to curtail the Trump Presidency. As of yet, they still have not been put before a grand jury and questioned about the “insurance policy” they mentioned when Trump was elected.
Inoculating the public and conditioning the media battlefield …
“The inspector general’s upcoming report is expected to criticize those messages for giving the appearance of bias. It is not clear, however, whether inspectors found evidence supporting Mr. Trump’s assertion that agents tried to protect Mrs. Clinton, a claim the F.B.I. has adamantly denied.” <Source: NYT>
There is a significant difference between “the appearance” and the “reality” of planning to undermine a United States President – even though he was not guilty of anything. Notably when the matters investigated occurred years before Trump ran for office and the players played minor roles in his candidacy and presidential activities.
Bottom line …
The fact that a relatively few individuals, acting on nothing more than a recollection of an assertion by a drunken individual with a tangential connection to the Trump campaign could initiate a counter-intelligence investigation is ludicrous. And, that a counter-intelligence investigation could turn into a criminal investigation with no specific crimes enumerated is downright shocking. And that the entire affair could be used by the media to tarnish an individual (who happens to be the President of the United States) is downright dangerous.
You will also notice that the New York Times seems uninterested in demonstrable collusion between the Hillary Clinton campaign and Russia through Fusion GPS nor the Clinton Foundation who received millions from sources connected to Russia, nor Bill Clinton personally who received outrageous speaking fees from a Russian bank. I wonder why?
Look for the progressive mainstream media to circle the wagons and throw mud against the wall – until everybody is dirty and no one can affix blame to any one group or individual.
It is time for Americans to wake up and realize that their Country, their Constitution which protects their freedoms, and their future is at risk from a domestic fifth column of Democrats, GOP fellow travelers, and a complicit media all attempting to destroy America from within.
We are so screwed.
-- steve