The panic and finger pointing have begun! You can smell the fear

Flopping Aces ^ | 05-15-19 | DrJohn

[Starman417]

There was a movie in 1971 called "The Panic in Needle Park" starring Al Pacino.

A couple loves heroin as much as they love each other in Jerry Schatzberg's grim drug drama. After an illegal abortion at the behest of her faithless lover (Raul Julia), lost innocent Helen (Kitty Winn) finds solace with small-time crook Bobby (Al Pacino), a regular in Manhattan's "Needle Park." As Bobby shows her around his Upper West Side world, the two become inseparable. When Helen realizes that Bobby is a full-blown junkie, she joins him in addiction, and their downward spiral begins in earnest. Weathering overdoses, prostitution, betrayals, and a "panic" after a major bust, the pair manages to stick together, the habit sealing their fate.

I thought I might call this post "The Panic in IC Park" but I realized that the allusion might not find much familiarity but the IC is indeed panicking. The finger pointing has begun.

A high-level dispute over which senior government officials pushed the unverified Steele dossier amid efforts to surveil the Trump campaign has broken out into the open again, after it emerged that Attorney General William Barr appointed a U.S. attorney to examine the origins of the Russia investigation and determine if the FBI and DOJ's actions were "lawful and appropriate."

Sources familiar with the told Fox News that a late-2016 email chain indicated FBI Director James Comey told bureau subordinates that then-CIA Director John Brennan insisted the dossier be included in the intelligence community assessment on Russian interference, known as the ICA. Fox News was told that the email chain – not yet public -- referred to the dos sier as "crown material," but it was not clear why this apparent code was used. On Tuesday night, former GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy said on Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum" that "Comey has a better argument than Brennan, based on what I've seen."

But no, says the CIA, it's Comey's doing

But in a statement to Fox News, a former CIA official put the blame squarely on Comey.

"Former Director Brennan, along with former [Director of National Intelligence] James Clapper, are the ones who opposed James Comey’s recommendation that the Steele Dossier be included in the intelligence report," the official said.

I can remember when John Brennan was bragging about how he instigated this investigation. He claims to have gotten the ball rolling:

“I encountered . . . intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and U.S. persons involved in the Trump campaign,” Brennan said, adding that he did not see conclusive evidence of collusion but feared that Trump associates were wittingly or unwittingly being used to advance the interests of Moscow.….Brennan testified that he was disturbed by intelligence that surfaced last year showing a pattern of contacts between Russian agents or representatives and people with links to the Trump campaign. “That raised concerns in my mind,” Brennan said….With that remark, Brennan appeared to identify the point of origin of the FBI investigation that began in July — the first time a U.S. official has provided insight into what prompted the bureau probe.

Yet to the time he left office he had seen no evidence of collusion. Despite that, Brennan ramped up his accusations to "treason" level. More:

“I wanted to make sure that every information and bit of intelligence that we had was shared with the bureau [FBI] so that they could take it. It was well beyond my mandate as director of CIA to follow on any of those leads that involved U.S. persons. But I made sure that anything that was involving U.S. persons, including anything involving the individuals involved in the Trump campaign, was shared with the bureau."

He never warned Trump. He never asked Trump about it. No defensive briefing. He wanted Trump taken down. Period. Trey Gowdy suggests that Brennan is more peril than is Comey. He is probably correct.

The declassified January 2017 report determined Russia had ordered an "influence campaign" to help Trump get elected in 2016. There is no mention of the dossier, compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, which contained salacious and unverified claims about Trump's ties to Russia. It was used by the FBI to obtain a series of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to wiretap one-time Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

There have been reports, including by veteran journalist Bob Woodward, that the dossier was included in an early draft of the assessment. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said in March he was told Brennan "insisted" the dossier be included in the report. "BREAKING: A high-level source tells me it was Brennan who insisted that the unverified and fake Steele dossier be included in the Intelligence Report ... Brennan should be asked to testify under oath in Congress ASAP," Paul tweeted.

James Baker is "nervous" that IG Mike Horowitz will find "mistakes."

[Kharis13]

I love the smell of Democrat fear in the morning.

[grania]

Now we're getting analogies and attempts at literary writing in these stories. Doesn't change anything. It's B-O-R-I-N-G until and unless it's accompanied by pictures of Coup Leaders hauled away in handcuffs.

And, oh, yeah, let's use Benghazi as a frame of reference. McCain got a hero's burial. hillary roams free, with the arrogance of still saying she's the innocent victim of a false narrative. The globalist war-mongering bad guys are still inventing stuff to keep the US in forever war. My point? As far as I'm concerned, we True Deplorables have been and still are being played.

[Bishop_Malachi]

Exactly....enough of the “Democrats in Panic Mode” stories. They still have the House and are always a threat to steal/win national elections despite the fact they largely only control certain metropolitan areas. I’ll believe they are panicking when I see stories on MSM news about them fleeing to other countries in droves.

[null and void]

Flip or hang.

Choose wisely...

[gibsonguy]

Months, no years actually of watching these traitors being above the law have many of us in your camp. Where is the 4 a.m. no knock raid on Brennan’s home? Never happen.

[Billthedrill]

Nice article, and thanks for posting. The current media line is that Trump is trying to persecute people for "just doing their job", as if an open coup were the same thing as pizza delivery. I don't think that's going to wash.

In what can only be described a colossal failure to grasp irony Adam “Schitt” said campaigns should not be able to get foreign help. You know, like employing a British spy to collect Russian propaganda and use foreign opposition research to secure a FISA warrant.

Yes, like that. Campaigns should also not be able to weaponize arms of the government to help them in clandestine manners. Lots of stuff bubbling up now.

[FreeReign]

Flip or hang.

If everybody flips and they all point the finger at each other (which is what is happening), where would that leave us? Who's telling the truth.

This "flipping" stuff gets overplayed. Independent evidence will solve this case.

[null and void]

Flipping points to physical evidence, that independent evidence convicts the guilty and spares the innocent.

At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.

The first to flip can cut a deal. The last? Not so much...

[JayAr36]

Would they be worried about their, “Honor among thieves.”

[Seruzawa]

Who believes we will see indictments? I don’t think we will. In the end bureaucrats will protect each other.

[Chode]

more than a little sweating going on i'm sure...