from the NR article- they claim there would have been no need for her to order unmasking because it is ‘the intelligence agencies who conduct investigations’
The wrinkle is this- as i pointed out in my last post- there may be new info that it was an intelligence agency that requested it
Also if what NR is claiming is true- why aren’t ANY of the senators bringing these points out? It would seem that this would be a very very important point against her- Surely at least some of the senators would either know this info- or have talked with lawyers who are smart enough to know this stuff inside and out and could advise the senators on this issue?
Comey was right to state that the ‘consumers can request the unmasking’ so this is rice’s get out of jail free card- IF what Mellisa Zimmerman says is true- it seems that an intelligence agency —may have— contacted rice and asked her to request unmasking, and when she did, they obliged by unmasking the names- This would put the ‘blame’ of the unmasking on the intelligence agency, and not her unfortunately-
The NR article is heavy on suspicions, but not much in the way of facts- and considering how hard it is to ever convict democrats of anything- you MUST have cold hard facts in order to get a solid conviction- The NR article states that Farkas said “That’s why you have all the leaking” Yeah? That amounts to just her opinion- not hard fact- unfortunately- and they also assume Rice ‘must have known’ who the people were that were unmasked- because ‘she’s not unintelligent’- Again- this is just an opinion- they can’t prove in a court of law that she must have known and ‘therefore had to reason to unmask’ (and assuming it must then be a case of political payback as a result)
The actual evidence against her is very thin- there are loads of opinions all over the net, on fox on rush etc- but unfortunately it’s going to take a tremendous amount of hard evidence linking her directly to this fiasco in order to get her convicted simply because she is ‘female, black and a democrat’
AND, if they ever do get enough such info- look for her and the left to start playing the ‘racist’ ‘sexist’ victim card
Chris Matthews and David Corn already went there.
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(hat tip gregnh) If a name is unmasked we know a lot of information, or lack thereof.
When a name is unmasked detailed records are made and kept.
• Who requested the unmasking.
• Must be an authorized person by written request.
• Request must state a "reason."
• Who did the actual unmasking.
• The original collector of the name.
• Name of the "intelligence agency," who agrees with the "reason!"
• When each act occurred.
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Ergo, if Rice is on-record as having signed the log to review secure documents, she can neither claim 5A or Exec-Privilege. (hat tip Cletus D. yokel)
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Just ask her two questions:
(1) Is this your signature?
(2) Did you sign this at the direction of someone, or on your own accord?
If she answers those two by pleading the fifth, turn her over to a grand jury. (hat tip hoosier mama)