Posted on 01/31/2018 3:39:37 PM PST by markomalley
With a much-debated House Intelligence Committee memo on the verge of public release, it is becoming more apparent that a “cabal” in the administration of former President Barack Obama improperly targeted then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 election, a former FBI administrator said Wednesday.
President Trump told members of Congress on his way out of the Capitol following Tuesday’s State of the Union address that he “100 percent” would allow the declassification of the memo, which was prepared by the staff of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). It details alleged abuses by the national security apparatus.
Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe announced his retirement on Monday, one day after FBI Director Christopher Wray read the secret memo.
James Kallstrom, former deputy director of the FBI, predicted on "The Laura Ingraham Show" Wednesday morning that Americans are going to recoil the more they learn about how then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-FBI Director James Comey and others arranged for the surveillance of Trump associates during the campaign.
"We're going to see the whole breadth and scope of this cabal that, unfortunately, involves the leadership of the FBI, leadership over the Justice Department," he said. "I'm sure that we're going to see John Brennan and his wacky ways … It's not gonna be a pretty picture, but it's the kind of thing that we have to look at, and we have to straighten out."
Kallstrom said he hopes the result is indictments of former officials who abused their power.
"The whole thing is scary, Laura. The whole thing is outrageous," he said. "I mean, from the fact that Comey and his sycophants conducted this phony investigation — they carried it on for months and months and months. I mean, there was no grand jury. It was a farce. They shut down any investigation in the field offices. They brought it all into headquarters, you know, where they could control it."
Indications are that the memo details the extent to which the FBI used opposition research paid for by Democrat Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee to get warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to eavesdrop on conversations between Trump campaign aides and Russians.
National security officials have concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 campaign, and special counsel Robert Mueller has been trying to find evidence of wrongdoing by the Trump campaign. Although his team has indicted four people, however, none of the charges deal directly with Russian interference in the campaign.
Kallstrom rejected arguments from congressional Democrats that releasing the memo would undermine national security by exposing secrets that could disclose sources of confidential information and methods used to gather that information.
"It's actually the opposite. You know, I think we shined some light on what went on in the Obama administration, you know, particularly in the last year, you know, when Donald Trump became the nominee and even before that," he said. "And I think we're going to see that there was just an absolute overreaction. They did not follow the rules, did not follow the law. You know, they were so confident that Hillary Clinton was going to be the president that they were willing to take these outrageous acts because they thought sun would never shine on those."
Kallstrom also criticized Republican congressional leaders for playing along with the Russia probe and not pushing back.
"It's just outrageous the lack of support they've given to the White House," he said.
“Great post by Sam on another thread
1. The Nunes memo deliberately omitted certain information in the interest of national security.
2. This “FBI statement” claims the memo should not be made public because it has material omissions of fact.
The “material omissions of fact” in #2 are the omissions described in #1.”
.....AND POTUS HAS ULTIMATE CLASSIFICATION AUTHORITY!
SO WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR??
RLTW
Mutiny is a punishable federal crime. They all better be careful. The public is in no mood for it.
Yes. He sounds good when I see him on TV but then I remember who headed the investigation into TWA 800 and that good feeling evaporates.
A way out? Why. Mueller deserves prison blues.
I can’t hear his name or see his face without my blood boiling.
They didn’t want this to look bad for Clinton. IMO < this was a total cover-up to protect him in he political climate of the time.
It was five weeks before the Democrat Convention that year, and just 4.5 months from the election.
I remember staying up most of the night watching coverage of this. FOX interviewed a group of people who were having a bbq on their deck who witnessed the crash. They explicitly stated they saw an arc of light go up from the water and hit the plane and a second later the plane exploded and crashed. They weren't drunk. They were sober and deadly serious. I never saw that interview again. It's like it got wiped off the face of the earth.
All those interviews of people who saw what they saw, even that former military guy flying in the vicinity at the time and it happened right in front of him, they ignored everyone to come up with that fuel spill scenario. Pure Grade A B. S.
It’s like it happened yesterday for me.
You and I both...
I knew the gig was up when I found out that guy standing behind them the whole time at the press conferences was CIA.
Earlier than that, they used an aircraft from Evergreen something or other, for testing.
That perked up my ears as well.
Of course the NTSB was run roughshod over, and that was further evidence of interference with a good honest investigation.
Same here. Though time flies; events can be riveted in our minds and even the smallest thing seem fresh.
I too remember this interview vividly. these were not just nobody bums. They were the types of “well respected in society” individuals who normally would have been called in as expert witnesses and yet, they were ridiculed and seemingly told to forget the optical illusion that they were witness to.
Most certainly they were shown pictures of their kids at school, wives at work etc,and reminded of how quickly accidents happen.
Wonder what happened to them and where they are today.
I believe this was the time when all of a sudden eye-witnesses were deemed to always be of no worth.
Strangely enough, they are used all the time in court.
James Kallstom needs to be brought back INTO THE FBI AND he needs to help with identifying and reassigning corrupt agents to to field offices in remote parts of Alaska...
James Kallstom needs to be brought back INTO THE FBI AND he needs to help with identifying and reassigning corrupt agents to to field offices in remote parts of Alaska... (well, those he can't fire)
Maybe we will hang people for treason again.
5.56mm
Thanks GOPJ, good idea.
Might be a cell at Gitmo. Designed for squatter-crappers.
I was thinking that it would allow Mueller to see an exit for the neverending investigation if Trump raised an eyebrow and smiled at him after reading the memo. Mueller could say that the actors in the investigation have now been ‘called into question’ and dismiss the investigation.
Whether or not he is then pursued for criminal activity would still remain open, but it would be very difficult for him to double-down and say he is continuing. Just looking at it from a negotiating 101 perspective; but yes, Mueller is a dirty cop.
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