Thursday, February 1. The craziness of the last few days continues. Here’s the short version of what’s going on with Dipshit Cowpoke’s memo, the Mueller Investigation, and some news from around the Rumor Mill.
THE NUNES MEMO
This has been a very fast paced day, so let me just list what happened, in at least some semblance of order.
- Devin Nunes sent an edited copy of his memo to the White House, not the one that was voted on by the House Intelligence Committee.
- The White House said at first they would release the memo.
- Trump flat-out admitted behind closed doors that this was an attempt to discredit the Mueller Investigation and Rod Rosenstein.
- Chris Wray, the FBI Director appointed by Trump, threatens to resign in protest and testify before Congress if the memo is released as is, without redactions.
- The FBI rallies around their Director.
- Democratic leadership in Congress officially calls on Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to remove Devin Nunes from his Chairmanship.
- Paul Ryan tells them to pound sand.
- The White House returns the memo to Nunes for … reasons.
- Chris Wray will publicly dispute the memo if it is released at all.
- Democrat Representative Quigley asks for answers about questions regarding White House involvement.
- House Judiciary Democrat calls for Emergency Meeting with DOJ, FBI
- Even Fox News host Andrew Napolitano is calling bullshit.
- The White House is worrying that the memo is a dud.
That’s as of 9pm EST. The shit is flying fast today, so there’s a good chance something else comes in by the end of the night.
I recommend reading this profile on Dipshit Cowpoke over at The Moscow Project. This gives a long, detailed description of Devin Nunes, and how much shit he’s in, and he’s caused. They hit the nail on the head about his actions.
This political stunt has real costs. By deploying his deceptive spin, Nunes may have jeopardized the original—and sensitive—classified information. A recent letter from the Justice Department, authored by a Trump political appointee, called Nunes’ effort to publicly release classified and sensitive law enforcement information “excessively reckless.” Nunes has been aided and amplified by Russian intelligence operatives online, as well as by Wikileaks, which Trump’s own CIA Director has described as a “hostile intelligence service helped by Russia.” It is this very Russian influence operation that the House Intelligence Committee is supposed to be investigating.
The actions and motives of Devin Nunes and House Republicans pushing this memo could not be more clear: they are pursuing a scorched earth strategy to protect Trump from being held responsible for his actions and they will bring down the entire FBI and Department of Justice if that is what it takes.
DO NOT FUCK WITH THE FBI
“I’d rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson, referring to J. Edgar Hoover.
LBJ HATED Hoover. But he knew that there was no one more powerful or more dangerous in Washington than the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Trump, Nunes, Paul Ryan, and the rest of the Republican Party are about to declare war on the FBI. Who wins a war with the FBI?
The Mother Fucking FBI, that’s who wins.
Earlier today the FBI Agents Association released a statement in support of their Director, Chris Wray.
The FBI Agents Association appreciates FBI Director Chris Wray standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats. As Director Wray noted, FBI Special Agents have remained steadfast in their dedication to professionalism, and we remain focused on our important work to protect the country from terrorists and criminals—both domestic and international. Special Agents take a solemn oath to our country and to the Constitution, and the American public continues to be well-served by the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency.
Protecting this country from enemies, both domestic and international. Notice the phrasing?
This is a little twist on the wording used in the FBI Oath of Service.
I [name] do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
But that little twist in this press statement isn’t by accident. They are saying, in not so subtle language, that they will not abide by criminal activities, and they will not see their work perverted, even from the President or members of Congress.
This is the greatest confrontation between the FBI and the White House since Watergate. And the FBI doesn’t always play fair. Just look up Mark Felt.
Who’s Mark Felt? Try googling Deep Throat. HOLD IT, WAIT. Turn Safe Search On, THEN google Deep Throat.
HOPE HICKS PROPOSED COVERING UP THE TRUMP TOWER EMAILS ON A CONFERENCE CALL WITH THE PRESIDENT ON THE LINE
Communications Director Hope Hicks reportedly made a boo boo. According to Mark Corallo, the former spokesman for Trump’s Legal Team, Hope had ‘told President emails would never get out.’ The emails in question were the emails between Donnie Jr. and Rob Goldstone planning the June 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower between the Russians, represented by lawyer spy Natalia Veselnitskaya. Of course, in the dumbest act of political self-sabotage since the Reynolds Pamphlet, Donnie Jr. tweeted out the emails himself.
Hearing this freaked out Mark so much that this, along with a couple other things he saw that day, he quit.
So, this was covered on Maddow last night, and she said something that caught my attention. It wasn’t this quote about keeping the emails from getting out, but after Hope said that this, she started freaking out after ending the call because she realized what she said, and there wasn’t a lawyer on the call to protect the conversation.
Think about that for a moment. She’s not freaking out because she just promised a plan to cover up a crime or obstruct an investigation, but because a lawyer wasn’t on the call.
This tells me a couple things.
First, that Team Trump does this kind of conference call a little too often.
Second, they’re abusing the Attorney-Client privilege. They’ll plan all of their illegal shit, but as long as they have a lawyer in the room, on the call, or on the email chain, they’ll claim that this conversation was privileged communications between an Attorney and their Clients. Think Saul Goodman and a really dumb Walter White.
Finally, everyone on Team Trump should be very worried. Like, finding out one of your exes tested positive for HIV worried. One of the more interesting things that came out of Paul Manafort’s indictment was that Mueller’s team successfully argued to the Grand Jury to subpoena his lawyer, by providing evidence that Manafort committed crimes in the lawyer’s presence, thus invalidating the Attorney-Client privilege.
If Hope’s little statement is true, she might have just torpedoed the Trump Presidency. If Mueller can show that there is enough probable cause that they have committed crimes in front of their lawyers, then they can subpoena the lawyers that were in the room or on the phone.
Hope Hicks has two options. Either she can hope and pray that Donald “rewards” her with a pardon, which would also open her up to a legal shitstorm, or she can flip like a gymnast. If she hasn’t already flipped, she’s screwed.
CARTER PAGE UNDER INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE SINCE 2013
Almost 5 years. Carter Page has had spook eyes on him for almost 5 years.
Carter Page has been on the radar for 5 years, after having played footsie with a convicted Russian Spy ring. So much crap about Page came out in 2016 that there was a FISA warrant issued for him in 2016. At some point later in 2016, after Trump’s team began receiving Security Briefings, Carter Page became Persona Non Grata in the Trump Campaign.
They didn’t have any official associations with Carter Page after the inauguration. He’s continued to make a fool of himself throughout the year, and did some of the stupidest things possible, like meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee for 10 hours without a lawyer present.
Of all the people that Devin Nunes could have made a stink about, he chose Page. Why?
Why would Nunes choose Page instead of someone else?
I can think of two reasons, and two reasons only.
Either Nunes is worried he’s under a FISA warrant, or was caught up in one, and he’s hoping that this memo will destroy any credibility of FISA, or this is the only Top Secret information he’s been able to see about the Russia Investigation.
Louise Mensch broke a story back in May 2017 that Devin Nunes, the head of the House Intelligence Committee, had his TS/SCI clearance revoked. At the time, I thought it was a little hopeful, but not likely. Now, I think she was on to something.
From a tactical standpoint, Carter Page is a terrible hill to die on. His history with the Russians makes him a terrible choice for highlighting abuses inherit in the system. This isn’t a battlefield that one chooses, but fights on because they were forced on.
RICK GATES’ OLD ATTORNEYS QUIT, NEW ATTORNEY SPECIALIZES IN CUTTING PLEA DEALS IN FEDERAL COURT
Read that again. His lawyers quit, and the reason is THE SUBJECT OF A MOTION UNDER SEAL.
They cannot publicly say why they quit at this time.
Rick Gates has flipped. On top of the long list of people mentioned in Daily Check-In 01/24/2018, he also worked with David Whitfield.
So, who is David Whitfeld, and why does he matter?
Remember the FBI Raid in Baltimore back in May 2017? I hadn’t started the blog yet, but I did mention it somewhere. I need to make an index for this place one day.
Anyway, David Whitfeld was a Senior Advisor for Strategic Campaign Group, the GOP office that was raided back in May 2017. David is also a former director at the Manafort/Stone/Black lobbying firm.
So, Rick Gates can take down all of the money people. Papadopoulos can take down the Foreign Relations Committee. Flynn can take down the Transition Team. And if Hope Hicks flips, she can take down the Inner Circle.
RUMOR MILL: FIGHTING A TANK WITH A TOOTHPICK
I heard this phrase earlier today on Reddit, and it got me thinking, “How can someone defeat a tank with a toothpick?” Being an Engineer/IT/Nerd/Saboteur, I can think of a few ways this can be done, but anything involving a frontal assault ends in vanishing in a cloud of pink dust.
That’s what we’re about to see in the next few weeks. A group of criminals using toothpicks to fight the tank of the Intelligence Community.
Within minutes of the first series of headlines coming out today saying that the White House was going to release the Nunes Memo, leaks were already flowing out of Langley and the Hoover Building. Stories were being planted and handed over to trusted sources that are to be published only if the Memo gets released.
Every member of the Rumor Mill that even slightly implies some connection to the IC world all agreed on one thing…
Trump and his cronies will not survive this battle. If the Memo sees the light of day, a flood of stories about Trump’s connections to Russia, as well as Nunes’s ties to Turkey and Russia. Transcripts of the SIGINT that has Nunes in it is sitting in the hands of a trusted source, waiting for the word to call their trusted reporters at the Washington Post.
The IC is ready, willing, and able to go to a PR war with Trump. The Nunes Memo puts sources in danger, and could get an agent killed. Killed, so that a sycophant can protect a traitor.
Meanwhile, while all of this is going on, the Mueller Investigation keeps going. We’ve assumed that there were sealed indictments, but today proves it. Gates’s little attorney switch showed that the reason for this change is currently under seal. We’ve seen several dockets in the past. And, it’s been two months since the last indictment.
My guess is that there is something building, but Mueller has been holding off on the next series of indictments until after he meets with Trump, or his a wall in that regard. If he hits a wall, the indictments could force a Grand Jury subpoena. That would force Trump to try something drastic, like fire Rosenstein and/or Mueller. Robert Mueller has this scenario game planned.
To quote John Schindler quoting one of his sources last year about Trump, “He will die in prison.”
That’s it for today. Tomorrow is going to be another one of those days where I think about taking up a less stressful hobby than chronicling history, like Explosive Ordinance Disposal, Lion Taming, or guarding chocolate from a pregnant woman.
This is also a bit of a longer post because I just got a new toy. I finally decided to get a new laptop after ten years. My old MacBook passed old 5 years ago, and is so old that it doesn’t even get security updates anymore. Considering I’m writing a blog about conspiracies, Russian hackers, and government overreach, it’s probably not a good idea to keep using it for this project. Plus, the battery runs low after an hour and a half, only running a web browser and email. So, I splurged a bit and bought a new laptop. A sort-of new MacBook Pro. New make and model, but I purchased it from the Refurbished store to save a couple hundred bucks. Yes, I know that a MacBook Pro is overkill for a blog, but it has the best keyboard I’ve used in a long time (it has a new keyboard which helps me type faster), and I like the look and feel. Plus, it’s easier to lock this down than a Windows laptop. And yes, it is VERY expensive for a computer. I’ve had several cars that didn’t cost this much. Combined. But I plan on keeping this thing until it dies and can’t be brought back from the grave. Since I’ve moved to Macs a few years ago, the shortest time I’ve had one last was 9 years. I’d like this one to last a long time.
Ok, that’s enough tech talk for today. It’s one thing to talk about political conspiracies or rumors coming out of the Intelligence Community, but I refuse to get into the whole Mac vs. PC war. I just wanted to talk about my new toy for a few minutes. Thanks for indulging me.
Now, it’s back to our regularly scheduled program.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 
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