Thread for obviously newsworthy stuff

[Proteus_MST]

From Politico just to make you aware that the FBI put a footnote in the application. It doesn't mention Clinton by name, which is a problem. It says candidate 1 or something like that. So there is more we need to know.

Well, seems like the FBI even informed the FISC about the fact that the Steele Dossier was financed by a politically motivated party, as was confirmed by one of the judges at the FISC:
https://www.businessinsider.de/nunes...18-2?r=US&IR=T

So, while the FISA application itself doesn't contain any mentioning about its financing, the FBI didn't willfully withhold this information in order to get the FISA application granted.(but rather expressed it verbally instead of in written form)

It also seems that the Steele dossier only contributes a small part to the data brought forth by the FBI as justification for the siurveillance of Page
See also here:
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/02/tr...mocratic-memo/
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/02...lance-warrant/

So, actually factchecking the whole Steele dossier was unnecessary in order to be able to claim that everything in the FISA application is verified (it was only necessary to verify the tiny parts of the Dossier that went into the FISA application as justiffication for the warrant)

[Aeson]

I like how Donald tries to distance himself from t he meeting while simultaneously claiming there's nothing wrong with the meeting. If it's ok to have the meeting, why even worry if someone thought you knew about the meeting or not? Obviously even Donald thinks Donnie Jr is guilty of something.

[Giancarlo]

Kidiot with more fake news...

[Kidlicious]

This is the real problem as Comey has already made clear, the information was not verified.

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At Best, The FBI Misled The Court To Wiretap Trump Campaign, FISA Application Shows

• 7/23/2018

FBI Scandal: The heavily redacted FISA application the FBI used to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page is supposed to vindicate the FBI from charges of political bias. But there can be no doubt that the FBI withheld pertinent information from the judges who approved a highly intrusive domestic spying operation during a presidential campaign.

X



The FBI coughed up the 412-page FISA application documents over the weekend. Entire paragraphs, and in some cases entire pages, contain blacked-out text. (You can see it here.)

Nevertheless, the mainstream press quickly determined the filings substantially undermined Republican claims that a politicized FBI misled the FISA court so it could spy on the Trump campaign in the middle of a presidential election. Those claims had been laid out in a memo from House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes released in February.

The New York Times said that the records "plainly demonstrated that key elements of Republicans' claims about the bureau's actions were misleading or false."

Over at the Washington Post, Philip Bump determined that the FISA documents show that "Devin Nunes's memo on Carter Page has gotten even less credible."

Trump, not surprisingly, has tweeted that the details contained in the application vindicate his witch-hunt claims.

The problem is that even if the truth lies somewhere in between it is incredibly damaging to the reputation of the FBI.

To that end, it's worth noting that it's been Democrats — and the press — who have been moving the goal posts as the unsavory facts about the origins of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign emerged.

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Take the role of the infamous "Steele dossier," which was paid for by the Clinton campaign and conducted by a firm that specializes in peddling campaign dirt.

Once the origins of the Steele dossier became known, Democrats and the press insisted that it played little or no role in convincing federal judges to approve wiretaps on Carter Page.

For good reason, too. The idea that the FBI would use political propaganda paid for by one presidential campaign to launch a high-level investigation against the other in the middle of an election is horrifying.

So, they consistently downplayed the dossier's importance.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee asserted in February that the FISA application "made only narrow use of information from Steele's sources about Page's specific activities in 2016." Media reports said that any of the information that the FBI did use had been independently corroborated.

But now, with the application documents in hand, even the Washington Post admits that the dossier played "a prominent role" in the wiretap request. And we know that the FBI had corroborated none of the dossier claims before filing its application. Bought And Paid For By Clinton


Democrats and the press also say that the FISA application documents disprove another GOP claim: that the FBI never told the court that the dossier had been bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign.

Well, here's what the application does say in a footnote on page 16 (we've added the names where the document leaves them out):

"Steele was approached by an identified U.S. person, who indicated that a U.S.-based law firm had hired the identified U.S. person to conduct research regarding (Trump's) ties to Russia."

The footnote goes on to say that "the identified U.S. person never advised (Steele) as to the motivation behind the research into (Trump's) ties to Russia. The FBI speculates that the identified U.S. person was likely looking for information that could be used to discredit (Trump's) campaign."

Does anyone see "Clinton" or "DNC" or "opposing presidential campaign" mentioned?

Instead, the footnote is full of weasel words. The FBI "speculates" that he "was likely" looking for information that "could discredit" Trump.

Democrats say the court could have easily figured out what the footnote meant. But can anyone who is not hopelessly partisan honestly say that the wishy-washy phrasing is anything remotely like the truth?

More to the point, can anyone say with confidence that the FISA court would have reacted the same way had that last sentence in that footnote read: "The FBI has learned that the financing for the Steele investigation came from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, and that Steele himself has a clear bias against Trump"? Another Problem Surfaces


What about the other claims in that Nunes memo that the application documents supposedly undercut?

Well, the Washington Examiner's Byron York went through the Nunes memo paragraph by paragraph, and could only find one where the document differs from the Nunes memo. That has to do with claims that the FBI used a Yahoo story to corroborate the Steel dossier, even though the Yahoo story itself was based entirely on that dossier.

He says "the application used part of the Yahoo piece in a way that suggested it was corroborating the dossier. … So call the Nunes memo's corroboration claim only partly accurate."

But legal expert Andrew McCarthy notes the application reveals another bit of legerdemain in the FBI's application no one had noted before: that the FBI misled the court about whether it had corroborated the claims in the Steele dossier.

Writing in National Review, McCarthy notes that:

"Each FISA application — the original one in October 2016, and the three renewals at 90-day intervals — is labeled "VERIFIED APPLICATION" (bold caps in original). And each one makes this breathtaking representation:

'The FBI has reviewed this verified application for accuracy in accordance with its April 5, 2001 procedures, which include sending a copy of the draft to the appropriate field office(s).'

In reality, the applications were never verified for accuracy."

Do you see now that they are doing their job?

edit: I'm talking about the part from the National Review at the bottom.

[Giancarlo]

Leave it to a pigeon to repeat the Trump talking points. There were no lies on the FISA warrant. The non-issues continue... meanwhile the impeachable and imprisonable offenses by Trump continue.

And Kidiot keeps talking about Hillary. Her campaign didn't pay for it. The Dossier was originally paid for by REPUBLICANS. Free Beacon anyone?

And...

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-russia-sekulow_us_5b670c6ce4b0fd5c73dab466

Talk about sticking his own foot in his mouth. Is Kidiot going to excuse Trump out of this impeachable offense?

[Kidlicious]

Democrats and the press also say that the FISA application documents disprove another GOP claim: that the FBI never told the court that the dossier had been bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign.

Well, here's what the application does say in a footnote on page 16 (we've added the names where the document leaves them out):

"Steele was approached by an identified U.S. person, who indicated that a U.S.-based law firm had hired the identified U.S. person to conduct research regarding (Trump's) ties to Russia."

The footnote goes on to say that "the identified U.S. person never advised (Steele) as to the motivation behind the research into (Trump's) ties to Russia. The FBI speculates that the identified U.S. person was likely looking for information that could be used to discredit (Trump's) campaign."

Does anyone see "Clinton" or "DNC" or "opposing presidential campaign" mentioned?

Instead, the footnote is full of weasel words. The FBI "speculates" that he "was likely" looking for information that "could discredit" Trump.

Democrats say the court could have easily figured out what the footnote meant. But can anyone who is not hopelessly partisan honestly say that the wishy-washy phrasing is anything remotely like the truth?

-Investors Business Daily.

Notice how it says that Democrats are saying that they are saying it's Hillary that paid for it. Because she did, and the issue is did the FBI inform the judge.

[Kidlicious]

Dunno, you must be more specific

Republican leaders are acknowledging that the FBI disclosed the political origins of a private dossier the bureau cited in an application to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, undermining a controversial GOP memo released Friday and fueling Democratic demands to declassify more information about the bureau’s actions.

From Politico just to make you aware that the FBI put a footnote in the application. It doesn't mention Clinton by name, which is a problem. It says candidate 1 or something like that. So there is more we need to know.

[Giancarlo]

Thanks for an explanation of your beliefs. What do you think about the Clinton campaign paying Sleele to get dirt on Trump?

Republicans paid fusion, dude. Stop lying. It doesn't look good.

On top of that are you still harping on about a bunch of nonissues? The government didn't lie on the FISA warrant. Stop it with the faux news regurgitation. Trumps son is going to be indicted soon. Focus on the real issues.

[Proteus_MST]

So the government lied on the FISA application?

Dunno, you must be more specific

[Kidlicious]

The Clinton campaign didn't pay/hire Steele, but rather Fusion GPS, a US intelligence firm based in Washington DC, in whose employment Steele did his work.
Employing US firms in order to do research about opponents AFAIK is allowed under US laws.

So the government lied on the FISA application?

[Proteus_MST]

Thanks for an explanation of your beliefs. What do you think about the Clinton campaign paying Sleele to get dirt on Trump?

The Clinton campaign didn't pay/hire Steele, but rather Fusion GPS, a US intelligence firm based in Washington DC, in whose employment Steele did his work.
Employing US firms in order to do research about opponents AFAIK is allowed under US laws.

[Kidlicious]

That doesn't matter.
The agreement obviously just wasn't made because Donnie jr. came to the conclusion that Madame didn't have any worthwhile informations about Hillary ... not because Donnie just in last minute dÃscovered his love for lawfulness.

AFAIK it doesn't take a completed act to make it criminal, but already setting up the meeting with the clear intent to do so (i.e. intention of accepting the dirt on Hillary as a donation of a foreign national) makes it criminal

And last but not least, AFAIK Donnie jr. said, under oath, that the meeting wasn't about getting dirt about Hillary, but for most parts just about adoptions ... which can now be established as lying under oath (now that his father publicly admitted that the meeting was in fact about getting dirt about Hillary)


Itr should also be clear that, if Donnie (and/or Donnie jr. ) hadn't believed that it is illegal, they wouldn't have lied about it firstplace (even more so, Donnie jr. wouldn't have lied about it under oath).
It seems like Donnie pushes his son under the Bus in order to save his own ass

Thanks for an explanation of your beliefs. What do you think about the Clinton campaign paying Sleele to get dirt on Trump?

[Giancarlo]

Colluding with Russians is not a crime, Working with democrats is an act of Treason!
Just ask these terminally incomplete braindead wastes of skin.

https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1026159962110812161

Open about their treacherous behavior! They would rather be Russian? Then those inbred fools should move there. I personally won't because people like me get murdered by either citizens or authorities.

Move to Russia with its disintegrating economy, brain drain and demographic crisis. Go ahead.

[Broken_Erika]

They're all the same person, who also happens to be their cousin as well.

[ZEE]

Jeet Heer is an absolute legend in 4 parts of the globe, several fortune 500 companies, and has almost a million followers on Twitter.

When he speaks the entire financial markets on Earth move.